A salt-trade 'Bagua Street' where time seems to have stopped decades ago
⏱ Under 1 hourPhotographersHistory buffsSlow travel
沙美24.4920°N 118.4110°E
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The story
Shamei is one of Kinmen's oldest market towns, nicknamed 'Bagua (Eight Trigrams) Street' for its maze of lanes; it boomed in the Ming dynasty when Kinmen's salt fields clustered here. During the military era it bustled with soldiers on leave, then went quiet as garrisons shrank, leaving its streetscape much as it was decades ago. Some abandoned houses have recently been repainted in Middle Eastern style, drawing photographers.
Architecture
Minnan red brickPost-war modern
Themes
Qing eraTemplesMilitaryMurals
Getting there
Where
Shamei town center (around Wan'an Temple), Jinsha Township, Kinmen