The streams of shoppers, merchandise and signboards on the streets of Dadaocheng (大稻埕), one of the first international commercial districts in Taipei, easily elicit the hustle and bustle of what the area must have been like in the early 20th century.
Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖) captures such a scene in his 1930 work titled Festival on South Street (南街殷賑), which is one of the most celebrated pieces from Taiwan and the piece de resistance of the ongoing exhibition “Worldward: The Transformative Force of Arts in Taiwan’s New Cultural Movement” at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM).
“Kuo vividly reproduced Dadaocheng’s prosperity and diversity,”
Walking down the streets of Dadaocheng (大稻埕), one of the first international commercial districts in Taipei, one sees streams of joyous shoppers, vibrant merchandise and colorful signboards and can easily imagine the hustle and bustle of the area in the early 20th century.