Visiting Guanghua Theater 光華戲院 in Liugui, Kaohsiung

Liugui District 六龜區 is a rural district in Kaohsiung. The main town, also called Liugui 六龜, is quite small, but like many small towns in Taiwan, it has a movie theater.

Liugui actually had two theaters, Liugui Theater 六龜戲院 and Guanghua Theater 光華戲院. Unfortunately, Liugui Theater is no longer around, but Guanghua Theater (also known in Liugui as the new theater) is still standing.

Guanghua Theater opened in 1969. It had 600 seats, which really shows you how many people used to live in this area. Like most theaters in Taiwan, it would have played movies, puppet shows, plays, and dance shows. The theater closed in 1995. The rise in cable and population decline led to its collapse.

The following pictures are from my first visit in 2019.

As you can see from the pictures, it’s now just used for parking and storage. Inside isn’t much to look at these days, but the screen is still there.

I recently bought a new (to me) scooter. With this upgrade, I can finally return to a few of the more remote places in greater Kaohsiung. I returned to Liugui in December 2024 to revisit the theater. The photos from that trip are shown here.

This time I went up to the projection room and roof.

The projection room. The projectors are at the owner’s B&B outside of Liugui town.

Here are a few pictures of Liugui’s old downtown from 2019.

Liugui is a popular area of Kaohsiung because of the scenery, hiking, and hot springs. So, if you are in the area, you can stop by the theater (高雄市六龜區文武里河邊巷64號) and say hi!