九分 (Jiufen) is a town located in a mountain area in the Ruifang District, near Keelung, Taiwan. This town was founded during the Qing Dynasty .The town adopted the name 九分 (literally translated to: nine portions) because the village housed nine families, and nine portions represented the number of orders for every shipment of goods that arrived.
Gold was discovered close to the town during the Japanese rule which led to a gold rush. It was during this period that Jiufen reached its peak. Due to the Japanese rule, Jiufen still maintains the Japanese facade in its architecture style.
It wasn’t until 1989, that the town regained popularity as a tourist attraction, thanks to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film 悲情城市 (A city of Sadness) set in Jiufen, which made reference to the 228 Incident. The 228 Incident, refers to an anti-government uprising that was suppressed violently resulting in a massacre. This happened right after the end of the 50 years Japanese rule, and against the National Government that took the lead again, which resulted in disappointment among the people. The incident took place on February 28, 1947. This ruling period is known as the White Terror period. The film won eight awards and was the first taiwanese film to win a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Here I have attached the link of the review summary of this film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_City_of_Sadness
Jiufen is a town rich in history and culture. I strongly recommend you to watch this film before going to Jiufen so you can have a deeper historical background of this place. As always, I will give details on how to get there.
You can go to 忠孝復興 站(ZhongXiaoFuxing Station) Exit 1. The bus stop is right across the street. The bus No. is 1062. Taxi drivers at the bus stop will usually tell you the bus already left and that you will have to wait too long for the next one and will try to charge you a lot more. The bus takes from 40 to 50 min and you can pay with your easycard . The bus stop that will leave you close to the main entrance of the Old Street is 舊道.
If you also want to go to the Golden Waterfalls, you can take the 788 from the same stop 舊道 to 黃金瀑布 (Golden Waterfalls) or #856 which is Taiwan Easy Go Bus (The Golden Fulong Line).
Jiufen is one of my favourite towns in Taiwan and I believe is one of the best places where you can buy souvenirs. I hope you can visit this place soon and enjoy everything this beautiful town offers.
Here is a short video of my trip to Jiufen, enjoy.
Meilialva 