De Xing Ju (Oli Cultural Coffee) Introduction
Built in 1926, De Xing Ju is a street house in the form of a Western-style building, featuring Baroque-style red brick architecture. The columns have simplified Greek-style column heads, and the intricate decorations incorporate traditional wooden motifs. Floral and auspicious designs blend both Eastern and Western styles. The decorative ceramic tiles are rich in color, and the materials used for the facade and interior are quite exquisite; at that time, it is unlikely that anyone could rival its grandeur. On Sheng-Keng Old Street, "De Xing Ju" is operated by Huang De-Long, a descendant of the Huang Chong-Shu lineage, who managed a grocery store and coal mines. It is said that Huang De-Long dreamed of Lü Dongbin indicating him to go to Jiufen to mine for gold while at Zhinan Temple, which led him to become extremely wealthy on Sheng-Keng Street. In return, he donated to the Fude Temple and Qixing Pond at Zhinan Temple, and in the first year of the Showa era (1926), he constructed a three-story Western-style street house named "De Xing Ju," which became the most luxurious Western-style building on Sheng-Keng Street during the Japanese occupation period and is currently a representative structure of Sheng-Keng Old Street; this is the legendary story behind De Xing Ju.
