Taiwan Food Atlas

Baosang Tang Yuan, Taitung

Longan-sugar-water glutinous rice balls since 1949 — a coin-priced dessert beside the old Taitung Cinema
📍 Taitung · Zhengqi Road, Taitung City🏆 Collectible · Street Food🍡 Old-established since 1949

On Zhengqi Road in Taitung City, near the site of the former Taitung Cinema, a sign reads "Baosang Tang Yuan." This shop has been open since 1949 — over seventy-five years. A bowl arrives: filled glutinous rice balls floating in longan-date sugar water, or in summer, nestled on shaved ice, all for a handful of coins. It is the oldest sweet soup in Taitung City's center. Eaten by grandparents and grandchildren alike, Baosang is the time marker of this old street.

What is Baosang Tang Yuan?

Baosang Tang Yuan refers to the full range of savory and sweet glutinous rice balls sold at the long-established "Baosang Tang Yuan" shop on Zhengqi Road in Taitung City. The sweet version features glutinous rice balls filled with sesame, peanut, or red bean paste, served in a red-sugar broth simmered with dried longan and red dates — hot in winter, or placed on shaved ice with red beans and mung beans in summer. The savory version is small rice balls with a savory filling, served in ginger broth. "Baosang" is the old place-name for Taitung City (Baosang Village), so this bowl of tang yuan also functions as the neighborhood's signature food.

Why Baosang? Baosang Tang Yuan was founded in 1949, originally next to the Taitung Cinema. In those days, having a sweet bowl of tang yuan after a film was everyday pleasure for Taitung residents. The Taitung Cinema is long gone, but Baosang Tang Yuan has stayed on Zhengqi Road, still selling handmade rice balls at budget prices, and was selected as one of Taitung's Top Ten Featured Foods in 2012 (per multiple cited sources). The brand's history and local emotional connection are the core of this bowl — the flavor follows a plain, old-fashioned approach with no pretense.

How to eat it the authentic way

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Longan sugar waterIn winter, the must-order is the longan red-sugar tang yuan. The broth carries a dried-longan fragrance; the rice balls are soft and chewy with a filled center. Eat it while it is hot.
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Shaved ice in summerIn summer, switch to the shaved-ice tang yuan: rice balls on top of shaved ice, drizzled with sugar water and topped with red beans and mung beans — budget-priced and cooling.
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Savory tang yuanSavory tang yuan with ginger broth is an uncommon combination — small, unfilled or savory-filled balls in a warming ginger soup, good for the stomach on a cold or under-the-weather day.
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Feel the historyThe shop is plainly furnished; old photos line the walls. Order your tang yuan, sit down, and eat slowly — let the atmosphere of a seventy-plus-year-old shop settle around you.

Local knowledge

Verified sources (sponsored content filtered)

  • Baosang Tang Yuan was founded in 1949, originally beside the Taitung Cinema — one of the oldest sweet-soup shops in Taitung City.
  • Selected as one of Taitung's Top Ten Featured Foods in 2012 (per multiple cited sources); coin prices maintained for over seventy years.
  • "Baosang" is an old place-name for Taitung City — the tang yuan brand and local history are deeply intertwined.

Practical tips

  • The shop interior is plain with no décor. Don't let the simplicity put you off — this is what a real old Taitung street stall looks like.
  • Open mainly afternoons through evenings; may not be open before noon. Confirm hours before you go.
  • Zhengqi Road is in Taitung's old city district — a natural pairing with a stroll along the Taitung Old Rail Corridor and the Zhengqi commercial night market.

Data compiled from the Taitung County Government Department of Transportation and Tourism Development, township and village farmers' associations, and large-scale public reviews. Sponsored listings have been filtered out. Photos will be replaced with exclusive channel footage after Dio's on-site shoot.

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