Chien-Cheng Circle

Former food market in Taipei, Taiwan

The Chien Cheng Circle or Taipei Circle is a public plaza in Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan. Formerly it was a traffic circle, and the area used to host a bustling night market.

The original night market was a circular structure located on a roundabout between Nanjing West Road (南京西路) and Chongqing North Road (重慶北路). It covered an area of 1,722 square meters and dated to the Japanese colonial era.

The circle started out as a fish pond at the intersections of the two roads which the Japanese Government at the planted with trees at the edges and turned into a park. Due to its location, the park attracted a wide variety of cart based food vendors turning it into the most popular night market in northern Taiwan during the Japanese rule, with the vendors operating well beyond 4am. A bomb shelter was also constructed there during World War II and the pond used as a reservoir for water to put out fires from air raids. Following the war, the reservoir was drained and vendors began setting up permanently at the park, growing into and organizing the space among themselves organically, eventually converting all the park space into restaurants. In May 2011, the reopening of the Circle was once again postponed due to disputes on lease. Older tenants of the Taipei Circle have blamed the government of the then mayor Ma Ying jeou for causing the demise of business at the circle.

In 2016, the glass building at the Chien Cheng Circle was slated for demolition with plans to begin on November 26, 2016, and completed in March 2017. The public plaza, with green space and fountain was completed in July 2017.