Shuitou Village

Inhabited for over 700 years, Shuitou Village (水頭村; Shuǐtóu Cūn) features one of the best collections of old houses in Taiwan. Many are archetypally Minnan (Fujian-Chinese), but overlooking the village green is a group of architectural hybrids, known as yanglou (洋樓; yáng lóu), which were inspired by the western architecture that had impressed Kinmen emigrants in Southeast Asia. During the late 19th and especially the early 20th century, many of these folk returned from work in Indonesia and Malaysia, or sent large remittances, which helped Shuitou become wealthy. Its advantage was proximity to the island's main port, 1km further west, which is still where ferries arrive frequently from Xiamen (mainland China) and Little Kinmen.