Taoyuan
Taoyuan City is located approximately 40 km southwest of Taipei in northern Taiwan and occupies 1,220 km2. It is made up of low-lying plains, interconnected hills and plateaus. Its shape has a long and narrow southeast-to-northwest trend, with the southeast in the mountains and the far end on the shores of Taiwan Strait.
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HOT SPOTS / EVENTS / FESTIVAL
Shimen Reservoir(石門水庫)
Shimen Reservoir is reputed for its beautiful lake and mountain views all year round. Connected to over a dozen tourist attractions, the Reservoir offers green parks, bikeways, lake yachts, dam, spillway, wharf, Xizhou Park, Maple Park, Nanyuan Ecological Park, and so on.
Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park(慈湖紀念雕塑公園)
The Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park is situated near the Cihu Parking Lot. In the park there are some 100 bronze statues of Chiang Kai-shek’s donated by various localities of Taiwan. This also lets tourists from around the world remember the past glorious feats of Chiang Kai-shek. Among the statues are familiar-looking standing and half-bust bronze statues, which were donated mostly by schools and government organizations. There are also statues of CKS seated and horse-riding. Every statue has its own artistic value. Interconnected foot trails lead to various statues in the park. There are also elegant Chinese garden-style gardens with bridges and water below them.
Daxi Old Street
Daxi was the earliest developed area in Taoyuan. Thanks to small sailboats sailing between Dahan Creek and Tamsui River, Daxi had a thriving trade with China, and its prosperity brought success to many stores and businessmen. During the Japanese occupation period of the Taisho era, Baroque architecture was the popular building style and therefore many stores along Heping Road and Zhongshan Road were built in the Baroque style, but decorated with both Baroque ornamentation and characteristic totems of Min-nan in Southern China. On the facade of some old houses, auspicious Chinese fish and bat totems appear on Greek lintels or Roman columns, constituting a unique feature of Daxi. Because Heping Old Street was developed relatively later, the buildings in this area are better preserved. Specialty shops and food stands on the street always attract many tourists.