Taipei Times
November 18, 2015

In the Japanese era, roads in Keelung were called “ding.” After World War II ended, roads were

Today’s Zhongxing Road is pictured on Nov. 10 in Keelung.
今日基隆的中興路，攝於十一月十日。 Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Liberty Times 照片： 自由時報記者盧賢秀攝

named after the “eight virtues,” namely zhong (loyalty), xiao (filial piety), ren (benevolence), ai (love), xin (honesty), yi (righteousness), he (peace) and ping (equality). Roads that were named after love ranged from Ai First Road to Ai Ninth Road, and roads named after righteousness ranged from Yi First Road to Yi Tenth Road.

However, Keelung’s Renai District today only has Ai Seventh Road and Ai Ninth Road but no Ai Eighth Road, because it has been replaced by Lau-ming-thuan Road. There is no Yi Eighth Road either, because it was replaced by Zhongxing Road. Huang Jen-hsiang, a man in his eighties and a retired director-general of the department of social affairs of the Keelung City Government, recounted the history and revealed the secret when he took part in the city government’s 70th anniversary of establishment on Nov. 3.

As it turns out, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) fled to Taiwan in 1949, it was particularly sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Eighth Route Army and so ordered that Keelung must not have any “eighth road.” As a consequence, on May 1950, Ai Eighth Road was renamed to Lau-ming-thuan Road, while Yi Eighth Road was renamed to Zhongxing Road. The young generation today think it is odd it, but they do not know the history.     [FULL  STORY]