New attraction along the century-old canal – romantic, high-quality pure white photo spots

Text / Scenic Spots Magazine, compiled report
 
The sunken pure white architecture paired with reflections by the pool is enchanting both day and night. This park plaza, transformed from a century-old canal heritage site, has become a new hotspot for travelers to take stunning photos.

Located in the West-Central District of Tainan, River Joy Plaza is a waterside space created from a former abandoned Chinatown. Designed by Dutch architectural visionary Winy Maas of MVRDV, it has been hailed as one of the world’s seven most anticipated parks.

Originally a blind section of the canal, the area later became the shared nostalgia of Tainan residents as “Chinatown” after the 1970s. After an 18-year-long marathon urban renewal project by the city government, it has now emerged as River Joy Plaza — Tainan’s largest waterside space in the urban area.

Walking north along the canal on Tainan’s Huanhe Street toward the intersection of Kangle Street and Minquan Road, you’ll pass by sites including where dragon boat races and yacht rides took place in the 1960s, the New Canal completed during Japanese rule in 1926, the disembarkation point for Qing Dynasty officials arriving by boat during the Qianlong era, and the western boundary of the historic Tainan city during the Kangxi period.

Today, within just a one-kilometer stretch, visitors can capture moments along waterfronts that span three centuries of different historical backdrops. The canal history known only to longtime Tainan locals is now beneath travelers’ feet, connected through this dreamlike waterside space.