Various sites, Taiwan April 2025

[True_British_Metal]

Solo jaunts.

This following report begins with a couple of sites which for me just act as tying up loose ends, rather than doing anything truly groundbreaking. To be honest as mentioned in some previous reports, I have gotten over-ambitious at times with sites over here, especially new schools, when I go in with high hopes and end up getting busted by alarms or not finding any way in at all. I will still make attempts to reveal newly-closed sites as much as I can, but whether I succeed or not is another matter. Although it is very uncommon to have on-site patrolling guards like you'd expect here, or even a basic static guard, it is becoming more common to close a site, especially a school or university, then trip every door and/or room with PIRs, making exploration either very difficult or impossible.

So, since I had another free weekend, I made a last-minute plan to head south to Gaoxiong, to catch up on two loose ends.

鼓山洞/Gushan air raid shelter
Back in 2019 this was actually a tourist attraction that was regularly open to the public, but for reasons I can't remember after the page was deleted from Facebook, was suddenly closed without warning and left to rot. Structural damage is what I would guess to be the reason, but since then it has lain derelict with virtually no attempts to protect or seal the inside. I was expecting it to be in good condition inside, but unfortunately I suspect metal thieves have had their way with parts of it, and nature does its thing and shows no mercy to the inside. You can see some of the pictures from when it was in use as a museum here.

A map to give you an idea of how it looks. Note: 偵訊室：interrogation room, 拘留室：detention room, 民防指揮中心入口：entrance to the civil defence command centre, 盥洗室：washroom, 逃生通道階梯：emergency exit, 機房：ventilation room. The other two are the west and east entrances.

The central detention room

It was built under Japanese rule in 1939, when Taiwan was under colonial rule by Japan. Given its location on the coast of Gaoxiong where the port is, it was a defence against airstrikes from the Americans, which explains why several anti aircraft bunkers were built nearby too; virtually all survive today as heritage sites, albeit unrestored. It spans a total of 200 metres, so not that big, with three tunnels from left to right, one of which goes up a narrow staircase further up the mountain. When Taiwan became independent the government made use of it as a detention room for the security services, and as you walk in it is covered with Styrofoam paneling to act as sound insulation. As for when it closed, since the Facebook page has now been deleted, I can't give an exact date.

As you can see, as time has passed since it was closed as an official government space, water has began to seep in, leaving calcite all over the walls, just like a railway tunnel.

Original artefacts in the interrogation room at the back of the bunker

A map showing Taiwan and south-east China, in the Civil Defence Command Centre

The narrow and claustophobic escape route

Still more to follow.

 

[True_British_Metal]

台灣水泥高雄廠/Gaoxiong Cement Works, Shoushan
Next up is the other derelict cement works of Gaoxiong. Unfortunately the last time I checked the big one from Zuoying in 2022, which you can see in a 2019 report, the long-derelict part had been demolished, but the northern part of the site remained in use; however in the timeframe between now and then, even the previously-live part has now been fully demolished and only one long-derelict kiln remains next to Zuoying HSR station. This one has likewise been mostly long-demolished, although early Taiwanese urban explorers successfully explored what was then a very ruinous space back in around 2013 or so. Parts of this still remain though, so since this was only a 5-minute drive from the bunker, I thought why not see at least what's left? I had zero hopes for this place, but at least I saw something.

Because some parts of the original site are listed structures, they are kept intact and can still be seen across the mountain of Shoushan and from the street. A lone security guard sits in his cabin at the front of the site, never leaving to patrol at any point. What purpose he serves by sitting there when, let's be honest, there is so little left to see, is beyond me, but I was still ever-mindful as I explored what little remains of this once-enormous cement works.

A photo taken under Japanese colonial rule

To give a succinct history, it was built in 1917 when Taiwan was still an emerging nation, not fully industrialised. Cement was called the "mother of industrial engineering", at a time when most was imported from Japan. But when Japan's own cement supplies were more limited, they stopped, and so this factory opened. Eventually the production rights expired, and in 1994 the factory was closed and lay derelict until the vast majority of the structures were demolished, leaving what you see below.

The red-brick warehouse, a listed structure that is now protected by steel supports and a metal canopy in order to prevent total collapse

It was at this point I finished exploring the main site. Up on the mountain of Shoushan there were two other buildings that remained derelict, which hikers can walk up to as they go across the mountain. Unfortunately because they were on the opposite side of the river I regrettably missed the beautiful brick kilns which can be seen at the bottom of one of the hiking trails. I'll link a photo from Wikimedia below.

After a short, unchallenging hike I got to the first structure which is visible from the road below. These are the old truck scales, now dominated by monkeys.

There is no way down from here, because the door is locked.

A view of what was once a huge cement works; this is all that remains today.

This was another monkey hideout, the cement materials inlet. This was also actually a huge building, but now completely inaccessible because the way down has been buried, and the slope on which the building is built will almost-certainly send anyone to their death if they try to get inside it.

The cement materials inlet building from lower down the mountain, which as you can see is impossible to access.

That's all from Gaoxiong and that day. Three more cinemas, all from Taibei will follow in this report.

 

[True_British_Metal]

永和大戲院/Yonghe cinema
I wasn't expecting to do this one. It's one of the first cinemas I ever saw, when I discovered it through Spectral Codex in 2016, but because I got busy with other sites I put this one on the backburner. Likewise SC informed me that the original way in was permanently sealed, leaving this impossible. I did actually give it a cursory look back in 2023, but I wasn't actually exploring that day, rather watching a concert in Ximen; I made my way towards the entrance, but given that getting to it is going down a filth-ridden alleyway that is so narrow you can't outstretch your arms I didn't get far. So that was nearly 2 years ago. To give a succinct and non-detailed history, the cinema opened in 1967 but went out of business in 2000.

Now in 2025, I planned a visit up to Taibei to do whatever I had pinned to my map, deciding what I was going to do day-by day. I wasn't really expecting to get into this one, but I returned to that foul alleyway, blackened by dirt and caked with slippery grease, walking across pipework, which considering it had rained that day meant I had to be exceptionally cautious not to slip into the dirt under my feet. Truly a horrendous experience that I do not recommend for anybody.

This cinema is actually one-of-a-kind, because the foyer has actually been repurposed over the years. Look at this photo from SC; the left side of the foyer is a 7-11 convenience store, and the right is an Italian restaurant. From the inside, you can see there is a wafer-thin metal partition which separates the derelict cinema and the buzz of activity in the restaurant and convenience store. This repurposing of the space happened between 2009 and 2012.

So I got inside with little effort, much to my surprise. Because it was so tightly-sealed over the years, there's a sort of miasma from the rot and decay inside, which doesn't make navigation particularly pleasant. Everything is in total darkness, and you have to use torchlight to move around from room to room. Making my way upstairs, things nearly went very badly...

I found the doors to the main theater, the Emerald room, only to find them chained and padlocked firmly; was I not going to get in? Well, I walked round to the other side, and although I found chains hanging from the door inside the auditorium, they had since been cut, and I was in. I made my way straight up to the projection room, to explore the ruined space from top to bottom.

Still fully stocked with projectors and all kinds of cinema-related paraphernalia, it still never ceases to surprise me to see places like this, so beautifully stuck in a time warp with only mother nature's hands adding to the decay.

Because of the difficulty of accessing the cinema, the auditorium has held up pretty well over the years, although this won't be for too much longer as there's a hole in the roof of the auditorium where light shines in, suggesting a future collapse.

Now this part, known as the Diamond screen, is actually something nobody has ever seen before; SC suggests from his own report that this was originally padlocked, and has since then been left unlocked. That said it has been partially stripped of its seats and is now full of junk, which we would guess was for the restaurant downstairs.

Looking up at the projection booth, there were two projectors left upstairs as I remember. Unfortunately the fire exit to the right only led downstairs, and the doors to the left led to a well-polished silver door which you see at the entrance to people's houses. This suggested to me that this could potentially be someone's office or living space, so I can only guess that the projection room for this screen is permanently sealed with no possible way in.

Two more cinemas to follow in due course.

 

[HughieD]

Man - what a hattrick of south-east Asian urbex goodness. Taiwan keeps on giving. Fab report(s).

 

[True_British_Metal]

Man - what a hattrick of south-east Asian urbex goodness. Taiwan keeps on giving. Fab report(s).

Ha ha ha ha, you haven't seen what's coming next...

 

[dansgas1000]

Awesome stuff

 

[True_British_Metal]

Now for the fails...
There are actually three derelict cinemas in Yonghe district, one of which has already been done by most urban explorers around. It's partially because of focusing on other sites that I ignored a lot of the sites in Taibei, but to be honest the fundamental reason is that I made a big mistake early on, which was not networking properly with other urban explorers in an already-disjointed scene. That meant that I missed some sites, a small number of which were demolished, and in the case of two sites, were sealed. In a third case, Taibei's most-explored cinema is now a fortress protected by CCTV, a watchman in addition to the already-existing inhabitants of the apartments that surround the cinema. Yes, many cinemas were designed as mixed-use spaces, basically meaning that in this case you'd have somebody's apartment next to the entrance to a busy multiplex cinema.

So there were two multiplexes within a 10 minute walk of each other, designed in very similar ways; a cinema in the middle, surrounded by apartments and living space. However, this first cinema was completely locked tight all around, and plastered with SECOM stickers, which is a telltale sign of one thing: a comprehensive alarm system. Onto the second cinema. In the aforementioned case of this honeypot cinema, there were actually signs on the rotting doors into the cinema which said "anybody that wishes to visit the cinema should call this number". So I did, and the building manager answers. He wasn't in on Sunday, so he called me again the next day on Monday and offered to give me a "tour." Now I had my hopes up, and thought that he would let me inside and show me around the interior. Talk about a total communication fail... he takes me on a tour of the OUTSIDE of the complex, showing me all the (original) ways in and original uses of the space, but says that nobody can go inside. Bollocks! Having said that, you'll see in part 5 of this report that this was actually a really, really good omen.

Now this is still Sunday afternoon by the way, so I'm onto the third cinema of the day. This wasn't quite as popular as the multiplex before, but had attracted a degree of attention from a small handful of urban explorers, Tiktokers and YouTubers; all the while, I'd seen plenty of pictures from the inside but never discovered where it was until last year. I heard a rumour that it was sealed, and that turned out to be true. I had instructions for a straightforward entrance; just go upstairs and open the door. Easy? No chance. Whereas before it was closed with just a steel wire, it has now been locked with a metal chain and padlock, possibly permanently. You'd never guess that it was there, this tiny cinema, which is built on the third floor of a multi-use block; retail space on the bottom floor, living space on the middle floor and a cinema upstairs.

I'm really disappointed that I can't find a way in, and right next to the original entrance was a woman's apartment. She walks out when I'm there, and a conversation ensues:
"Who are you looking for?"
I'm honest about my intentions, and I tell her upfront, expecting a degree of sympathy and understanding. None was forthcoming.
"I'm here to take photos of the cinema upstairs."
"Right, listen. You can't go upstairs. It's private property, and we've already people like you go inside without permission. We're not happy about this, and we don't to see any more people try and get inside."

So that was the end of that. I don't foresee that ever opening up again, so although I'll still keep it pinned to my map, I can only view it as a lost opportunity. So, checking my map again, I decided to do one final site for the day; I took a 20-minute train journey south just as heavy rain began to fall on the city again, but I had to do at least something before the day was up.

金金大戲院/Jinjin cinema
This one, was in one word, grim. It had an unusually short business life, opening in 1985 in Yingge, which is right on the border between Taoyuan and Taibei, although for the sake of argument I'm going to say it's in Taibei... just. It closed just 20 years later in 2005, and whilst there are businesses operating at the very front of the building, the ground floor behind it is in an absolutely dire state, just like upstairs, and it surely can't be long until it is demolished. In the 20 years since it closed its doors, a small handful of people have gotten inside, mostly for the idiotic purpose of "ghosthunting".

So the weather is absolutely dire outside, and I don't want to stay outside and get lashed by tropical rain any more than I need to. I did a quick scout of the building, finding only one possible entrance; I open a door, then... BAAAAAAANG! A heavy steel fire door opens, but then because it is so badly rusted falls instantly off its hinges, causing a ton of debris to fall and the steel to echo inside the building and over the street. Hardly a subtle entry, but I have no time to waste!

I'd thought that the sooner I'd have gotten in, the better it'd have been... wrong. The floors were all sodden with rainwater, which caused ceiling tiles to fall and create a grotesque mush under my shoes. Even worse, water continued to fall in almost every part of the cinema, getting me even more wet when I'm supposed to be hiding from the torrent outside.

Any chances of finding the original projection rooms here were zero; look at the water damage!

There were four screens in total, two large screens and two smaller ones. None of them survive intact, and soon enough will have no roofing left whatsoever.

This projection room had decayed so badly that it was impossible to get any further than this

Downstairs and other parts of the block were utilised as retail space, but it had been so badly damaged by the elements and stripped there was very little left to enjoy.

The main entrance downstairs

I got out, closed the door, and shall never return. Not a chance in hell.

Wait for the best until last... this next cinema is hands down the best I've ever seen in Taiwan.

 

[Sewage_waste]

Taiwan just has so many stunners

Looking forward to seeing that final cinema mate, truly epic work you've done.

 

[True_British_Metal]

光明大戲院/Guangming cinema
It's not the best derelict cinema in the world, but of all the cinemas past and present in Taiwan, this takes the crown without a second thought. Try and change my mind, but you won't. Unless you can show me some comprehensive pictures of Rongchang in Puzi before it got consumed in the mouth of an inferno, this stands as Taiwan's greatest derelict cinema.

I had no idea this existed until I was given an extensive list of sites once again by @Unsympathetica. Having found two ways into the honeypot cinema, I actually decided to delay getting in until enough time has passed that I can make a safe entry. But as I said before, my change of mind, which was to check this out and visit a derelict school, really paid off. I had no idea what to expect from the interior, and simply assumed it was either an empty shell or bland and featureless. Not at all...

Now, getting in took a bit of work. It's easy enough to get past the first two obstacles, but then there's an absolute genius method that was utilised here to prevent entry... dried wood and tree branches piled four feet high! Remember, this cinema is next to at least two open shops and market stalls, in addition to people's living spaces, so you have to be stealthy. But cracking tree branches piled up make an absolute hell of a noise, and so every time I even pulled one, it made a loud rustling sound. This wouldn't be so bad, but it got worse... I couldn't spot it to save my life, but somewhere opposite was somebody's dog, who would hear the sound of rustling and cracking twigs and bark, alerting people in the shops and on the street below! Eventually things got too suspicious, and so I took a 30-minute breakfast break before throwing caution to the wind and making a reckless, direct entry.

Somehow it worked before anyone could shout at me and stop me! As I was inside, all I could think about was whether someone would follow me inside, or call the police who would compel me to surrender. But this didn't happen.

It's an 800-capacity cinema, built with two larger screens and two smaller ones behind, built in 1958 and closed in 2012. It has undergone some degree of modernisation, but I was still absolutely stunned to see how well preserved it is.

If there's one downside to this particular cinema, it was that the seating had since been replaced with modern, more comfortable seating as opposed to wood and leather, but you'll soon see why this ranks as Taibei's best derelict cinema at the very least, if not the best in Taiwan today.

One of the smaller blue auditoriums upstairs

The upstairs waiting room

Now, the reason I call this Taiwan's greatest cinema... look at this. I was initially unsure of where the entrance was, but I found it eventually... up a rusty old staircase on the rear side of the cinema. It wasn't the most fun thing I've done, because the entrance to the main projection room was along a rotting staircase I had no idea was safe or not. Worse, it had a large hole (though only a 4 feet drop below) right below the doorway, making access somewhat uneasy.

But look at what I was rewarded with!

Then there was the projection room for the smaller screens, which thankfully was much easier and safer to access. I don't know why, but this again was full of the same twigs and tree branches used to block my entry downstairs, but it proved to be no barrier. There was even more to see!

Heading downstairs, the last thing I had left to check was the vintage ticket office.

Still want to change my mind about this being Taiwan's greatest derelict cinema? See if you can, but considering its sheer size, projectors and other associated surprises, you probably won't win. I'm absolutely delighted to have succeeded at this theater, having walked in with zero expectations and ending up seeing something so magnificent.

Although I still have my duties as a father, this year has already proven to be successful, which gives me the vigour and motivation to continue exploring sites big and small, up and down Taiwan. I still have lots to do, so as usual thanks for taking the time to check out my reports, and be sure to tune in again when I get out and explore again.

Love and best wishes,

TBM x

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Brilliant as always, you really could split these up into separate reports IMO