Yuchi (魚池; literally “fish pond(s)”) perhaps does not refer to the exapansive Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) within its boundary but, more likely, to the large quantity of smaller ponds and spring water sources that made the fertile area attractive, firstly to Aborigines of the Thao (邵) ethincity who called the area Qabizay, and later to immigrating Han-Chinese, who inititially called it Go-sia-po in Hoklo (五城堡; “Fifth Fort”)
Sun Moon Lake (日月潭; Mdn. Rìyuè tán; Hoklo Ji̍t-goa̍t-thâm) was so-named after its shape, which was said to resemble a circular sun beside a crescent moon, especially before the dam was built, the water level raised, and the central island reduced in size.
It was mentioned as early as 1684 (i.e., immediately following the Qing takeover of Taiwan from the Zheng-family rule) in "MIscellaneous Records of Taiwan” (臺灣雜記) by the first magistrate of Zhuluo County, Li Qi-guang (季麒光) although he is clearly repeating what he had heard and not reporting what he had seen*. [*From wikipedia]
The area around the lake was brought under Qing jurisdiction during the next decade, with today’s Ita-thao (伊達邵; Barawbaw in the Thao language) community of the Thao people on the south shore being recorded as Simadan Community (思麻丹社). By the time of Yu Yong-he’s (郁永河) visit in 1697, he records that the people of this area paid taxes and offered tribute, and mentioned the lake’s Zhuyu (珠嶼; “Pearl Island”).
The Japanese colonial authorities renamed it Tamajima (玉島; “Jade Island”, the postwar KMT-led Nationalist Government called it Guanghua Dao (光華島; “Glory of China Island'), but it is now called by the Thao name Lalu Island (拉魯島; “after/later”).
Nineteenth-century English-language sources refer to Sun Moon Lake it as Lake Candidius after the Dutch missionary Georgius Candidius who proselytized in the Tainan area between 1627 and 1637, and certainly never came near here.
Copyright Jiyue Publications, 2021
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