Longtan (龍潭) District, Taoyuan City

This area is inhabited predominanty by Hakka people, whose pronunciation of 龍潭 (literally "Dragon Lake"; Mdn. Long-tan) as Liung-tam is possibly of relevance to the origins of the district's (formerly township) name.

Popular legend maintains that, after a period of prolonged drought, one (or more) early inhabitants in the middle of the 18th century prayed on the bank of the lake for rain, was rewarded, and so named it 靈潭陂 (Mdn. Ling-tan-pi; "Spirit Lake Bank" -- Abe Akiyoshi uses the similar-meaning 靈潭坡, Mdn Ling-tan-po, presumably because 陂 is at best obscure in Japanese).

Another explanation is that the lake, which still provides the focal point of the township, was originally covered with a layer of wild-growing 菱 (water caltrop / chestnut Trapa natans), from which it was called 菱潭陂 ("Water-Caltrop Lake Bank").

In Hakka, both 靈 and 菱 are pronounced something like lin. One suggestion of how 靈潭陂 or 菱潭陂 became 龍潭陂 was simply the phonetic similarity of lin and liung in Hakka (which would have been a less likely shift in Mandarin from ling to long), [MC: perhaps because water caltrop no longer grew there or the earlier "spirit lake shrine" had been demolished].

Alternatively, the earlier legend has a coda in which, during a wet and windy night, someone observed yellow dragons within 靈潭陂, thus leading to its new name of 龍潭陂 and the town as 龍潭莊 (Longtan Township) in the Japanese colonial period.



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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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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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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).



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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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Aboriginal Groups Index:

Atayal (泰雅)

Atayal (泰雅) aboriginal group

[unfinished]

Information about Atayal land ownership and use at Wulai Atayal Museum

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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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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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Guozun (過圳; Hoklo: Kuè-tsùn-á; literally meaning "Across [the] Irrigation-Channel"), was an old name for the area largely commensurate with todsay's Ershui (二水) Township in Changhua County (see here).

Universities Index:

National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學), Kaohsiung

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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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)

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

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”)

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”);

Penghu (澎湖) County Index:

Xiyu (西嶼) Township