aeeble

In 1897, during the Japanese era, the Governor-General's Office of Taiwan stipulated the monopoly of opium, and subsequently incorporated various items such as camphor (1899), salt (1899), tobacco (1906), and alcohol (1922) into the monopoly business. "Taipei Nanmen Factory of the Governor-General's Office Monopoly Bureau" was established in 1899, serving as an important production base for the manufacturing and testing of two major monopoly products, camphor and opium. It was renamed as Nanmen Factory in 1901, and then renamed again as Taipei Nanmen Factory in 1931. It was the only state-owned camphor processing plant in Taiwan during the Japanese era. After the war, this factory was taken over by the government. Following the February 28 Incident in 1947, the business of the Taiwan Monopoly (State-run Monopoly) was reduced to three items: tobacco, alcohol, and camphor. The factory was renamed as the Taiwan Province Camphor Refinery in 1952, and then renamed again as the Taiwan Province Camphor Factory in 1956. In December 1967, the private operation of camphor was liberalized, and the factory was shut down and abandoned. Today, only the warehouse building (White House), the camphor warehouse (Red Building), and a 400-stone water tank remain, and the existing site area is less than one eighth of that during the Japanese era. In 1998, Nanmen Factory was designated as a national historic site by the Ministry of the Interior. Starting in 2004, the Taiwan Museum, in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture (originally the Council for Cultural Affairs of the Executive Yuan), established the "Taiwan Museum System" and reorganized and reused the historical spaces within the city as museum spaces. In 2006, the land and buildings of this factory were transferred by the Bureau of State Property to the Taiwan Museum. The historic buildings were reused as exhibition halls, and a new storage building was constructed. The renovation and reuse planning and design was undertaken by the architectural firm of Chen I-chung. The renovation process of this factory was like an anatomical dissection of architectural history, involving the collaboration of professionals in fields such as architectural design, structure, mechanical and electrical equipment, preservation, archaeology, traditional craftsmanship, history, and engineering.