Keelung
— a port that lives by the tide and the night market.
Not only on a wall.
“Taiwan's northern port, twenty-five kilometres from Taipei and almost always under a low sky. Keelung is called the Rainy Port for good reason; it averages over two hundred wet days a year. The harbour curves around the old town; Miaokou night market runs every evening around Dianji Temple, and the seventh lunar month brings the Ghost Festival, the most elaborate Zhongyuan Pudu in Taiwan.
Keelung, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Keelung sits on Taiwan's northeast coast, hemmed between forested hills and a deep natural harbour. The city of roughly 370,000 functions as the port of greater Taipei, twenty-five kilometres south by freeway or commuter rail. The harbour was fortified by the Spanish in 1626, the Dutch after them, then the Qing, then the Japanese, a layered military history still visible in the hilltop forts above the container terminals. The Keelung River and the basalt cliffs of Heping Island close the city to the north.
The Keelung Ghost Festival (Jilong Zhongyuan Ji) is the most elaborate Zhongyuan Pudu in Taiwan, recognised by the Ministry of Culture as a national folk heritage. Through the entire seventh lunar month, fifteen Hokkien clan associations take turns hosting rites that began in 1855 after a deadly feud between settler groups. The water-lantern parade leads to Wanghai Lane, where lit lanterns float out to guide spirits home. The Zhupu altar opens at midnight on the fifteenth night of the month.
Miaokou Night Market runs every evening around Dianji Temple at the centre of the old town, a roughly two-block stretch of numbered stalls that have been there for generations: tempura, oden, nutritious sandwiches, pao-pao ice. The market opens around five and runs past midnight; weekend crowds spill onto the side streets. The city is about forty minutes from Taipei Main Station on the TRA local line, with the harbour visible from the platform on arrival. Buses run slightly faster off-peak.