KMT) government took control of the island. Losing the civil war against the Chinese Communist Party forced the KMT and its followers to relocate to Taiwan. With the financial and, later, military aid from the United States, it began to reconstruct the local economy and consolidate its rule as the Republic of China. 6 Tight state planning coupled with land reforms and an educated labor force allowed Taiwan to develop rapidly into a strong economic presence in East Asia. Taiwan’s strong economic growth beginning in the mid-1960s and up through the 1980s was lauded as a “miracle” and a model success story for other developing countries. In the new regime’s export-oriented economic design, Kaohsiung continued to be a transportation base, and it grew into an industrial center. With a population of 1.7 million, Kaohsiung is now the second largest city in Taiwan, second only to the capital city of Taipei, and its harbor is one of the largest container ports in the world. 7
Cold War politics brought more than American military presence to Kaohsiung. During the Korean War (1950–1953), the United States sent military advisors to assist in the training of Taiwanese armed forces and established bases and residences in all major military bases in Taiwan. The island also served as a vacationing spot and a midway station for American troops during the Vietnam War (1959–1975). In Kaohsiung’s waterfront Yancheng District, a marketplace by the name of Kujiang (pronounced
horie
in Japanese), originally established during the Japanese colonial period, began to flourish in the 1950s. Located near an American military base, it became a place where soldiers, sailors, and local merchants traded goods. 8 Part black market and part legitimate business, Kujiang became known for the itinerate traders who “ran a solo gang” (
pao danbang
) by shuttling between Taiwan and elsewhere to bring in shipped goods (
shuihuo
, literally “water cargo”). 9 Associations with Japanese colonial history, adventurous traders, American soldiers, and the abundance of foreign goods all gave Kujiang a cosmopolitan character and an indomitable spirit associated with entrepreneurial initiative.This good fortune, however, was short lived. A number of events soon brought about Kujiang’s decline. The abolition of restrictions on international travel in 1979 allowing Taiwanese to travel abroad in search of more cosmopolitan shopping places, the severance of the diplomatic relationship between Taiwan and the United States in the same year, and the construction of the Datong Department Store were all contributing factors.
In 1975, the Datong Department Store located at the northeast corner of Chung-shan Road and Wu-fu Road opened for business. Emulating the model of Japanese department stores, which combined shopping and entertainment, Datong quickly became a famous local attraction and made the surrounding area the new shopping destination in Kaohsiung. The Oscar Movie Theater, showing primarily foreign films, and the fast-food outlets that came into the area in the late 1980s further augmented the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the newer commercial district. In 1988, a group of real estate developers bought a piece of land on Wen-heng 167 Alley near the department store and converted a few apartment buildings into a shopping center named New Kujiang Shopping Mall (NKSM hereafter). 10 In adopting the name “Kujiang,” the developers connected this shopping center to the older marketplace by drawing on its cosmopolitan image, which was still vivid in local memory. Bringing together the exotic image of old Kujiang with the novel modernity of the Datong Department Store, they created a shopping mall that would be recognized by increasing numbers of upscale consumers as cosmopolitan, daring, modern, and unique, combined with a tinge of nostalgia for the energetic free spirit of the old Kujiang.
From the very beginning, NKSM was carefully planned and centrally
Cold War politics brought more than American military presence to Kaohsiung. During the Korean War (1950–1953), the United States sent military advisors to assist in the training of Taiwanese armed forces and established bases and residences in all major military bases in Taiwan. The island also served as a vacationing spot and a midway station for American troops during the Vietnam War (1959–1975). In Kaohsiung’s waterfront Yancheng District, a marketplace by the name of Kujiang (pronounced
horie
in Japanese), originally established during the Japanese colonial period, began to flourish in the 1950s. Located near an American military base, it became a place where soldiers, sailors, and local merchants traded goods. 8 Part black market and part legitimate business, Kujiang became known for the itinerate traders who “ran a solo gang” (
pao danbang
) by shuttling between Taiwan and elsewhere to bring in shipped goods (
shuihuo
, literally “water cargo”). 9 Associations with Japanese colonial history, adventurous traders, American soldiers, and the abundance of foreign goods all gave Kujiang a cosmopolitan character and an indomitable spirit associated with entrepreneurial initiative.This good fortune, however, was short lived. A number of events soon brought about Kujiang’s decline. The abolition of restrictions on international travel in 1979 allowing Taiwanese to travel abroad in search of more cosmopolitan shopping places, the severance of the diplomatic relationship between Taiwan and the United States in the same year, and the construction of the Datong Department Store were all contributing factors.
In 1975, the Datong Department Store located at the northeast corner of Chung-shan Road and Wu-fu Road opened for business. Emulating the model of Japanese department stores, which combined shopping and entertainment, Datong quickly became a famous local attraction and made the surrounding area the new shopping destination in Kaohsiung. The Oscar Movie Theater, showing primarily foreign films, and the fast-food outlets that came into the area in the late 1980s further augmented the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the newer commercial district. In 1988, a group of real estate developers bought a piece of land on Wen-heng 167 Alley near the department store and converted a few apartment buildings into a shopping center named New Kujiang Shopping Mall (NKSM hereafter). 10 In adopting the name “Kujiang,” the developers connected this shopping center to the older marketplace by drawing on its cosmopolitan image, which was still vivid in local memory. Bringing together the exotic image of old Kujiang with the novel modernity of the Datong Department Store, they created a shopping mall that would be recognized by increasing numbers of upscale consumers as cosmopolitan, daring, modern, and unique, combined with a tinge of nostalgia for the energetic free spirit of the old Kujiang.
From the very beginning, NKSM was carefully planned and centrally
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