曾文溪、水庫 Zengwen River / Reservoir, Chiayi and Tainan

Zengwen (曾文; lit. “grt.grandparent culture”), the name of Taiwan’s fourth-longest river (138km; from Alishan Township in Chiayi County to the coast between Tainan's Qigu and Annan districts) and of its largest reservoir (17.14k㎡ when full), derives its name from 曾文 (Hoklo: chan-bun) Village.

This, in turn, took its name from a man with family name 曾 (Hoklo: Chan; Mdn. Zeng) and given name 文 (Hoklo: Bun; Mdn. Wen). Early in the Qing dynasty (清; 1683-1895), Mr. Chan Bun led settlers to clear land for cultivation in this area on the southern bank of the river in the northern suburbs of Shanhua Town. No trace of the village remains.

[2021 update: The river is named for one long-forgotten Zeng Wen (曾文). Abe only records him as having opened up land for cultivation here, but Wikipedia’s Chinese-language page says that he did so during the 17th-century Dutch period before going on to operate a ferry. Old Western maps call it the Soulang River, but sometimes the Zant River, which was perhaps a rendition of the Hoklo pronunciation Tsan of the surname 曾 (Mandarin: Zeng).]

Tsengwen (曾文) alternative romanisation of Zengwen.

Cengwun (曾文) alternative romanisation of Zengwen.

[Source: http://www.wcis.itri.org.tw/Upload/QUARTC/000114/31-14.pdf -- NEEDS VERIFICATION]

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011, 2021

佳里區 Jiali District, Tainan

Jiali (佳里; lit. “fine neighbourhood”) was, until the 20th century, known as 蕭壠 (Hoklo: Siauleng, lit. “reverent ridge-in-paddy”), a 17th-century transliteration of Siraya (西拉雅) Plains aboriginal Saulang—meaning “contracted land”—one of four major Siraya communities.

Under the 1920 Japanese colonial re-organisation of local government, the name Jiali (佳里) was adopted. This derived from another 17th-century name, 佳里興 (Mdn. Jialixing; lit. “fine neighbourhood prosper”), which, in roughly this area, was the administrative centre of 天興縣 (Mdn. Tianxing County; ) during Zheng family rule (鄭; 1662-83), and of 諸羅縣 (Mdn. Zhuluo County) under the succeeding Qing dynasty, until this was transferred to Zhuluo City (now Chiayi) at the beginning of the 18th century.

So why Japan’s name change from 蕭壠 to 佳里? Consistent Japanese practice (similar to Takow to Kaohsiung and many others) would suggest the use of different characters whose Japanese pronunciation matched the Hoklo Taiwanese pronunciation of the original, i.e. Siauleng. But 佳里 is pronounced kari in Japanese.

One possible explanation is the colonial authorities’ desire for a complete break from history, perhaps in light of the Siauleng Incident (蕭壟事件) of 1895 when up to 2,000 local people were massacred as a reprisal for armed resistance against the newly arriving colonizing army as it headed south towards Tainan.

Jiali citizens hold an annual ceremony to honour these antecedents, as well as a Burning of Lord Wang’s Boat (燒王爺船) event (hence the photo).


Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

大林鎮 Dalin Township, Chiayi County

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

嘉義縣 市 Chiayi, County and City

Chiayi (嘉義; lit. “praising righteousness”) was, before Han Chinese and Dutch immigration of the 17th century, home to Tsou (鄒) aborigines and Hoanya (洪雅族) plains aborigines. The Hoanya name Tsirosen was transliterated into Chinese as 諸羅山 (Hoklo: chu-lô-san; lit. “all net mountain”).

This name appeared in Dutch documents (1624-61) using various romanizations, was adopted in Chinese form during Zheng family rule (鄭; 1661-1683), and dropping 山 (san; “mountain”), as Zhuluo County (諸羅縣), was a major division in the early Qing dynasty’s “one capital, three counties” (一府三縣) administration of Taiwan.

In 1786, Lin Shuang-wen (林爽文) led a rebellion by members of the secret Tiandi Hui (天地會; “Heaven and Earth Society”), which represented the interests of immigrants from Fujian’s Zhangzhou (漳州) Prefecture. * They quickly took control of Changhua (彰化) in early 1787, followed by Zhuluo eight days later.

Members of the southern branch of the society meanwhile attacked Taiwan-fu (Tainan), the Qing capital, but were repulsed by government forces, aided by Quanzhou (泉州) men, and they settled for capture of the southern city of Fengshan (Kaohsiung). With Taiwan-fu and Danshui (Taipei) the only significant cities not taken, Lin proclaimed himself ruler.

This was premature, however, and Qing forces recaptured Zhuluo in March 1787, and then defended it for many months with the help of its inhabitants, again Quanzhou-speakers. Lin was captured and executed in early 1788, and Zhuluo’s “loyal and righteous” (忠義) citizens were rewarded with a name change to 嘉義 (Jiayi**; lit. “Commendable righteousness”).



*(This subgroup speaking its own dialect of Southern Min (閩南語) was in frequent conflict with members of the other main Fujianese community, who hailed from Quanzhou Prefecture. For more on this issue, see Wanhua/Dadaocheng [not yet posted])

** 嘉義 romanization is Jiayi in Hanyu Pinyin, but (like Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu &c.) the old spelling of Chiayi is still used.






Text and photos © Jiyue Publications

民雄鄉 Minxiong Township, Chiayi County

Minxiong (民雄; lit. “people hero”) Township was formerly called 打貓 (Hoklo: ta-niau; lit. “hit cat”) Community, a transliteration of its Hoanya Plains Aboriginal name Taneaw.

In 1920 under Japanese reorganisation of local government, officials considered 打貓 (“hit the cat”) to be inelegant, therefore used the transliteration 民雄 (Japanese: tami-o).

Following retrocession, the ROC government retained the Japanese written form, with Mdn. pronunciation minxiong. (c.f. Takow/Kaohsiung; Banka/Wanhua &c. [not yet posted])










Text and photos © Jiyue Publications

義竹鄉 Yizhu Township, Chiayi County

Yizhu (義竹; lit. “righteous bamboo”) Township was formerly a 屯田 (Mdn. tun-tian; “garrison [troops engaged in] farming”) called 二竹圍庄 (Mdn: Erzhuwei Zhuang; lit. “two bamboo encircled village(s)”) during the Zheng-Ming period (1661-83).

二 (Hoklo: jī; “two”) was later changed to the similarly pronounced 義 (Hoklo: gī; “righteous”), the reason for which is not known, although several popular explanations exist.

The 圍 (wei: "to surround") was dropped in 1920 under Japanese rule.










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溪口鄉 Xikou Township, Chiayi County

Xikou (溪口; lit. “river mouth”) Township began as 雙溪口 (Mdn. Shuangxikou; “double river mouth”), a description of its location where [today’s] Sandie (三疊溪) and Huaxing (華興溪) rivers meet to form Beigang River (北港溪).

雙 (shuang; "pair") was dropped by the Japanese authorities in 1920, leaving 溪口 (kikou; "river mouth").

Xikou St. (溪口街) in Taipei does not refer to this township but, rather, to the town (鎮; Mdn. Zhen) of the same name in China's Zhejiang Province (浙江省) that was the birth place of 5-term ROC president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) .



Text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications 2022

六腳鄉 Liujiao Township, Chiayi County

Liujiao (六腳; lit. “six legs”) Township began as 六家佃 (Hoklo: lak-ga-dian; “six families tenant-farming”), said to derive from six households of farmers who opened land for cultivation here during the Qianlong (乾隆; 1735-96) reign period.

家 (Hoklo: ga; “family/house”) was later changed to the similarly pronounced 腳 (Hoklo: ka; “foot/leg”). In 1920 under Japanese rule, 佃 (dian; "tenant") was dropped to give today’s 六腳 (Liujiao; "six legs").



Text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications

布袋鎮 Budai Township, Chiayi County

Budai (布袋; lit. “cloth sack”) Township was earlier called 布袋嘴 (Hoklo: bo-de-cui; “cloth sack mouth”) after its harbour of the same. Entering the tranquil port was said to be like entering a cloth bag.

嘴 was dropped by the Japanese authorities in 1920 to give today’s 布袋.





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東石鄉 Dongshi Township, Chiayi County

Earlier, down on the Chiayi plains …


Dongshi (東石; lit. “east stone”) Township: When the Ming loyalists under Koxinga (鄭成功) still holding out against the 1644 conquest of China by the Mongolian Qing relocated to Taiwan ousting the Dutch in 1661, one prominant participant was Liu Ying (柳櫻).

Liu was from Quanzhou Prefecture (泉州府) in Fujian Province (福建), and when his descendents developed coastal areas north of Tainan (in today’s Chiayi County), they looked to their ancestral homeland for labourers and investors to join them in fishing and oyster cultivation. Among these were two brothers, Huang Sheng (黃生) and Huang Sheng (黃聖) [another account has unrelated men surnamed Huang and Wu 吳)], from Dongshi (東石) in Quanzhou’s Jinjiang County (晉江縣), who called their new home Dongshi.

(Despite the strong importance given by Chinese to the place of their ancestry, this habit of re-using hometown names, so frequently adopted by European migrants to the Americas and elsewhere (c.f. Sandiaojiao), seems less common in Chinese immigration to Taiwan.)





Text and Photos copyright Jiyue Publications

番路鄉 Fanlu Township, Chiayi County

meanwhile back in Chiayi County ...

Fanlu (番路; lit. “Aborigine road”) Township, is exactly what it says, the road leading to the Tsou (鄒) Aboriginal area of Alishan in the higher, eastern mountains of Chiayi County.

Aboriginal settlements were traditionally called 番社 (Mdn. fan-she; Hoklo: hoan-sia; “barbarian community”), roughly comparable to today’s 部落 (Mdn. bu-luo; “tribe” [in the original sense of “village” not modern “ethnic group”]).

Taiwan’s Aboriginal ethnic groups were historically divided into 熟番 (Hoklo: sek-hoan; Mdn. shou-fan; lit. “assimilated barbarians”), that is, into Han Chinese society, and 生番 (Hoklo: chheⁿ-hoan; Mdn. sheng-fan; lit. “unassimilated barbarians”). Assimilation meant things like taking a Chinese surname and paying taxes.

These two groups—each with a dozen or so major ethnic groups—are very roughly analogous to the divisions of 平埔族 (Plains Aborigines) and 山地人 (Mountain People [a prejudicial term no widely longer used]), and also (also very roughly) to those that are 官方認定族群 (recognized by the government) because they are largely unassimilated, and those 非官方認定族群 (not recognized by the government) but many of which are fighting for recognition.



Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

阿里山 Alishan Township, Chiayi County

Alishan (阿里山; lit. "Ah-mile Mountain") Township, Chiayi County During the Qianlong reign period (1735-96), Han Chinese from Zhuqi (竹崎) and Meishan (梅山) moved higher up into today’s Alishan, where they came into conflict with the indigenous Tsou (鄒). Forcing the aborigines to move to higher altitudes, the Chinese established villages at Fenqihu (奮起湖), Ruili (瑞里) &c. It was also during this period that the controversial figure Wu Feng (吳鳳) lived, or rather, the figure whose story was (mis)used by the Japanese and ROC governments of the 20th century. Born in Fujian Province in 1699, he later worked as a tongshi (通事; “interpreter”) in the Chiayi area. This innocuous-sounding position was actually a powerful and lucrative role, that was often used by Chinese to cheat aborigines out of the profits of their labours. During the period of Japanese rule (1895-1945), the Wu Feng legend was created in order to “civilise” mountain-dwelling aborigines, in particular, to dissuade them from head-hunting. Subsequently taken up by the ROC government after retrocession and printed in elementary school textbooks, the myth stated that having befriended the Tsou aborigines, Wu tried unsuccessfully to persuade them to stop hunting heads. Finally he told them that the next day they would see a man in a red cloak, that they would cut off his head, but it would be the last head they would ever take. Events turned out as he predicted, but having decapitated the man, they discovered to their horror it was their friend, Wu Feng. The true facts about Wu’s life (and, most pertinently, death) are not known, with the earliest extant record having been compiled around 80 years later. This does suggest, however, that he was killed by Aborigines, and that they may have regretted doing so as they suffered epidemics and misfortunes thereafter. In 1946, the area was renamed Wufeng Township (吳鳳鄉). In 1987, following the end of martial law and the beginning of the democratisation and pluralisation processes, Tsou tribespeople demanded an end to prejudicial attitudes, removal of the “legend” from textbooks suggesting that aborigines needed Chinese civilising influence, and renaming of the township. In 1989, their wish was granted, and Alishan came into being. Even this is not without controversy. Some people say the name derives from centuries ago when a founding ancestor Abali lived here, but it rather derives from the Tsou word Jarissang, the final sang coincidentally sounding similar to Mandarin shan (山; “mountain”). Local Chinese still worship Wu Feng; Alishan has a prominent Wu Feng Temple; and most Taiwanese interviewed by this author believe the legend to be historically true. Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011