¬ Exploring Taiwan's history, culture and languages through its place names
Monday, 21 February 2022
Huadong (花東) ... Taiwan's "Flowery East" ?
On some maps it appears that Taiwan has a place called "Flowery East" (花東). In reality, however, while this may represent a romantic description of this area, it is simply an alternative way to say "eastern Taiwan", a portmanteau of Hua 花[-lian 蓮 and Tai 台-] Tung 東 counties.
Not to be outdone, the rest of Taiwan is similarly divided into regional units:
Thus Tao-Zhu-Miao (桃竹苗; "Peach-Bamboo-Seedlings") is commonly used for northwestern Taiawan's three predominantly Hakka counties and cities of Taoyuan (桃園; "Peach Garden"), Hsinchu (新竹; "New Bamboo"} and Miaoli (苗栗; "Seedlings Chestnut"), (as well as Hsinchu City), all of which conveniently contain a botanical element. With almost 4 million people, they represent around 1/6th of Taiwan's total population.
Zhong-Zhang-Tou (中彰投), a rather more prosaic portmanteau representing the central counties/cities of Taichung (台中), Changhua (彰化) and Nantou (南投), is less commonly heard and seen. Nevertheless, with more than 4.5 million peiople, it represents around 1/5th of Taiwan's population, making it the second-largest of these regional city-county groups.
Next, moving counterclockwise around the island, comes Yun-Jia-Nan (雲嘉南), representing Yunlin (雲林), Chiayi (嘉義) and Tainan (台南). Perhaps more recognisable is the Chia-Nan pairing, probably due to the important Chia-Nan Plain (嘉南平原), which, also including parts of Yunlin and Changhua to the north and Kaohsiung to the south, is the largest plain in the whole of Taiwan.
As such it was a major incentive attracting Han-Chinese migration across the Taiwan Strait. Despite having the lowest rainfall in Taiwan, the plain is well served by rivers (although the Jia-Nan irrigation system 嘉南大圳 wasn't constructed until the middle of the Period of Japanese Rule, 1895~1945) and was the island's main center for rice and sugarcane production, which have been supported / supplanted by peanuts, garlic, corn, sweet potatoes and so forth.
The Gaoping (高屏) area, accounting for more than 3.5 million people, is most recognizable to outsiders for the Gaoping River (高屏溪) that was renamed in 1960 after the two counties it ran between.
The ROC's (N.B. not "Taiwan's") two outlying archipelagos of Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖), both belonging to Fujian Province are, not surprisingly, grouped together to form the Jinma (金馬).Area, to which, sometimes, the Penghu Archipelago is also added to create the Peng-Jin-Ma (澎金馬) Area. Even this, however, only has a total population of around 250,000, that is, about 1 percent of the nation's total.
The Ji-Yi (基宜) region of Keelung (基隆: Mdn. Jilong) and Yilan (宜蘭) seems only to exist when meteorologists are discussing northeastern Taiwan as the area of the nation's highest rainfall.
But even this is perhaps one step above Taipei City and New Taipei City (formerly Taipei County), which lacks any portmanteau combination of their names or a nickname such as "The Two Norths" (雙北) [MC: or my own attempts to promote the title "Bei Area"], and is simply discussed by the uber-prosaic "Greater Taipei Area" (大臺北地區) with a population of more than 6.5 million people.
Keelung City is sometimes included in a Taipei--Keelung Metropolitan Area (臺北基隆都會區), which must further make Yilan feel like the bastard child in Taiwan's domestic relationships, as is sometimes also Taoyuan City to form the Taipei-Keelung-Taoyuan Metropolitan Area (臺北基隆桃園都會區), perhaps so that the Taoyuan International Airport can pretend it is in the capital city, which must make Hsinchu and Miaoli feel like the abandoned Hakka siblings of Taoyuan.
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Saturday, 19 February 2022
Datong (大同) District, Taipei City
Located in west-central Taipei, with Zhongshan District (中山區), named after Father of the Nation, Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), to its east, and Zhongzheng District (中正區), named for former President Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to the south, Datong (大同; lit. "Great Unity") looks to all the world like one of the most Han-Chinese appellations possible.
This impression is further reinforced by the knowledge that the expression 大同 derives from the Zhou-dynasty Book of Rites (禮記), one of the Confucian classics, and presents a utopian vision of a world in which everyone and everything exist in perfect peace. Sun Yat-sen made frequent reference to it, it even appears in the second line of the ROC national anthem: "...以建民國，以進大同" (to build the Republic, to advance Great Unity).
And yet, like Shilin (士林) and Beitou (北投) districts to its north, and Wanhua (萬華) District to the south, as well as, indeed, perhaps the majority of Taiwan place names, the name Datong ultimately derives from a pre-historic (that is, pre-colonization) indegenous language.
The northern part of today's Datong District was originally a Ketagalan plains aborigine community whose name was transliterated into Chinese as 巴浪泵 (Mdn. Balangbeng; Hoklo: ?, and romanized as Paronpon) and other variants. In late-18th-century documents this was also being written as 大浪泵 (Mdn. Dalangbeng, Hoklo Tōa-lông-pōng) and, by the middle of the 19th century, as 大隆同 (Mdn. Dalongtong).
During the Period of Japanese Rule (1895~1945), this was also written as 大龍峒 (Mdn. Dalongdong. In the postwar period after retrocession to ROC rule, perhaps because 峒 is a relatively obscure charaacter referring to a mountain in Gansu Province, but more so since Taipei's Confucius Temple (孔子廟) is located within this area, it was renamed Datong. That the temple is located on Dalong Street ( 大龍街) and is also known as 大龍峒孔廟 shows the continued existence and interaction of these earlier names.
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Friday, 18 February 2022
Lunbei (崙背) Township, Yunlin County
In 1721, a fort called 布嶼堡 (Mdn. Buyu Bao; lit. "Coth Islet(s) Fortress") was constructed in the area of what are today's Erlun (二崙) and Lunbei townships. This was customarily known by the Hoanya plains aborigine Basjekan (tranlsiterated as, among varous spellings, 貓兒干* Mdn. Mao-er-gan, 蔴芝乾 Mdn. Ma-zhi-gan &c.) Community as 布嶼稟 (Mdn. Buyu Bing), from which 稟 was later dropped, leading to the name 布嶼堡 "Buyu Fort". The name Lunbei (崙背; lit. "Hill's Back") was later adopted since the fort, and subsequent town, was located on the back of one of Erlun's two hills (there is also an area of the township known as 崙前村 "Hill Front Village"). * The name of Vasikan prehistoric archeaological site and culture in Yunlin also derives from Basjekan (貓兒干). Copyright Jiyue Publications 2022
In 1721, a fort called 布嶼堡 (Mdn. Buyu Bao; lit. "Coth Islet(s) Fortress") was constructed in the area of what are today's Erlun (二崙) and Lunbei townships. This was customarily known by the Hoanya plains aborigine Basjekan (tranlsiterated as, among varous spellings, 貓兒干* Mdn. Mao-er-gan, 蔴芝乾 Mdn. Ma-zhi-gan &c.) Community as 布嶼稟 (Mdn. Buyu Bing), from which 稟 was later dropped, leading to the name 布嶼堡 "Buyu Fort". The name Lunbei (崙背; lit. "Hill's Back") was later adopted since the fort, and subsequent town, was located on the back of one of Erlun's two hills (there is also an area of the township known as 崙前村 "Hill Front Village"). * The name of Vasikan prehistoric archeaological site and culture in Yunlin also derives from Basjekan (貓兒干). Copyright Jiyue Publications 2022
Wednesday, 16 February 2022
Erlun (二崙) Township, Yunlin County
Erlin (二崙; lit. "Two Hills") takes its name from the two small hills (丘崙) located in the northern side of today's township.
Although part of the Babuza plains aboriginal hunting territory, it apparently went uncultivated by them, and during the Dutch and Zheng-family periods, and was only opened up for agricultural development at the start of the 18th century during the Qing dynasty (MOE dictionary has slightly a later date: Shizong reign period 1722~35).
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Jiuquan (酒泉) Street, Datong District, Taipei City
Literally meaning "Alcohol Spring(s)", this street's name sounds as though there might be an interesting story behind it, parhaps something about aborigines' ancestral spirits causing some kind of wine to gush spontanously from a rocky fissure on the nearby Yuanshan (圓山; "Round Hill").
Sadly, this is not the case. Rather, like a large proportion of Taipei's streets, it is named for a place in China, that is, the prefeture-level city of Jiuquan in northwestern Gansu (甘肅) Province.
Founded in late-2nd century BCE as a military garrison protecting traffic where the Silk Road passed through the Gansu (Hexi) Corridor, it was originally called Fulu (福祿; lit. "Blessed [&] Fortunate"). This followed successful campaingns against the Xiongnu (匈奴) pushing southwards out of today's Mongolia by General Huo Qu-bing (霍去病; 140~117 BCE), nephew of Empress Wei Zi-fu (衛子夫), wife of Western Han Emperor Wu (漢武帝; r.141 to 87 BCE). Accounts suggest Huo wasn't particularly caring or generous towards the troops he led, but when awarded a jar of fine wine by Emperor Wu following this victory, he is said to have poured it into a stream so that all his men could share its taste.
Fuli was renamed Suzhou (肅州; lit. "Solemn State") in the 6th century CE (when it was apparently the center of the rhubarb trade), before it subsequently fell to firstly the Tibetan Empire and later Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom, which also largely practiced Tibetan Buddhism.
Sometime later, the legendary story of Huo's pouring of the Emperor's wine into a stream led to the name Jiuquan becoming adopted, initially for a part of this extensive area, and then for it all.
An alternative explanation is that the spring waters of this area tasted "as sweet as wine".
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Tuesday, 15 February 2022
Monday, 14 February 2022
Tianzhong (田中) Township, Changhua County
Rice paddy agriculture spread across southeastern Changhua County as irrigation systems developed during the 18th century to take water out of Zhuosui River (濁水溪).
Tianzhongyang (田中央; Hoklo: Chhân-tiong-ng; lit. "Fields' Center", shortened in 1920 during the Period of Japanese Rule to 田中 "Fields' Middle") indciates it was at the center of this fan-shaped area of irrigated fields. Similarly, Tianwei (田尾; lit. "Fields' Tail") represented the furthest point reached by the irrigation system.
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Sunday, 13 February 2022
Ershui (二水) Township, Changhua County
Ok, you'll need to strap in for this one because, although it initially seems (and actually may well be) fairly straight-forward, there are a number of surprisingly convoluted explanations suggested for this place name, which on the surface just means "Two Waters / Rivers".
It certainly cannot be that simple, however, because until implementation of the Japanese-era rule on shortening place names in 1920, the township was called 二八水 (Mdn. Erbashui; lit "Two Eight Waters / Rivers"), for which there are at least five suggested explanations.
But first, it is useful to know a little of the area's history (source: Wikipedia):
These were originally lands of Babuza plains aborigines. Following small-scale Han-Chinese immigration, expansion of the Dutch colony’s influence into central Taiwan in the 1640s, and arrival of Zheng-family garrison-farming (屯田) in the 1660s, it wasn't until the early 18th century that large-scale immigration occurred.
Shi Shi-bang (施世榜) applied for a reclamation license in 1709, and led water from Zhuoshui River (濁水溪) into an irrigation system, the 施厝圳 (lit. "Shi’s Homestead Channel"), which was completed in 1719 (and later renamed the 八堡一圳 “Eight Forts No.1 Channel”). A second irrigation system was started by Huang Shi-qing (黃仕卿) in 1721, which was initiatlly known as the 十五庄圳 (“Fifteen Villages Channel"; and later as the 八堡二圳 “Eight Forts No.2 Channel”). Construction of these irrigation systems led to a massive increase of Han-Chinese immigration into this and neighboring areas (see, for example, Changhua’s Tianzhong and Tianwei townships) to reclaim land in the 18th century.
So, now we have the two "Eight Waters" that accounts for the simplest explanation of the township's name:
i) Erbashui was the area of farmland supported by these two irrigation systems whose names both begin with the word 八 ("Eight"). Other explanations include:
ii) a subsidiary channel was built to lead 20% of the Shi's channel waters into that of Huang's 15 Village system, giving proportions of 2:8, hence the "Two Eight Waters” name;
iii) the place where the “two” channels bifurcate is in the shape of the Chinese character for “eight” (八)
iv) it derives from the 二八水渡 (Erbashui Ferry), though apparently this was quite some distance away; and
v) the nearby confluence of Zhuoshui River and its tributary, 清水溪 (Qingshui River), was at a place called 二幅水 (Hoklo: Ji-pak-chui; lit. “Two Pieces Water”) or 二合水 (Ji-hap-chui; “Two Combined Waters”), and this was later changed to the similar-sounding 二八水 (Hoklo: Ji-beh/bat-chui; “Two Eight Waters”).
Abe Akiyoshi (台灣地名研究 "Studies on Taiwan's Place Names" 1938) mentions versions of both iii) the "八 character" explanation and iv) the ferry location explanation.
Tsai Pei-hui et al. (台灣的舊地名 "Taiwan's Old Place Names" 2004) are happy to accept the simplest explanation i) above, although they refer to the slightly differently named 八堡圳 (formerly: 施厝圳) and 二分水圳 channels.
In which case, maybe it is quite straight-forward after all.
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Saturday, 12 February 2022
Xiluo (西螺) Township, Yunlin County
Tsai et al (台灣的舊地名 "Taiwan's Old Place Names" 2004) say that there are documentary evidence for four different derivations of this name:
i) it was part of the active area of the Babuza people's Sorean community;
ii) it got its name via 東螺 (Mdn. Dong-luo; "Eastern Snail"), which was thus called due to its shape;
iii) it was close to the Zhuoshui River (濁水溪), and 濁 is pronounced similar to 螺 in Hoklo Taiwanese; and
iv) its shape resembles a 田螺 (river snail).
[MC: ii) and iii) seem to be the inverse of what actually passed, that is, Dong-luo was more likely so called because it is to the east of Xi-luo (lit. "Western Snail"), and Zhuosui River got its name from the (Western) Luo River (and not vice-versa). iv) is kind of meh. This leaves i) as the most likely.]
Fortunately Abe Akiyoshi (台灣地名研究 "Studies on Taiwan's Place Names" 1938) concurs, suggesting that the Dutch name of Sorean came from the Babuza aboriginal place Sailei, which was then transliterated as 西螺 (Hoklo: Sai-lê; Mdn. Xiluo), and thus had little to do with its literal meaning of "Western [Aquatic-]Snail”.
Indeed, selection of 螺 rather than any other similar-sounding word to transliterate lei was possibly due to the fact that many of the immigrating Han-Chinese had come from 螺陽 (Mdn. Luoyang; Hoklo: Lê-iâng ) Township in Fujian Province’s Quanzhou (泉州) prefecture’s Hui-an (惠安) County, indeed, Xiluo was also known in early days as 螺陽 in memory of the immigrants’ hometown.
The lower reaches of Zhuoshui River, which runs along Xiluo’s northern boundary, was formerly called 西螺溪 (Xiluo River). This, by a convoluted process of transliterations, probably gave rise to today’s name: (see Zhuoshui River)
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Friday, 11 February 2022
Zhuoshui River (濁水溪), Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin & Changhua counties
As every Taiwan schoolchild knows, at 186.6km in length and passing through four of western Taiwan’s central counties, Zhuoshui River is the nation's longest river. It is also sometimes thought of as an unofficial boundary between the island’s south and north, at least in so-called Blue-Green voting habits (see Taiwan Review).
Zhuoshui (濁水) means “Turbid Water”, and the standard explanation for the river’s name is that it derives from the large quantity of sediment in the water picked up as it erodes predominantly slate, shale and sandstone rocks in the Central Mountains catchment area.
[MC: This may be true, but it may be only part of the story. Zhuoshui’s old name was Luo River (螺溪; lit. “[Aquatic-] Snail River”), perhaps due to:
i) many river snails found there,
ii) the river frequently twisted and turned, like a snail’s shell spiral (螺’s secondary meaning); or (as is very commonly the case with Taiwan place names),
iii) it was a transliteration of an aboriginal name. Wikipedia offers Bunun: Danum qalav ang, presumably for part or all of its upper reaches. The lower reaches were formerly known as 西螺溪 (Mdn. Xiluo Xi; "Western Luo River"), a name retained in today's Xiluo Township (西螺鎮) in Yunlin County, which is said to derive from a transliteration of a Babuza (巴布薩) plains aborigine name Sailei.
In any case, (and finally we get to the point of my conjecture), 螺 in Hoklo is pronounced lê / lôe and, since 濁水溪 in Hoklo is pronounced lô-chúi-khe, the latter may indeed imply “turbidity”, but it may also be an alternative way of writing the river’s spoken name.]
Water from Zhoushui River is led away by irrigation channels to feed paddy fields of the western plain and is recorded in various township names to this day, see for example Ershui (二水) , Tianzhong (田中) and Tianwei (田尾) in Changhua County, not forgetting Taiwan's "soy sauce capital" of Xiluo (西螺) of course.
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Street names (Taipei & elsewhwere) Index:
AB BA roads (& bridges)
Bade Road (八德路)
Beiping Road (北平路), Taipei & Taichung
"Why Dunhua Road (敦化) is so wide"
Heping Road (和平路)
Jiuquan (酒泉) Street, Datong District, Taipei City
Jungong Road (軍功路)
Ren-ai Road (仁愛路)
Shuangshi Raod (雙十路), Taichung City and Banqiao District, New Taipei City
Siwei Road (四維路)
Tingzhou Road (汀州路)
Xikou Street (溪口街)
Xinhai Road (辛亥路), Taipei City
Xinsheng Road (新生路)
Xinyi Road (信義路)
Yixian Road (逸仙路), Taipei
Zhongxiao Road (忠孝路)
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
Guanmiao (關廟) District, Tainan City
Guanmiao (關廟; lit. "Closed Temple") is what it "says on the label", well, that is, it is named after its historic temple dedicated to Guan Yu (關羽), the 3rd-century CE general later deified as Guan Gong (關公; "Duke Guan"), Guan Di (關帝; "Emperor Guan") &c., or most formally, Guan Shengdijun (關聖帝君; "Sacred Emperor-Ruler Guan").
These were originally Siraya (西拉雅) plains aborigines' lands "opened up for cultivation" as part of Xingang Community (新港社; lit. "New Harbor"), during the late-17th-century Zheng-family Tongming Kingdom by Han-Chinese immigrating up Xingang River (now Yanshui River 鹽水溪) from Anping, and intitally called it Xiangyang Community (香洋社; lit "Fragrant / Incense Ocean).
According to Taiwan place name reseracher Abe Akiyoshi, the temple possibly dates back as early as Koxinga's time, though this might be a slight exaggeration as he died just a few months after the Dutch surrendered to his forces.
Abe also tells of (the usual) conflict between Han-Chinese immigrants from Quanzhou (泉州) in Fujian and Zhangzhou (漳州) also in Fujian leading to the latter group moving about 1km north of the 舊社 (Mdn. Jiu-she; lit. "Old Community") during the Qing's Jiaqing reign period (嘉慶; 1796-1820), and building a Temple dedicated to Guandi (in his capacity as deity of warfare), from which the townhship (now district) got its name.
Guanyu is worshipped widely around Taiwan, most notably at Guaniao in Tainan and, for northerners, Xingtian Temple (行天宮, see Xingtian Temple MRT Station) in Taipei City. For more details about his life and after-death worship: see here.
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Rivers Index:
Dahan River (大漢溪)
Gaoping River (高屏溪)
Lanyang River (蘭陽溪)
Love River (愛河), Kaohsiung City
Qishan River (旗山溪)
Tamsui River (淡水河), Taipei City / New Taipei City
Xiuguluan River (秀姑巒溪), Hualien
Zengwen River (曾文溪)
Zhuoshui River (濁水溪), central Taiwan
Monday, 7 February 2022
Mountains Index:
Cao Shan (草山; "Grass Mountain") see Yangming Mountain
Xiuguluan Mountain (秀姑巒山; 3,825m), Hualien County
Xueshan (雪山)
Yangming Mountain (陽明山)
Yushan (玉山; “Jade Mountain”)
Sunday, 6 February 2022
Miscellaneous Extras Index:
1. AB BA roads;
2. Administrative units during Period of Japanese Rule (1895~1945);
3. Miscellany of 19th-century Notes on 17th-century Dutch Historical Records;
4. Deity Guan Gong (關公), (a.k.a. Guan Di (關帝), Guan Yu (關羽) &c.);
5. "Houses": Cuo (厝) vs. Wu (屋);
6. List of Taiwan's indigenous ethnic groups;
7. Men (門; "Door / Gate ...");
8. Campaigns for the Rectification of Names;
9. Taiwan's "Flowery East" & other regional groupings of counties / cities ;
10. Romanizations: List of disused and unorthodox systems;
11. San Min Zhuyi (三民主義; Three Principles of the People);
12. Townships: Rural 鄉 and Urban 鎮;
13. On the Transliteration of Aboriginal place names;
14. On "Tribe" and "Ethnic Group";
15. Wu (屋; “House”);
Changhua (彰化) Index:
Lugang (鹿港) Township
Ershui (二水) Township
......Guozun (過圳)
Tianzhong (田中) Township
Lugang (鹿港), Changhua County
Lugang (鹿港; lit. "Deer Harbor") or 鹿仔港 (Hoklo: Lok-a-kang) as it was formerly written, with 仔 (Hoklo: ah) functioning as a suffix for single-syllable nouns, a role it does not have in Mandarin. Now something of a sleepy tourist town, Lugang was one of the top three cities* in Qing-dynasty Taiwan (before the harbor silted up and the town worthies decided the railway shouldn't go there). Nevertheless, the origin of its name is something of a mystery, wtih at least five competing derivations.
Before considering their relative merits, however, during the 17th century as Han-Chinese immigrants moved in to cultivate lands, often encountering conflicts with aborigines, each other, or with itinerant unmarried males. Before the establishment of towns and cities and other protective adminstrative features, settlers sought safety in numbers and so formed leagues known as 聯庄 (Mdn. lian zhuang; lit. "allied homesteads"). One early example in Lugang was formed around the homestead of a Mr. Hsu You-de (許祐德; from Zhangzhou in Fujian), for which the village became known as 許厝埔 (Hoklo: Ko-cu-bo; lit. "Hsu's home plain"), which gave rise to a 聯庄 league called the 許厝埔十二庄 (Kocubo Twelve Homesteads), which still comes together to this day, albeit in a ritual ceremony to guard deities' statues when they leave their home temple during festivals and parades.
Lugang (鹿港; "Deer Harbor"; or 鹿仔港) is said to derive from:
i) In the earliest days of Han-Chinese immigration, herds of deer were still widespread right down to the west coast, so settlers arriving at the harbor here would have seen deer, hence the name.
ii) Trade in deer skins was an important part of the economy, so Lugang was a "port" through which "deer" skins were exported.
iii) The headland here was shaped like a deer or deer's head.
All three explanations seem reasonable, but more likely are:
iv) Transliteration of the plains aborigne Babuza (巴布薩) ethnicity name of Rokau-an to Hoklo: Lok-a-kang.
v) It was rice rather than deer skins that were being exported. This was stored in square-shaped grain silos that were known as 鹿 ("deer").
Despite probably sounding like the least probable of all five explanations, this last is the one offered by the Lugang Township Office. Tsai et al. concur; Abe Akiyoshi prefers the transliteration of an aboriginal name.
*Lugang's former pre-eminence can be inferred from the phase 一府二鹿三艋舺 ("Firstly Fu", i.e. the "prefectural capital", today's Tainan; "secondly Lu", i.e. Lugang; "thirdly Mengjia", i.e. Bangka, today's Wanhua in Taipei City). (more details: here).
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Saturday, 5 February 2022
Shiding (石碇) District, New Taipei City
Shiding (石碇; Hoklo: Tsiooh-tiaⁿ; lit. 'stone anchor') is said to derive from the large number of large rocks in the Jingmei River (景美溪) in this former township.
Possible interpretations include:
i) residents had to traverse rocks in the river, a kind of natural stepping-stone bridge, to get to their homes. Thus it was a like a "rock threshold", which in Hoklo Taiwanese is also called a 戶碇 (ho-teng; lit. "Household Anchor", which in Mandarin is called a 門檻 men-kan), from which emerged "rock threshold", which looked like "stone anchor"
ii) these rocks in the river represented a kind of "threshold" between the lower reaches and upper reaches of the river
iii) boats plying the river actually tied onto rocks when mooring;
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Beitou (北投) District, Taipei City
The pre-Han-Chinese name for this area was Ki-pataw, though whether this was in the Plains Aboriginal language (Abe Akiyoshi: "Studies on Taiwan's Place Names" 1938), or Ketagalan (Tsai Pei-hui et al.: "Taiwan's Old Place Names" 2004) or Basai (Wikipedia) needs confirming. All agree, however, that the pataw part meant "shamaness", though whether this was due to:
i) it having been the former abode of a shamaness (Abe/ Tsai), or
ii) the sulfurous fumaroles in the local hills emitting noxious gases were caaused by shamanesses (Wikipedia),
is also up for debate.
Pataw was transliterated as 北投 (Hoklo: Pak-tau; Mdn. Beitou; lit. "Northern Throw").
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Friday, 4 February 2022
Yilan (宜蘭) County Index:
Lanyang River (蘭陽溪)
Toucheng (頭城) Township
......... Shicheng Station (石城車站)
Zhuangwei (壯圍) Township
Jiang Wei-shui Yilan-Taipei Freeway (蔣渭水高速公路)
Pingtung (屏東) County Index:
Checheng (車城) Township
Donggang (東港) Township
......... Gaoping River (高屏溪)
Hengchun (恆春) Township
Mudan (牡丹) Township
Sandimen (三地門) Township
Beinan Culture (卑南文化)
Beinan Culture (卑南文化) is a prehistoric culture of Taiwan's mid-Neolithic period, existing from about 5,200 to 2,300 years ago in eastern Taiwan. It was distributed roughly over the Taitung Plain, southern section of the Huadong Rift Valley, and southern part of the East Coast.
It is named for Beinan, the representative site located in Beinan (卑南) Township, Taitung County, but which has no direct relationship with the extant Puyuma (卑南; Mdn. Beinan) aboriginal people.
Rather, Beinan Culture is culturally related to the Paiwan, Rukai and Amis peoples among today's aboriginal ethnicities.
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Archaeological Sites and Prehistoric Cultures
In recent years it has barely been possible to dig a hole in Taiwan without finding that people lived there in earlier times. There are now thousands of archaeological sites at various stages of excavation. Obviously it is only possible to mention some of the more significant and interesting of these.
Beinan Culture (卑南文化), Taitung County
Dabenkeng (大坌坑) site / prehistoric culture, Bali Distict, New Taipei City
Vasikan (貓兒干) Culture, Yunlin County
Panapanayan (巴拿巴拿樣), legendary origins of east coast aboriginal groups
Several aboriginal groups have origin legends relating to a place called Panapanayan (transliterated as 巴拿巴拿樣; Mdn. Banabanayang) or something similar, or which may also be called Ruvoahan. Scholars locate this to a site beside Provincial Highway No. 9 in today's Sanhe Village (三和村) in Taitung County's Taimali (太麻里) Township.
Details of legends include the following (main source: Wikipedia), though there is a much more complex list of legends associated with stones and bamboo: here
Amis (阿美) legends:
i)There was a huge boulder in Arapanai (the Amis name for Panapanayan). When this cracked apart, the ancestors of the Amis and Puyuma peoples emerged.
ii) A giant tree gew in Arapanai. One day, it was struck by lightning and split apart, and out walked the ancestors of the Amis people.
iii) A brother and his younger sister sailed with their grandfather on the "Kalolangan" from Tsirangasan during a great flood, arriving at Arapanai.
After their grandfather died and turned into a stone, the brother and sister married and gave birth, firstly to a crab, then to a stone, and after they planted the bamboo, gave birth to the Puyuma people, whereas the Amis appeared when the stone cracked.
iv) An elder sister, brother and younger sister floated to Arapanai during a great flood. After the elder sister died she became a stone, and the brother and younger sister married and gave birth firstly to a crab. After being taught by the moon they gave birth to a white stone, and the white stone gave birth to four people, the second of which was the ancestor to the Plains peoples.
Puyuma (卑南) legends:
i) Nunurao (奴努勞) appeared at Panapanayan, in her right hand she held a stone, in her left a piece of bamboo. Throwing the stone gave birth to the Amis people of Malan (馬蘭) and the Zhiben Village (知本社), planting the bamboo gave birth to the Nanwang Village (南王社) people.
ii) Foam from the ocean waves floated ashore producing a dusty substance that eventually turned into a stone. After the stone split apart, a human figure appeared with eyes growing out of both knees and with two faces, one to the front and one on the back. This was the ancestor of the people of Zhiben Village (知本社).
iii) Nunur and Maosus drifted to the coast of Panapanayan and then gave birth to descendants.
Alternatively,
iv) Nunurmaosus was one person who drifted to the Panapanayan coast. On the way a bamboo stick was planted in the earth, which gave birth to the people of Nanwang Village (南王社), while after passing away, Nunurmaosus turned into a stone.
Paiwan (排灣) legends:
i) A female deity appeared at Panapanayan, in her right hand she held a stone, in her left a piece of bamboo.
Throwing the stone gave birth to the Malan (馬蘭) Amis people; planting the bamboo gave birth to the Paiwan people of Beinan Village (卑南社).
ii) There was a giant stone at Panapanayan. When this split apart, a girl called Rarigimu/Bihin appeared and, drinking the stone's sweat, she came alive. She later married Basakaran of 大南社 (Mdn. Danan Village) and gave birth to two daughters.
Stele beside No.9 Highway showing
"Site of Origin of Taiwan's Mountain Peoples' Ancestors."
Taimali (太麻里)
Taimali (太麻里) derives from the Paiwan (排灣) aboriginal name Tjavualji, which perhaps meant something like "fertile land illuminated by the sun" (Wikipedia)
According to local legend, the land here was first opened around 1,000 years ago by someone now known by the sinicized name of 錢搖稿 (Mdn. Qian Yao-gao), leader of the 不由馬 (Mdn. Buyouma) clan, who were also known as the 打馬 (Mdn. Dama) or 太麻 (Mdn. Taima) people.
This gave rise to the later name of 太麻里, although other transliterations were used in early records, such as 朝貓籬 (Mdn. Chaomaoli) 大貓狸 (Mdn.Damaoli), 大麻里 (Mdn. Damali) &c.
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Thursday, 3 February 2022
Taitung (台東) Index:
Chenggong (成功) Township
Taimali (太麻里) Township
...........Panapanayan - Legends of E. Coast aboriginal origins
Chenggong (成功) Township, Taitung County
Chenggong (成功; lit. "Success") was formerly known by the Amis (阿美) aboriginal name Madawdaw (CIP) (or perhaps Maurauran), which was transliterated using such characters as (蔴荖漏; Hoklo Moa-lau-lau). Tsai et al. suggest Madawdaw may have meant (乾燥; "to dry"; [MC: if so, then perhaps in relation to the fish caught in abundance here and sun-dried???]).
This was renamed 新港 (Jpn.Shinkō; Mdn. Xingang; lit. "New Harbor") in 1920 during the Period of Japanese Rule, [MC: perhaps because 蔴荖漏, meaning something like "Hemp Betel-leaf Leakage", was considered inelegant, perhaps because Japanese language didn't use the character 荖, or perhaps just to shorten the township's name to the new standard of two characters].
But, since Taiwan already had several places named 新港 (e.g. Xingang in Chiayi County and, formerly Xingang (previously Sinckan, now Xinshi in Tainan), it was renamed following retrocession to ROC rule as Chenggong.
English-language Wikipedia suggests that this commemorates Koxinga (a.k.a. 鄭成功 Zheng Cheng-gong) who expelled the Dutch from Taiwan and established the Tongning Kingdom, [MC: but this is unlikely: the KMT-led postwar ROC government didn't make a habit of celebrating Koxinga].
More probable it was simply used to encourage "Success" or, as Chinese-language Wikipedia argues, it may derive from the natural harbor of 成廣澳 (Mdn. Cheng-guang-ao; lit. "Become Broad Bay"), which is located slightly to the north of today's township center and was largely surplanted when the "New Harbor" was built. 新港, 成廣 and 成功 are similarly pronounced after all, especially in Hoklo Taiwanese.
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Tainan (台南) City Index
Guanmiao (關廟) District
Jiali (佳里) District
Madou (麻豆) District
Qigu (七股) District
Shanhua (善化) District
Xinshi (新市) District
Yujing (玉井) District
Luermen (鹿耳門)
Chiayi (嘉義) Index:
Alishan (阿里山) Township
Budai (布袋) Township
Dalin (大林) Township
Dongshi (東石) Township
Fanlu (番路) Township
Liujiao (六腳) Township
Minxiong (民雄) Township
Xikou (溪口) Township
Yizhu (義竹) Township
Zengwen River (曾文溪) and Reservoir
Yunlin County (雲林)
Beigang (北港) Township
Erlun (二崙) Township
Lunbei (崙北) Township
Xiluo (西螺) Township
..........Vasikan (貓兒干) archaeological culture
Nantou (南投) Index:
Caotun (草屯) Township
Guoxing (國姓) Township
Ren-ai (仁愛) Township
Xinyi (信義) Township
........ Yushan (玉山; “Jade Mountain”)
Yuchi (魚池) Township
........ Sun Moon Lake (日月潭)
Zhushan (竹山) Township
Miaoli (苗栗) Index:
Gongguan (公館) Township
......... Qiugou (邱苟)
Houlong (後龍) Township
Tongxiao (通霄) Township
Yuanli (苑裡) Township
Zhuolan (卓蘭) Township
Hsinchu (新竹) Index:
......... Dahan River (大漢溪)
Guanxi (關西) Township
Jianshi (尖石) Township
Qionglin (芎林) Township
Xinpu (新埔) Township
Zhubei (竹北) City
New Taipei City (新北市) Index:
Bali (八里) District
......... Dabenkeng (大坌坑) Site / prehistoric culture
Banqiao (板橋) District
Gongliao (貢寮) District
Sandiaojiao (三貂角) District
...,,,,,, Sandiaoling Station (三貂嶺車站)
Luzhou (蘆洲) District
Sanchong (三重) District
Sanxia (三峽) District
Shiding (石碇) District
Shimen (石門) District
......... Fugui (富貴) Cape
Shuangxi (雙溪) District
Tucheng (土城) District
Wanli (萬里) District
......... Yeliu (野柳) Harbor
Wugu (五股) District
Wulai (烏來) District
Xizhi (汐止) District
......... Wudu Railway Station (五堵車站)
Xindian (新店)
......... Ankeng (安坑)
........ Bitan (碧潭)
........ Dapinglin (大坪林) MRT Station
Taipei City (台北) Index:
Beitou (北投) District
......... Yangming Mountain (陽明山)
Daan (大安) District
......... Guting (古亭)
Datong (大同) District
Nangang (南港路) District
Shilin (士林) District
Songshan (松山) District
Wanhua (萬華) District
........ Ximending (西門町)
Wenshan (文山) District
........... Muzha (木柵)
Xinyi (信義) District
Zhongzheng (中正) District
......... Gongguan (公館)
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Wednesday, 2 February 2022
On the Transliteration of aboriginal names
Given that Chinese is the main language used in Taiwan (with Mandarin pronunciation predominant politically even if not numerically), it is tempting to view place names through this lens. Thus Taipei (台北) is the main city of "northern" (北) "Tai"(台)-wan; Taoyuan (桃園) was a "garden" (園) full of "peach trees" (桃); and Xiangshan (象山) is a "hill" (山) that, from the right angle, resembles an "elephant" (象).
It should not be forgotten, however, that Chinese characters have pronunciations as well as meanings. This might seem a banal thing to point out but, since Chinese lacks an alphabet, when characters are used merely for their phonetic values, they inevitably appear to bring with them their original meanings.
This was one of the main ways that the Chinese written language developed thousands of years ago, with "loan words" (假借字; Mdn. jiajiezì) adopted when, for example, a pictograph of something concrete was borrowed to indicate something abstract with the same or similar pronunciation (with the borrowed character then often losing its original meaning or, frequently, being adapted through addition of a new semantic or phonetic element). Thus, since Chinese people tend to point at their noses to indicate themselves, the original character for a nose, 自, was borrowed to mean "oneself" and no longer means "nose".
This kind of borrowing continued into modern times, particularly when transliterating foreign words into Chinese. Thus Frederick is 弗雷德里克 (Mdn. Fu-lei-de-li-ke; lit. "Not-thunder-virtue-mile-win") and New York is 紐約 (Mdn. Niu-yue; lit. "Button Treaty").
It was also used during the early years of Han-Chinese immigration into Taiwan to transliterate aboriginal names, albeit generally using pronunciations of Chinese characters based on Zhangzhou or Quanzhou forms of Fujianese (here usually referred to by the catch-all "Hoklo Taiwanese") or one of various forms of Hakka language (most commonly in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli). This, naturally, makes deciphering toponymic evolution rather prone to errors and misunderstandings [MC: and is certainly far beyond my linguistic abilities].
Taiwan (台灣) was, therefore, not a "terrace" overlooking a "bay", Yuanli (苑裡) in Miaoli County was not something "inside" (裡) a "garden" (苑), and Luermen (鹿耳門) in historical Tainan was not a "gate / port" (門) through which "deer" (鹿) "ears" (耳) were exported. On the contrary, all three are transliterations of aboriginal place names.
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Shilin (士林) District, Taipei City
Taiwan place names regularly include a topographic element such as 山 (mountain / hill), 林 (wood), 溪 (river), 灣 (bay / bend in river) or 坑 (gorge). Nine times out of ten, maybe ninety-nine times out of a hundred, these do indeed correspond to local features.
Since many place names derive from transliterations (for more details: see here) of aboriginal names (even when the characters may appear to make sense), there are exceptions. And Shilin (士林) is one such. Appearing to mean something like "Scholars' Grove / Wood", it is actually derived from the Ketagalan aboriginal word Pattsiran (perhaps meaing "hot springs" and home to the Kimassauw Community 麻少翁社). This was initially transliterated as "八芝蘭" (Mdn. Bazhilan; Hoklo Pat-chi-lan; lit. "Eight Sesame Orchids").
This later became 芝蘭 and, by the late 19th century, since a number of local people had passed the imperial examination, it was nicknamed using the similarly-pronounced 士林 (Mdn. Shi-lin; Hoklo Su-lim; : "Scholar Thicket
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Shuangxi (雙溪) District, New Taipei City
Shuangxi (雙溪; Hoklo: Siang-khe; lit. "Pair [of] Rivers") takes its name from the confluence, at the township's historic center, of the Mudan River (牡丹溪; lit. "Peony River") and Pinglin River (平林溪; lit. "Flat Wood River"). These together form the Shuang River (雙溪; "Pair of / Double River"), which flows for a short distance before entering the sea at Fulong (福隆).
Other sources suggest that the town (and the upper reaches of the river) was originally called 頂雙溪 (Mdn. Dingshuangxi; lit. "Upper Double River") with the lower reaches called the 下雙溪 (Mdn. Xiashuangxi; "Lower Double River"). In any case, it seems that the rivers in this area changed names on several occasions.
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Guanyin (觀音) District, Taoyuan City
Guanyin (觀音; Hakka: Gon-rhim; lit. "[Bodhisattva] Guanyin") District's name dates back to 1860 when farm workers from Shipailing (石牌嶺; in today's Xinwu 新屋 District) found a rock in a stream that they believed closely resembled the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanshiyin (觀世音: lit. "[The one who] Perceives the Sounds of the World"). They took it, worshipped it and, finding it efficacious, built a Stone Guanyin Temple (石觀音寺; later renamed the 甘泉寺 Ganquan Temple).
From this, the area took the name Shiguanyin (石觀音), which was abbreviated by the Japanese authorities in 1920 to the current Guanyin.
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Xinpu (新埔) Township, Hsinchu County
Xinpu Township (新埔; Hakka: Sin-phu-tsun / Sin-bu-zhin; lit. "New Plain") was originally hunting grounds of Taokas (道卡斯) plains aborigines, whose name was transliterated as 吧哩嘓 (Hoklo: Palikok).
Han-Chinese immigration to this area was limited and unsystematic before the mid-18th century. This changed following flooding of Hsinchu in 1747, however, and settlers were encouraged to move into new areas including today's Xinpu.
Construction of the Fangliao irrigation channels (枋寮圳) in 1766 further increased its cultivztion potential. The name Xinpu was in used from at least the 1780s to indicate "新開發的河埔地" (newly developed river plains land).
埔 (Mdn. pu; "plain / flatland") is used in Hoklo Taiwanese po and Hakka phu where Mandarin is more likely to use 平原 . 埔 appears widely in place names in western Taiwan.
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Qionglin (芎林) Township, Hsinchu County
Qionglin (芎林; Hakka: Lim-hiong; lit. "Crepe-myrtle Wood") was orininally called 九芎林 (Mdn. Jiu-qiong-lin) and named after the woods (林) of Taiwan crepe myrtle trees (九芎; Lagerstroemia subcostata) that grew locally.
In 1920 the name was shortened to its present form by removing the 九 (Mdn. jiu; "nine"). This was presumably to make it a two-character name, but it has also been suggested that 九芎 wasn't chosen because it sound similar to 久窮 (Mdn. jiu qiong) meaning "long-term poverty".
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List of Taiwan's indigenous ethnic groups
Taiwan currently recognizes 16 ethnic groups of mountains indigenous peoples and around 18 groups of Plains peoples (some of which are no longer extant), though the situation is fluid.
Division into "Mountain" (高山族; earlier 高砂族 Takasago-zoku during the Period of Japanese Rule 1895~1945) and "Plains" (平埔族) aborigines perhaps has more to do with their level of assimilation / sinicization at the arbitrary date of 1895 when the Japanese authorities and academics began to investigate the peoples of their new colony. Some groups, like the Kavalan and Thao may be better described as plains-dwelling.
Mountains indigenous peoples
Amis (Pangcah, 'Amis) 阿美 (sometimes previously recorded as 阿眉族)
Atayal (Tayal, Tayan) 泰雅 (大么)
Bunun (Bunun) 布農 (武崙)
Kanakanavu (Kanakanavu) 卡那卡那富 (previously classified as Tsou)
Kavalan (Kebalan, Kbaran) 噶瑪蘭 or 加禮宛 (previously classified as Amis)
Paiwan (Payuan) 排灣
Puyuma (Pinuyumayan) 卑南 or 比努優瑪樣 (彪馬)
Rukai (Drekay) 魯凱
Saaroa (Hla'alua) 拉阿魯哇 (四社生蕃) (previously classified as Tsou)
Saisiyat (Say-Siyat) 賽夏 or 獅設
Sakizaya (Sakizaya) 撒奇萊雅 or 奇萊族 (previously classified as Amis)
Seediq (Seediq) 賽德克 (紗績) (previously classified as Atayal)
Taroko (Truku) 太魯閣族 （タロコ族） (previously classified as Atayal)
Thao (Thao, Ngan) 邵 or 水沙連 (previously classified as Tsou)
Tsou (Cou) 鄒 or曹 (新高)
Yami (Tao) 達悟 or 雅美
Plains indigenous peoples
Arikun (Arikun) 阿立昆 (sometimes classified as Hoanya)
Babuza (Babuza, Poavasa) 貓霧拺 or 巴布薩
Basay (Basay, Basai) 巴賽 or 馬塞 (sometimes classified as Ketagalan)
Hoanya (Hoanya) 洪雅, 和安雅 or 荷安耶 (sometimes divided into Lloa and Arikun)
Kaxabu (Kaxabu, Kahapu) 噶哈巫 (sometimes classified as Pazeh)
Ketagalan (Ketagalan) 凱達格蘭
Kulon (Kulon) 龜崙
Lloa (Lloa) 羅亞 or 魯羅阿 (sometimes classified Hoanya)
Luilang (Luilang) 雷朗 (sometimes classified as Ketagalan)
Makatao (Makatao, Tao) 馬卡道 (sometimes classified as Siraya)
Papora (Papora, Vupuran) 拍瀑拉, 巴布拉 or 巴波拉
Pazeh (Pazéh, Pazih) 巴宰, 巴則海 or 拍宰海
Qauqaut (Qauqaut) 猴猴
Siraya (Siraya) 西拉雅 or 希萊耶
Taivoan (Taivoan, Taivuan) 大武壠 or 大滿 (sometimes classified as Siraya)
Taokas (Taokas) 道卡斯, 斗葛 or 大甲
Favorlang (Favorlang, Vavorolang) 虎尾壟, 費佛朗, 華武壟, 法波蘭 or 法佛朗
Trobiawan (Trobiawan, TuRbuan) 哆囉美遠 or 哆囉布安 (sometimes classified as Ketagalan)
Main source: Wikipedia
Additional information from Council of Indigenous Peoples:
Pinuyumayan
Taivoan (大滿族)
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Tuesday, 1 February 2022
Guanxi (關西) Township, Hsinchu County
Guanxi (關西; lit. "[Mountain] Pass West") was formerly known as 鹹菜甕 (Mdn. Xian-cai-weng; lit; "Salted / Pickled Vegetable Urn"). Some sources refer to it as having been 鹹菜棚 (Mdn. Xian-cai-peng; lit. "Salted Vegetable Awning /Shed") or 鹹菜硼 (in which the "shed" is presumably now made of stone 石 rather then wood 木; possibly a local Hakka or Hoklo usage, as the dictionary definition of 硼 is "boron").
In 1920 during the Period of Japanese Rule, this was changed to 關西 (Jpn. Kansai) as this was similar to the Hakka pronunciation of 鹹菜 [MC: though the Japanese pronunciation of this is just as close, so presumably 鹹菜 was considered inelegant, moreover, the Japanese authorities were cutting Taiwan's place names down to two characters at this time].
Before both of these, the area had a succession of names for short periods. The first attempt by Han-Chinese to cultivate these aboriginal lands was in the 1790s by Quanzhou Fujianese, who called the village 美里 (Mdn. Mei-li; lit. "Beautiful Neighborhood"). Due to harrassment by Atayal aborigines, however, they gave up their land rights almost immediately. Next to try were members of the Wei familiy (sinicized aborigines from Hsinchu who took the Chinese surname Wei 衛), who recruited potential tenant farmers in Xinpu (新埔). They called the village 新興 (Mdn. Xin-xing; lit. "New Rising"), and when the land reclamation was complete and the village grew into a town, this was changed to 鹹菜甕 (and different but similarly-pronounced characters) and, as noted, 鹹菜硼.
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Jianshi (尖石) Township, Hsinchu County
Jianshi (尖石; Hailu Hakka: ziam-shag; lit. "Sharp Stone") is as its label suggests, there being a large pointed rock rising from the riverbed near the
confluence of the 那羅溪 (Mdn. Naluo River) and 嘉樂溪 (Mdn. Jiale River).
The indigenous Atayal (泰雅) people called the area Nahuy, which meant 火之地 ("Land of Fire") or 火炭之地 ("Land of Charcoal") (source here).
The Atayal of this area, like in many others, resisted incorporation into the Qing-dynasty Chinese state and were only subdued during the Period of Japanese Rule (1895~1945).
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