Tag Archives: Taiwan Indigenous People

Time for Just a Taste of Taitung 台東!

February 16, 2021 Catherine Lee 6 Comments

High mountains, steep valleys, suspension bridges, hot sun, blue sea, white surf, yummy sugar-apples, pink cherry blossom, betel nuts, indigenous people, dancing, art, mountain villages, lots of churches, cheeky monkeys waiting to steal your lunch, impressive scenery ~ all these and more are waiting to welcome you all to Taitung 台東!

Where even the local post office is decorated in indigenous style!

Taiwan’s far distant SE county is separated from the rest of the country by the central mountain range, so it’s always been the most difficult to get to – especially for those who don’t like tortuous winding roads over mountains or slow train journeys. But now there’s a brand new road and tunnel much of the way from Pingtung – yes! These are the views driving along Taitung’s coast….

Chinese New Year is a great time to visit Taitung because the rest of Taiwan can be cold and wet in winter – but while Taitung might be a bit wet, it won’t be very cold and it certainly won’t be that endless miserable cold that haunts Taipei and the northern coast all winter long, don’t I know it! 😭 In summer though, Taitung can be very hot – so winter is THE time to visit! There’s even a few cherry blossom out in the mountains…..

We managed to spend a few days there last week, February 8-11, fitting in our visit just before Chinese New Year. My good friend, A-Guan from St. James’ Church, Taichung, and another friend, Shiu-Chin from Grace Church, Tainan organized everything ~ and off we went! The place we always like to stay is Bunun Leisure Farm 布農部落 in Yanping Township 延平鄉, in the mountains above Taitung City. There are 5 villages in Yanping, mainly Bunun Indigenous People. Bunun Leisure Farm is near Taoyuan Village 桃源村, and was set up by Rev. Bai Guang-sheng in 1995, after serving 11 years as Presbyterian pastor in the village church. Through the “Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation”, his aim was to develop a sustainable tourism industry with a Bunun flavor, including performances, weaving studio, coffee shop, guest houses, restaurants – and it’s still going strong! This is us with Rev. Bai….

There are plenty of other places to stay in Taitung of course, but Bunun Farm has a great atmosphere, lots of art and culture, the food is grown and produced locally, they employ lots of young people who are so friendly and always recognise us from previous visits ~ so, all in all, it’s a very meaningful place to stay. Their dancing and 8-part singing are very famous too, with daily performances….

Ah, it’s a great place!

This time we also visited Taoyuan Village, about 15 minutes walk away ~ we went very early in the morning. As it was just before Chinese New Year, so people were out and about cleaning their homes and streets ready for the festivities. Rev. Bai said there’s over 100 children in the elementary school and over 60 in the junior-high school. There’s 2 main churches, RC and Presbyterian, but also some other smaller churches like True Jesus Church. Taoyuan Village is the centre of the Yanping Township government so there’s lots of government buildings too. And plenty of brightly painted buildings – ah yes, I love it!

We spent last Tuesday, February 9, visiting the coast, working our way from Taitung northwards to Dulan and Donghe, where the cheeky monkeys were hanging out at Taiyuan ….

And the next day we visited the very remote and tiny Shanli Train Station and nearby Kalito’od Church 山里福音教會 in Beinan Township, where sugar-apples are growing everywhere, and also loquat (pipa). The fruits are covered in paper bags while they mature, to stop them being eaten by hungry animals ….

In a nearby noodle shop, the very creative owner, now aged 80, had taken all the used disposable chopsticks left by customers – to make wooden models. Most impressed!

And early on Chinese New Year’s Eve, in torrential rain, we said goodbye to Bunun Farm and set off back to the west coast. By the time we got to the southern part of Taitung and up into the mountains, the sun was out!

Special thanks to A-Guan and Shiu-Chin for organizing such a great trip, doing all the driving and booking and arranging ~ I just took photos! It was fairly non-stop action all day long, and we certainly made the most of it all. Taitung though is a very laid-back kind of place, where even the dogs and cats lie on the station platform enjoying their morning nap…

Grateful for safe travels and, in this pandemic – while so many other countries are in lockdown – that we are able to travel freely around Taiwan with little problem, armed with just face-masks to wear in shops, restaurants and crowded areas. Many people in Taiwan did suspend their Chinese New Year travels after worries about a cluster infection of about 20 people spreading from a hospital in Taoyuan a few weeks ago, but it seems to have been contained, which is good news for all. We are grateful that the government and health authorities continue to do a great job in this time of crisis, which has caused so much suffering worldwide. Our prayers continue for all those affected .

Taiwan

Happy Chinese New Year of the 🐭🐀!

January 31, 2020 Catherine Lee 2 Comments

Chinese New Year (CNY) Celebrations for the Lunar New Year / Spring Festival have been going on non-stop all week here in Taiwan! There are mice and rat characters everywhere 🐭 🐀 and Mickey Mouse and his friends have never been more popular. Plus red lanterns galore 🏮🏮🏮….

However, the Taiwan News is dominated by wall-to-wall reporting of the Wuhan Coronavirus situation, which has created a lot of fear, particularly among those who have stayed at home over CNY and watched a lot of TV. We all remember the SARS outbreak in 2003, which the Taiwan government handled really well, but still, many have cancelled their travel plans and are avoiding large gatherings and public transport, and we’re all hoping that the situation does not get worse. There are quite a few suspected – and some confirmed – cases in Taiwan, but so far all remain contained. Kindergartens are back in action as from yesterday, state schools start on February 11. I’m here at St. James’ Kindergarten, Taichung, where all children and staff have their temps checked on entering the school, and everyone is wearing a face-mask and being extra-careful. Face-masks will be worn by all in our churches on Sunday too, and church activities limited for the next few weeks, just to be on the safe side.

But Taiwan people know the importance of celebrating the new year, and despite the concerns, we all had great CNY celebrations! On Chinese New Year’s Eve, I was invited by the Wang family from St. James’ Church, Taichung for their traditional family reunion dinner. Very honoured to sit next to Grandma Wang, aged 87, who kept us all entertained with stories of her early life and 20 years of living in Paraguay. And delicious food, as always – thank you!

Saturday January 25 was officially the first day of CNY, and my good friend A-Guan had invited me to join her on a 6-day road trip to southern and eastern Taiwan. None of her children wanted to go with us, so the two of us set off, in sunny weather heading south for Tainan, en route visiting all sorts of interesting sightseeing spots. First to Gukeng to the Pink Castle 古坑珍粉紅城堡, then to Rosahill, followed by some famous Gukeng coffee, and lastly to Wushantou Reservoir 烏山頭水庫 where it was overcast, but hey, it didn’t rain!

The Temple of Heaven at Wushantou Reservoir is being repaired, but it is modeled on the one in Beijing…. impressive eh?!

In Tainan, we were warmly welcomed by Rev. Philip J. L. Ho, his wife, their second son and his family, plus their daughter, all of whom had gathered for the CNY celebrations – actually his second son and family live very near me in Tamsui, ha ha! On Sunday we worshiped with the congregation at Grace Church, Tainan, and I was delighted to meet Rev. Samuel Liao and his family. We were all given red envelopes – as is the tradition, but instead of a token one dollar coin or chocolate money inside, we each received a new NT$ 100 note, plus a Bible verse. Mine was Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer 在盼望中要喜樂，在患難中要忍耐，禱告要恆切”. Thank you Grace Church!

After coffee time and a delicious Korean lunch, kindly hosted by Hsiu-Chin and her husband, we set off for Fengshan, Kaohsiung, where we were to be staying 2 nights with Ichen, our good friend from St. James – and her family. Once there though, it was such a beautiful day, that we couldn’t stay inside for long, and so we went by MRT along 3 stops to Weiwuying, Kaohsiung (still in Fengshan District), famous for it’s street art and wall murals, and the new state-of-the-art performing arts centre. I love Weiwuying – and there’s always new murals to look at – and this time a new multi-coloured seat to take photos on 🙃🙃 and hey, I met one of our church families from Advent Church, Tamsui visiting their family home in Fengshan for CNY!

On Monday, the weather forecast was good, but rain and cold were promised from Monday night onwards, so we needed to make the most of the sunny weather! A-Guan took us first to see the old iron-bridge 舊鐵橋 that used to link Kaohsiung to Pingtung across the Kaoping River 高屏溪, originally built to transport sugar. It was once the longest bridge in East Asia – built in 1914 in the Japanese Era. I loved it! The middle section was washed away in a typhoon some years ago, but much survives and is open to the public. The main train line crosses the river on a bridge close by. We also visited the nearby kiln and tile workshops, and in the afternoon we went to Pingtung to Liudui Hakka Park, plus other places – but there was a lot of traffic, everyone making the most of the fine weather!

On Monday evening, Rev. Lily Chang joined us, ready to leave bright and early on Tuesday morning. By 9:00 am, we were saying goodbye to Ichen and her family – they were so good to us, with delicious breakfasts and dinners, lively conversation and lots of laughs! We drove down the coast and over the mountains to Taitung – by the newly-opened road that goes through the tunnel – it’s great and saves a huge amount of time! We were heading for Bunun Village Farm 布農部落, our favourite place to stay in Taitung. This village project was started by Rev. K. S. Pai over 25 years ago, and is supported by many churches in Taiwan, with the aim of encouraging the local Bunun Indigenous people to remain in the area, rather than leaving for the cities in search of work. The village is a self-sustaining business with guest houses, restaurants, traditional dance performances, weaving, an organic farm and bamboo factory. We love it! We met Rev. Pai, who knows Bishop Lai and our former dean, Rev. Samuel Y. C. Lin from Tainan Theological College days – see the first photo below. I was very surprised to meet 4 Tanzanian students and one from Burundi, most on 4-month internships from Chang-Jung Christian University, Tainan studying Sustainable Development, sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute 國際珍古德協會. Ah, it was nice to rekindle my Kiswahili!

The photo below left shows the very special traditional Bunun dinner we had on arrival – with millet wine in the bamboo holder ~ and A-Guan won a large glass of the same at the evening show!

On Wednesday, A-Guan took us all over Taitung, a huge circular tour – she really planned everything so well! We went to the local Farmer’s Association – famous for it’s rice products, to the Bunun Village in Haiduan 海端鄉 with its painted walls, to the Hakka Cultural Park and Dapo Lake, and then up to Fuli, Hualien County and over the long and very winding mountain road that led us down to the coast at Dulan 都蘭, famous for its Amis indigenous culture, elementary school bags (one recently spotted at the Paris Fashion Week), surf, old sugar factory turned into art space, and the new RC church. Phew, there was so much to see! And hey, it didn’t rain!

In Chishang 池上 we called in on Yihua and her husband to buy some of their delicious rice-cakes at their shop ‘池上樂米燒’ on the main street opposite the local government offices – they are church members originally from St. Paul’s, Kaohsiung and Grace Church, Tainan – and we also called there 2 years ago when they had just opened their business (see my blog post for that visit at CNY 2018 here). Yihua has a great testimony to share, as well as really yummy goodies to eat!

Our return to Taichung was Thursday, which was actually the return-to-work day for most people in Taiwan after the CNY holidays. We had an extra day, so we avoided the worst of the traffic. On the way, we stopped on the roadside to buy some of Taitung’s famous sugar / custard apples 釋迦 ….

And we also stopped at Dawu, south Taitung to see the painted walls and houses. Nearby is a relocated Paiwan Village built in cooperation with World Vision – the village was originally up in the mountains, but the destruction caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 meant they had to relocate to safer lands…

And so back to St. James’ Church, Taichung by 5:00 pm on Thursday evening, after a mega-trip. Grateful thanks to A-Guan, Lily, Ichen and her family, Rev. Philip Ho and family, and all who we met on the way! And thanks be to Almighty God for His many blessings, safety, good weather, friendly people, lots of laughs and tons of beautiful scenery!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year of the 🐭🐀!

Advent Church, Taiwan

Adventures with Advent Church Choir 台灣聖公會降臨堂詩班 @ Jiji 集集, Checheng 車埕 and Wang Hsiang 望鄉部落 Kalibuan Village, Nantou County!

July 31, 2018 Catherine Lee Leave a comment

A choir that has fun together, laughs together and goes on trips together is sure, yes, sure to sing and harmonize better at church on Sunday mornings. And y’know, our Advent Church Choir is not just any old choir singing any old hymns. This choir is really quite special. They are dedicated, not just to singing in the morning worship, but also to their rehearsal time on Sunday afternoons. They spend hours and hours practicing. And when they sing in the morning service, they sing with great joy. They look happy. Smiles all around. This is a gift from God. Not every choir sings quite so joyfully, believe me. What’s more, they are all friends. And friendship means having fun together. And having fun involves an annual trip somewhere interesting, usually involving an overnight stay, and singing at that church on the Sunday morning. Visiting other churches and other denominations is a great blessing, and in doing so, we bring greetings from the Taiwan Episcopal Church, and our own church, Advent Church @ St. John’s University, Tamsui, Taipei. The annual choir trip is officially called their choir retreat. And so it was that this past weekend, I was invited to tag along too. Thanks to the choir, especially their leader, Meng-Zhen, who invited me to join them. So, early on Saturday morning, off we went in cars driving to Nantou County, in central Taiwan, about 3-4 hours south of Taipei…

First we went to Jiji Town 集集 , famous for its train station, originally constructed by the Japanese colonial government in 1933, but very badly damaged in the Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake. Since rebuilt, incorporating the original design, and now a major tourist destination for Taiwan people. And that means us – that’s us at the train station above. The station is beautiful, and the surrounding station area is full of things to take photos of. And with. And next to. And behind, in front of, above, below and around. You can jump up. Or sit down. Or buy a balloon. Or whatever. By the time you have taken 100 photos, the train might have arrived. For that is our main purpose. To get the train along the Jiji Line to Checheng 車埕 Train Station.

The Jiji Train Line was built in 1922 as a single track to help move construction materials used in the Sun Moon Lake Hydroelectric Project. Get to the very front of the train and the view is especially wonderful!

Checheng 車埕 Town lies just below the Mingtan Reservoir and Power Plant, with water coming into the reservoir from Sun Moon Lake further upstream. Checheng itself is an old logging town, with a log pool and old buildings where the Japanese workers lived and laboured in the wood-processing plant and in preparing the logs for transportation downhill on the railway. Now the buildings are a huge museum with all sorts of interesting things to do and look at….

About an hour or so from Checheng, further up in the central mountains, is Wang Hsiang Village. Our main destination ~ and the real reason why I came along on this trip. Any chance to visit an indigenous village with friends who know people there – and I’m in!

Wang Hsiang 望鄉部落 is known as Kalibuan in the Bunun language. This is a Bunun Village. The Bunun people 布農 are a Taiwanese indigenous people, traditionally living in the very high mountains of central Taiwan. Famous for their singing and their physical strength – turned out I recognized several of the men in the village who have come with us on our mountain expeditions in the past, helping us to carry everything and cook the food. One of the aims of our visit this time was for us to learn something about the village – and the challenges, customs, faith and way of life of the people there. The current population of Wang Hsiang is over 900, all members of the Presbyterian Church (built in 1951), where we worshiped on Sunday and our choir sang, accompanied by Yu-Jie on the piano – all so beautifully!

The Bunun choir sang too, their songs are incredible. The church has 2 services, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with 200 at the morning service – often extending to 300 if all the children come too. The church was so full that many were sitting outside. Services are held in the Bunun language, but with a power point so everyone can follow the words in pinyin. Actually, for our benefit, the sermon and some of the announcements were in Chinese, with translation into Bunun. The preacher was Rev. Wu, who was visiting from a neighbouring village. Most of the people now are second or third generation Christians – a challenge in itself, and in his sermon, Rev. Wu talked about how for Kalibuan Church to be a strong church, it needs victorious Christians, who are well-equipped through prayer, Bible reading, teaching and fellowship, united in love, and with a vision to go out and share the Gospel with others.

Wang Hsiang was not always a Bunun Village. The history of Taiwan’s indigenous people and their relationship with the Japanese authorities during the colonial period of 1895-1945 is complex. The Japanese authorities wanted Taiwan to modernize and develop, and all in Taiwan to be law-abiding model citizens under their control and management. The indigenous peoples, especially those in the high mountains (like the Bunun people) – who were known as fierce warriors, resented such interference and responded with hostility. This led to conflict, violence, uprisings, killings and brutal crackdowns. The Japanese authorities forced the high mountain peoples to relocate to lower altitudes where they could be more easily controlled, and killed many of their fiercest warriors who opposed their authority – including those in this photo, displayed on the village wall. This is the last known photo of the men before they were put to death.

Wang Hsiang was originally inhabited by the Tsou 鄒 people, and when the Bunun people first moved here, there was much conflict. But as the Bunun people grew in numbers, so eventually the Tsou moved away to the Alishan area, where they still are today. The story goes that when the Bunun people were forced to move down from the high mountains, they were offered 3 choices of location, and they chose Wang Hsiang because of its distant view of Yushan 玉山, Taiwan’s highest mountain (3,952 m). From their original high mountain village they could also see Yushan in the distance, so they felt more at home. Their original home village was located up over 3,000 m in altitude, with snow every winter. Down in Wang Hsiang, they’ve had snow once in the last 20 years. The name, ‘Wang Hsiang’ means ‘looking towards home’ and that described their own longing to be back in their high mountain village, which was over the mountain of the same name – and / or maybe it described the feeling of the young homesick Japanese police officers stationed in Wang Hsiang. Many theories of where the name came from… but the view is there all the same. Except in the afternoons, the clouds roll in and it often rains in the high mountains ~ like on Saturday afternoon, when we arrived. Yushan is in the clouds on the left of that big mountain in the centre…..

Towards the end of the Japanese Era, the first missionaries appeared in the Wang Hsiang area and eventually the village elders made the decision to convert to Christianity. In doing so, they also realized that their days of headhunting and violent conflict with the authorities were over, and so started a complete transformation of their way of life and thinking.

These days, the pastors and church leaders are Bunun people from the village, and together with the tribal and village leaders, several income-generating projects have started locally. These are community enterprises, designed to benefit the whole village. Originally considered one of the most underdeveloped and backward of the local villages (they were the last to be connected to mains electricity, for example), in recent years there has been much hard work, and success is coming slowly but surely. The government provides a lot of support, like free wifi throughout the village. These days also, when the Bunun people remember the Japanese era, not all is completely negative, they say they are grateful for the infrastructure, education facilities and benefits provided by the government. But still, it must have been terrible at the time. Recent development projects are in 3 main areas: leading and supporting mountain-climbing expeditions – training and licensing as mountain guides and high-altitude porters, providing guest house accommodation for mountain expeditions and for weekend visitors / ecotourism (like us!) and thirdly the development of high-altitude agricultural projects, particularly fruit and vegetables. Ah yes, and coffee too…

This was not the first time I had stayed in Wang Hsiang. Last year at this time, on the night before our ascent of Yushan, we also stayed in Wang Hsiang. This time, we stayed in a different guest house and had a tour of the village with one of the local guides. This time also, the personal connection was that Sheng-Feng (Simon) and Hsuan-Ying (Grace), one of our choir couples (who had also invited me to join their trip to visit Grace’s home village at Nantian, Taitung earlier this month – see that post here) are old friends of the pastor and his family – actually they had been student members of a fellowship group that he led in Taichung many years ago. That personal connection made all the difference, and we enjoyed hearing their stories and sharing time together in the guest house…

The food was amazing. Loved it all! Delicious, completely so! The bamboo tubes are a traditional dish – filled with sticky rice. The lemon slices are flavored with – guess what? That dark stuff is coffee granules. Really special! And then we sang…

On our tour of the village, we learned that it consists of 4 streets, all leading off to the left of the main road. The walls of all the houses and gardens have mosaic / stone patterns showing aspects of Bunun daily life. Each house – and corner – has a notice explaining about each place. Really amazing. In some places, millet, the staple food was lying out in the sun drying….

We finished our tour with a group photo at the village sign at the entrance to the village…

Early on Sunday morning, some of us climbed up the hill behind the village. Bit foggy, but by the time we got back the mist had cleared and the view toward Yushan was beautiful. Yushan is the pointed peak in the far distance.

One of our group had a drone – this is us!

And so to church. First to the rehearsal – our choir are dedicated! Our music conductor on the retreat was Shiao Chien, she has a real gift of enthusing everyone with a love of singing and music, and always chooses really suitable songs to sing. She had also asked everyone to wear one (any one!) of the Advent Church T-shirts, of which we have many, going back years, hence all the bright colours.

Also at the church were a group of young ABC (American-born Chinese) whose families are originally from Taiwan, they are here for a few weeks in the summer as part of a project to help Wang Hsiang children learn English. They also sang a song, and the church provided lunch for us visitors after the service. Ah, it was so delicious!

A big ‘Thank You’ to Advent Church Choir for their kind invitation and welcome to me to join their trip. Thanks to Paul and Christina for driving me there and back – and all the way home. It was all a wonderful adventure. The choir all love singing and having fun ~ a great combination!

Thanks too to the pastor and people of Wang Hsiang Village, for their hard work and time to make us so welcome. And thanks be to God for safe travels, beautiful views, delicious food, new experiences, fresh mountain air, and of course, friends, fellowship and fun!

Taiwan

Alangyi Historic Trail 阿朗壹古道 and Paiwan 排灣族 Harvest Festival 豐年祭 @ Nantian Village, Daren Township, Taitung 台東縣達仁鄉南田村, Taiwan

July 11, 2018 Catherine Lee 3 Comments

Yes, the Alangyi Historic Trail 阿朗壹古道 is THE trail to hike! And especially when the sea and the sky are blue, blue, blue ~ like they were on Saturday ~ YES YES YES!

The Alangyi Trail runs maybe 8-10 km along the S.E. coast of Taiwan, and walking it takes about 4-5 hours ~ from the very southern tip of Taitung County across into Mudan Township 牡丹鄉, Pingtung County, finishing at Xuhai 旭海 Village, famous for its hot springs and grassland. The trail is significant in that it is the only section of the whole Taiwan coastline where there is no road. No road means no cars, no lorries, no coaches, no random tourists, no 7-elevens (always a sign of economic development!) ~ and to preserve the natural environment, the area is established as a nature reserve, and strictly managed. But this only happened after years of protests and disputes about whether to build a road or not. Fortunately wisdom prevailed, and the Alangyi Trail is just fantastic!

Nowadays, only 300 people are allowed on the trail per day, permits are required, a guide is needed per 20 people and there are police on duty at either end of the trail. During the summer, the temperatures are boiling hot, and there are few people hiking on the trail. In fact, we only met one other group, 30+ youngsters from Changhua – going in the other direction. Fortunately we had a nice breeze to blow us along! A typhoon was slowly heading towards Taiwan, but still far off, and as often happens a day or two before a typhoon, the weather was really great (as I write this on Wednesday morning, 3 days later, the typhoon is roaring around outside as it passes northern Taiwan)!

It is truly an amazing walk, with incredible views! Is it easy? Yes. Is it difficult? Yes. Both / and! Much of the walk is right down near sea-level, along the upper part of the stony beach, but at the rocky promontory that is called Guanyin’s Nose 觀音鼻, everyone has to ascend 150m to go up and over the top and down the other side. It is very steep, so ropes are supplied to grab onto, and there’s steps in some places. But hey, the views are spectacular – and see the turtle-shaped rock down below!

For centuries, the Alangyi Trail was used by the local indigenous peoples to get from place to place along the coast. The local indigenous people in that area are mostly the Paiwan People 排灣族 (pause here while you open that link to the Wikipedia site to read about the Paiwan People – it’s fascinating)…. Wonder if in years gone by, they enjoyed this stream as much as we did at the end of the trail? Yes, we got soaked, but it was oh so refreshing!

My good friends from Advent Church, 選櫻 (Hsuen-Ying, Grace) and her husband 生豐 (Sheng-Feng, Simon), invited me to join a group of their friends (mostly Grace’s former high school / college classmates and their families – all very lovely!) who they had invited to spend the weekend visiting Grace’s home village of Nantian, in Daren Township, Taitung (台東縣達仁鄉南田村). This is Grace and Simon… as romantic as always!

Grace is Paiwan, Taiwan’s second largest indigenous group, and Simon is Amis, Taiwan’s largest indigenous group – who mostly live further north in the Hualien area. These days there is a certain friendly rivalry between the different tribes / groups ~ although in the past, things were not always so friendly! Both Grace and Simon work at TamKang High School, Tamsui (as did 2 others in our group), and the school has a teddy bear mascot that travels around with them all over, including on the Alangyi Trail!

Nantian Village is the southernmost village in Taitung County, and runs along a single road between the mountains and the sea. Most people coming to Taitung from the west coast do so over the mountain road from Pingtung, this is the first area they reach on the east coast. For cyclists on the round-Taiwan circuit, it’s a welcome relief to get over the mountains and down to the coast. But the only people passing through Nantian itself are on their way to the northern entrance of the Alangyi Historic Trail. Within a few minutes of starting the trail, there’s a river, and that is the border between Taitung and Pingtung – and it is just over that river that the police have a checkpoint to check permits.

And what else is going on in Nantian? Well, there’s fish farming, mainly for shrimp, there’s a camp site, small guest houses, a cement factory out on the main road, 2 Presbyterian churches, and a beautiful stony beach. In the past, the stones were big and well-rounded, so people collected them up and carved them for sale. These days, apparently the coast has changed, the sea level is rising, the stones are much smaller, and well, it’s not easy to make a good living. Many of the local people have moved away to the cities looking for work – and return for festivals, and some in their retirement.

Some scenes of Nantian and the local area, starting with the chief’s stone…