Did You Know? Jiufen Is More Than the Ghibli Village — It’s Taiwan’s Most Magical Town

Every year, millions of travelers descend on a tiny hillside town in northeast Taiwan, smartphones raised, chasing a very specific photo. The narrow stone lanes. The glowing red lanterns. The sea disappearing into fog below. They’ve been told — by travel blogs, by Instagram, by TikTok — that this is the real-life inspiration for 神隱少女, Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece.

The town is 九份 (九份). And the story is wonderfully complicated.

The Gold Mining Town That Almost Disappeared

Jiufen’s history is stranger and sadder than the tourist brochures let on. In the 1890s, gold was discovered here, and the remote mountain village became a boomtown. Japanese colonial-era architecture went up alongside traditional Taiwanese stone buildings. At its peak, Jiufen was a bustling, chaotic, lantern-lit world of miners, merchants, and tea houses perched above the Pacific.

Then the gold ran out. By the 1970s, Jiufen had become a ghost town — almost literally abandoned. A 1989 Taiwanese film, 悲傷之城, used its atmospheric ruins as a backdrop, and suddenly people remembered it existed. Tourists came. Tea houses reopened. The red lanterns went back up.

The Ghibli Question

Hayao Miyazaki has never directly confirmed that Jiufen inspired 神隱少女. He visited Taiwan, and the visual parallels — the hillside bathhouse, the lantern-lit paths, the sense of a world slightly apart from reality — are undeniably striking. The studio has said the film drew from multiple Japanese sources, particularly Edo-era architecture.

But here is the thing: it does not matter. Jiufen is atmospheric enough to have inspired any fantasy film. Whether Miyazaki’s team consciously referenced it or just drew from the same universal well of “magical hillside town energy,” Jiufen earned its reputation entirely on its own terms.

How to Do Jiufen Right

Skip the midday crowds. Jiufen at 4pm — as the afternoon light turns golden and the lanterns start to glow before dark — is a completely different experience from the noon-hour tourist crush. Come on a weekday if you can. The narrow alleys are genuinely narrow; you are shoulder-to-shoulder on weekends.

Get lost. The main tourist path (Jishan Street) is the busy one. The side staircases that branch off from it lead to quieter views, small temples, and the occasional sea vista that feels like you have accidentally stepped into a painting.

Eat something: taro balls in sweet soup (芋圓), pork-and-mushroom rice, fish balls. Jiufen’s street food is deeply underrated next to its lanterns.

Jiufen is about an hour from Taipei by bus — a natural day trip, often paired with a stop at Shifen Waterfall or the old gold mining museum at Jinguashi next door. If you are planning a Taiwan trip, our guide to 台北旅遊攻略 covers the full picture.

And yes — take the lantern photo. You have earned it.

Celebrating Taiwan’s magic, one story at a time. Explore our Taiwan-themed collection at taiwanmerch.co/shop — wearable art for everyone who loves the island.