Located at the junction of Alishan Township in Chiayi County and Xinyi Township in Nantou County, Zizhong is at the valley pass between the Alishan Mountain Range and the Yushan Mountain Range. During the Japanese occupation, this place was called Eryu (Kodama), mainly in memory of Taiwan Governor Kodama Gentaro. But after the war, the name was changed to Zizhong in memory of Zhang Zizhong, an anti-Japanese General during World War II. In 1931, the Government-General in Taiwan completed the construction of the Shuishan Line of the Alishan Forest Railway, which went from Zhaoping to Eryu (Zizhong), also known as the Eryu (Kodama) Line.