Qishan Old Street

Qishan grew rich shipping bananas to Japan in the early twentieth century, and the money went into the shopfronts: an arcaded street of brick and plaster facades in the mixed Western idiom of the 1910s and 1920s, with the arcade running continuously so that the street can be walked in the rain. The wooden railway station, a distinctive octagonal-roofed building, was rebuilt after a fire. Bananas and banana products are still the town's trade.

What you actually see

• The arcade - a continuous covered walkway along the shopfront street.
• The 1920s facades - brick and plaster fronts from the banana boom.
• The wooden station - the rebuilt Japanese-era station with its octagonal roof.
• The banana trade - the crop and its products still sold through the town.

When to go

Year round; weekends bring day trippers. Weekday mornings are quiet. Summer afternoons bring heavy rain, which the arcade helps with.

Honest expectations

The street is short and an hour covers it. Several facades are in poor repair. The station is a reconstruction, not the original building.

Nearby

Meinong is east, and Kaohsiung city is southwest.