Dalin (大林; lit. “large wood”) was earlier known as 大莆林 (dapulin; lit. “large water-weed wood”) or perhaps the similarly pronounced 大埔林 (dapulin; “large plains wood”), for which two explanations exist, neither of which is entirely satisfactory:
i) that prior to cultivation this area was covered by a large expanse of forest
ii) that early immigrants to this area in the Kangxi reign period (1661-1722) came from the woods of Dapu (大埔/莆) in Chaozhou Prefecture (潮州府), Guangdong Province.
莆 (pu; “water-weed”) was dropped during the Japanese local government re-organisation of 1920, giving today’s 大林 (Dalin; “big wood”).
Text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications
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