The Qiānyuè Building 千越大樓 is one of the most recognizable ruins in central Taiwan. Located only a short distance from Taichung Station 台中車站, it is impossible to miss if you bother to look up at some point while walking deeper into the city. This mixed-use commercial and residential high-rise was originally built in the 1970s and, thanks to its location at the very heart of the famous Taichung Electronics Street 台中電子街商圈, reached its apex during the consumer electronics boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

View Image Details Outside the Qianyue Building, one of Taiwan’s most infamous ruins.

View Image Details Staring at the sky from the inner courtyard.

By the turn of the millennium the city’s center of gravity moved westward to new developments in Xītún 西屯 and the Qianyue Building slipped into terminal decline along with much of the rest of Central Taichung. Like most other mixed-use commercial buildings in Taiwan this one was home to a variety of restaurants, cram schools (Chinese: bǔxíbān 補習班), nightclubs, karaoke joints, and so on, in addition to the eponymous Qianyue Department Store 千越百貨. Many of these businesses would have closed while others changed owners and went downmarket as decay set in. The final nail in the coffin was a devastating fire that broke out in the seventh floor dance club in 2005. Nowadays this ruined landmark has become a symbol for what is widely considered to be one of the most run-down parts of urban Taiwan. (Not that this should dissuade you from visiting. The worst parts of Taiwan are still way safer than an average American city!)

View Image Details The stairs lining the inner courtyard are one of the Qianyue Building’s most distinctive features.

Perhaps due to its ease of access, central location, and distinctive look the Qianyue Building is regularly used for photo shoots of all kinds. I have made many trips to the building over the last several years and often bump into small groups of Taiwanese satisfying their curiosity or deeply engaged in setting up a photo shoot (check out these geotagged photos on Facebook for some examples). There is no barrier to entry and nobody working at the many businesses that still ring the base of the building seem to care who goes inside.

View Image Details Graffiti in the ruins of Taiwan is an extremely unusual sight. If I’m not mistaken this is actually a sly advertisement for a local streetwear label, probably done for a promo shoot of some kind or another.

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View Image Details Broken tile all the way down.

View Image Details Numerous bridges connected the two buildings. View Image Details A round gateway to what was formerly a restaurant.

View Image Details Reflections in rainwater create an accidental filmstrip. View Image Details Looking out on the Taichung cityscape from a broken window.

Given that the Qianyue Building is one of the most popular and well-explored ruins in the nation I won’t be going into my usual level of detail in this post. The entire building has been picked clean and thoroughly trashed so there wouldn’t be too much to say anyhow. In this case I’m going to let the pictures (and the accompanying captions) tell most of the story.

View Image Details The front desk of an abandoned cram school in the Qianyue Building. View Image Details Exploring what remains of a former cram school in Taichung.

View Image Details Stalking the hallways of a ruined cram school in the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details A room full of broken furniture in the ruins of a cram school classroom. View Image Details Old couches and beds dumped in a former classroom.

View Image Details A game of broken telephone.

View Image Details Life finds a way in this remote corner of the abandoned Qianyue Building.

View Image Details The ground floor entrance to the various pubs, nightclubs, and KTVs on the upper levels. View Image Details Climbing the main stairway to the many entertainment businesses high in the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details At least one of the higher levels is still inhabited! View Image Details Not sure whether this is still in use or just for storage.

The layout of the Qianyue Building is somewhat confusing at first. There are actually two structures on site: a big building fronting onto the main street and a smaller one about half the size of the first that backs onto the electronics shopping street. Both buildings are connected with a series of bridges and stairways. Several small, traditional restaurants cling to life on the ground floor and a handful of more specialized shops haunt the second and third levels. Most of the rest of the building lies in ruin with one notable exception: the fifth floor has been converted into apartments, most of which still seem to be occupied. Look at the photos in this post and think about that for a moment. This building is home for about a dozen people! (And don’t get too close—a rather startling alarm will sound if you take a wrong turn on the residential level.)

View Image Details Looking up at the eastern end of the Qianyue Building. View Image Details Peering down the heart of the towering ruin of the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details On the lower rooftop of the Qianyue Building with First Square in the background.

View Image Details A closer look at one of the crumbling stairwells leading up to the very top of the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details Halfway up the Qianyue Building.

The higher levels of the main building are the most interesting part of the entire complex. Here you will find the ruins of the pubs, nightclubs, and karaoke bars that used to attract revelers from all around the city in more prosperous times. As business began to falter at least one of these nightclubs turned into a hangout for migrant workers from Southeast Asia much like you’ll find today in the neighbouring First Square 第一廣場. It is here that the fire broke out in 2005, though little evidence of this remains. Perhaps it wasn’t a very serious blaze?

View Image Details Graffiti on the rooftop of the Qianyue Building with the distinctive spire of the nearby Golden Plaza in the background.

View Image Details Inside an abandoned nightclub in the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details The lobby of another abandoned nightclub.

View Image Details From behind the bar of an abandoned nightclub in Taichung.

View Image Details The view from the DJ booth: pure dance floor destruction!

View Image Details Skulking around what might have been VIP rooms at an abandoned nightclub. View Image Details No sound has emanated from this broken piano in quite some time.

The most distinctive feature of the Qianyue Building is undoubtedly the round UFO-like tower on the rooftop that was once home to a KTV with a 360 degree view of the city. This tower isn’t particularly safe—you’ll notice several gaping holes in the floor of the upper levels—nor is the adjoining bathroom, which is also a regular fixture of photo shoots in the building. Watch your step when exploring this area!

View Image Details The famous UFO tower on top of the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details Yet another iconic image from the Qianyue Building: the bathroom with the best view in Taichung!

View Image Details The entrance to the famous KTV on top of the Qianyue Building.

View Image Details One level up at the abandoned rooftop KTV.

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View Image Details Mind your step on the highest level of the UFO tower; it’s a dangerous place!

View Image Details The view from the abandoned KTV on top of the Qianyue Building at sunset.

View Image Details Wreckage on the rooftop of the Qianyue Building with the top of First Square visible across the street.

View Image Details Sunset on the rooftop of the Qianyue Building.

So there you have it: one of Taiwan’s most popular ruins, now available as part of my ongoing series of posts about the nation’s many abandonments. If you enjoyed this post I strongly recommend checking out the Qiáoyǒu Building 喬友大廈, a similar (but far less known) building in nearby Changhua City 彰化市. Finally, for more about the Qianyue Building from the Taiwanese blogosphere try here, here, here, here, and here.