Shui Nan Dong Visitor Center - Mountain Town Museum Introduction
The Lian Dong community in Shui Nan Dong was a dormitory complex planned and built by the Japanese during the mining era. The houses are neatly arranged and feature a complete water supply system, fire-fighting equipment, a post office, a police station, a hospital, and a supply association, providing comprehensive living amenities. Currently, the miner settlement in Lian Dong community remains intact; at that time, dormitories were allocated based on job levels. The supervisors' dormitories were built in a format of one building with two households, while row-type buildings were provided for the families of general workers, with four or six households aligned and built together. The community includes facilities such as restaurants, bathhouses, and sports fields. The old restaurant of the Taiwan Power Company is a one-story reinforced concrete building. According to a "Water Supply Pipeline Plan for Shui Nan Dong Area" left by the Tai Jin Company, this building was originally a hospital. It has undergone renovations and is currently rented by the Ruifang District Office for use as a community activity center, aiming to establish Lian Dong as a genuine emerging tourist attraction. The New Taipei City Tourism Bureau chose this location to set up a tourist service center to enhance the tourism services in Lian Dong. The location of the tourist service center is the former community restaurant, while the cultural and artistic performance center is the former theater, which regularly screened movies and was a major form of entertainment for residents at that time. Therefore, the architectural concept of this tourist service center emulates the imagery of the Thirteen Levels site, with structural reinforcement and exterior renovation of the old restaurant. After the renovation, it became the first tourist service center in the country to integrate cultural and artistic performances, creating added value and differentiation in tourism services.
