memento

Live in Taiwan, you will never miss up with delicious night markets because this island mix with different histories and ethnics so our night market is kind of food heaven. However, there is another kind of market that symbols the local history we called “Cattle Market (牛墟市集)”. In the past, this kind of market is gathering for farmers to buy and sale cattle for farming. People came to a regular place several times a month to make cattle business and also sale the things produce or use for farming. In Japanese colonial era, there were more than eighty cattle markets around Taiwan.

Today we are going to introduce one of cattle market in Beigang (北港, the county belong to Yu-lin administration area) called “Beigang Cattle Market”.  This market is situated in one side of Beigaing River and near the Beigang Bridge. In every the 3^rd, 6^th, and the 9^th of the month, you could see many tents set up around the bridge from 4 o’clock in the morning till noon.

According to the documents, this market could trade thousand cattle per day. Maybe you could image the grand occasion by this amount. For buy good cattle, there have four steps to appraisal: 

1. Touch the tooth, use the hand put into cattle’s mouth to touch the tooth. If the cattle has ten foretooth means a very good cattle.
2. Test the step, check the body of cattle are about average or not and the steps staid or not.
3. Car test, the most popular step in the market. For test the cattle’s power and stamina people will contact many bullock-cart and let people get on the cart for cattle to pull.
4. Try plowing, to see if the cattle are keen enough to plow. This point influences the destiny of cattle. If the cattle are not good in this step, they may kill them to be eaten. 

Regretful to say, industrial and commercial society replaced agricultural society with the changing times. Not only the farmers reduced but also influence the way to farming. People start to use not cattle but machine for farming so the cattle getting less and less. Nowadays there only three cattle markets left but you can’t even see cattle sale. Even though now the cattle business exits the market but the cattle market is still the special point of view to see the farming society culture in Taiwan.

Now people still come to this market for see and shopping. Here you could buy animals, primary products, second hand farming machine, and daily necessities…etc. In the other side of the market you also could see many different kinds of art and craft, antique, second hand books. You may discover the treasure with good insight and enjoy in bargain the price.

Location: 

Beigang Bridge, Beigang Township, Yunlin County 651, Taiwan (R.O.C.)