Keelung’s erasure of number eight a reflection of past cross-strait tensions

Keelung’s erasure of number eight a reflection of past cross-strait tensions

2026-05-18

Many people know Keelung for its famous night market and seemingly constant rain, but there’s something else that makes it special. Its roads are strictly numbered to keep them organized, but they all skip the number eight. For example, between Ai 7th road and Ai 9th road is Liu Ming-chuan Road, while between Yi 7th Road and Yi 9th Road is Zhongxing Road. Even bus routes don’t include the number eight. Experts say there’s a historical reason why Keelung leaves it out.

All the road names on this bus route are numbered one through nine, but they skip the number eight.

Keelung resident
Noting lack of 8
Keelung has Ai Road one through seven, then it skips eight and goes straight to Ai 9th Road. We think it’s strange too. I’ve lived in Keelung for so long, but there is no Ai 8th Road.

Member of public
Noting lack of 8
There’s Ai 7th Road, then Liu Ming-chuan Road, then Ai 9th Road. Here there’s Yi 7th Road, Zhongxing Road, then Yi 9th Road.

The number eight seems to have disappeared from Keelung altogether. But on old maps, it’s still there.

Keelung got rid of the number eight when the Chinese Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Authorities were highly sensitive to any references to the Chinese Communist Party’s Eighth Route Army and required Keelung not to have any streets named eight. Therefore, Ai 8th Road and Yi 8th Road were changed to Liu Chuan-ming Road and Zhongxing Road.

Tan Yan-po
Historian
The Keelung City Council didn’t have any particular discussions about changing the road names in 1950. But there was a record showing that the sign for Ai 8th Road had been changed while others had not, urging the civil affairs department at the time to change them as soon as possible.

While there are no clear records of when exactly the names changed, the erasure of the number eight in Keelung is testament to how intense cross-strait tensions were back then.

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#Keelung #eight #crossstait #Taiwan #Nationalist #Communist #tension #history #road #roadnames

基隆路名.公車路線"沒有八" 原因竟與共產黨有關

2026-05-18

提到基隆，許多人會聯想到下雨。基隆還有一個特色，就是路名與數字緊密相連，不過基隆道路數字從1到9都有，就是沒有8。例如愛七路與愛九路之間是劉銘傳路；義七路與義九路中間是中興路。甚至連公車路線都看不到數字8。對此，有學者揭露背後隱藏著歷史因素。

基隆公車站牌上面的道路名，一到九都有，但仔細一看，就是沒有八。

[[基隆民眾]]
"基隆有愛一路到愛七路，然後跳過八到愛九路，我們也很奇怪，住基隆住那麼久了，沒有愛八路"

[[民眾]]
"你看愛七路，然後劉銘傳路，愛九路。義七路，中興路，義九路"

數字八彷彿從基隆消失。但在以前的古地圖中，可是有八的存在。

逢八必跳過，無關風水迷信，而是與國共內戰時期的歷史背景有關。台灣歷史博物館有篇文章寫著，民國38年國民政府退守台灣，對共產黨的八路軍很敏感，情治單位要求基隆不能有”八路”，所以才將愛八路改為劉銘傳路，義八路改為中興路。

[[文史工作者單彥博]]
"那在1950年的基隆市議會裡面，他們並沒有特別去提到要去換名字這件事情，但是在議會裡面，其實有一篇是在講說愛八路的門牌，路名已經換了，但是有些還沒有換，就是要當時的民政處，就是要趕快換新"

雖然沒有明確的檔案紀錄，但基隆沒有八的都市傳說，為當時兩岸對立態勢，留下歷史紀錄。

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