David on Formosa

Poagao has posted a fascinating set of pictures on flickr of the old Xingfu Amusement Park in Bitan (碧潭幸福樂園). He has combined recent photos of the now abandoned park with scans from some old brochures for the park. The result is a fascinating look at the changes that have taken place there over the last few decades. It is hard to imagine that this now deserted and neglected place was once a thriving centre of activity. 

Poagao writes:

Back in the 80's you could see the huge ferris wheel at the Xingfu Amusement Park, located at the top of a mountain near Bitan in Xindian, for miles. The park was shut down, and a crane operator was killed when the ferris wheel fell on him when they were tearing the place down. It's since become infamous as a haunted area.

When I was shooting a film at an abandoned police station near the old gate, I found stacks of old amusement park brochures, so I scanned them in and then went up to see if I could find the original locations of the pictures and take present-day versions.

He writes some more on his blog and thinks that perhaps the change is for the better.

While I find it fascinating to see the history of the park, I'm glad it's not here today. The jungle has pretty much reclaimed the mountaintop, and it's much more pleasant now. I'm also happy that we don't have to deal with throngs of customers streaming through Bitan every weekend; I'm positive that the place was intolerably noisy as well. I much prefer the peace and quiet the abandonment has left us.