Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail

The residents of this hamlet were originally residents of old Dagu (Tjarilik) and neighboring Gutanas and Enivaian hamlets. They moved here in 1953 due to the inconvenience of living in a steep mountainous area. The tribesmen of old Dagu hamlet chose to live on the land where Morinaga Hoshinaen Co. Ltd. specialized in planting quinine, coffee, and tea during the Japanese occupation. Later, this hamlet was named Senyong (Morinaga) after the farm. Tjarilik, the name of the old tribe of the Paiwan people, means steep mountains, while Gutanas means the tribe on the cliff, and Enivaianmeans a place with big and sacred trees.

The residents of this hamlet were originally residents of old Dagu (Tjarilik) and neighboring Gutanas and Enivaian hamlets. They moved here in 1953 due to the inconvenience of living in a steep mountainous area. The tribesmen of old Dagu hamlet chose to live on the land where Morinaga Hoshinaen Co. Ltd. specialized in planting quinine, coffee, and tea during the Japanese occupation. Later, this hamlet was named Senyong (Morinaga) after the farm. Tjarilik, the name of the old tribe of the Paiwan people, means steep mountains, while Gutanas means the tribe on the cliff, and Enivaianmeans a place with big and sacred trees.

Daren Township was originally Fan area of Taitung County during the Japanese rule and was placed under the administrative control of ​​Dawuzhuang. After the war, the Nationalist government established the Taitung County Government, made the former-ruled Fan area a mountainous administrative control area, and established Sandi Township. This township was divided from the Dawu Township administrative area in 1946 and named "Daren Township".  The township office was first set up in Tuban village. Due to inconvenient transportation, it was moved to Fuxing Road, Anshuo village in 1958. The indigenous groups in the township include Paiwan, Rukai, Pinuyumayan, Amis, and so on, accounting for more than 90% of the township's population. The township has six villages under its jurisdiction: Anshuo and Nantian are close to the sea, while Morinaga, Xinhua, Tuban, and Taiban are located in the higher inland mountainous areas.

Yongsen Hamlet or Mulinaga is located in Daren Township, Taitung County. The hamlet was formed by the migration of people who originally lived in old Dagu and neighboring Gutanas and Enivaian hamlets in 1953.  Due to the inconvenience of living in a steep mountainous area , the tribesmen of old Dagu hamlet chose to live on the land where Morinaga Hoshinaen Co. Ltd. specialized in planting quinine, coffee and tea during the Japanese occupation.

The traditional Paiwan name of old Dagu is Tjarilik, which means steep mountains, while the traditional place name, Gutanas, means the hamlet on the cliffs, and Enivaian refers to the place where there are sacred and big trees. The name of the current hamlet is Yongsen or Mulinaga, which is taken from the farm’s name “Morinaga”.

Shouqia is located at a small mountain pass at the end of the Central Mountain Range, about 500 meters above sea level, at the junction of Shizi Township in Pingtung County and Daren Township in Taitung County. Not only is it located on the Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail,  it is also where the Nanhui Road passes through today. In fact, Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail was built under the policy of excavating mountains to manage indigenes during the Qing period. The excavation mainly went along the river heading north-east from Fenggang. It does not overlap with Nanhui Road but runs alongside the tribal passage all the way to Shouqia. Finally, arriving at Dawu from Rumulu River.

The Caopu Hamlet is located in the upper reaches of Fenggang River in Shizi Township, Pingtung County.  It was formed by the migration of residents from Caopuhoushe and Qulieyoushe at the end of the Japanese occupation. Due to the limited flat living space, the houses dispersed everywhere, divided into Upper and Lower Caopu. The current Caopu Elementary School was moved from Caopuhoushe to its current location in 1940.

Fenggang is located on the south bank of the Fenggang River near the shore in Fangshan Township, Pingtung County. As it is located in the month of Fenggang River, it was named after the strong downhill wind in winter. In the past, Fenggang was the junction where indigenous peoples and Han Chinese traded.  It was the traditional territory of the Paiwan from Shebulishe. It was also the starting point of Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail when it was excavated during the Qing period. During the Japanese occupation period, the Governor-General in Taiwan set up a police post to monitor the operation between people from the mountains and people from the plains, and to manage the security of the Fenggang area. Today, the Fenggang Police Post is transferred into a Biker Rest Stop for cyclists and tourists.

Fenglin Hamlet is located on a gentle sloping ground along the south bank of the Fenggang Creek tributary in Shizi Township, Pingtung County. It is about 2.5 kilometers away from Fenggang, and was established 1941 when former residents of Neimaribashe and Achameixueshe moved here. The houses and laneways are neatly arranged, belonging to the Paiwan tribe of the Neiwen group. Before the end of the Japanese occupation, there was no distribution of tribes in this area. After the group relocation project was completed, the Governor-General in Taiwan set up a police post here and named the hamlet Fengshe. In the early post-war period, the National Government moved the township office from Shizi Village to this place and renamed it Fenglin. The origin of the place name should have been the same as that of Fenggang, because of the strong downhill wind in winter.

The Yitun Hamlet is located by the Nanhui Road on the south bank of Fenggang River and its tributary Caopuhou River in Shizi Township, Pingtung County.  It is about 3 km east of the Danlu Hamlet.

Yitun Hamlet was formed by the migrations of residents who originally lived in the upper reaches of Fangshan River, and eventually settled here. In the middle of the Japanese occupation, there were already tribesmen of Mudanlushe migrated and slowly formed a hamlet. Later, the tribesmen of Tjurusalis'she, Litjukutjuku'she, and Badjuku'she moved there. The origin of the hamlet name, Itonzan, is unknown, and was transliterated into Yitun after the war.

The Tomb of 54 Ryukyuan is located in the alleys off Tongpu Road in Checheng Township, Pingtung County. It mainly serves as a place to remember the death of 54 Ryukyuan fishermen, who were killed by indigenous Paiwan tribe of Gaoshifoshe when they drifted to Bayao Bay due to a storm in 1871.

When the incident happened, the then Japanese Commander Saigo Judo sent troops to attack Taiwan on the grounds of killing the Ryukyuans. The tombstone was originally located at Shuangxikou in Shimen. Later, with the help from local residents Lin Ah-Jiu, Yang You-Wang and Zhang Mei-Po, Commander  Saigo Judo moved the tomb to the current location and erected a tombstone. Later, Lin Ah-Jiu was commissioned to convene the villagers to worship the tomb twice a year in spring and autumn.

Today, the three Japanese characters that read “Empire of Japan'' on the front of the tombstone have been smeared, and the inscription on the back is weathered and blurred, making it difficult to identify.

The Shimen Historic Battlefield is located at the junction of Checheng Township and Mudan Township in Pingtung County, in the hilly and mountainous areas of the Sichong River and its tributaries. Since the Mudan incident, the Japanese have been calling the place Shimen. In the post-war period, the village and township was named after it. 

As a fact, the former Monument of Commander Saigo Judo and the Monument of the Loyal Soul (in memory of the Japanese soldiers who were killed in the battle between indigenous peoples) were built to commemorate the Mudan Incident. In the post-war period, the monuments were deemed a humiliation to the country, and thus the words on the monument were replaced to commend the anti-Japanese spirit of the indigenous peoples.

Shuangliu Hamlet is located on the south bank of the confluence of Neiwen River and Daren River in the upper reaches of Fenggang River in Shizi Township, Pingtung County. It was an important fort on the Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail during the Qing period. The hamlet was formed by the migration of Paiwan people from Jinagalan hamlet in the post-war period.

Beside the Shuangliu Hamlet is the Shuangliu National Forest Recreation Area, which was taken over by the Forestry Bureau in 1965. The main feature of the recreation area is the artificial Taiwan Chinese Ash forest and the rich insect ecology. Follow the upstream of Neiwen River in the park, you can play in the water, watch butterflies, as well as visit the relics of Paiwan slate houses and Shuangliu Waterfall.

Danlu Hamlet is located on the steep slope on the left bank of Fenggang River, on the north-western mountainside of Nurenshan in Shizi Township, Pingtung County. The hamlet was formed by the migration of indigenous peoples  in 1924, who originally lived in Mudanlushe and Jiaxinlushe. During the Japanese occupation period, the Governor-General in Taiwan set up  the Mudanlu Police Post next to the present Danlu Elementary School in Upper Danlu Hamlet. In 1943 the tribesmen of the Bashimoshe moved to Lower Danlu Hamlet and became a part of the Mudanlushe. In the post-war period, the National Government referred to Mudan Road as Dan Road in short, and the police post was also moved to the Nanhui Highway, between the upper and lower hamlets.

Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail was excavated under the policy of excavating mountains to manage indigene during the Qing period. Before then, it was a tribal passage for the local Paiwan tribe. The excavation mainly went along the river from Fenggang towards the northeast, not overlapping with Nanhui Road. The trail goes along the tribal passage, into Mount Qiluzhike, along the ridgeline to Shouqia, and finally reaching Dawu from Rumulu River. Therefore, before the opening of the Fenggang Beinan Hsitoric Trail, residents living in the mountainous areas would go upstream the Fenggang River to trade hunted animal products at the riverbed.

Xinlu Hamlet in Shizi Township, Pingtung County, is located by Nanhui Road on the south bank of Fenggang River, about 3.5 km away from Fenggang. It was originally the traditional territory of Jiaxinlushe, but during the Japanese occupation period, the Governor-General in Taiwan vigorously implemented the group relocation project and forcefully relocated indigenes of Bashimoshe (Lomaq) to the area of Konkya. They were then moved to the current location of the Xinlu hamlet in 1943. At the beginning of the post-war period, the National Government also moved the residents of Karoran hamlet and Chachagun hamlet here, thus forming the current Xinlu hamlet.

Anshuo Hamlet is located next to Nanhui Road in Daren Township, Taitung County. In the post-war period, the Nationalist Government asphalt-paved what was originally a gravel road of the Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail, covering a total length of 107 km from Taitung to Shouqia.