Wanhua District (Chinese: 萬華區, Wade Giles: Wan-hua, Tongyong Pinyin: Wanhua), formerly Bangka, is Taipei City's oldest district. The district is home to ancient buildings such as the Longshan Temple, which is Taipei's oldest temple, and the Red Playhouse , which is the first and largest teahouse playhouse in Taiwan. Taipei's oldest, but decaying garment district is also here.
Near the Longshan Temple is the Huaxi (Huasi) Street Tourist Night Market (a.k.a. Snake Alley). The market once served snake and turtle delicacies, but changed its focus to seafood upon protest from animal and environmental groups.
Ximending (Simending ), another main attraction of Wanhua, serves as a counter-culture, trendy shopping center and as Taipei's main movie theater district. Old retired, homosexual servicemen frequent some of the fast food restaurants and coffee houses in the area. Taipei City's Veneral Disease Clinic is also found there.
The name Wanhua is derived from the Mandarin pronounciation of the Japanese kanji 萬華 (manka), which were coined for their phonetic resemblance to the Taiwanese name báng-kah (艋舺). In turn báng-kah is thought to be derived from an even older Austronesian word banka, for canoe. See Bangca.
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