¬ Exploring Taiwan's history, culture and languages through its place names
subtitle
-- Working draft for upcoming book by Mark Caltonhill, author of "Private Prayers and Public Parades - Exploring the religious life of Taipei" and other works.
Wednesday, 2 February 2022
Wugu (五股) District, New Taipei City
Today's Wugu (五股; lit. "Five Shares"）is the result of the 1920 Japanese colonial government's contraction of 五股坑 (Mdn. Wu-gu-keng; lit. "Five Shares Gorge")
Both Abe Akiyoshi (1938) and Tsai Pei-hui et al. (2004) assume that the 五股 refers to "five shares" , that is, the five families who originally invested in opening the land here for cultivation.
More recently, however, history professor Yin Chang-yi (尹章義) has traced back a land contract to 1773 that records the village's name as 五穀坑 (Mdn. Wu-gu-keng; lit. "Five Grains Gorge"), which is immediately suggestive of the wish for 五穀豐收 (Mdn. wu-gu feng-shou; "five grains good harvest".
This, he says, was later simplified, firstly to 五谷坑 (Mdn. Wu-gu-keng; lit. "Five Valleys Gorge") and finally to 五股坑.
Copyright Jiyue Publications 2022
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