Chihkan Tower

It was a privilege to visit Chihkan Tower (also known as Fort Provintia), one of the oldest and most historically significant sites in Tainan’s West Central District. Originally constructed by the Dutch in 1653 as an administrative and commercial centre, the complex has since evolved into a beautifully preserved heritage site featuring tranquil gardens, koi ponds, and intricate stone carvings. The visit offered a valuable opportunity to revisit and better understand Taiwan’s layered colonial history. Interpretive displays trace the Dutch period (1624–1662), followed by Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong)’s 1662 victory and the establishment of the Kingdom of Tungning, and later the Qing dynasty era — including the notable imperial stone steles commissioned by Emperor Qianlong. What makes the site particularly compelling is the visible cultural fusion: the original Western fortification foundations now coexist with later Chinese-style temples and pavilions. This architectural and historical layering highlights Tainan’s role as Taiwan’s earliest capital and a crossroads of political, cultural, and maritime exchange. Chihkan Tower is not only historically important but also serene and atmospheric — a must-visit landmark for anyone wishing to appreciate the origins and cultural evolution of Taiwan.

Very cool historical place in Tainan. Would reccomend spending some time here learning about how it was made and how it was revamped through the Japanese colonial period. Additionally there are bathrooms, a gift shop, and shaded areas to sit in nearby within the complex.

For the price , just a few pounds this is a very good value and well set up historical place , gives interestimg insights into thr history of the city and also great photo oppertunities. You dont need more than an hour here realistically but its a must see in the city from an hidtorical perspective. Self guided and lots in english, frirndly staff at the gate

Chihkan tower is the most iconic landmark in Tainan, and which was the ancient capital of Taiwan. The building is beautiful and very colourful.

70 taiwan dollars fee. Clean. Fast stop. Small but a cute place to take photos.my kids love the koi pond. You can feed the fishes.

Beautiful tower to visit. Entrance fee is NTD 70 and I think it is worth it. Only negative is that the place is small.

One of the must visit places in Tainan. A little touristy, but good to spend a little time between all the eating.

Currently under renovation, as you can't see the whole tower, but they still charge TWD 100 to get in. Quite under welming and no translation in Emglish. Shame.

[臺灣紀遊]蘇州錢篤笤與臺南文曲星第廿二 我喜歡聽蘇州評彈，俗話說「生書熟戲」，就是聽書要聽沒有聽過的書，那就可以聽到新的故事了；而看戲呢，是看表演的，熟的戲更能看出戲演得好不好。蘇州評彈就是說書，照理說應該多聽點新的，可惜的是那些新書，特別是改革開放後的那些新書，基本都是各評彈團為了完成任務的作品，可以說是沒有一部好書，別不信，每個作品上演前都是說得花好稻好的，可是你有幾個作品是重復在演的？就象崑曲團當年的《班昭》那樣，做衣裳、排曲子，現在演嗎？有任何一位老師現在用《班昭》的曲目教學生的嗎？ 我在此無意詆毀任何一位評彈或是崑曲的創作者，甚至那些團長和作者都是我的好友，這不是你們的問題，衹能創作歌功頌德主旋律的作品是不可能被傳唱的。 我挺喜歡聽老書的，老書經過好幾代藝人的精雕細琢，早已成了精品，象是《珍珠》那種，有無數文人雅士貢獻力量，怎麼可能不好呢？蜻蜓尾巴白蛇頭，唱殺珍珠塔說殺描金鳳，我可真的愛死他們了，這兩句話，提到了四部書，《玉蜻蜓》《白蛇》《珍珠塔》《描金鳳》，今天从最後那部《描金鳳》說起。 《描金鳳》是一部男主女主沒有什麼戲的書，描金鳳是男主徐惠蘭與女主錢玉翠的定情信物，僅此而已，整部書就是从第一男配開始的，第一男配是個老酒鬼，問女兒借錢遭拒後，獨自出門想「做點生意」換酒喫，然後就發生了一連串陰差陽錯、撲朔迷離、峯迴路轉、真相大白、揚眉吐氣的故事。 「做點生意」？那麼這位老兄是做什麼生意的呢？「嘸本鈿生意」！通常，蘇州說的嘸本鈿生意，指的就是「男盜女娼」，但這位並不是，他是個跑江湖算命的。大家知道，算命的方法有很多，从最高級六爻梅花易數，到中級的紫薇斗數、黃雀銜牌、扶乩、關亡、拆字，再到最低檔的秤骨、看咖啡渣、扔硬幣，我們這位老兄是幹嘛的呢？他是「篤笤」的，這兩個字先這麼寫，因為現在的評彈團體都這麼寫。 這位老兄姓錢，做着「篤笤」的算命生意，所以他叫「錢篤笤」，錢篤笤是書膽，甚至本身就是一部書，也的確有以他為男一號說的書，比如《錢篤笤與汪宣》。那麼到底什麼是「篤笤」呢？書中說是「兩塊笤板，笤板哪哼樣子囁？一對，每塊象半隻冬筍實梗，厾起來，看正反面（兩塊笤板，笤板是什麼樣子的？一對，每塊象半隻那樣，扔起來，看正反面）......」。 穿越，穿越到臺南的赤嵌樓，魁星前有兩塊紅色的東西，兩個腰形的木塊，想一想，是不是冬筍很象？這個玩意叫「跋桮（bó bēi）」，寫作「筊杯」或「珓杯」，什麼區別？竹做的叫「筊杯」，玉做的叫「珓杯」。這是閩南地區的一種占卜工具。 到底是怎麼玩的呢？我們詳細來說，這個筊杯，一面是平的，另一面是凸起的，你就想象把一隻腰子一部為二好了。平的那面是「陽」，凸的那面是「陰」，將兩塊筊杯一起扔起，如果兩個陽面朝上，稱為「笑筊」或「笑杯」，如果兩個陰面朝上，稱為「陰筊」或「陰杯」。那麼如果一正一反，則是「聖筊」或「聖杯」，表示神明允許、同意、保佑，或者行事順利。 按照傳統，占卜一件事，要先誠心誠意在神祇前祝禱，然後心中默念「我想問一件事，請問神明允不不允許？」，然後扔第一次筊杯，如果扔出一正一反的「聖杯」來，表示神明允許問事。接着，再次默念「我想問什麼什麼事，請問神明會如何？」「我要做件什麼事，請問神明可不可以？」，再扔第二次筊杯，如果再次扔出一正一反的聖杯，表示神明說此事會成，否則，則不成。 對於特別重要的事，還要問第三次，問「神明會保佑此事的吧？」「這件事真的能成嗎？」。對於客氣的神明，則無需扔第二次，直接問神明「魁星魁星，我能考好不？」「魁星魁星，我會及格嗎？」「魁星魁星，我將考取嗎？」，赤嵌樓的魁星就衹問一次（一筊）就行了。然後擲筊，衹能擲一次，如果是一正一反，那就表示成功了，能夠免費取一枝「魁星筆」，就是大家最熟悉的那種用來塗寫答題紙的2B鉛筆了。那枝筆很好看，亮亮的，但是衹能「具考生身份本人」才能擲筊才能求筆，我衹能拍了張照，把筆又放回去了。 赤嵌樓是在當年荷蘭人的城塞上建造的，叫做「普羅民遮城」，是臺灣信史上的第一個統治政權所在地，好在荷蘭沒說「臺灣自古以來......」，否則，有得麻煩，因為是明朝的官把荷蘭人趕出澎湖並且指引他們去臺灣的。後來，荷蘭人走了，就荒廢了，再後來，在城堡之上建了海神廟、文昌閣，如今說的赤嵌樓，嚴格地說，是城堡遺跡與海神廟、文昌閣的混合體，並沒有單座的樓叫做「赤嵌樓」。 上回說臺南孔廟的時候，說到過文昌閣，中國最大的文昌閣是揚州的文昌閣，但好象已經成為了一個交通路口環島的中心，無法進入，已經起不到福佑學子的功能了。 文昌閣一般供奉文曲帝君和魁星，文曲帝君即是俗稱的文曲星，是主管才華的神，魁星，則是主管寫作也可認為是考試的神。 天文學上，「文曲」是北魁斗第四星天權的古名（抄來的），「魁」即為北斗七星中的第一至四顆星，也稱為「斗魁」（抄來的）；也有一說指「魁，斗之首」，認為魁星只是指北斗中的第一顆星天樞（抄來的）。 我覺得沒人想搞懂天文學的事吧？我們繼續聊民俗中的「魁星」。作為神的魁星，他的形象可不可愛，是一個鬼怪的樣子，他一手執竹筆，象徵點選名額，一手拿着金印，象徵做官，左腿蹺起，謂之「踢斗」，右腳踩鰲頭，以喻獨佔鰲頭（象徵中第）。別看他長得難看，他是保佑讀書人考試成功的神祇。嚴格地說，象我這種人----作家----我是作家我是美食家我不是美食作家，應該拜的是文曲星，而不是魁星。 據說臺南赤嵌樓的魁星很是靈驗，要考試的朋友千萬別忘了拜拜啊----遙拜可能也行吧。 赤嵌樓，有民粹人士主張使用「崁」字，後來，引起學界、政界大辯論大爭鬥，以至於至今哪怕在街上都能看到「赤嵌」「赤崁」隨意混用的寫法。民粹人士可能大家不太暸解，就象上海話吳語正字幫的那些家伙，要把「上海閑語」寫成「上海言話」，把「他」寫成「渠」，把「個」寫成「箇」，甚至還要把「巴西」、「葡萄牙」、「里約熱內盧」寫成「孛瀨齋胡」、「堡都茄」、「遼野肉羅」，這已經不是能簡單使用「偏執」兩字來描述了，個中緣由，恐怕要精神學專業人士來解釋了。 回到蘇州，錢篤笤，大家看出來嗎？「笤」就是「筊」呀，筊也的確做成對剖冬筍狀的，至於「篤」，當然是「厾（扔）」啦。據考證，這玩意，最早是大的蛤蜊殼，裡面可以盛水，所以叫「杯」，有平有凸，正可以用來扔以占卜，這個說法，我很認同。 全臺灣和全閩南幾乎所有的庵觀寺廟都有這兩塊東西，至少在主殿主神的供案上，至少有一樣，多的會很多對，好的筊杯講究供桌上任意兩個拿起來都是成對的，邊緣都是緊合的；也有的地方，是供桌上有尺寸明顯不同的筊杯，方便大家取用。 如果你想體驗一下的話，不必有筊杯，拿兩個一樣的硬幣即可，記得先問神明可不可以哦！

Quality/Quantity - Under construction, so it was free today. I can imagine that this place would be an easy 3 stars if it was not under construction, but to pay to see this?!?! The tree was the highlight for me; see picture. The koi pond was just okay, especially if you do not experience it often. On this trip, we visited many places with koi ponds. Also known for its architectural and artistic significance, its library of dictionaries and documents (which was closed on this visit). Good for classroom student visits; there were 1-2 classrooms of kids touring. In summary, only come if you are really into this type of attraction. Ambiance - Under construction. Restrooms with little to no privacy. Open 7 days a week from 8:30am to 9pm. Yelp hours differ slightly. Service - Self service. Price - Free due to construction, normally $70NT, $2.50US per person. Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since 1653 and with all your history. Dutch outpost.

Beautiful historic building and koi fish ponds. You can buy and feed the koi fish. Unfortunately, one of the bigger building is under renovation but it's still nice to see one of them. Tables and chairs for people to sit and chat by the entrance/exit. They have a souvenir shop and washrooms are pretty clean. In the city so this location closes late compared to the other ones. You can buy tickets individually of a package deal to go to all 4 places

Oh look, it's a neat tower in the middle of a city! On top of being a beautiful piece of architecture with a very nice garden, you can actually pick up a few history lessons. Tainan, being a port city, has some very rich colonial stories. Between Chihkan Tower, Fort Zeelandia, and the Anping area, there are some very cool things to learn. It's a shame my Chinese reading comprehension abilities are below kindergarten levels. Despite not understanding the history very well, a couple things did stand out to me. Chihkan Tower is very well-maintained. While not very tall, it is eye-catchingly colourful and the gardens around it are beautifully kept. There are some super hungry koi out in the garden. You can buy fish food and feed them and if they weren't confined to water, they'd hunt you down. Those guys were aggressive! The artifacts inside are interesting to look at and the second story contains a tribute to the Chinese God of Education. We were lucky to arrive at the same time as a tour guide, who explained the way the god's stones work. You throw two stones to the ground after asking a question and the orientation of the stones tell you the god's answer. Apparently we're really funny because the god just kept laughing at our questions. While the Tower was pretty cool, I didn't find it as memorable as some of my other destinations. The most memorable parts were the fish in the garden and getting mocked by a deity. Either way, if your Chinese is better than mine, I feel like you'd take away a lot more from the visit. (50/100) - 2019

The attraction has two major towers and few gardens and a lot fishes in the pond, entrance fee NT$50 and you could also buy the combo tickets for other attractions.

A pretty place that has kept history in time. There are plenty of pictures to take but mainly of the buildings. There are a lot of tourist around so sometimes walking the staircase can be a tad bit on the scary side because it's old and thin. If your hungry there is a cafe that you can get something to drink at or a 7 11 across the street. If you walk around you can notice a lot of people especially kids walking around touching things and playing around. It's just a tad bit crazy to see that since everything seems so old that maybe it should be more protected. But then again I guess kids can't go and destroy too much. They have a few koi fish ponds around where you can pay money and get fish food so you can feed them. A pretty nice quick stop around this area but it can be all be done within 30 mins or so, so don't put this as an all day event because you should see other things along the way also!

this is a rubbish attraction the only good thing about it is the picture i posted on yelp, that's it and you can see it from the enterance door, if you are an animal lover you might want to keep away as the sight of 100s of fish in a man made fountain that are over grown with no room to move and a clearly gasping for air because there is none in the water, well this may upset you. there is no information in english of the little their is to see here. there literally is nothing, don't waste your time

Historical landmark worth visiting if you also visit the one in Anping and connect all the stories together. Bad things about these locations is that there are very minimal English translations for anything. You can look at the pictures and everything but it's hard to understand what any of it means. They have people that can explain everything to you but they don't know English either. The place is many photo ops and there's a small cafe if you get thirsty. The stair cases are old and worn so be cautious walking up and down them. There are books you can read about the fort that will make it easier if you don't understand Chinese. The 10 'turtle' tablets sitting in the front of the fort date all the way back to the qing dynasty I think. I got one of the tour guides to tell me the story and we ended up going to see the 10th turtle at its new home at a temple a bit further into the city. If you take the time to listen and understand the history, a lot of it is very fascinating. **This place is a fort that used to be surrounded by water. But a massive typhoon hit way back when and it pushed water back and land formed..very cool!

This is not a bad history based tourist venue. It for the most part been re-made with the majority of the grounds and buildings with modern (19-20th century) constructions and materials. The curators of this site clearly shows that in the various informational plaques posted at the numerous points of interest at this place. When I visited, the vast majority of the visitors were groups of primary school aged children. It appeared this is a popular class field trip for the local school. It was fun seeing all the kids in varying state of "control" by their mentors teachers. Good place to stop as you continue your sightseeing around town and towards Anping.