"The things which I hated mostly have changed to those I want to reserve," said by Ms. Ling Shu-fang, the Chairman of Shiding District Tourism Development Association, who returned to her hometown 15 years ago. She lives in the old street, where her house is built on the mountain wall gets no sunlight and is humid all year round. "So, I swore from my childhood that I would get out of that Tunnel when I grew up. (Note: The Tunnel refers to Shidingbao Tunnel, which is the gateway to Shiding)". Unexpectedly, the law of Murphy, the things which the last she wants happen, drew her and her classmates back to their hometown.

A Close and Silent District but Protects the Ecology and Humanities
Shiding is the fifth-largest district in New Taipei City but has less than 8,000 residents. Although it's close to Pingxi, Pinglin, Shenkeng, Wulai, and other tourist and recreational areas, it's usually missed by the travelers who pass by. Why? Except for the small part of the hinterland mentioned above, the mountains and lakes hinder transportation, which distracts tourism resources. In addition, there are different stores with different characteristics, and there is no unified tourism image over there, so it's not easy for tourists to leave an impression. Making Shiding, which was once an important supply station for merchants and travelers along the Tamsui-Kavalan (Danlan) Trails, has fallen silent.
"We are the people who originally grew up here and knew this place most. I asked my classmates to go back here because I want them to change the visitors," said Ms. Lin, who has been involved in community construction for 20 years. Since Shiding is inside the Feitsui Reservoir Water Resource Protection Zone and the land can't be developed, it reserves the valuable tradition of living. "Many places have changed their traditions to attract visitors; however, we can't change. Since we can't change, so we hope to guide the visitors more about this place and protect it in our own way."
The day before the interview, the association's tour guides had just returned from the training on Mount Dasyue. They were led by the ecological observer, Mr. Lin Qing-feng, to observe the difference between high and low altitude ecosystems. "Shiding is a water reservation town and the hinterland is very small, so it is not possible to accept large groups of tourists. Therefore, we hope to promote a deep-death short trip by receiving a small group of tourists. "With the rich of natural ecology mountain and water, Shiding district is especially need the professional tour guides, but they must undergo three years of training and pass an examination before they can obtain a license. Currently, most of the tour guides in the association are Ms. Lin's classmates, whom she invited back to their hometown. In the past 5 years, 14 of them have received training and 5 have obtained licenses.

The Topography of the Area Creates the Characteristics of "Stone Houses" and "Invisible Sky Street"
In fact, Shiding has many special landscapes; the "Stone House" is one of them. The "Diaojiaolou" house style was formed by the landscapes in the early years. The houses have been built on the stones that are under the mountain and supported by concrete pillars. Once the houses had been built on the street, people and cars couldn't pass. Therefore, each household provides part spaces in their houses and connects them as a passing road, but the higher floors still have the rooms that are connected. Since the darkness surrounds that street, it is called "Skylight-Less Street."
The layout of a stone house is that the kitchen is by the river, the living room is by the hill, and in the middle is "Skylight-less Street." Which means that after we cook the meals, we will hold the dishes to go through "Skylight-less Street" and then go to the living room for dinner. After we finish the dinner, we will hold the bowls and chopsticks to go through "Skylight-less Street" again, then return to the kitchen to wash them." Ms. Lin explains the interesting and special local living style to us.

Linking up Local Stores by Creating a Tourism Mascot of "Ding Co Co"
Under the trend of regional revitalization in recent years, "Shenkeng promotes tofu, Pingxi promotes sky lanterns, and Pinglin promotes tea. But the stores in Shiding have their own specialties, so it's hard to choose one for promotion. However, we must have a representative character to link up with Shiding." After several discussions, the association decided to use the crocodile image, inspired by the most famous "Crocodile Island" landscape in Shiding, as a mascot character for the community, linking the 30 specialty stores in the area. The association also designs unique "Crocodile Character (Ding Co Co)" imagery for each business store, which creates a talking topic and memory point.
In addition, the associate sets a "stores link to another" strategy for promotion. "When the visitors get into a local store, they can see the products' information from another store, which makes each store a consulting or travel information center." Ms. Lin further explained that, with the assistance of the National Development Council (NDC) in 2020, the "Shiding Concept Store" with the function of a travel information center was established in the center of the district. It soon becomes the first visiting point for visitors in Shiding district and gradually forms a united travel image of the district.
The association also planned the scattered scenery into three different trip routes and themes: North Shiding, Shiding Old Street, and Wutu-Yongan. The routes link up the old stone house from the Qing dynasty, the building from the Japanese Colonial Rule period, and the economic track from the early mining industry.

A Positive Transformation Brings Tourists to the Century-old Mountain City
In the process of the transformation, despite the association having met the century epidemic COVID-19, which did not stop its progress. Although the staff must wear masks and use the Real-name System after entering each store, the association continued to make the drastic changes. It has applied for resources from the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the National Development Council, and the District Office to revitalize the business district of Shiding and magnificently transform this century-old mountain town.
The association has joined the Multi-Employment Promotion Program (MEPP) of the Ministry of Labor (MOL) for three years. In the first two years, it joined the social type of MEPP and hired three staff. Ms. Lin said that the manpower increase allows the association to have the spare ability to promote community development, including the training of volunteers to absorb thousands of visitors during the holidays.
The staff training plan during the epidemic period finally welcomed a serious number of visitors in 2022. During the activities, the Shiding Crocodile Festival and Noodle Festival are most popular with families and have become important annual activities. Ms. Lin kept saying that in 2021, due to COVID-19 influence, the numbers of visitors dropped to less than 5,000 people. But it increased a lot in 2022, with the highest amount reaching 110,000 visitors. In 2023, she hopes the numbers will surpass those in 2022 and prove the success of the Shiding Tourism Transformation.
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