Tea merchants, fabric traders and the streets behind Taipei’s commercial wealth
Explore Dihua Street’s shopfronts, market and temple, then follow the story of tea merchants into Dadaocheng’s riverside streets, where trade shaped buildings, livelihoods and an enduring commercial neighbourhood.
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Taipei, Taiwan
INTRODUCTION
On Dihua Street, elaborate façades rise above shops selling dried goods, medicinal ingredients and fabric. The buildings invite you to look up, but the business at pavement level matters just as much. This is a place where trade explains the architecture, and the architecture helps explain the trade.
Dihua Street forms a principal commercial spine of Dadaocheng, the riverside district that grew wealthy through tea and other goods. Its history connects migrant communities, Taiwanese merchants, foreign firms and the daily work of processing and selling.
This guide follows those connections through shopfronts, a market, a temple and the streets nearer the river. For the wider historical setting, see our Taipei history and travel guide.
KEY HISTORICAL MOMENT
In 1869, merchant John Dodd shipped Taiwanese tea to New York, helping establish a Western market for Formosa tea. His partnership with Li Chun-sheng connected international buyers with local production and commercial knowledge. Dadaocheng became a place where leaves were processed, assessed and traded: the district's wealth depended on work ashore as well as transport along the river.
ORIGINS
Dadaocheng grew substantially after the violent 1853 conflict in nearby Bangka, today's Wanhua. Tong'an migrants displaced by the fighting established themselves farther north. Their arrival helped create a new commercial community, carrying religious connections and business experience into another part of the Taipei basin.
The Xia-Hai City God Temple, established here in 1859, became a religious centre for the neighbourhood. Its position on Dihua Street makes the connection between worship and commercial settlement particularly visible: the temple stands within the trading district, not apart from it.
The opening of Tamsui to foreign commerce in 1860 expanded opportunities upriver. Dadaocheng's position linked the river route with merchants and processing premises on land. Tea became a major source of growth, alongside a wider range of imported and locally distributed goods.
Dihua Street developed within this network. Its shops make more sense when understood as part of a district extending towards the waterfront.
TEA AND TRADE
John Dodd brought finance and access to overseas customers; Li Chun-sheng, also written Lee Chun-sheng, brought experience in the Chinese tea business and the work of a commercial intermediary. Their collaboration helped connect growers and processors with markets beyond Taiwan.
The city's account describes investment in seedlings, equipment and specialist tea-making knowledge. Export success required a reliable product as well as willing buyers. Dadaocheng's contribution was not growing all the tea within the neighbourhood, but organising and processing a commodity supplied from a much wider area.
Tea premises combined several activities. Sin Hong Choon, built in 1934, incorporated a shop, processing space, storage and a family residence. Such buildings reveal the practical demands of the business more clearly than a decorative façade alone.
Leaves had to be prepared and handled before they could become an export. Owners, workers, agents and buyers all belonged to that chain. When you see a fashionable tearoom in an old building, remember that the district's earlier tea economy involved production and commerce as well as drinking.
ACROSS CENTURIES
During Japanese rule, merchants invested in substantial buildings with decorative fronts. Dihua Street's surviving shop houses vary in date and appearance, while nearby Guide Street retains examples of the more conspicuous architecture associated with successful traders.
These façades expressed commercial confidence, but buildings also needed rooms for stock, work and family life. Their arrangement is as useful to understanding the district as their ornaments. A fine street front rarely tells you everything about the premises behind it.
Dadaocheng's commercial character did not end when tea ceased to define its fortunes. Dried goods, Chinese medicinal ingredients and textiles remain part of the district's identity. New cafés, cultural venues and design shops now occupy some older premises alongside established businesses.
The resulting street is neither an entirely preserved nineteenth-century market nor a single museum project. Restored façades, altered interiors and continuing trade need to be considered building by building, using plaques and information where available.
INTERESTING FACTS
Dadaocheng's name refers to a large space used for drying rice. The explanation preserves an agricultural association within a district better known for urban commerce. It is a reminder that its transformation into a trading centre happened within a working landscape, rather than beginning with the elaborate merchant buildings that attract attention today.
The Chen Tian-lai Residence at No. 73, Guide Street combined commercial and domestic functions. The family's account describes tea trading on the ground floor, a reception area for business guests above, and family accommodation higher still. The division makes the building an unusually clear illustration of how business, hospitality and household life could share one prestigious address.
Yongle Market's fabric trade gives Dadaocheng another commercial specialism beyond tea. Bolts, patterns and tailoring materials reward visitors who look at the district as a place of practical supplies. Its textile identity also broadens the story: the neighbourhood handled many kinds of goods, and its history cannot be reduced to a single celebrated export.
Dihua Street becomes especially associated with shopping ahead of Lunar New Year, when festive food and household preparations bring additional activity. This seasonal role connects the street with domestic routines far beyond the immediate neighbourhood. The calendar follows the lunar year, so visitors hoping to see organised festivities should check the relevant year's official announcements.
WHAT TO SEE & DO
Begin at the southern stretch of Section 1 near Yongle Market. Establish the relationship between the market building, the street and neighbouring shops before heading north. If the fabric traders are open, take a look inside the public trading areas without interrupting customers or blocking stalls.
Compare practical goods with the decorative façades outside. The contrast helps keep commerce in view when attractive architecture threatens to monopolise your attention.
A short distance along Dihua Street, stop at Xia-Hai City God Temple. Its modest footprint belongs within the commercial street rather than a vast separate enclosure. Allow worshippers room and read any visitor guidance before approaching the altars.
The temple is a useful place to reconnect the merchant district with the community that built it. You do not need to participate in prayer to appreciate the relationship between neighbourhood organisation and religious life.
Continue along Section 1, choosing several neighbouring façades to compare. Look at their proportions, signage, upper windows and the relationship between the sales floor and the street. Avoid assigning dates solely from architectural appearance; alterations can disguise a building's earlier form.
Where a cultural venue or shop welcomes visitors, look at the depth of the premises. Only enter spaces explicitly open to customers or the public, and ask before photographing working interiors.
Make a detour west towards Guide Street to see the Chen Tian-lai Residence from the public street. Compare its scale and decorative ambitions with the trading frontages on Dihua Street. Plan this as an exterior stop unless interior access has been confirmed separately.
The river lies farther west, making the wharf a useful optional continuation. Do not treat today's riverside paths or boat berths as surviving nineteenth-century cargo infrastructure without specific evidence.
WHY VISIT?
Dihua Street is rewarding if you enjoy following a commodity from its makers to its merchants, or comparing buildings with the businesses they accommodated. It also works well for travellers who prefer browsing and short, informed stops to a tightly timed sequence of attractions.
Come with room in your schedule for a conversation, a shop or a tea break. The district's strongest historical connection is often the simplest: people still arrive to buy and sell. Pair the walk with the riverfront if you want to understand its setting, while keeping the commercial streets as the main subject of this visit.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Focus your first visit on Section 1 of Dihua Street in Datong District. Beimen MRT station on the green line is convenient for approaching from the south; Daqiaotou on the orange line suits a northern approach. Both require walking through ordinary streets before reaching the historic commercial area.
Allow two to three hours for browsing, the temple and an exterior detour to Guide Street; this is an editorial estimate. Add time for tea or a specific museum.
Sin Hong Choon, away from the main street, is a possible addition for anyone especially interested in tea processing. Confirm its exhibitions separately before expanding a walk already centred on Dihua Street. Start with a small number of stops so you can spend longer where a building or business interests you.
The street has no single admission ticket or opening time. Shops, markets, temples and cultural spaces keep separate arrangements. A public pavement may remain accessible when the premises beside it are shut. Check individual venues before organising your walk around interiors, tastings or guided activities.
Use the official Dihua Street visitor information for orientation. Seasonal events and organised tours have their own conditions. Treat any paid tasting or commercial tour as a separate purchase, rather than an admission requirement for exploring the neighbourhood.
Keep doorways and delivery routes clear. Ask before touching merchandise or taking close photographs inside shops. Verify prices and quantities before buying goods sold by weight. Carry water for the walk, and leave time for road crossings when moving between Dihua Street, Guide Street and the riverfront.
Location
Dadaocheng, Datong District, Taipei
Site type
Commercial street and historic neighbourhood
Main focus
Section 1, Dihua Street
Key moment
Taiwanese tea shipped to New York, 1869
Key figures
John Dodd and Li Chun-sheng
Highlights
Shopfronts, Yongle Market and Xia-Hai Temple
Suggested visit
2–3 hours (editorial estimate)
Visitor resources for Dihua Street and Dadaocheng and your wider Taipei itinerary
Stay in Taipei
Plan accommodation around your wider Taipei itinerary.
Flights to Taiwan
Confirm your arrival airport and onward connections before booking.
Beyond Central Taipei
Plan any wider journey separately from this visit.
EXPLORE MORE
Continue with the Taipei guide; the other cards suggest related historical subjects for further reading.
Connect this place with the city’s temples, historic districts and political landmarks.
Connect inland commerce with the river and overseas routes.
Explore the older trading district from which migrants moved north.
Understand the boundary between merchant streets and the old administrative city.
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