Saturday, December 8, 2012

Feng Chia Night Market

Location/Accessibility
Feng Chia Night Market is located in one of Taichung's famous commercial business districts. It covers an area within Wenhua Road, Fengjia Road and Fuxing Road. It is accessible by train. People can take bus number 25 or 35 from Taichung Railway Station to Feng Chia University. The night market can then be seen from the bus stop.
Map of Feng Chia Night Market (Credits: My Kafkaesque Life)
Feng Chia Night Market
Specialities
The stalls at Feng Chia Night Market are mostly food stalls, with minimal number of apparel shops. These stalls serve traditional food and beverages such as smelly tofu, fried chicken cutlet and bubble milk tea. There are also stalls serving international food such as French steak, German pig knuckle as well as Korean rice cake. We think that there would be more of such stalls appearing in Feng Chia Night Market due to the influence of the international cultures such as the Korean wave in Taiwan. As such, the night market may be expanding in the near future. Furthermore, the expansion may attract more tourist to visit the night market. Nevertheless, this could be a boon and bane to the Taiwanese. Firstly, these international stalls together with the increasing number of tourists would contribute to the Taiwan's economy. Having that in mind, the locals actually face stiff competition from these international stalls. As a result, the Taiwan's culture might be diluted as supported by the talk given by the professor in NTNU whereby the current situation of the youth culture is greatly influenced by the Korean wave.
Traditional food such as bubble milk tea, smelly tofu and fried chicken cutlet 
International food like French cutlet, German pig knuckle and Korean rice cake

Layout of Stalls
Feng Chia Night Market consists of both high-end retail shops and makeshift stalls. For the stalls, some of them are situated in front of shops that are closed. Perhaps, once the main shops are open, the makeshift stalls may shift to elsewhere. The stalls are also neatly aligned. Basically, the layout of the night market is similar to that of Shida Night Market. They, too, have stalls being set up in adjacent to the main street shops. Surrounding the night market are high end retail shops that are international retail brands such as Levis, The Body Shop and Adidas. In our opinion, this shopping area could be the downtown area of the people in Taichung due to the variety of shops that caters to different consumers.
Make-shift stalls found in front of shops that are closed
International retail brands like Levi's, The Body Shop and Adidas