Dagangkou Hamlet is located on the north bank of the Xiuguluan River estuary in Fengbin Township, Hualien County. The traditional name of the place is Lanun, which means the village below, and the traditional name of the hamlet was Ciporan. During the Qing period, the hamlet was called Sipuolan, Xuepuolan, Xiuguluan, Xiuguluan, Zhiwulan, and so on. It was not until 1887 when Puyuma and Ouyang Jun opened the port that the name was changed to Dagangkou. In the same year, the Dagangkou (Cepo’) incident occurred. After the incident, the tribesmen who had moved to other places were called to return to the community. They chose a settlement north of the original site, which is the present Gangkou hamlet. During the Japanese occupation, due to the gradual population increase, some people began to move south to live in the Dagangkou hamlet.
Cepo' Incident
The Gangkou Hamlet is located about 500 meters from the north bank of the Xiuguluan River in Fengbin Township, Hualien County. The traditional name is Makotaay, which means the muddy stream because there is a small stream on the north side of the hamlet and when it rains the stream becomes muddy. In the past, the ancestors of the Gangkou Hamlet lived in the old Ciporan Hamlet. After the Cepo’ Incident in 1887, the tribesmen who had moved to other places were called to return to settle in a hamlet not far from the original site, which is the present Gangkou Hamlet.
The Cepo’ Incident Monument is located inside Jingpu Elementary School in Fengbin Township, Hualien County. It was established in 2014, which is the 127th anniversary of the Cepo’ Incident.
The Cepo’ incident happened at the end of the Qing Dynasty, when Wu Guangliang, the commander-in-chief of all roads in Houshan, was resisted by the Amis people of Jingpu and Gangkou area for excavating roads for Shuiwei to Dagangkou port (Cepo’). Therefore, in 1877, General Lin was sent to lead a troop to suppress the Amis people. Almost a hundred Amis people were killed at the incident, and the surviving tribesmen fled, dispersed to the east coast and the Huadong Rift Valley. The area around Jingpu became the base camp for the Qing troops.
The Jing’an Hamlet is located on the south bank of the Xiuguluan River’s estuary in Fengbin Township, Hualien County. Due to its flat terrain, it is on the same straight line as Jingpu Hamlet. The traditional name, Tisilan, is derived from the Amis word “Saadisi”, which means on a straight line. At the end of the Qing period, due to the Cepo’ incident, the Qing soldiers originally stationed in Dabei moved here and renamed it Dagangkou Camp. Later, the Han people moved in, and the place is known as Da Pian Yuan. It was not until the post-war period, when house number plates were issued, that the place was renamed to Jing’an. In the 1980s, due to the increased population, Jing’an hamlet gradually got separated from the bigger Jingpu hamlet. At present, the Jing'an hamlet is mainly concentrated by Han people on both sides of the provincial highway 11.
The Jingpu hamlet is in Fengbin Township, Hualien County. It is located on the coastal terrace on the south bank of the Xiuguluan River estuary. The traditional name is Dapudapu, which means sloping land.
In the past, the Amis people established the Cawi hamlet on higher terraces, around the back of present Jingpu Elementary School. At the end of the Qing period, Wu Guangliang, the commander-in-chief of all roads in Houshan, had conflicts with the Amis people of Jingpu and Gangkou area for excavating roads from Shuiwei to Dagangkou (Cepo’). Troops were sent to suppress and massacre the opposing Amis people, which resulted in the Cepo’ incident. After the aftermath subsided, the people moved back to their old hamlet subsequently. But because the old hamlet was not livable, they settled by the seaside on the hillslope on the eastern side of Jianana instead. They continued using the name of the old hamlet, Cawi, until they renamed it to Jingpu in 1937.