Located in the heart of Yilan City, North-South Market has served as the area's largest hub for fresh produce and street food since the Japanese colonial era. The North Market, designed by Japanese planners, reflects a more modern sensibility, with vendors selling medicinal herbs, textile merchants, and ready-to-eat snacks; the South Market hews closer to everyday life, specializing in fresh ingredients and household goods. As large chain supermarkets expanded across Taiwan, however, the traditional market fell into a slow decline.

That's when Leo Fang, known as "Young Grandpa," breathed new life into it. The nickname reflects the dual spirit of Leo Fang's personal brand: "young" evokes a younger generation returning home with fresh creative energy, while "grandpa" speaks to his reverence for the agrarian way of life his grandparents' generation knew, and his commitment to preserving a rural culture that is fast disappearing.

Leo Fang is, in every sense, a child of the market—his mother ran a clothing stall there for years. After studying agriculture in Australia and Japan, he returned home determined to put his creative energy to work, launching an initiative Morning Market Yilan. Slipping on his signature orange rubber sandals and swinging a ka-tsì bag—a plastic-woven tote bag synonymous with Taiwanese market culture—over his arm, he leads visitors through the market's narrow lanes, bringing Yilan's local culture to life through vivid storytelling and hands-on experiences.

He also founded the Market School, a program that takes young people through the full journey from farm to kitchen, putting the farm-to-table philosophy into practice. In 2024, this cultural revitalization effort earned the World Agritourism Award in Italy—recognition that this small market in Yilan had become an international model for community regeneration.

A Taste of Living Memory

Inside the market, Yi Xiang has fed Yilan locals since 1952. Its signature bian shi (Yilan-style wonton) fish ball soup and cha-chiang-mien (fried sauce noodles) are classic Yilan brunch—hand-wrapped dumplings made from freshly slaughtered pork, served alongside thin noodles tossed in a rich, savory bean paste sauce. Nearby, Sihai Ju is known for its xi lu rou: a thick, comforting braise of dried flounder and napa cabbage, finished at the last moment with a scattering of crispy egg floss—a quintessential Yilan banquet dish passed down through generations.

Also within the market, Sanyuan Hang specializes in two of Yilan's most distinctive cured products: ya shang, a whole duck smoked over sugarcane, and dan gan, pork liver marinated in soy sauce and then smoke-dried. Both are deeply savory, layered with complexity—the kind of flavors that only time and tradition can produce.

These vendors sell more than food; they carry forward a philosophy of diligence and plain living, rooted in the land. Today, the North-South Market is more than a place to shop—it is a stage for local memory, a place where Yilan's distinct character is made and tasted. Through the return of young people, community co-creation, and sustainable agritourism, this century-old market has become a cultural hub connecting past and future.

☛ 　Morning Market Yilan has been selected as one of the Ministry of Culture's inaugural 100 Culture Bases.