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Many visitors to Thailand are sure to visit the famous Mae Klong Railway Market to see the vendors hurriedly collect their wares from the tracks to get out of the way of an oncoming train. But did you know that Pingtung used to have a similar market?, historian Chiu Tsai-yen and Taiwan Film Culture Co got together to document this page in Taiwan’s history.

Here at the Mae Klong Railway Market in Thailand, vendors do business right up next to the tracks. When a train comes, everyone gives way just enough for it to pass. But did you know that Pingtung also used to have a market just like it?

This documentary footage from 30 years ago shows a market in Pingtung’s North District. When a train comes, the vendors bring their wares inside, then bring them back out again when it passes. Ms. Yang, wearing a track jacket as she pushes her Hakka rice cake stall back into place, still sells in the same market all these years later.

Ms. Yang
Market vendor
Oh, there, there! That’s me. Taisugar’s train carrying sugarcane was running. If I heard a whistle, I’d hurry over there.

Fishmonger Mr. Chang used to bring his son with him to work. Now that the son is grown, he followed in his father’s footsteps to also become a fishmonger.

Mr. Chang
Fishmonger
I was still little then, around second grade. When the train was coming it would sound a horn and we’d quickly move the stall out of the way.

Historian Chiu Tsai-yen and Taiwan Film Culture Co filmed the area in front of Taisugar’s Pingtung factory before it closed to preserve the unique scenes of that era.

Chiu Tsai-yen
Historian
When I was little, I loved those sugar trains. When I saw one, I’d go running after it. Two or three years before they stopped, I started documenting them. Until they actually stopped running in 1997, I systematically documented each route, covering every inch.

Looking at the market now, you can still see some traces of the old railway track. Although there are no longer trains carrying sugarcane through here, the memories live on in the minds of the locals.

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