Injecting new life into old houses - Taipei Old House Cultural Movement

Hidden amongst the streets and alleys of Taipei is an assortment of old houses, each with a different tale to tell. "Hehe Qing Tian," an old house located at No. 10 Qingtian Street, Lane 8, was built in the 1930s. The original owner was Ryojiro Mio, the editor-in-chief of Taiwan's first geography textbook.

This house contains many cultural memories. Kyoko Kuroki, the eldest daughter of Ryojiro Mio, grew up here and returned to Japan after graduating from high school. Today, eighty years on, the renovated house still holds many sweet childhood memories for Kyoko.

However, does the government renting out such old houses to the private sector preserve their value? Xia Xue-li, who once served on a supervisory committee entrusted by Taipei City Government, believes that culture should be the focus. Otherwise, the result of bringing such old houses back to life will have little benefit to the growth of the local culture.

以下為中文對照

注入新生命 台北老屋文化運動

隱身在台北的街弄裡，林立著各式各樣的老房子，而每間老房子卻有著不同的命運，位於青田街八巷十號的和合青田，興建於1930年代，原屋主是台灣第一本地理教科書的總編輯三尾良次郎。

這間房子有著許多的人文記憶，三尾良次郎的長女黑木恭子，從小在這裡長大，高中畢業後返回日本，一轉眼就過了八十年，而重新翻修後，仍留著小時候的記憶。

然而政府將老房子出租給民間團隊是否真能保存老房子的價值？曾擔任北市委託的督導委員夏學理，認為要以文化性作為重點，否則活化的結果對於文化的增長並沒有太大的幫助。