Jioufen was only an isolated village until 1893, when gold was discovered in the area. The resulting gold rush hastened the village's development into a town, and reached its peak during the Japanese rule. During World War II, a POW camp named Kinkaseki was set up in the village, holding Allied soldiers captured in Singapore (including many British) who worked in the nearby gold mines. In 1989, Hou Hsiao-hsien's "A City of Sadness", the first film to touch on the 228 Incident, a taboo subject in Taiwan then, became a big hit in the theatres. As a result Jioufen, where the film was set, was revived due to the film's popularity. Jioufen is today a renowned tourist attraction of Taiwan.