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.]

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

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.










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.





Text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications

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

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

恆春鎮 and 牡丹鄉; Hengchun and Mudan townships, Pingtung County

Hengchun (恆春; “Eternal Springtime”)

Transliterated from Paiwan (排灣族) aboriginal name meaning “orchid” as 瑯嶠 (Hoklo: long-kiau; lit. “jade lofty-peak”, and variations such as 瑯嬌, 郎嶠 &c.).

Following the Mudan Incident (牡丹社事件) of 1871, in which 54 of 66 Ryukyuan sailors who survived shipwreck were murdered by Paiwan aborigines, Japan sought compensation from the Chinese government. When the latter denied responsibility (and hence, in Japanese minds, sovereignty), Japan sent a revenge invasion in 1874, and eventually received reparation from the Qing court.

Suspicions that Japan had intentions to make a more permanent invasion, and had conferred some kind of citizenship on the Paiwan, as well China’s own failures to subdue the aborigines, led to dispatch of Shen Baozhen (沈葆楨), who had been successful against the Taiping Rebellion.

Shen constructed encircling defensive wall around the city, established the area’s first county-level government, and renamed it 恆春 (Hengchun, “Eternal Springtime”) in recognition of Taiwan’s southernmost peninsula’s warm climate.

A good proportion of the city walls still exist, and are among the best to be seen in Taiwan today.

Mudan (牡丹; lit. “poeny”) is a transliteration of the Paiwan aboriginal name Matsuran into 牡丹 (Hoklo: bo-tan).




Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Photo: Three Ploughs Park

Taipei City’s Songshan District (松山區) has neighborhoods (里) called 三張 (Sanzhang; lit. “three stretches”) and 三犁 (Sanli; lit. “three ploughs”).

These both derive from the expression 三張犁 (Sanzhangli; lit. “three stretches ploughed”), similar to 六張犁 (Liuzhangli; lit. “six stretches ploughed”), which is more widely known as it has been the name of an MRT station since 1996.

A tenant farmer equipped with a plough was reckoned to be able to cultivate an area of about five jia (甲, ca. hectare), and so the place names三張犁 and 六張犁 referred to farmland of about 15 and 30 jia respectively.

(c.f. 甲 in place names such as 六甲 Liujia, Tainan).



Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011