1. Rediscover History and the Emergence of Pattern
Located on the west of Taiwan's prefecture city of Tainan, the Five-Cove Historic Area has been an important place of trading between Taiwan and the outside world since Qing Dynasty. In the early development period, residents discovered a submerged sea channel, reclaimed the land to build the city, which expanded for twenty to thirty years westward, and became five main water channels running from East to West. From the Qianlong Emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty, the Five-Cove entered a period of prosperous trading and the city streets were exceptionally noisy with hustle and bustle. This area externally connected to the out port of Lu-ehr-men and has a direct connection straight to Main Street of the prefecture city. It was where the guilds gathered and where goods of farm produce were collected and distributed. It was also densely populated; the streets were crammed and the area remained prosperous towards the end of Dauguang period of the Qing Dynasty.

Based on the examination of restored land surveys and literature, it is possible to roughly describe how the historic area was mainly divided. From North to South were: Sin-gang-cian Gang, Fo-tou Gang, Nan-shih Gang, Nan-he Gang, An-hai Gang. (Picture 1) For economical, religious and political purposes, these places became visually intertwined and exchange amongst each other freely, and a system of finance was based primarily on the trade guilds, with coolies as the main method of goods delivery, and creating a streetscape built primarily to facilitate the transportation of trade. Amongst that were the transportation of goods from or headed for China, being loaded or unloaded at the harbour side, rowed ashore on boats and stored on the mezzanine level in the shop houses. (Picture 2)

After the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, the expansion of the Five-Cove shop houses slowed down and into the days of Japanese occupation, with the opening of the new river canal and due to changes in the city planning. After the War, serious damages were inflicted on the visual appearance of the city. Nevertheless, the historical legacy of the Five-Cove remains profoundly clear as ever, along with many aspects of lifestyles of their times, and waiting to be rediscovered and for the familiar forms to reappear.

2. Various Approaches of Space Rebuilding
This refers to achieving the same goal by taking different approaches, which includes "awakening of memory", "rebirth of space" and "recognizing of form", all striving towards the common goal to recreate the Five-Cove Historic Area.

2.1 Awakening of Memory
How to connect the past with the present, became the principal theme in the rediscovering process. From 1994, historians who have focused on this area and the area locals progressively initiated a series of activities, including "Tour of Five-Cove Ceremony" of 1994, "The Tainan Canal 70 Years of Remembrance "of 1996, "The Fo-tou Harbour Cultural Festival" of 1997, "West Side Story" of 1998 as well as "Hai An Road Remembrance" of 1999. The goal of these activities was to brush away the dust on the existing hidden historical places and present them to the people one by one, to reawaken their memories and to reconnect to the past.

Although it is a preliminary trial, it arouses attention of public sectors, and the quest slowly display the original valuable position it so deserves on the map of the Tainan city history's place and time.

2.2 The Rebirth of Place
Due to environmental influences of the Five-Cove in the last 5 years, today's Shen-nong street shop houses run on the original strip of land between the original Nan-shih and Fo-tou cove (previously known as Bei-Shih street"), creating a long and narrow street and excluding a small number of completely renovated residential housing, the majority of the shop houses still maintain their original external appearances, offering a special skyline and streetscape. (Picture 3-4) Based on this, the government and area conservations initiated a movement to promote the rebirth of the places in this central area with the "The Renovation of Shen-nong Street, Tainan", with the plan divided into 3 main phases: (1) The first project phase includes the rebuilding exterior and roofs of 6 traditional shop houses and the reorganization of historical evolution in 1999 (2) The second project phase with the rebuilding of exterior and roofs of 6 traditional shop houses and the eastern section of Shen-nong's (Hai-an and Kang-Le Streets) streetscape in 2002 (3) The third project phase that includes the Western section of Shen-Nong street's (Kang-le and Jin-hua streets) streetscape and the emergency rescue and restoration of the Jin-Hua government building. (Picture 5-10)

This plan not only includes the design of the street furniture and re-facing of the shop fronts, what became most important is the investing of large sums by the public sectors to renovate privately owned shop houses. This project was based on the thinking that facades and roofs are the most important elements to control qualities of public landscape, and the only condition was that the shop house owner is not allowed to change the exterior or the roof of the building for a period of time. This experience is expected to be applied to other parts of Five-Cove o Historic area.

2.3 Recognizing the Form
The 2002 "Planning of Community Empowering in Five-Cove, Tainan竑 Case on Bei-shih Neighborhood" involved the participation of residents in discussions on area developments to build future development concepts. At the same time, this brought the residents closer together on area development issues. In addition, the annually held Five-Cove Festival activities provided the opportunity for group collaboration and the fostering of mutual views. In 2003 the local residents and area conservationists officially established the "Five-Cove Development Imitative Forum", leaving behind concepts such as "Restoration methods of cultural preservation" and working towards concepts such as "Focus on rebirth of new smart living cultures", facilitating studies on historical areas, recreation, protection methods and establishing an structure to include historical change, space patterns and traditional industries such as the "Five-Cove Historic Area Heritage and Environmental Museum" (Graphic 1)

2.4 Creating a New Place Weaved with Reality and the Imagined.
The presence of reality tends to complement precious imagination. To date, the Five-Cove Historic area building plan has achieved few results and may even seem fragmentary. This kind of project is quite different from "Cultural Park" with well-defined parameters and generous budgets, and instead should be enriched by the weaving of fragment. Recently, different area groups and local residents at different levels have continued building works, facilitating the creation of a place where the present reality and the imagination are exchanged. As for the right and wrong, pros and cons, good or bad of these building works, it takes time to reveal and cannot be hurried along. Just like how this area's extraordinariness has always concealed in its midst, it is not only of the place, it is also of the time and also of the historical.         [Translated by Evi]

Fig. 1  Harbor Course Distribution of Wu-tiao Gang (five-river area) in the Ching Dynasty
Fig. 2  The Relationship among Cargo Transportation, Streets, and Harbor
Fig. 3  The Traditional Row Houses on Shen-nong Street
Fig. 4  The Facades of Row Houses on Shen-nong Street
Fig. 5  The Process of the Renovation on Shen-nong Street-Roof Repair
Fig. 6  The Result of the Renovation on Shen-nong Street- Roofs of Row Houses
Fig. 7  The Result of the Renovation on Shen-nong Street-the Streetscape
Fig. 8  The Streetscape of Shen-nong Street before Space Reformation
Fig. 9  The Discussion Process of the Community Development
Fig.10  The seventh full moon festival on Shen-nong Street

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