壯圍鄉 Zhuangwei Township, Yilan County

[Explanations of place name origins are quite the vogue. The photo shows a board outside the township office in Zhuangwei, with a history of the town’s name in both i) Chinese and ii) English. Bizarrely, the two accounts are substantially different.

i) [translated] In earlier times, Wu Sha (吳沙) led men to clear land for cultivation. Later, to express his gratitude to and reward the strong people [壯民] for their efforts, he divided the land and gave [part] to them, for which it is called 民壯圍 (lit. “people strong surround”).

ii) [original] Minzhuangwei was the old name of Zhuangwei Township. Looking into the history of this town it was in the early days inhabited mainly by Pingpu Tribes. In 1802, Wu Hua (Wu Sha’s nephew) sent his follower Chen Meng Li to open and clear this area.

Abe and Tsai et al. (as well as Wikipedia’s Chinese-language entry) broadly accord with the former; but Wu Sha died in 1798 (as Wikipedia notes elsewhere) before Han Chinese settled this part of Yilan, and it was indeed nephew Wu Hua who rewarded the “strong people for their efforts”.]

Zhuangwei (壯圍; lit. “strong encirclement”) Township was formally called 民壯圍 (Mdn. minzhuangwei; lit. “people strong encirclement”): a 城圍 “walled encirclement” named in honor of the 壯民 (Mdn.: zhuang min; “strong people”) who accompanied Wu Sha (吳沙) to settle today’s Yilan in 1796 (for more details see Toucheng). Minzhuangwei was established in 1802 by Wu’s nephew Wu Hua (吳化) following his uncle’s death in 1798.

This “city wall” was a 土圍 (Mdn: tu-wei; earthen dyke) perhaps reinforced with a bamboo fence.

民 (Mdn.: min; “people”) was dropped in 1920 under Japanese rule.


Chuangwei (壯圍) alternative romanisation for Zhuangwei.
Jhuangwei (壯圍) alternative romanisation for Zhuangwei.




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications

蔣渭水高速公路 Jiang Wei-shui Freeway, Yilan-Taipei

Jiang Wei-shui Freeway (蔣渭水高速公路), is another name for the No.5 Freeway connecting Yilan and Taipei.

It is named after Yilan native Jiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水; 1891-1931), a medical doctor and political activist during the period of Japanese rule (1895-1945). Jiang helped found the Taiwan Cultural Association (台灣文化協會) and Taiwan People’s Party (台灣民眾黨) and was imprisoned frequently during the 1920s for his opposition to the colonial government.

Taipei City has a Weishui Road (渭水路) in Zhongshan District, a Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Park (蔣渭水紀念公園) on Jinxi Street (錦西街), and his burial site near Liuzhangli (see photo). Yilan City and Jiaoxi Township also have Weishui Roads.


In 2010, 50 million NT$10 coins commemorating Chiang were issued.




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications

頭城鎮 Toucheng Township, Yilan County

Toucheng (頭城; lit. “head city”) was the “head” (頭; i.e. first) base established by Han Chinese after arriving to colonize the Lanyang (蘭陽) Plain.

In 1796, Wu Sha (吳沙; 1731-98), a native of Fujian’s Zhangzhou Prefecture who immigrated to northern Taiwan in 1773, led more than 1,000 people from Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Guandong, arriving at today’s Wushi Port (烏石港). To withstand attacks by local Kavalan (噶瑪蘭) Aborigines, they first built a defensive enclosure (圍; wei) of earth and bamboo. From this derived the name頭圍 (Touwei; lit. “first encirclement”), which was later changed to頭城 (Toucheng; 城 means originally a wall, and hence the city within its encircling wall; see Tucheng).

Trouble between the Aborigines and Chinese eased from 1797 onwards after Wu provided medical assistance to indigenous people following an outbreak of smallpox. Of course it is more than likely the immigrants brought the disease, indeed some historians claim the epidemic was started intentionally. The Kavalan then agreed to partition of the land into tribal and Han areas.

Wu died the following year and settlement of Yilan was continued by his nephew Wu Hua (吳化), resulting in five wei (圍; settlements with 城圍 “walled encirclements”) and ten jie (結; communities composed of ten 佃 tenant farmers). Both words are common in Yilan place names today, including the townships Zhuangwei (壯圍) and Wujie (五結).

Jie (結; Hoklo: xx) common in Yilan place names, historically composed of ten 佃 (Mdn: dian; tenant farmers). c.f. wei (圍; settlements with 城圍 “walled encirclements”)

Wei (圍; settlements with 城圍 “walled encirclements”), common in Yilan place names.

Wushi (烏石; lit. “crow/black stone”) Port is named after black rocks near the harbour entrance. This was the arrival point in 1796 for the first Han colonizers of today’s Yilan County.




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications

三貂角 Sandiaojiao, Gongliao District, New Taipei City

Sandiaojiao (三貂角; “Three Martens Cape”) is one of few place names in Taiwan deriving from European languages.

In 1626, Spanish forces sailing from the Philippines landed near here, naming it Cape Santiago. (Predicting it would be difficult to defend, however, they moved further up the coast to Keelung, where they established a settlement Santissima Trinidad, and in 1629 built a second base called San Domingo in Danshui.)

Japanese forces also landed near here at Yanliao (鹽寮; “Salt Hut”), when they came to take possession of Taiwan in 1895 after being ceded the island as war booty at the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

Hoklo transliteration of Santiago (St. James) became 三貂角, while Basay aborigines native to the area continued to use their earlier name Kivanowan.

The lighthouse (三貂角燈塔) dates from 1935 during the Japanese rule, following wrecks in this area of two ships 撫順丸 and 華南丸 in 1929 and 1931 respectively.

c.f. .Fuguijiao (富貴角)

Shicheng (石城里;“Stone City”) Neighborhood, the first village across the county boundary into Toucheng Township (頭城鎮) in Yilan County (宜蘭縣), is locally said to have been named after a Spanish Fortress built in stone here, southwest from Santiago Cape.






Sandiaoling (三貂嶺車站;“Santiago Peak”) Railway Station is on the Taipei-to-Yilan line nearby in Gongliao District.




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011