The Garden House of Li Kwoh-Ting, A Minister for Taiwan in the Age of Four Asian Tigers【李國鼎故居的日本到民國年代的民居風貌】

The House of Li Kwoh-Ting, A Minister for Taiwan in the Age of Four Asian Tigers 李國鼎故居

     Located in a green and quiet neighborhood at the heart of Taipei and surrounded by prestigious academic institutions of the country, this Japanese period style of wooden cottage has stood here since 1935 and served the most important minister Li Kwoh-Ting(李國鼎) of the new nation for nearly 40 years in lifting Taiwan economically and technologically among the Four Asian Tigers since 1980s. After his sudden past away in 2001, the house was immediately kept in time capsule as if it was still in a function of how he carried out the state duty at his time. Enormous amount of his readings and piles of his paperworks can still be seen in every corner of the house getting the sunshine lit through the green garden where his lady worked gardening as a past time. The entire garden and house was listed as a city's residential heritage for Taipei since 2003. 

     This neighborhood used to house the residential blocks for the higher ranked officials and academic staff working inside the former walled city of Taipei when Japan took over Formosa between 1895 and 1945. The house in particular was formerly the arranged accommodation for officers and staff in the Department of Message(遞信部) under the Ministry of Communication for the Governor General of Formosa(台灣總督府) by the Imperial Japan. The original Japanese address was No 150-2, Saiwaichō(さいわいちょう), Taihoku (臺北市幸町150-3番地). 

     Within this Saiwaichō quarter/borough during Japanese Administration period, it housed the Central Academics(中央研究院), A District Council out of the city wall, Taipei College of Commerce, Taipei College of Advanced Commerce now later Imperial Taihoku University, Second Girl and Boy High School of Taipei, and Saiwaichō Church and all in a stone thrown away distance (see figure 2 & 3) from the Taipei walled city divided by the trees lined avenue grown from the East City Gate (東門). This neighborhood only started to be developed since early 1920s when the old stone city walls were gradually taken down and formed a new modern modeled city from Europe. 

    The new quarters out of city walls were paved and expanded by the city planner from Japanese governors. This is also one of the earliest purpose built residential neighborhoods east of the Taipei walled city at the start of the 20th century when other city wall enclosing neighborhoods were mostly filled. Within the development between 1935 to 1944, the quarter had been nicknamed as the high ranked governing class as well as academic class neighborhood. 

Figure 2: Quarter, or Borough, Arrondissement of the Saiwaichō(幸町) during pre-World War II of Taipei in the map of 1939 for urban planning for greater Taipei, marked with blue dotted line. The house is shown with a blue dot, right in the center of the ranked class quarter, direct out of Taipei walled city.

Figure 3: Saiwaichō borough in the illustrative map of Bird's Eye View of Taihoku(Taipei) (大台北鳥瞰圖) in 1935. The blue arrow indicates the house for Li Kwoh-Ting and the newly developed neighborhood for the higher ranked class for Department of Message under the Japanese government in Taiwan.


The Li's house was originally one of the eight Japanese style of cottages within a rectangle block(yellow square of figure 4). In the postwar redevelopment, this is one of the two still survive to these days as it has been the residence for the minister for nearly four decades. 

Figure 4: The house of Li marked in yellow dot square, among the eight same style houses built within a block. Li's residence is the one of the two which survive to these days bearing original features as a Japanese period cottage.



The house was completed in 1935 (Showa 昭和 year 12) and from 1937 to 1944, the house had been the major accommodation for three deputies(水昇, 三輪幸助, 佐佐波外七) of the Department of Messages for the Japanese's Formosa government. After the war ended in 1945 and Japan government had left, a re-arrangement of those residential blocks took place and re-purposed for new class of higher ranked governmental staff for Nationalist's Republic of China coming to Taiwan. 

Prior to 1972, this house had been the residence of the predecessor Minister of Treasury Chen Han-Pin(陳漢平) during 1954-1972. To provide daily life style for people coming from Chinese background, some necessary re-arrangement of the interior fitting, partition, and furniture can happen within that 17 years. Particularly the way of Japanese dinning table and bedding had been altered for Chinese from continent. Typical Japanese tatami mats and paper sliding doors were gone leaving only the exterior a taste of former Japanese residential culture.



Li-Kwoh-Ting 李國鼎

Li-Kwoh Ting is the successor resident of the state owned house when Chen Han-Pin became the head of Central Trust Bureau during 1971.  Li became a government staff since 1948 although he had been in the various positions for the state own enterprise, the Taiwan Ship Building company (台灣造船公司), and had another accommodation in the vicinity closer to his reporting manager. He got promoted as the Minister of Economics Development in 1965 driving many pioneering state industrial projects. When he eventually got a new accommodation when Minister Chen moved out, his wife and two of his child also moved in with him and had stayed until year 2000.

Li is one of the leading academic professionals in Taiwan from those coming from the break-out of the Chinese Civic Wars of Communist and Nationalist in 1949. He was born in 1910 in Nanjing and had got a degree from Department of Physics of Central University in pre-war China. He received a scholarship from Cambridge University and came to England for an advanced study. Due to the war China with Japan in 1937, he then returned to China. Although what Li's reputation in Taiwan was primarily Industrial and Economics Development, he actually had also been recognized for his contributions in physics. 

Figure 5: The Li Kwoh-Ting and his wife Madame Soong

Since 1965, Li had successively taken the roles of the Minister of Treasury, and Minister of Economic Affairs laying down significant development of Taiwan in the post war. He was considered as the next cabinet in 1976 by President Chiang the Second (蔣經國, Chiang Ching-Kuo, the son of Chiang Kai Shek) but the a sudden heart disease sent to hospital, he did not manage to step into another high at career ladder as the second person after the president. Instead he accepted the role of the Minister of State(政務委員), an administrative committee member assisting the cabinet and the president until his later years. In this incident, he also changed his faith to Christianity which can be found in his house.

Li's key influence and contribution of the Taiwan remain until these days although everyone gave him a tribute for lifting Taiwan's position among the Four Asian Tigers since 1980s. Another modern day known contribution is how he had transformed Taiwan's economics into High Tech, by bringing the establishment of first Science Park in East Asia, the Hsinchu Science Park, where giants of Taiwan semiconductor manufacturer TSMC was born.




Architecture Tour of the Garden House

This house, though first built during Japanese Administration Period with designs for Japanese life style and traditions, has evolved to suite for residential demands from different cultures in the post war. The exterior remains a high level of consistency to the original built in 1935 though an extension of a wing to provide more space for necessary staff and access. As this house underwent residencies of various owners and still kept in use for 7 decades, it is still in good condition for exploring cross period features in the down town core of the Taipei as most of the nearby Japanese period houses were badly discontinued for use after year 2000 and dereliction and re-built have left little remains of the context of the residential history of the neighborhood. 

The following photos are a walk-in tour to the major building features and life styles of the master of the house.

 Porch Entrance of the house, flanking by doors painted with light blue colour and typical 1930s Japanese period Art-Deco round windows.

 

 Two grand windows at the right hand side(above) and one window at the left hand side (below) leaving the layout of the house not symmetrical as a typical design of Japanese houses as to reference the layout design of Katsura Imperial Villa House (桂離宮, かつらりきゅう) in Kyoto Japan that the staircase shape like layout, formed by section of "L", of the house was built to grow in a particular direction to favor interaction of the nature.

An illustration of the exhibition hall demonstrates the cottage is painted in dark Green, a typical colour in the cold war period of Taiwan for ranked residence to prevent potential bombing identification from above.

The extended porch of the house are supported with couple pillars at both end. The pillars are made of nicely carved details of western art-deco which were not found in typical Japanese cottage.

Figure 10: The roof shingle has a motif of daisy flower, quite a typical motif seen in Japanese old timber houses even in mainland Japan. The residential houses built during Japanese Administration period in Taiwan are not necessary in the traditional style of Japan but the black shingles are the majority. The house might have undergone some refurbishment and replacement of material after it was first built in mid 1930s, the black shingle still remains a typical material until more recently although they were not necessary the original ones.

Dual views window of the house. The dual views at the corner of the timber cottage of the period houses built during Japanese Administration of Taiwan is a unique feature found only in Taiwan and not seen in mainland Japan. Like the concept of the English Bay Window, it is designed to receive more light and allow residences to see through the garden of the house from inside.

When the house were first built, there was no iron-window to cover the entire window. The iron window out of the window were mostly installed in 1960s of Taiwan when it was getting popular as a protection from theft breaking window to the neighborhood. Some of the glass of the windows had typical 1950s motif glass which it cannot be seen through.

Half timber and half brick surfaced by washed stone exterior. Typical houses in Japanese Administration period have raised floor to isolate the water to the main building to prevent damage cased by flooding as Taiwan is rather in high humidity and insects are grown to eat up most of the timber materials of houses. The raised ground like platform has a 45 degree cut section at the top of the washed stones and brick wall leaving the adjacent timber walls(雨淋板) above not been affected by the dampen wall. The hole in the lower brick wall is for ventilation of the moist under the floor.

The front garden of the house. In the left hand side under the two windows, there lies a row of the bonsai area installed probably when Li moved in 1972 as his wife loved the gardening. The dark green slab paved walls of the bonsai area and stone walkway pavement in front of the house are typically seen in 1970s and also can be seen through out the public buildings constructed during the 1960s-1980s in Taiwan, a more post war Chinese-modernism feature.

The rear side of the house has a mini garden. The white washed stone wall wing was actually a post-war addition, likely during 1960s-1980s, to original residential house design in 1935. Without this wing, the overall layout would probably recall what is seen in L shape of Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. There is a pine tree (肯氏南洋杉) planted in the post war now an outstanding feature of the garden, now a protected old tree under the Taipei cultural authority.

The mini courtyard garden as enclosed by two wings. The ground of the garden might have underwent changes through later use in the post war.

The roof Japanese shingles after recent refurbishment were taken down and displayed aside to the garden of the houses. Noticed that the entire house is raised 60-80 cm above the ground.

This wing of the house at the rear side of the house is the original 1935 piece with above wall made in timber and dual views window.

The rear of the Li house with a sizable garden

Another way out(yellow door) with a staircase of the house in the right hand side of the building suggests that original kitchen might be out of the house during the Japanese Administration period.


Inside the House
The inside of the house bears little Japanese building remains of what it was first built in 1935 as a result of the successive new owners coming from China. A major interior refit is the the inclusion of western layout, taken away tatami floor, installation of western doors from original paper sliding wooden door and westernized furniture coming to serve the the residents during 1970s-1980s.

It is lucky that the volunteer allowed me to take some of the photos from inside. Taking an exploration of the interior is a throw-back in time of 1970s-1990s of Taiwan.

The living space with sofa that provides state meetings of the time during 1980-2000s.

The TV of the postwar time. The looks like a place belongs to original altar of a typical Japanese residential cottage. The photo frame hung above shows the former mayor of Taipei Lin Yang Kang(林洋港)

Chinese style round dining table which is the core of their family life. 

The bedroom of the Li and his wife. Similar to what is seen in Jiang's cottage in Taipei Grass Mountain, to single beds merged into one large bed. 

The Li and his family had a faith conversion into Christianity after a dreadful sickness event in 1976. The faith is hung against the wall of the dinning space and elsewhere in the study area.

The world clock with 26 time zones, the collection of Li when he had several state visits to other countries. 

The display of briefcase which Li had used for nearly 30 years and brought along when he had state visits. This a bag he received from Asian Institute of Management.

The desk of Madame Soon, Li's wife. The framed pressed leaf plate is heard made by her.

The desktop calendar stays at the day when Li Kwoh Ting was sent to hospital and never came back.

The match boxes and designs collected from Li's Business tours around the world. He has such a collection for his beloved son.



Opening Hours:
The house is currently maintained by the volunteers. Open daily from Tuesday to Saterday from 10:00 to 16:00. Walking to the gardens is Free and additional tariff NT$50 is payable when enter to the house, with the companion by the volunteers. 
English and Group based guided tour is made with an early booking. 



Reference and more readings:
1. 李國鼎虛擬故居 ONLINE  http://online.ktli.org.tw/dm.php, accessed in Jan of 2020.

2. 財政部財政史料陳列室: http://museum.mof.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=3782&ctNode=33&mp=1,  accessed in Jan of 2020.

3. 台灣科技教父--李國鼎, https://www.ithome.com.tw/node/12970?fbclid=IwAR3x3mJCKGBFWarHqavQ5vdwAex7yDQ-amutkUOGYNjQhNJbQvQh7WWS5GE accessed in Jan of 2020.