富貴角 Fugui Cape, New Taipei City

Fugui (富貴; lit. "wealthy [and] noble") Cape in Shimen District (石門區) of New Taipei City is a rare example of a place name derived from the Dutch language.

This does not date back to the 17th-century Dutch colony on Taiwan, however, but [according to a signboard near the cape's lighthouse] to the name "Hoek" meaning "cape", noted in his journal by a Dutch missionary during the Yongzheng (雍正; 1722-35) reign period of the Qing Dynasty, and transliterated by the Hoklo Taiwanese 富貴 (hu-kui).

[MC: 2021 update: Fuguijiao, or rather its original Hoklo Taiwanese pronunciation of Hu-gwee Gak, represents the tautological combination of a transliteration of the Dutch hoek, meaning "corner" (which was used for "cape" until the Portuguese word cabo was later absorbed as kaap) plus translation of the same word into Chinese as 角, which also means "corner" but is similarly used for capes. A nearby sign states this derives from the presence of Dutch engineers employed to build a lighthouse at the beginning of the Period of Japanese Rule (1895-1945); Wikipedia says they were hired to lay undersea cables from Japan to its new colony; but Abe Akiyoshi (安倍明義), whose "Research on Taiwan Place Names" (台灣地名研究) is generally reliable, says that a map in Dutch missionary records from 1726 identifies it as Hoek Van Camatiao, from which the name derives.]

野柳、萬里 Yeliu Village/Harbor and Wanli Township, New Taipei City

Yeliu (野柳; lit. “wild willows”). Most of the large number of tourists visiting the geopark on the spit of land at Yeliu in Wanli District, New Taipei City, will be unaware that its bizarrely shaped rocks might also be behind the village’s name, which on the surface means “wild willows”.

While some suggest it is
a) a transliteration of an Aboriginal place name,
also hypothesized (for example on New Taipei City website) is
b) the partial transliteration of European seafarers’ description of the site.
Dutch called it Duijvel Hoek and Spanish Punto Diablos, both meaning “Devil’s Cape”. Loss of the D and B from diablos is said by some of having led to 野柳 (Hoklo: la-liu).

[MC: this explanation seems as bizzare as the rocks' shapes and needs further checking]

Wanli (萬里; lit. "myriad neighbourhoods") is located between Jinshan and Keelung, it was sometimes part of Jinshan (Jinbaoli; 金包里) sometimes of Keelung. In 1950 it was transfered from Keelung City administration to become a township in Taipei County (now New Taipei City).

Wanli is a shortened form of 萬里加投 (Hoklo: ban-li-ka-tau), possibly an earlier Aboriginal name or a transliteration of the Spanish name Barien for this area. The NTC source says Wanli Harbor was originally called 瑪鍊 (Hoklo: be-lien; lit. "agate smelt/chain") [This also requires further checking.]


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五堵車站 Wudu Railway Station, Xizhi District, New Taipei City

Wudu (五堵; lit. “fifth obstruction”) Railway Station
A sign on the Keelung River bike path offers two explanations:

i) 堵 (Hoklo: do) was used by local people to refer to the many hills in the area that obstructed their ease of movement, so 五堵was the “fifth hill” in a range southward from Nangang Mtn., and六堵, 七堵, 八堵 were the 6th, 7th and 8th.

ii) 五堵 (and the others) might alternatively have referred to a series of defensive ramparts erected between Aodi where Japanese forces landed in 1895, and Taipei, the seat of government. Although the Qing court ceded Taiwan (and Manchuria) to Japan as settlement of the 1894/95 Sino-Japanese War, some people fought to resist the takeover.

[MC adds: Not erected specifically to defend against the Japanese invasion, as they are also mentioned in the defense of northern Taiwan against the French invasion of Keelung in 1885.]






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貢寮區 Gongliao Distict, New Taipei City

Gongliao (貢寮; “Tribute Hut”) District

Transliteration into Hoklo Taiwanese 摃仔 (gong-a; “hit + noun suffix; characters that have different meaning in Mandarin) of Basay aboriginal place name Kona, meaning “trap for catching wild animals”. To this was added 寮 (liao; “hut”).

Under Japanese rule, the middle syllable was dropped and the first character changed from 摃 (gong; "to hit") to 貢 (gong; "tribute").

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

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

烏來區 Wulai District, New Taipei City

Wūlái District (烏來區; lit. “Crow Coming”), New Taipei City

The name derives from an Atayal (泰雅族) aborigine word ulay meaning “hot”, legendarily uttered by the first tribemembers on testing the river water after migrating from central Taiwan and finding it warm due to geothermal activity. The township, which became a district of New Taipei City in 2010, is still best known for its aboriginal culture and many hot spring hotels.





Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

新店 Xindian, New Taipei City

新店 (Mdn. Xīndiàn, lit. “New Store”)

The name is said to date back to the Qianlong (乾隆; 1736-95) early in China’s Qing dynasty, when someone surnamed Lin (林) and others from Quanzhou (泉州) in Fujian Province (福建省) set up a small house on the road to Wulai (烏來) mountainous district in which they sold miscellaneous goods and exchanged goods with aborigines from the mountains. Since the store had no official name, passersby simply called it the “new store”, which eventually gave the whole area its name.

In 1980 Xindian (Urban) Township (新店鎮) became Xindian City (新店市) in Taipei County, and in 2010 it became Xindian District (新店區) of New Taipei City.





Several areas within Xindian have names based on their natural features; these include:

Ankeng (安坑; “tranquil gorge”), a gentrified version of the original Ankeng (暗坑仔; “dark gorge”).

Bìtán (碧潭; “green lake”), where the Xindian River (新店溪) broadens to form a slow-flowing “lake”. The name is said to have originated with local poet and country gentleman Cai Yu-lin (蔡玉麟) when engaging in poetry rapping (吟詩作對) with friends. His poem combining the area’s green mountains and emerald waters was later recorded in a literary magazine, and Bitan's reputation spread further when it was included in the list of “Taiwan’s 8 Scenes and 12 Natural Beauties” (台灣八景十二勝) in 1927.

Dapinglin (大坪林; “Large Area Forest”).



Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

三重區 Sanchong District, New Taipei City

Sanchong (三重; lit. “Third Layer”) District, New Taipei City


As immigrants to northern Taiwan from southern China (mostly today’s Fujian and Guangdong provinces) opened new lands for farming, they gradually expanded northwards from Xinzhuang (新莊) across a series of plains.

The first, 頭重埔 (Mdn. Touchongpu; “Head Layer Plain”) is now the 頭前 (Touqian) area of Xinzhuang District, the second (二重埔; Mdn. Erchongpu) and third (三重埔; Mdn. Sanchongpu; “Third Layer Plain”) became communities in Luzhou Village (鷺洲庄) until the end of Japanese rule.

In 1947, this latter pair became parts of Sanchong Township (三重鎮). In 1962, as Sanchong City (三重市), it was the first town to be upgraded to a County-administered City (縣轄市). And in 2010 it became Sanchong District (三重區) within New Taipei City.




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

蘆洲區 Luzhou District, New Taipei City

This sign outside the site of G.L. MacKay's first church says that he and his fellow workers were attacked by locals when they arrived in Luzhou Heshangzhou (now Luzhou) in 1873

Luzhou 蘆洲 (lit. “Reedy Sandbar”) District, New Taipei City

Originally a low lying sandbar (沙洲) in the Danshui River (淡水河)—much of it marshy and with reeds (蘆葦) growing on both banks—from which its was known as 河上洲 (Mdn. Heshangzhou; “Sandbar on the River”).

Around the middle of the 18th century, farmers in the area donated their lands to a monastic community in nearby Guandu (關渡) and then rented them back—thereby reducing or avoiding paying tax to the government—for which it became known as 和尚厝 (Mdn. Heshangcuo; “Monks’House”). The similarity in pronunciation between “on the river” (河上) and “monk” (和尚)—a difference of tones in Mandarin but presumably based on Fujianese pronunciation at that time—led to the area also being called 和尚洲 (Mdn. Heshangzhou; “Monks’ Sandbar”).

This was the name George L. MacKay knew in the 1870s when he established his first church here.

The sandbar was also home to many egrets (鷺鷥; lusi), it was also known as 鷺洲 (Mdn. Luzhou; “Egret Sandbar”), in particular, 鷺洲庄 (Luzhou Village) in Xinzhuang District (新莊郡) of Taipei Province (台北州) under Japanese rule (1895-1945).

Following re-organization under the ROC administration, in 1947 it was divided into Sanchong (Urban) Township (三重鎮; later "City" 市) and Luzhou (Rural) Township (蘆洲鄉; “Reedy Sandbar”; also later "City" 市), with 鷺 (lu; “Egret”) changed to the similar sounding (lu; “Reed”).

In 2010, this became Luzhou District (蘆洲區) of New Taipei City.




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011