Taiwan Summer Fun

Located in Anping District of Tainan, the ancient capital of Taiwan, the Old Tait & Co Merchant House (Old De-Ji Merchant House) is the former merchant house of Tait & Co Trading Company, the British Trading Company that was found in 1867 and was also one of the top 5 trading companies in Anping area.

Tait & Co had undergone several changes since it was established. Tait & Co was one of the foreign trading companies that was permitted by the Qing Government to operate before Opium War for opium, camphor, sugar and tea trading until Japanese colonized Taiwan. During the period of Japanese colonization, opium and camphor were monopolized by the Japanese government, which led to decline of foreign firms except Tait & Co. The company had its big change in 1911, when all the foreign firms in Anping were closed, and the Japanese government turned it to a salt company, and was used as the office of the Tainan Salt Works after the retrocession of Taiwan. Today, the Old Tait & Co Merchant House has transformed to a wax museum (Taiwan Development Wax Museum), which displays the immigrants’ life in Taiwan’s history, from aboriginal period to the arrival of the Chinese and Europeans. A number of lifelike wax figures of humans and animals, as well as fabulous artifacts that are dated more than a century.

The Old Tait & Co Merchant House has been classified as a Tier-Three historical site of Taiwan. It is a 2-storey beautiful western colonial style architecture with the main stairway in the center. The architecture is painted in white-color, which is different from the traditional Fujian style buildings. The ground floor was the dormitory for the workers with a pathway in the center and 3 rooms on each side; right and left. Second floor has a similar floor plan to the ground floor except the railing of arcade is decorated with green glaze vase decorations.

The Old Tait & Co Merchant House is a typical colonial style architecture surrounded by arcades that are used to shelter heat and rain. “Arcades” are an important element in western colonial style architecture in Taiwan. Today, visitors may still find other examples of western colonial style architectures over Taiwan, such as Fort San Domingo and the Little White House (The Former Residence of Danshui Tax Division Customs) in Danshui, Taipei.

While visiting Old Tait & Co Merchant House, discover the distinctive Anping Tree House located adjacent, as well as explore the many other important historical sites such as Eternal Golden Castle (Yi Tzai Golden Castle), and Old Fort Zeelandia (Anping Fort) for a colorful Tainan travel.