Jiufen Gold Mine (Jiufen Old Street)

Jiufen (九份) is a historic mountain town in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, situated on the slopes overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Keelung. Originally a remote settlement of just nine households — from which its name derives — the town was transformed by the discovery of gold in the surrounding hills in 1893, when rich placer deposits were found (some accounts date the first find at Jiufen to 1892).

Following Japan's colonization of Taiwan in 1895, the colonial government issued the Taiwan Mining Regulations (台湾鉱業規則) in 1896, dividing the gold-bearing region along a north-south line through Keelung Mountain (基隆山). The western Ruifang area, including Jiufen, was granted to Fujita Densaburo's Fujita-gumi (藤田組), while the eastern Jinguashi area went to Tanaka-gumi. Fujita-gumi became the first Japanese company to mine quartz gold in Taiwan, earning substantial profits from the Jiufen operations.

In the 1910s, the powerful Keelung Yan family (基隆顏家), led by Yan Yunnian (顏雲年), gradually consolidated control over the Jiufen mining operations. In 1920, Yan established the Taiyo Mining Company (台陽鉱業株式会社), which became the dominant mining enterprise in the region. Under Taiyo's management, gold production expanded significantly, reaching peak output during the 1930s and early 1940s. The gold and copper extracted from the Jiufen-Jinguashi mining district contributed substantially to Japan's wartime resource mobilization.

During World War II, the nearby Jinguashi mine (金瓜石鉱山) operated a notorious prisoner-of-war camp known as Kinkaseki Camp, where Allied soldiers captured at the Fall of Singapore — primarily British Commonwealth troops — were forced to labor in the copper and gold mines under brutal conditions. The first 523 POWs arrived in November 1942, and many prisoners died before mining stopped and the camp was moved in March 1945.

The mountain town that grew around the mines developed a distinctive urban character shaped by its steep terrain. The famous Shuqi Road (豎崎路) staircase street, lined with red lanterns and traditional teahouses, became the town's iconic thoroughfare. The Shengping Theater (昇平戲院), built in 1931 and opened in June 1932 as the Shōhei-za (昇平座) with room for about 600, served as the cultural heart of the mining community. These structures, along with numerous teahouses dating from the mining era, survive today as tangible remnants of the gold rush period.

After World War II, gold mining continued under the Republic of China government but gradually declined due to falling international gold prices and diminishing ore reserves. The Taiyo company (renamed 台陽鉱業股份有限公司 in 1948) finally closed the Jiufen mines in 1971, and the town entered a long period of decline. Jiufen was rediscovered in 1989 when director Hou Hsiao-hsien filmed 'A City of Sadness' (悲情城市) there, sparking a tourism revival that continues today.