Chiayi Creative Industry Park Introduction
One of the five major creative cultural parks in Taiwan, the Chiayi Old Winery is located next to the Chiayi Railway Station. It is known as the birthplace of sorghum liquor in Taiwan, earning Chiayi the title of "Hometown of Baijiu." In 1916, Japanese businessman Akashi Shōtarō established the Taisho Brewery Co., Ltd. Chiayi Factory here. By the 11th year of Taisho (1922), due to the implementation of a monopoly system, the factory was requisitioned and placed under the Tainan branch of the Monopoly Bureau. After Taiwan's restoration, the Nationalist government continued the monopoly system, and in the 46th year of the Republic of China, it was renamed the "Taiwan Provincial Tobacco and Liquor Bureau Chiayi Branch Chiayi Winery." The Chiayi Winery relocated to the Minxiong Industrial Zone in 1982. After the relocation, it left behind a wealth of production tools and related equipment, including bottle washers, storage barrels, bottle conveyors, chimneys, sorghum storage bins, and weighing instruments, all precious witnesses to the winemaking culture. Among them, seven buildings have been designated as municipal historic sites, and the once 53-meter tall boiler chimney was an early landmark of Chiayi City. The Ministry of Culture carried out restoration and reuse projects, completed in 2013, and it was planned as the Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industry Park. Among the five major creative cultural parks in the nation, the Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industry Park is the one with the most expectations. Located in the commercial and geographical heart of Chiayi City, it can be considered the starting point of the cultural facilities belt of Chiayi City in the context of cultural and historical development, connecting the Tobacco and Liquor Bureau Chiayi Branch (municipal historic site) to the north with the Chiayi Railway Station (municipal historic site), the Railway Warehouse Art Village, the Cultural Center, the Hinoki Village, the Forestry Club (municipal historic site), the Alishan Entrance Gateway Beimen Station (municipal historic site), and the Prison Museum (national historic site), forming a shining cultural pearl of Chiayi, with the Chiayi Creative Cultural Industry Park being the largest and the brightest one among them.
