Wistaria Tea House

The Wistaria Tea House is the most historically significant tea house in Taipei — a Japanese-era wooden house that served as a secret meeting place for democracy activists and intellectuals during the martial law era (1949-1987) and has been a designated heritage site since 1997. The house, draped in the ancient wistaria vine that gives it its name, serves Taiwanese and Chinese teas in an atmosphere of quiet intellectualism that connects contemporary visitors to the democracy movement that shaped modern Taiwan.

The tea house was frequented by writers, academics, and political dissidents during the White Terror period, when expressing opposition to the KMT government could result in imprisonment or execution. The house's role as a meeting place for the tangwai (literally 'outside the party') democracy movement makes it a pilgrimage site for Taiwanese people who value the freedoms that were fought for within these walls.