Welcome to Lukang Hotel & Information
Lukang Introduction
Lukang used to be Taiwan's second city, subordinate only to Tainan. Now it is mostly famous for its temples, but one anthropologist found there the inspiration for a fascinating study of Chinese society in miniature. To the tourist stepping off the bus on a cool, wet, October day, Lukang presents itself as a modest little town with plenty to be modest about. Situated on the west coast of Taiwan, about halfway between Taipei in the north and Kaohsiung in the south, most people visit Lukang because they have heard it has a couple of wonderful temples and a thriving market. It is very small; an hour's walk will take the traveler from one end of the town to the other. A few convenience stores, a druggist or two, enough banks to serve the population of 30,000 or so people, and that's it.
But it was not always that way. At one time, Lukang was a major metropolis, second only in importance to Tainan: a bustling center of commerce and cross-strait trade with Fujian province. And it is this Lukang, the old business hub, that Donald R. DeGlopper entertainingly addresses in Lukang: Commerce and Community in a Chinese City, part of the SUNY series in Chinese Local Studies.
