East Gate (Yingxi Gate)

Why visit

In the 1820s, the people of Zhuqian, as Hsinchu was then called, replaced the bamboo fence around their town with walls of brick and stone, with four gates. Most of the walls were pulled down in the early years of Japanese rule to make way for new streets, but the East Gate was kept. Today it sits on a round plaza in the busiest part of the city, a calm old stone tower among the traffic and shop signs.

What to see

• The gate tower: a two-tiered wooden pavilion with sweeping eaves on a solid granite base.
• The archway: walk through the stone tunnel of the gate, once the main road east out of town.
• The sunken plaza: steps lead down to a plaza and underpass around the gate, with remains of the old wall foundations.
• The moat: the old city moat runs nearby, now a park with paths and water, part of the same walk.

Day and night

By day, the gate is the natural starting point for a walk around the old city. After dark it is floodlit, and the plaza becomes a meeting place, with the shops and food stalls of the surrounding streets still busy. Come back for a photograph in the evening.

Tips

• Cross to the gate by the underpass or the marked crossings. The roundabout is busy with scooters.
• The station, the moat and the City God Temple are all within 10 minutes’ walk.
• Follow our one-day Hsinchu itinerary for a route through the old city.