Qualla: Hamasen https://qualla.com/hamasen en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Hamasen https://qualla.com/hamasen Hamasen: Introduction https://qualla.com/hamasen/ Before Kaohsiung became a major port city, before its harbor was dredged and its industries built, there was Hamasen. The Japanese colonial administration gave this corner of Gushan District its name — *hama* for beach, *sen* for railway line — because two rail lines ran through it before the city around it properly existed. That name encodes the neighborhood's essence: it was always about movement, about the connection between land and water, about the infrastructure that makes everything else possible. Hamasen did not grow up alongside modern Kaohsiung. It grew up first.

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]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/hamasen-wp/wsj8-hamasen-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Hamasen: Where the City Began https://qualla.com/hamasen/ In the early decades of Japanese administration, Hamasen was the center of everything in Kaohsiung. The city's first modernized street was laid here. Tap water arrived here before it arrived anywhere else in the city. Electric lights illuminated Hamasen before they illuminated th...

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]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/hamasen-wp/wsj8-hamasen-where-the-city-began.mp3 0:06 2 full Hamasen: Hub of the Harbor Economy https://qualla.com/hamasen/ Railway and ocean cargo defined Hamasen's working identity. The two rail lines for which the neighborhood is named connected it to the broader island infrastructure, while the harbor provided the connection outward to the world. Politics, economy, and the fishing industry all con...

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]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/hamasen-wp/wsj8-hamasen-hub-of-the-harbor-economy.mp3 0:06 3 full Hamasen: Ape Hill and the Tunnel to the University https://qualla.com/hamasen/ Hamasen's western edge is defined by Ape Hill, the rocky promontory that rises between the harbor district and Sizihwan Bay to the west. The hill that once formed a natural barrier now contains a pedestrian and cycling tunnel that punches through to National Sun Yat-sen Universit...

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]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/hamasen-wp/wsj8-hamasen-ape-hill-and-the-tunnel-to-the-university.mp3 0:06 4 full Hamasen: A Historic Quarter Still in Motion https://qualla.com/hamasen/ Hamasen today occupies a curious position in Kaohsiung: old enough to carry genuine historical weight, connected enough to remain active. The Hamasen Station of the Kaohsiung MRT sits within the district, folding a neighborhood that predates the city's mass transit system into th...

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]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/hamasen-wp/wsj8-hamasen-a-historic-quarter-still-in-motion.mp3 0:06 5 full