National Taiwan Museum - Nanmen Park Introduction
During the Japanese colonial period, the Government-General of Taiwan established a monopoly on opium in 1897 and subsequently included benzoin (1899), salt (1899), tobacco (1906), and alcohol (1922) in the monopoly business. The "Taiwan Government-General Monopoly Bureau Taipei South Gate Factory" was established in 1899, serving as an important production base for the manufacture and testing of the two major monopolized products: benzoin and opium. In 1901, it was renamed South Gate Factory, and in 1931, it was further renamed Taipei South Gate Factory, making it the only public benzoin processing plant in Taiwan during the Japanese era. After the war, the factory was taken over by the government, and following the 228 Incident in 1947, the monopoly business in Taiwan was reduced to three items: tobacco, alcohol, and benzoin. In 1952, the factory was renamed Taiwan Provincial Benzoin Refinery, and in 1956 it was renamed Taiwan Provincial Benzoin Plant. Benzoin was opened to private ownership in December 1967, leading to the closure of the factory. Today, only the item warehouse (Little White House), the benzoin warehouse (Red House), and the 400-stone water tank remain, with the existing site area less than one-eighth of that during the Japanese colonial period. In 1998, the South Gate Factory was designated as a national historic site by the Ministry of the Interior. Starting in 2004, the National Taiwan Museum, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture (formerly the Cultural Construction Committee of the Executive Yuan), began the Capital Cultural Park project, restructuring and reusing historical spaces in the city as museum spaces. In 2006, the land and buildings of the factory were transferred to the National Taiwan Museum by the National Property Administration, repurposing the historic buildings into exhibition halls and constructing a new storage facility, with renovation and reuse planning designed by the office of architect Jan Yi-Chung. The restoration process of the factory resembled an architectural history dissection, involving collaboration across professional fields such as architectural design, structures, mechanical and electrical equipment, conservation, archaeology, traditional crafts, history, and engineering.
