Sandimen Township is a mountain indigenous township in

Pingtung County Pingtung () is a County (Taiwan), county located in southern Taiwan. It has a warm tropical monsoon climate and is known for its agriculture and tourism. Kenting National Park, Taiwan's oldest national park, is located in the county. The county ...

Taiwan Province Taiwan Province ( zh, t=臺灣省 , p=Táiwān Shěng , poj=Tâi-oân-séng; PFS: ''Thòi-vàn-sén'' or ''Thòi-vân-sén'') is a ''de jure'' administrative division of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Provinces remain a titular division as ...

Republic of China 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 Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The population of the township consists mainly of the

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 ...

with a substantial Rukai minority.

Names

Ethnic Chinese settlers homophonically translated the original Paiwan name () into

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

(; or ). Under Japanese rule the name was . Following the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the

in 1945, the area became Sandimeng Township () but the name was changed again in 1947 to Sandi Township () but the Taiwanese pronunciation of ''Soaⁿ-tē-mn̂g'' continued to be commonly used. In August 1992, the township assumed its current name.

History

During the Japanese era, Sandimen was grouped with modern-day Majia Township and Wutai Township as , which was governed under of

Takao Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan during the Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County. Population Administrative divisions Cities and district ...

. Following the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

takeover of Taiwan in 1945, Sandimen was assigned to

Kaohsiung County Kaohsiung County was a county in southern Taiwan between 1945 and 2010. The county seat was located in Fongshan City. History Kaohsiung County was established on 6 December 1945 on the territory of Takao Prefecture () shortly after the end ...

and, on 16 August 1950, it became a part of the newly established

Geography

*Population: 7,717 people (February 2024) *Area:

Administrative divisions

The township comprises 10 villages: Anpo, Dalai, Dashe, Dewen, Jingshan, Jingye, Koushe, Mani, Saijia and Sande.

Tourist attractions

* Guchuan Bridge * Maolin National Scenic Area

References

External links

Sandimen Government website
{{Authority control Townships in Pingtung County Taiwan placenames originating from Formosan languages