Winding path in the town. [Photo by Lin Jinghua / China Daily]

"I promised him that I would continue the museum, because if I had not given him that assurance he might not have closed his eyes," Zeng Jianwen, the museum's curator, says.

His father, one of the last surviving gold miners in Jiufen, opened the museum 22 years ago, he says.

"As a kid I used to follow my father to the pit. I remember the mine closing in 1972 when I was 9."

For many miners the work exacted a heavy toll and life was short, in most cases death taking them before they were 60, Zeng says. His father was an exception, dying last year aged 78.

"My father regarded the history of gold mining in Jiufen as the town's heritage and wanted his children and grandchildren to continue his mission of ensuring people never forgot it. Fortunately my son and daughter are also interested in protecting the town's gold heritage."

By the time this brief trip into the past was done, the rain had stopped, and as I stepped out onto the street and back into the present a beautiful view awaited me: the port of Keelung and several small islands sitting like gems in the East China Sea.