Wufenpu

Wufenpu (zh-tspw|t=五分埔|s=五分埔|p=Wǔfēnpǔ̄|w=Wu³-fen¹-p'u³; Taiwanese: Gō͘-hun-po͘) is an area in the Hsinyi District of Taipei City, Taiwan. It locates at the foothill of “Sishoushan” (四獸山, “Mountains of the four beasts,”) and includes all five neighborhoods in Sec. 5 of ZhongXiao E. Rd., east to Songren Rd., and Zhongpo N. Rd. During the Chinese Qing Dynasty, is was the land of the “Malixikou” ( a Taiwanese aboriginal tribe.) In 1769, five families from Fuken Province, China bought this place from the Malixikou, that was how it got its name, (for “Wu-fen-pu” means “divide the land by five”). Most soil in this area was too poor to farm; in addition, there were mental hospitals and pig farms built in this place, and therefore it was thought to be the wasteland of the ignobility.

History of Development

Wufenpu was mainly in the countryside until 13 years after World War II. In 1958, there was a typhoon that caused a major flood in Taiwan, called “the Flood of Aug. 7.” Taipei City was almost under water. To settle those veterans who were living in the back neighborhood of Taipei Train Station, Taiwan Province Government donated an area in Wufenpu, and the Ministry of National Defense helped to construct 1,200 one-and-a-half-story temporary homes for the veterans.

In 1960s, many people from FangYuan (芳苑, a town in Chang-Hua County, Central Taiwan) noticed that it was easier to make a living in Taipei and came to rent houses from the veterans. They used the first floor as a pret-a-porter (ready-made clothes) shop and the second story as their houses and the tailoring place. After a few years, the veterans all sold their houses to these inhabitants from FangYuan and many newcomers, and as of today Wufenpu is still a special pret-a-porter wholesale hub for clothes retailers in Taipei.