The Streets of Chuanghua

In 1906, Chuanghua (Shōka) began an official program to improve streets throughout the city. Several years later, the streets had many European-styled buildings, with store signs on both sides of the street advertising Western clothing (suits), medicine, cloth, etc. Inside the stores both goods produced in Taiwan and those imported from abroad were available for purchase. In 1935, the Taiwan Exposition brought with it radio broadcasts. The Japanese government strongly encouraged the technology, and so transmission towers began appearing on streets. Toward the end of the 1930s, we see three charming ladies on a clear afternoon shopping hand-in-hand. Their swaying gait would have attracted the gaze of passersby. During this age of innocence, they needn’t nervously weave their way through traffic; rather, all they would need pay attention to was if any young men were standing on the covered walkways with their bicycles and gazing at them with admiration.