三峽玩家yosiko tour，三峽老街，祖師廟，藍染，三峽美食

San-Hsia Town , Taipei County  

San-Hsia is a town about 30 kilometers southwest of Taipei City .  The old street is about 260 meters long, S type along the riverside.  In 1755 because of the convenience of irrigation and land fertility, most started their farms along riversides, and as such the earliest stages of San-Hsia’s development was along the Dahan, Heng and San-Hsia Rivers. From there, development gradually moved inland toward the mountains.

Now walking along San-Hsia's Old Street just like walk back to the good old days. The arched red brick hallways, the traditional architecture, the beams, columns and ancient wooden plaque, the squat maiden's walls and the figure carvings upon the buildings are all very unique.

The Old Street was San-Hsia's commercial center in the past. All the stores and alleys here, dating back to the time of Japan's colonial occupation of Taiwan,1895 the whole street was burned during the fight against Japan’s war was failed,1920 the new street reconstruction by town chief of dai-shei-liang-tai-liang (Japanese) was built till now still in good condition.

During the time of San-Hsia's heyday, Old Street was lined with shops that sold dyes, especially blue-dyed cloth manufacturing materials (1822 the Dai-Ching plant was planned in here) and tea and camphor and juniper .

The characters carved upon the buildings showed the first and last names of the occupants, or their occupations, or the names of the shops. The plaques hanging above the entrances of the shops also had the names of the shops and their proprietors. This was a much-used method of advertising in those days.

Sections that jutted out from the walls of a building, and had different figures carved upon them, were called mountain-walls. These sections were usually higher in the middle and flatter on both ends. The ornate figures upon the mountain-walls had significance attached to them as well. For example, a vase symbolized wealth, while an octagon was used to ward off the evil.

Red brick was the main material used for the side of the buildings facing the street. Pebbles were less used. the architectural styles and the building materials used were of the best quality in that time. Many materials were imported, and some of the residents employed architects from as far as England . The beauty of old street buildings were enhanced by the protruding sections on the roof of the buildings and the numerous carved patterns under the windowsill on the second floor.