Jinxing Theater 金星大戲院

Most small towns, even on the east coast of Taiwan, had a movie theater.

Nearly every year I take a solo birthday trip. This year I picked Taitung 台東 on Taiwan’s east coast. Taitung is famous for its clean air and beautiful scenery. I picked it because I wanted to take the famous old train from Taitung 台東 to Fangliao 枋寮. Then drive around the beautiful east coast, visit some old sites, and of course check out a few old abandoned theaters.

Jinxing Theater 金星大戲院 is in Zhiben 知本. Zhiben is mostly famous for its hot springs. I went to Zhiben for the hot springs once before. I don’t really enjoy hot springs and definitely don’t care for them during Taiwan’s hot summer. So, this trip to Zhiben was just there to see the movie theater.

This theater suffered the fate of many other small-town theaters. Whenever TVs became more commonplace, people stopped going to them. Many were destroyed, a few turned into other shops, and some, like this one, still stand as a memory of the golden age of Taiwan’s theaters.

I returned to Taitung in early 2026. I took a few days from the Lunar New Year holiday to hit the east coast. So, of course, I returned to this theater.

It’s still there, very overgrown and filled with trash. But still worth a little visit.

I also went to Dongxing Theater 東興大戲院 in the same town. It was built in the 1960s. It closed down at some point and was turned into a hospital. I’m not sure when it closed, but it was definitely a long time ago. It is now mostly a giant house for cats.

Not much left inside this one. It’s still a great area to visit, and if you’re there for the hot springs, stop by Jinxing Theater 金星大戲院 and say hi!