Fuguijiao Lighthouse

Fuguijiao Lighthouse (富貴角燈塔) stands at Cape Fugui, the northernmost point of Taiwan's main island, in Shimen District, New Taipei City. It was constructed between 1896 and 1897 (Meiji 29-30) by the Japanese colonial government as part of a project to establish submarine communication cables and navigation facilities between Taiwan and Japan. It was the second lighthouse built by the Japanese in Taiwan during the colonial period.

All construction materials were shipped from Japan, with the iron tower fabricated by the Tanaka Iron Works (田中鐵工場) in Tokyo. The original structure was an octagonal iron tower standing 30 metres tall, equipped with a second-order triple-wick kerosene lamp producing 3,500 candlepower. Because the cape is frequently shrouded in dense fog during autumn and winter, the tower was painted with distinctive black-and-white horizontal stripes to aid visibility. The lighthouse was initially named "Fukikaku" (富基角) and was renamed "Fuguijiao Lighthouse" in 1927.

During World War II, the lighthouse was bombed by American forces. The lantern equipment was destroyed and the iron tower body suffered severe corrosion from the damage. The lighthouse remained inoperative through the immediate post-war years. In 1954, the damaged tower was temporarily replaced with a steel-frame structure. In 1962, it was rebuilt as an octagonal reinforced concrete tower standing 14.3 metres tall, with the original black-and-white striped paint scheme restored. The current tower's reduced height was designed to avoid interfering with a nearby air force radar station.

Post-war improvements included the installation of a radio beacon in 1973 and an electric fog signal in 1981, described as the first such navigation aid in Taiwan. The lighthouse was opened to public visitors on 29 August 2015, though the tower itself remains closed. Today, the lighthouse operates with a light intensity of 1,500,000 candlepower and a range of 26.8 nautical miles, continuing to serve as a critical navigation aid for vessels transiting the waters off northern Taiwan.

The Fuguijiao Lighthouse stands as a tangible legacy of Japan's colonial infrastructure development in Taiwan and a reminder of the wartime destruction that affected the island's coastal facilities. Its distinctive striped appearance has made it one of Taiwan's most recognizable and photographed lighthouses.