Batongguan Historic Trail ( zh, t=八通關古道, s=八通关古道, first=t, p=Bātōngguān Gǔdào;

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: ''Pattonkan Kodō'') is the name of two

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

s crossing the

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. It acts as a barrier between the east and west coasts, hindering travel. The tallest peak of the range is ...

from

Zhushan, Nantou Zhushan Township () is an Township (Taiwan), urban township in the southwest part of Nantou County, Taiwan, and off the south shore of Zhuoshui River. Geography Population: 51,800 people Administrative divisions Zhushan, Zhongzheng, Zhongshan, Y ...

Yuli, Hualien Yuli Township (; Japanese: Tamazato >Kanji: [, , Bunun language, Bunun: (Hanzi transliterated by 1917: ), is an Township (Taiwan), urban township located in central Huadong Valley, and also the southern administrative center of Hualien ...

in Taiwan. The first iteration of the trail was built in the Taiwan under Qing rule, Qing dynasty and was abandoned; a second was built in the Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese era. Both were built for the government to control the

indigenous population There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

living in the mountains. Though the two trails rarely overlap, they are often referred to by the same name.

Qing dynasty trail

In 1871, Ryukyuan sailors traveling home from

Shuri Shuri may refer to: People *, ring name of Syuri Kondo, a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer and kickboxer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese professional wrestler Characters * Shuri (character), a Marvel Comics superhero ** Shuri (Marv ...

Miyako-jima is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Miyako Island is administered as part of the City of Miyako Island, which includes not only Miyako Island, but also five other islands. Geogr ...

shipwrecked off the southeast coast of Taiwan. They were killed by the local

Paiwan people The Paiwan () are an indigenous people of Taiwan. They speak the Paiwan language. In 2014, the Paiwan numbered 96,334. This was approximately 17.8% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the second-largest indigenous group. The ma ...

in what is known as the

Mudan incident The Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874, referred to in Japan as the and in Taiwan and mainland China as the Mudan incident (), was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese ostensibly in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryū ...

. In retaliation, in 1874, Japan invaded and occupied Taiwan for a few months. After the incident, the governing Qing realized how little control they had over remote regions of the island; they sent

Shen Baozhen Shen Baozhen (1820–1879), formerly romanized , was an official during the Qing dynasty. Biography Born in Minhou in Fujian province, he obtained the highest degree in the imperial examinations in 1847 and was soon appointed to the Hanli ...

to Taiwan, who proposed building three east–west trails across the Central Mountain Range. Shen hoped that these trails would encourage

Han people The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 17.5% of the worl ...

to live in the mountains to better subjugate the indigenous population as well as strengthen the Qing dynasty's hold on the island. In 1875, Shen ordered , a military officer, to construct the middle path. Wu started in January at Zhushan and worked his way east. They first crossed over Fenghuang Mountain to Aiguo on the banks of the

Chenyoulan River The Chenyoulan River or Chenyulan River () is a river in Nantou County, Taiwan. It is a tributary of the Zhuoshui River The Zhuoshui River (), also spelled Choshui or Jhuoshuei River, is the longest river in Taiwan, with a total length of . ...

, then followed the river to Dongpu. From here, they ascended up the Central Mountain Range. When they reached Dashuiku in July, Wu looked at the treacherous terrain ahead decided to call for another team led by Deng Guozhi (鄧國志) to start at the east in Yuli and build the road westwards. The trail was completed in November 1875 for a total length of . After the trail's completion, Wu set up a military camp in

Ruisui Ruisui Township is a rural township located in southern Hualien County, Taiwan, and has a population of 10,944 inhabitants in 11 villages. The population is composed of Hoklo, Hakka, and Taiwanese aborigines, most of whom are Amis. Agric ...

to establish a stronger Qing presence in the

Huadong Valley The Huadong Valley or Hualien–Taitung Valley (), also known as East Rift Valley, the Longitudinal Valley or as the during the era of Japanese rule, is a long and narrow valley located between the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mount ...

. The Qing lifted restrictions that barred the Han from moving east, and

Ding Richang Ding Richang (; 1823–1882) was a Chinese official remembered for his "indomitable" if not "prodigious" reform efforts, skill in foreign diplomacy (or "foreign-matters expert"), and supervision of the judicial administration, engaging in anti- ...

even offered money and tools to encourage settlers. However, most Han people did not dare to travel further west than Dongpu due to the rough terrain and the presence of indigenous tribes. The Qing dynasty also struggled to govern the Huadong Valley; Wu and his successors frequently ran into conflicts with the Amis living on the plains, and corruption was also rampant among Qing officers. Due to high costs of maintaining the trail, on October 24, 1891, newly appointed governor of Taiwan

Liu Mingchuan Liu Mingchuan () (1836–1896), courtesy name Xingsan, was a Chinese military general and politician during the late Qing dynasty. He was born in Hefei, Anhui. Liu became involved in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion at an early age, a ...

decided to abandon the trail from Dongpu to Yuli. Around this time, a much flatter path bypassing Fenghuang Mountain through modern-day

Shuili Shuili Township

Japanese era trail

When Japan took control over Taiwan in 1895, the

Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Role The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Af ...

sent a lieutenant named Nagano Yoshitora (長野義虎) to walk the trail from Yuli. Nagano took seventeen days to trek the abandoned trail to Zhushan. Some claim that he climbed

Yu Shan Yu Shan or Yushan, also known as Mount Jade, Jade Mountain, Tongku Saveq or Mount Niitaka during Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule, is the highest mountain in Taiwan at above sea level, giving Taiwan the List of islands by highest ...

during this trip, which would make him the first person to do so, but this claim is disputed. In the 1910s, indigenous

headhunting Headhunting is the practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim. More portable body parts (such as ear, nose, or scalp) can be taken as trophies, instead. Headhunting was practiced in historic times ...

raids on Japanese and Han people were become increasingly problematic. Notably, indigenous and Japanese clashes during the prompted the government to consider reconstructing the trail. In June 1919, the Taishō government sent two teams, one beginning in Zhushan and the other in Yuli, to build a trail that roughly follows the abandoned route. During the construction, the Japanese and indigenous laborers were often attacked by other indigenous tribes, resulting in high casualties. Nevertheless, the eastern team reached the Dashuiku in January 1921, and the western team arrived in March the same year. The Japanese road was significantly easier to travel on compared the Qing one, such that goods could be transported across by a pushcart. Police were stationed at many points along the trail, and some of these stations were even equipped with lodging for traders and hikers. However, the number of travelers dwindled when the Japanese forcefully moved the Bunun out of the mountains to prevent further uprisings, and the trail's condition deteriorated quickly.

Republic of China era

After Japanese rule in Taiwan ended in 1949, the

Forestry Bureau The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency () is an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture of Taiwan (ROC). History The Forestry Bureau was originally established in 1945 as the Office of Forestry Administration. In June 1947, the office was d ...

reported that very few people still lived along the trail, and many bridges have already collapsed due to

typhoons A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

. Some parts of the trail were repaired in 1949 to transport gold from mines near the top, but the trail's surface was significantly worse, and goods had to be carried by hand. In 1951, all wooden Japanese-era outposts (except for one at Huabanuo) were burned down by the government, citing safety reasons. When

Yushan National Park Yushan National Park () is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan and was named after the summit Yushan, the highest peak of the park. Now, the western section of the Batongguan Trail is frequently used by hikers summiting the

100 Peaks of Taiwan The ''Baiyue'' () is a list of one hundred mountain peaks in Taiwan. They were chosen by a group of prominent Taiwanese hikers from mountain peaks known at the time to be over 3,000 meters in height. The selection criteria included uniqueness, dan ...

, including

, the tallest mountain in Taiwan; lodges are built on former police outpost sites. Provincial Highway 30 follows roughly the same route of the trail from Yuli, though it terminates abruptly in Shanfeng.

Relics

Batongguan Trail is registered as a national monument of Taiwan since 1987 to preserve the following relics dating from the Qing dynasty: * ''Kāipì Hōnghuāng'' (開闢鴻荒): An inscription located on a rock surface in

Jiji Jiji may refer to: *Jiji people, an ethnic and linguistic group in western Tanzania. * Jiji, Nantou, a township in Taiwan ** Jiji railway station, a railway station serving Jiji ** Jiji Line, a railway line serving Jiji *Jiji Press, a Japanese new ...

. The inscription translates to "settle in the wilderness" and is attributed to Wu Guangliang.

Jiji Weir The Jiji Weir () is a weir located in Nantou County, Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China ...

was designed to bypass the inscription. * ''Huàjí Mánmuò'' (化及蠻貊): An inscription on a large rock in Jiji. The inscription translates to "subjugate the foreign people" and commemorates the spur trail between Shuili and Dongpu. The inscription is signed by two officers named Chen Fangbo (陳方伯) and Chen Shilie (陳世烈). * ''Wànnián Hēngqú'' (萬年亨衢): An inscription on a large rock in Lugu. The inscription translates to "accessible for ten thousand years" and commemorates the completion of the trail to Fenghuang Mountain. The relic was damaged in Typhoon Toraji in 2001. * ''Shāntōng Dàhǎi'' (山通大海): An inscription on a rock on the banks of the

in Xinyi. The inscription translates to "connecting the mountains with the sea." The original was lost in a flood in 1959. It was remade in 1988, only to be covered in a landslide during Typhoon Toraji in 2001. * ''Shèngjītíng'' (聖蹟亭): A small stone tower for burning

joss paper Joss paper, also known as incense papers, are papercrafts or sheets of paper made into burnt offerings common in Chinese ancestral worship (such as the veneration of the deceased family members and relatives on holidays and special occasions). ...

in Lugu. The tower was hit by a car in 1990 and not repaired until 2001. * ''Announcement of removing restrictions for entering the mountains'' (入山撤禁告示碑): A small stone plaque announcing the loosening of restrictions on Han people from settling east onto indigenous land. Currently placed next to Fu'an Temple, a

Tudigong A Tudigong ( zh, s=土地公, l=Lord of the Land) is a kind of Chinese tutelary deity of a specific location. There are several Tudigongs corresponding to different geographical locations and sometimes multiple ones will be venerated together in ...

temple in Lugu. * ''Dépiàn Shānzōu'' (德遍山陬): A small stone plaque created by Lugu residents as a gift to Wu Guangliang. Currently housed next to Fu'an Temple. There was a stone plaque inscribed with ''Guòhuà Cúnshén'' (過化存神) that was placed on top of Batongguan Mountain, but has been lost since the Japanese era.

Notes

References

{{coord missing, Taiwan Hiking trails in Taiwan National monuments of Taiwan 1875 establishments in Taiwan 1921 establishments in Taiwan