In the preface Hsun Chiang wrote for the book:
Mountains and rivers encourage people to turn their backs on the city, and head towards nature. Along the Taipei River does the exact opposite. It wants people to face the city, observe the city, think about the city, reflect on the city, and, perhaps one day, create a city.

An ancient text once wrote of a prosperous time when “people with gray hair have not known war”. I am already someone who has gray hair, and I have been fortunate to see sixty years of prosperity in this city. I know that the river was mighty before I came, and will, of course, remain mighty when I am gone. The painting of Along the Taipei River will continue to go on.

Those with gray hair have gray memories. Maybe Xiang Yao-Jen’s Along the Taipei River is not only a collection of Taipei’s past memories. Surely, it is also waiting to see how the newcomers of this city would create their own prosperity in the city alongside the river.

In the preface Hsun Chiang wrote for the book:
Mountains and rivers encourage people to turn their backs on the city, and head towards nature. Along the Taipei River does the exact opposite. It wants people to face the city, observe the city, think about the city, reflect on the city, and, perhaps one day, create a city.

An ancient text once wrote of a prosperous time when “people with gray hair have not known war”. I am already someone who has gray hair, and I have been fortunate to see sixty years of prosperity in this city. I know that the river was mighty before I came, and will, of course, remain mighty when I am gone. The painting of Along the Taipei River will continue to go on.

Those with gray hair have gray memories. Maybe Xiang Yao-Jen’s Along the Taipei River is not only a collection of Taipei’s past memories. Surely, it is also waiting to see how the newcomers of this city would create their own prosperity in the city alongside the river.

Xiang Yao-Jen, editor of Along the Taipei River: An all-out effort to gather the memories of this city, and piece together its past and present. The original manuscript of the first volume is a continuous, 200-meter-long painting that tells of stories that happened in Taipei. The second volume depicts drawings of old photos, and features essays from great personalities that record the places and sentiments of Taipei.

Tzu-Ming Yeh, illustrator: The story of Taipei is depicted in colorful paintings rendered with a light, amateur’s touch but also packed with details, like the ukiyo-e of Japan. The composition is done in the third-person point of view, so that readers can have a comprehensive view of the flow of time while also enjoy a closer look at the development of lifestyles in Taipei from generation to generation, such as changes in business models, the rise and fall of various industries, the evolution of popular culture, and the ebb and flow of culture and values.

This video is available on Youku for Mainland China.

他們的台北記憶：名家文摘

王偉忠

多年之後，發現自己生活在台北這麼久，還是有種「南部小孩」心情，很怕出糗，所以無論跟誰約，盡量都走同樣的行程、作同樣的事。我的固定行程是搭公車下山，在館前路下車、吃碗重慶南路的清真牛肉湯麵、喝果汁、然後走去西門町電影街的樂聲戲院前台階上等人看電影。跟朋友約如此，跟女朋友約，也是如此。唯一差別是朋友會準時出現；女友則一定遲到四十分鐘到一個小時。

季季

對一個在台北沒書桌也沒收音機和音響的鄉下女孩來說，在明星咖啡館寫稿的感覺真是奢侈而又幸福。一個人守著一張桌子，自由自在想像，無拘無束描摹，每次寫完一篇小說走下三樓，心裡總是依依不捨；而且快樂又滿足。

林青霞

九歲時搬到台北縣三重市淡水河邊。中興橋離我們家很近，那時最開心的是大人帶我們坐著三輪車，經過中興橋到台北吃小美冰淇淋。高中讀新莊金陵女中，放學總是跟著住在台北的同學一起搭公共汽車，過中興橋吃台北小吃店的甜不辣配白蘿蔔，上面澆點辣椒醬，那滾燙甜辣之味至今記得。

高愛倫

別問我再重來一次會是怎樣的選擇，我的答案無法用是非圈叉來決定，因為這只能以申論的方式陳述：我深深慶幸我有過這樣「放掉新聞」的非專業行為，即便這可能是錯的。我也深深同情後來的世風與競爭，讓新聞工作變得如此嗜血，甚至把「寧可錯殺，絕不可錯放」當作不得不的輕率之權。

張大春

我的老台北沒有一個固定的時間座標，它就在那兒──有三輪車行經一人高的郵筒和鐵框玻璃電話亭的那個年代是其中之一。

三輪車要到一九六○年九月才會逐漸消失在台北街頭。三輪車伕報繳了車，可以領三千塊錢現金。最早一批車的解體儀式公開盛大，一百輛三輪兒堆擠在中山堂前的廣場上，居然也有一種壯大的聲勢。

詹宏志

我並不常想到自己是台北人，反倒常常向別人解釋自己的鄉鎮出身。但出身不如安身，台北可從來沒有排斥我這個農村來的小楞子，沒把我當成盲流，沒把我當成低端人口，它給我求知機會，讓我結交各地聰慧多聞朋友；它給我工作機會，提供各色各樣跌跌撞撞的舞台（包括各種我不曾想像的奇緣與奇遇）……

蔡康永

白先勇老師所創作的經典作品當中，我看得最熟的是短篇小說集《臺北人》。這些年來，我雖然看了數不清的雜七雜八的雜書。但是少年時閱讀《臺北人》，永遠是我最奇妙的閱讀經驗之一。我在看其中兩篇時，彷彿看到自己認識的人跑進了書裡面去，演出他們的人生故事。

姚仁喜

新生南路的第二個記憶場景，是有一天爸媽都出門了，大概是超過了預期回家的時刻。大哥仁祿坐在入口玄關，巴巴地望著院子大門，就啜泣起來了。根據父母事後的描述，當他們抵家開門時，看到我們兄弟倆並肩坐在玄關，我拍著仁祿的頭，一直說：「不要哭、不要怕……」現在很少有這種具有高低差的玄關了。那麼簡單的一個空間、一個落差，造就了一個巧妙的過度空間。那是年幼的我們，在父母不在時，能夠去到的安全範圍內的最邊陲。那是我們最外面的「裡面」，一個安全的觀察所在，一個期盼、等待、內外之間的場所。