Shimen District
A district in New Taipei City, Taiwan
Shimen District (Chinese: 石門區; pinyin: Shímén Qū; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chio̍h-mn̂g-khu), also known as Sekimon, is a sparsely populated rural district in the northern part of New Taipei City in northern Taiwan. It is part of the North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area and includes the island of Taiwan's northernmost point, Cape Fugui.
History
While known to earlier explorers, including the Dutch, the area was first explicitly mentioned in Chinese annals in 1694 as Shimenshan (石門山; 'Stone Gate Mountain'). During the period of Imperial Japanese rule, Shimen was called Sekimon Village (石門庄), and was governed under Tansui District of Taihoku Prefecture. In 1945 when the Kuomintang took over administration of Taiwan the area became Shimen Rural Township, a part of Taipei County. With the reorganization of Taipei County in 2010, Shimen became a district of the newly created New Taipei City.
Geography
The interior of Shimen is predominantly mountainous, with small areas of flat land on the coast. The district is bordered to the north by the East China Sea, to the southwest by Sanzhi District, and to the southeast by Jinshan District.
Administration
Shimen is part of New Taipei City, a special municipality under the Republic of China government. The district itself is divided into nine villages: Shanxi (山溪里), Shimen (石門里), Laomei (老梅里), Jianlu (尖鹿里), Maolin (茂林里), Caoli (草里里), Qianhua/Cianhua (乾華里), Fuji (富基里), and Demao (德茂里).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Shimen District” is a district in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Shimen, District and district, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “a district in New Taipei City, Taiwan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q570387. Authority coordinates are 25.269, 121.571. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1694, 1945 and 2010.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shimen District”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shimen District primary sources, Shimen District archive and Shimen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shimen District”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shimen District” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.