Pingxi Old Street Introduction
Pingxi Old Street has an ancient charm, with traditional houses built along the sloping hills and both sides of the railway. It is also the famous site where the protagonists of the popular Taiwanese film "You Are the Apple of My Eye" released sky lanterns to make wishes. Most of the nearby shops are traditional grocery stores, hardware stores, and snack shops, reflecting the simple daily life of local residents. The classic railway experience includes the unique sound of trains passing over the towering railway bridge above the Old Street, which is a signature environmental sound of Pingxi Old Street. This century-old coal mining town still retains traditional row houses and shops with a Japanese colonial era style, giving the street a subtle Japanese ambiance. Attractions like the Eight Immortals Cave at Guanyin Rock and the air raid shelters from the end of the Japanese occupation period, along with the Peace Bell, are also great places for exploration. Pingxi Old Street offers many popular local Taiwanese snacks, and don’t forget to buy some to taste, as they will surely provide great value for money. The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month has its origins in the Three Kingdoms period, where it was invented by Zhuge Liang for military communication. In the past, the Pingxi area frequently faced mountain bandit attacks, and the sky lanterns served as a signal of safety. In the 1990s, the Pingxi area adopted sky lanterns as a local cultural activity to find a new tourism path, and today, the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in New Taipei City has become an important celebration of the Lantern Festival in Taiwan, often referred to as "Northern Sky Lanterns, Southern Firecrackers," and has frequently appeared in international media, becoming the most representative festival event in New Taipei City.
