Savoring the Cultural and Ecological Essences of Farming Villaes

Minghua Wetland

Chiayi Distillery

Founded in 1916 when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule (the 5th year of the Taisho era), the distillery is comprised ofan exhibition venue of nearly 3,300 m 2, to highlight it's century-long history. It is divided into a main hall and an area devoted into a main hall and an area devoted to the display of liquor distilling equipment, among others. Sampling of liquor is also available at the distillery's colorful museum. (Please do not drink and drive.)

Minxiong Kumquat Tourism Factory

Founded in 1960, the Minxiong Kumquat Tourism Factory has developed an exclusive kumquat inspired menu, an overwhelming range of kumquat merchandise, as well as a unique antique collection housed in a venue converted from an idle warehouse. A visit to the factory is like taking a nostalgic journey which ends flawlessly with the sweet and sour taste of kumquat-inspired souvenirs.

Minxiong Goose Meat Street

The street in front of Minxiong Railway Station is impressively lined with food vendors including gover 10goose meat restaurants, each delivering an exclusive recipe based on geese fed with the choicest corn to ensure a tender texture and refreshingly sweet taste.Highly popular due to word-of-mouth marketing, these goose eateries always draw large crowds on holidays.

Minxiong Japanese-style Guesthouse

The wooden guesthouse was completed in 1940 when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, in the 15th year of the Showa ear. It's interior layoutis authentically Japanese, characterized by the pebble-washed base, wooden columned hallway, latticed wooden ceiling and protruding eaves. This structure, over 70 years old, not only retains it's original Japanese-style architecture, but also houses an abundance of historical details worthy of permanent preservation.

National Radio Museum

Previously known as the Minxiong Radio Broadcasting Station, the National Radio Museum was built by the Japanese colonial rulers not only to forbid the Taiwanese from listening to radio programs produced by the Nanjing-based Nationalist government, but also for military and psychological warfare purposes. In addition to a MB-15A medium-wave transmitter made by the Japanese electronics company NEC Corporation over 70 years ago, the museum displays a scale model of two 206-meter-tall, T-shaped antenna towers that were landmarks of the erstwhile Minxiong area.

Xikou Old Street

Lined with stores dating back to the Qing dynasty, Zhongzheng Road used to be the only street in Xikou Township, with the famous century-old Zhang Ji-sheng Chinese Herbal Medicine Co. erected as it's first building. The Baroque architecture of Zhang's family home is steeped in nostalgia, as if time stopped in the good old days.

Minghua Wetland

This ecological attraction was converted from an idle public cemetery as part of a river-water purification plan. In addition to a motif of the Phalaenopsis orchid (a varietynative to Dalin Township), boardwalks, eco-islands, stone signs for landscaping plants are also available on the wetland. In a naturally colorful patch of green, a pool containing three types of aquatic plants: floating, emerged and submerged, serves the purposes of both environmental education and preservation of the wetland.

Shetun Elementary School: A habitat for Farmland green tree frogs

The faculty and students of Shetuan Elementary School, which boasts abundant ecological resources in the neighborhood, spent years improving the leftover soil in bulk bags discarded by farming parents. The re-greening effort has resulted in an extremely diverse eco-system around the school, comprised of insects such as earthworms and grasshoppers, as well as groundhogs and birds, with the nearby woodland considered as the world's most densely populated habitat of Farmland green tree frogs. Shetuan Elementary School's achievements in environmental education and the fact that it accounts for a third of the Taiwanese frog population with eleven different species, made it a frequently visited "eco-campus" where the adorablecroaking forgs and drum-rolls create a captivating symphony before and after every recess.