The Provincial Highway 11 passes through the settlements on the east coast. From the picture, the nearest small settlement is South Wushibi, the middle is North Wushibi, and the farthest is Ningpu, Guangrong and other places. South Wushibi is located by the submergent coastline on the north side of Wushibi, backed by mountains and faces the sea. It is symmetrical with North Wushibi and named South Wushibi, and belongs to the 14th alley of Ningpu Village. There are only about 10 households in the settlement, including familynames of Zhong and Xie from Pingtung, Huang from Changhua, and Pan from Yilan. The Kebalan people moved here after the "87 Flood" in 1959. Residents make a living by fishing with most catches being snapper and lobster, which are mainly supplied to local seafood restaurants. If they catch large fish, they will be sent to Chenggong Fishing Port for auction.
Pushige Chengguangao Passage
The Provincial Highway 11 passes through North Wushibi Settlement, an Amis tribe located between Ningpu and South Wushibi. North Wushibi is located on the south side of the Ningpu Creek mouth. It is the "Wushibi Community" of the Amis people, and is called ciradayai in Amis. Radai in Amis means orange jasmine (commonly known as Qilixiang). It was named after this tree because there were many growing nearby. In the past, Amis men, women and children used the radai for their teeth as there is a custom of burning charcoal to blacken teeth. The Han people named it "Wushibi" (black rock nose) because there is a black rock promontory protruding out of the sea in the southeast of the settlement that looks like a human nose protruding outwards. The ancestors of the Wushibi community moved from the Hualien Port Office Ganana community at the end of the Qing Dynasty. At the beginning, they lived with the people of "Danman-she" in the foothill area above the Danman Bridge on the west side of Nanwushibi community. The settlement was only moved to the current site during the Japanese occupation .
Chengguang’ao Cultural Landscape Park is located in Chenggong Township, Taitung County. It was originally the site of the Guanghengfa Company. Through the existing brick arch arcade-style pavilions and columns, one could see that the gateposts, carvings and styles were rare in the eastern part of Taiwan for that time.
Guanghengfa Company was founded in around 1916. It was built from scratch by Wen Taikun, a Hakka who emigrated to Neipu, Pingtung, and was the largest grocery store in the east coast area at that time. The goods were mainly imported through the Chengguang’ao port and was said to be a large-scale business in the early period. In the mid-Japanese occupation period, Wen Taikun was already the richest man in Xingangzhuang. During World War II, it was told that the Guanghengfa Company was once regarded as a bombing target by the US military because of its prominent position.
Chengguang’ao Tianhou Temple is located in the Xiaogang area where the Han people first landed on the east coast in Chenggong Township, Taitung County. It was built in 1874 and is the oldest Tianhou Temple in the east. According to documentary records, Chengguang’ao Tianhou Temple was originally a hand-carved wooden structure. The Mazu statue that is enshrined in the temple was brought in from Lugang Tianhou Temple by Liu Jinlai, who was assigned to Houshan as general manager. Legend has it that the Mazu statue was once rejected by the indigenous people and the Japanese, and once lived in a stone cave by the Keelung Sea. It was only in the post-war period that it was invited back to Xiaogang for worship.
The Memorial Monument to the Centenary of Church Establishment in Eastern Taiwan is located in the Shiyusan Recreation Area in Chenggong Township, Taitung County. The monument mainly tells the story of the introduction of the Presbyterian Church to eastern Taiwan. At the end of the Qing period, Zhang Yuanchun, a follower from Aligang in Pingtung County, moved to Shiyusan and used holy water to heal Shiyusan chief’s asthma. He then established the Xun-Guang-Ao Church that was later known as the Shiyusan (Stone Umbrella) Church, and opened up the missionary history in eastern Taiwan.
At the end of the Japanese occupation, the Government-General in Taiwan vigorously promoted the imperialism movement, and so church services became secret gatherings. Later, the Xingang Church was established and took on the followers of the Shiyusan Church, and a monument was established in 1997 to commemorate it.
The Cholera Incident Memorial Monument is located in the cemetery area of the Chong’an Hamlet in Chenggong Township, Taitung County. This cholera incident occurred in 1946, when a man from the Yiwan Hamlet fell ill after eating seaweed that he had collected. He was sent back to Chong’an Hamlet, however, the disease spread quickly. It was found after inspection that it was an infectious disease of cholera. At that time there was a shortage of medicine because the war had just ended. The patients were quarantined in the hamlet but could only receive basic treatment. The dead were sent to the beach for incineration. No tombstones were set up and no names were registered. Decades later, the families of the victims were determined to find out the truth. The town office took the initiative to assist in the investigation and finally established a memorial in 2006 to detail the incident.
Ningpu Village sits on the south bank of the Ningpu River entrance in Changbin Township, Taitung County. It was built by the Kaliwan people of Kavalan tribe who migrated to Hualien. The prehistoric boulder erected on the mountain has two protrusions, resembling a female breast, hence the name Shiru (stone breast) was given. Later it was translated as Shiningpu. Coming to the Japanese occupation period, the Government-General in Taiwan renamed it to Ningpu. In the early days of Japanese occupation, there were 7 Kaliwan households and 33 people in Ningpu Village. Later, Fulao and Hakka immigrants moved here and as bananas were planted on the hills nearby, the banana drying factory was set up at the south intersection of Ningpu Village. In the post-war period, the residents switched to planting lemongrass, which flourished for a while.
The Pasongan Hamlet is located between Kinaloka Creek and Pengzicun Creek in Changbin Township, Taitung County. It is rumored to have been established by the Amis tribe who emigrated from Dagangkou Hamlet in Fengbin Township, Hualien County in 1884. As the arable land was small at the time, and that the Amis people were long term oppressed by other indigenous groups from the mountainous area, they moved all the way to the south. In addition, they have been defeated by the Qing army. There is another saying that the Pasongan Hamlet was formed by Amis people of the Wushibi group that came out on its own in 1888. The original site of the hamlet is on the platform on the west side of the current site. The traditional name is Cafongai or Chiganadai, which means big stone, as it was named after two prehistoric boulders that were there. During the Japanese occupation, the hamlet was moved here for management convenience.
Ningcheng Temple, whose full name is Sanshan (Three Mountain) King Dutai Kaiji Ancestral Temple, is located in Ningpu Village, Changbin Township, Taitung County. It was the earliest Sanshan King Temple to be established in the east coast area. Ningcheng Temple was built a long time ago. It is presumed that it came with the early immigrants or the garrison during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.
During the Japanese occupation, the Ningcheng Temple, which was made with coral stones, was ordered to be abandoned. Local residents then moved the god and secretly worshiped under the big tree in the mountain. In the early post-war period, local residents first built thatched temples, and then initiated a proposal to build a temple, which is now the Ningcheng Temple. Every year, a festival is held to celebrate the birthday of Sanshan King.
The Nanzhuhu Hamlet is located in Changbin Township, Taitung County. It was formerly known as Bakaraatsu, named after the white crabs that lived in nearby paddy fields. Amis people used to live in the hillside west of what is the current Zuhu village. However, at the end of the Qing period, there was a land dispute with the local Pingpu people, and they were cursed that if they lived here for a long time, there would be disasters. The Amis people of the local Zhuhu group and the Saobie group were deeply frightened of ghosts, and so they moved to the south and north. South is now the Nanzhuhu Hamlet, while north is the Yongfu hamlet that sits at the higher plateau on the left bank of Dade River. In the post-war period, the Nanzhuhu Hamlet was split into Nanzhuhu on the top and Xiakan on the bottom.