2026 Ride with the Wind | Fengshan-Niaosung Cultural Ecology Cycling Tour
The 2026 Ride with the Wind takes place on 11/7 (Sat) with a day of cycling through Kaohsiung’s cultural and natural landscapes. The schedule is split into two half-day sessions, and together they let riders get to know two different sides of Kaohsiung at once.
Morning Session | Niaosong Chengching Lake Guoling In-depth Cycling Tour
Activity Time: 08:30–12:30
On-site check-in time: 08:30–09:00 AM
Check-in Location: Niaosong Wetland Park
The morning ride starts at Niaosong Wetland Park and moves into Chengching Lake, where participants will visit classic attractions such as the Nine-Turn Bridge and Zhongxing Tower. From there, the group takes a shortcut into Kaohsiung Guoling Natural Park, offering access to the kind of greenery and ecological scenery that is rare to find within city limits.
Afternoon Session | Fengshan Cultural Reading In-depth Cycling Tour
Activity Time: 13:30–17:30
On-site check-in time: 13:30–14:00 PM
Check-in Location: Huangpu New Village
The afternoon session shifts the focus from nature to history. Riders will weave through the streets of the old Fengshan city, visiting battery historical sites, Cao Gong Temple, Fengyi Academy, and Huangpu New Village. The route is designed as a way to read the historical stories of Fengshan while passing through the places where those stories unfolded.
Between Chengching Lake’s classic landmarks and Fengshan’s historical streets, the full-day route is structured to cover both environments in a single outing.
Fengshan and Niaosung
Fengshan and Niaosung are neighboring districts in southern Kaohsiung City. They have different histories and different landscapes, but both are tied to the same water system and to the growth of the city.
Fengshan is one of Kaohsiung’s oldest urban settlements. Its Chinese name means “Phoenix Mountain,” after the hills that once shaped the area. During the Qing dynasty the town was an administrative and military center, and parts of that era are still visible. Sections of the old city wall survive, as do temple complexes and narrow streets near Caojun Temple and Fengshan Longshan Temple. The district is now a busy local center with traditional markets, family-run eateries, and public spaces. Many streets in the old core are narrow and low-rise, and a short bicycle ride can pass from a Qing-era wall to a market street with little change in scale. The town is compact, so its history is accessible in a way that does not require a special trip to a separate heritage site.
Niaosung, immediately north of Fengshan, is a different kind of place. It has no dense downtown. Shops and public buildings are spread along a few main roads, and most of the land is farmland, woodland, or open water. The name is traditionally associated with the area’s pine forests and birdlife. Chengcing Lake, the district’s best-known landmark, is a reservoir and a large public park. It supplies drinking water to part of the city and also has walking paths, wetlands, and open water used by migratory birds. Around the lake, and in the low hills to the east, are wooded trails, ponds, and cultivated fields. This is quiet, open terrain, and the change from Fengshan is clear as soon as you cross the boundary.
The two districts are connected by more than proximity. In the nineteenth century, an irrigation system was built to carry water from the hills and rural catchments into the fields around Fengshan. That infrastructure has changed, but its purpose remains: the reservoirs and farmland in Niaosung still supply water, absorb heavy rain, and provide habitat for species that do not survive well in dense city blocks. Fengshan would not have grown into an administrative and trading center without the farmland and water sources around it.
The Ride with the Wind route links the two districts for this reason. It moves from the shaded streets of Fengshan, where traffic is slow and buildings press against the sidewalks, into the open roads of Niaosung, where the sky widens and the lake appears behind rows of trees. Riders do not have to choose between a historic town and a rural landscape. The route shows both, and it shows the relationship between them: an old city and the farmland, forests, and water around it.
