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Changhua is the seat of Changhua County in west-central Taiwan and, with about 220,000 people, the most populous town in the county and Taiwan's second largest county-administered city. It lies at the foot of Bagua Mountain and forms part of the Taichung-Changhua metropolitan area, the second largest in Taiwan.
The Babuza people lived here for centuries, and the old name Banxian comes from one of their villages. Koxinga's general Liu Guo-xuan garrisoned troops here in 1666, Han settlers followed, and Changhua County was created in 1723. Officials planted bamboo around the town as a defence, giving it the nickname Bamboo Town, and until Taichung grew it was the political and economic centre of central Taiwan.
Visitors climb Bagua Mountain to the Great Buddha for the view over the city, then walk down to a ring of Qing temples, the Confucian Temple of 1726 and Taiwan's last working railway roundhouse. Changhua is also known for bawan, the stuffed dumplings first made in the county, and its Cat Mouse noodles.
Completed in 1961 on the slope of Bagua Mountain, this seated Shakyamuni Buddha of reinforced concrete sits on a lotus base 4 metres high and was modelled on the great Buddhas of Kamakura and Nara. Guarded by a pair of lions, it has six levels inside with statues and displays.
Bagua Mountain, only 97 m high, has long been counted the first of the Eight Views of Changhua and is part of the Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area. Around the Great Buddha are a park for anti-Japanese martyrs, trails, and a visitor centre devoted to the grey-faced buzzards that pass each spring.
Opened in November 2014 as Taiwan's seventh public art museum, this eight-storey building stands at the foot of Bagua Mountain. Its slanting steel columns branch like trees, inspired by the bamboo of the hill and old lattice windows, and it won a national award for its design.
Built in 1929 and finished in 1930, this hall of hinoki cypress was built for the Japanese martial arts society and became a martyrs' shrine after the war. Restored in 2004 and 2005 and listed as a county monument in 2007, it has housed a restaurant since 2018.
Built in 1726 and renovated in 1830, this Confucian temple once also held the county school, though only its central buildings survive. A first-grade national historic site, it has two columns of white Quanzhou stone and a tablet to Confucius with inscriptions by the Qianlong Emperor.
Founded in 1724 by Tan Jing-zheng, the first magistrate of Changhua, this Guanyin temple is known as the first temple of Changhua. Burned and rebuilt several times, it was badly damaged in the 1999 earthquake and restored by 2012, and it keeps plaques dating back to 1774.
Founded around the 1730s outside the south gate of the walled town, this busy Mazu temple is known locally as Changhua Ma. Its pilgrimages to Bengang are recorded from 1814, earning it the name of the pioneer of Taiwan's pilgrim groups, and its halls stretch about 86 metres back.
Built in 1763, this was the first temple in Taiwan to worship the Jade Emperor, the supreme god of the Taoist heavens. It keeps the architectural style of the early Qing era, and a renovation in 1887 added a grand theatre stage for performances held in honour of the gods.
Founded in 1735 by the county magistrate Qin Shi-wang inside the south gate of the walled town, this temple honours Guan Yu, the god of loyalty and war. A fire in February 2017 destroyed its rear hall, and after rebuilding the gods were returned to the temple in October 2018.
Known as the Changhua Holy King Temple, Weihui Temple honours Chen Yuan-guang, the Sacred King who opened up Zhangzhou, and was built in 1733 by order of the Yongzheng Emperor. Damaged when rebels sacked the walled town in 1795, it was restored by local people in 1807 and is a national monument.
Approved in 1887 and completed in 1888, this is the only standalone shrine in Taiwan honouring chaste widows and filial wives, with hundreds of women from central Taiwan named here. Threatened by road works, it was rebuilt in Changhua Park in 1923 and is a county monument.
This arts centre in an old public hall holds a small theatre, a lecture hall and an art gallery. In its grounds is the Ang-mo Well, about 300 years old, said to be the last surviving well of several dug by the Dutch, which is why it carries the old Taiwanese name for red-haired foreigners.
Built in 1922 just north of the station, this is the only railway roundhouse left in Taiwan, with twelve stalls fanning out around a turntable. Still used to service locomotives, it is a national monument, and visitors can enter for free to see historic steam engines on display.
Built in 1937 and 1938 as a grand restaurant, this asymmetric modernist building shaped like a ship hosted gatherings of the writer Lai Ho and the doctor Tu Tsung-ming. It later served as a railway hospital until 1984, and after a campaign to save it was restored in 2018.
These translucent dumplings of sweet potato starch with a savoury filling are said to have been first made in Beidou in Changhua County in 1898, as food for flood relief. They are first steamed, then may be deep-fried or gently warmed in oil, and are served with a sweet and savoury sauce.
This famous noodle soup has been served for over 80 years since Chen Mu-rong, nicknamed Mouse for his small and quick build, began selling it. Soft flat noodles are topped with a rich broth of fried pork, scallions, soy sauce and dried flatfish simmered with clam stock.
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