Tainan Travel

Located next to Anping Tree House (安平樹屋), the foreign style building with the pure white exterior is the Former Tait & Co. Merchant House (原英商德記洋行), the Tainan base of the Tait & Co. firm established after the opening of Anping Harbor. As one of only five foreign firms able to access the port at the time, the company's main business was exporting sugar, camphor and tea, while importing opium. Located adjacent to the harbor, it was an important trading post during a very prosperous period. The building has long ceased to function as a business, and was transformed into Taiwan Kaituo Shiliao Wax Museum (台灣開拓史料蠟像館), using wax figures to display scenes of early life in Taiwan. In 2001 the museum created a time corridor to display the history and growth of the Tait & Co. Merchant House.