One explanation for the name “Grass Mountain” is that Qing-dynasty authorities, concerned about thieves hiding among trees and illegally extracting sulphur from the area, regularly set fire to the area’s botanical cover. Grasses best survive fire because they grow from the leaf-base (not tip like other plants) and also are quick to colonize cleared land. These hills became characterized by grasses, therefore, and in particular Miscanthus floridulus.
Yangming Mtn.’s highest peak is 七星山 (Mdn. Qi Xing Shan; lit. “seven star mountain”) at 1,120 metres, while Datunshan (大屯山, lit “big garrison mountain”), part of the earlier Grass Mountain group, rises to 1,093 metres.
In 1950, ROC President Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) renamed the southern section as 陽明山 (Mdn.: Yangmingshan), in honour of Ming-dynasty philosopher 王陽明 (Wang Yang-ming). The present national park dates from 1962.
President Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) is best known to the English-speaking world by the Cantonese pronunciation of his style name 蔣介石 (Mdn. Jiang Jie-shi), whereas most Taiwanese citizens know him by his self-chosen name of 蔣中正 (Mdn. Jiang Zhong-zheng), though those who worship him as a deity call him 蔣公 (“Duke Jiang”; see photo right: from a small temple in Danshui).
On information boards at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (see photo left), Chiang’s selection of the name (名) Zhong-zheng (中正; lit. “centrality [and] uprightness”) from ca. 1917/18 onwards (see also Zhongzheng District, Taipei City) is formally explained as referring to the Confucian expression 大中至正 (Mdn.: Da Zhong Zhi Zheng; lit. “great centrality and perfect uprightness”): “This phrase embodies the beliefs and principles by which he lived his life.”“This accolade … was applied to Wang Yang-ming, a great philosopher in the Ming Dynasty: … ‘Through constant and discriminating inner-reflection in the face of adversity, his achievement of moral self-cultivation has reached that of the great sages.’”
“President Chiang in lecturing about the teaching of The Doctrine of the Mean made the following comments: zhong is the correct course to be pursued by all under Heaven. The ideal of zhong includes six key points:
—possessing the great centrality and the perfect uprightness;
—standing firmly in the middle without inclining to either side;
—persisting without being moved by any circumstances;
—being cautious and mindful in order to achieve sagehood;
—adhering to goodness; and
—holding fast to the middle way.
Text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications 2011
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