Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park

The Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park, one of the nation's five major creative cultural parks, is housed in the former Chiayi Winery, located next to Chiayi Railway Station. Because it was Taiwan's earliest distillery to produce sorghum liquor, Chiayi is known as the 'Hometown of Baijiu.' In 1916, the Japanese national Akashi Shotaro established the Taisho Brewery Co., Ltd. Chiayi Factory here. By Taisho 11 (1922), with the implementation of the monopoly system, the factory was expropriated and the Chiayi Factory was subsequently assigned to the Tainan Branch of the Monopoly Bureau. After Taiwan's retrocession, the Nationalist Government continued the monopoly system, and in 1957 (Year 46 of the Republic), it was renamed the 'Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau, Chiayi Branch, Chiayi Winery.' The Chiayi Winery moved to the Minxiong Industrial Park in 1982. After the relocation, a large amount of production machinery and related equipment was left behind, including bottle washing machines, liquor storage tanks, bottle conveyors, chimneys, sorghum storage silos, and weighing scales, all of which are valuable testaments to winemaking culture. Among these, seven buildings have been designated as municipal historical monuments, and the boiler chimney, which once stood 53 meters tall, was one of Chiayi City's early landmarks. The Ministry of Culture undertook restoration and reuse projects, completed in 2013, to transform the site into the Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park. Among the nation's five major creative cultural parks managed by the Ministry of Culture, the Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park is particularly highly anticipated. Because the park is situated in Chiayi City's prime commercial and geographical area, its development within the cultural and historical context positions it as the starting point of Chiayi City's cultural facility belt. Integrating the Chiayi Branch of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau (a municipal historical monument), it connects northward to Chiayi Railway Station (municipal historical monument), the Railway Warehouse Art Village, the Cultural Center, Hinoki Village, the Forestry Club (municipal historical monument), the Alishan Gateway Beimen Station (municipal historical monument), and the Museum of Judicial History (national historical monument), forming a shining string of Chiayi cultural pearls. The Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park is the largest and brightest pearl in this string.