Place of Abundant Harvests--Chinshan Township

With the waves of weekenders heading to the north coast, Chinshan Township--a sleepy fishing town removed from the tourist areas and situated where the Tanshui-Chinshan, Keelung-Chinshan, and Yangmingshan-Chinshan highways meet--is beginning to wipe the dust away. It's the largest commercial center along the northern coastal route and a community with a long history. In recent years, the local government, the North Coast and Kuanyinshan National Scenic Area Administration, and local businesses have been promoting it, shaping this diamond in the rough.

Three hundred years ago, while Taiwan was still in a slumber, Spain was a major sea power and traded with the Chinese and Japanese. Its ships avoided the eye of the Dutch in Tainan's Anping Port and sailed along the east coast to Keelung in the north. The Spanish controlled the north of Taiwan while the Dutch controlled the south. When the Spanish raided surrounding Ketagalan Aboriginal villages from the waterways, Chinshan was their frontline.

Removed from the tourist trail, historic Chinshan Township is the north coast's largest commercial center. In recent years, local government and businesses have been shaking off the dust and promoting it as a leisure destination.

No gold on Gold Mountain

The old name for Chinshan was "Chinpaoli." The Pingpu (Plains) Aboriginal people who came to be called the Ketagalan during the Japanese colonial period were its first inhabitants. The Spanish missionary Jacinto Esquivel wrote in 1632 that "the place where the savages collect sulfur is called Tapari." The Ketagalan place a "ki" at the beginning of place names, making it "Kitapari." It means "place of abundant harvests," and was rendered into Chinese as "Chinpaoli." As there were sulfur deposits in the area around Mt. Tatun, the Chinpaoli area is often called "the land of sulfur-mining" in history books.

After the Japanese colonized Taiwan in 1895, they changed the place's name to Chinshan, or "Gold Mountain," which remains in use to this day. In fact, gold was never actually mined in Chinshan, but in the towns of Jueifang, Chinkuashih and Chiufen, miles away.

Today's Chinshan Township has an area of 49 square kilometers and a population of around 21,800, comprised largely of farmers and fishermen. From August to October, red-heart sweet potato and "rock-jumping taro" are in season.

In the 1980s, farmers in Chinshan Township began planting the No. 66 Red-heart Sweet Potato. Farmer Lai Chao-chun says that Chinshan Township's special half-sand, half-clay soil is a perfect fit for the sweet potato, and with spring water from Chutzushan mountain range, they grow particularly starchy, sweet, and soft. The Chinshan Farmers' Association has been promoting specialties featuring this "ruby of Taiwan," like sweet potato pancakes, noodles, bread, ice cream, and even "frozen baked sweet potato."

The Po-ai Chinese Medicine Shop was established in the early days of the Japanese colonial period. The building's red brick facade and decorative windows are part of its distinctive local character.

Farming roots

On the terraced fields above the Tanshui-Chinshan Highway, along "Rock-Jumping Coast" in Yunghsing Village, 77-year-old taro farmer Hsu Chu Tsung-lin bears the heat to tend to his glistening crops. The volcanoes of the Mt. Tatun group once blew out boulders of various sizes that fell all along the coast from Chinshan to Shihmen. Those rocks on the shore were worn smooth by the waves over the years. In the days before the highway came through, residents who wanted to get to Chinshan or Shihmen had to wait for the tide to go out and then jump from rock to rock along the shore. It was from this "rock-jumping coast" that the "rock-jumping taro" got its name.

Hsu Chu Tzung-lin points to the Yehliu and Chinshan capes and says, "Rock-jumping taro was bred from a wetland taro. Because they're very close to the shore, salty sea breezes blow on the plants in early autumn and make the taro flaky and firm, with a savory smell." Mid-autumn is the best time for flavorful rock-jumping taro.

The Chinshan Sweet Potato Festival, which kicks off its fourth year August 20, is not just about making money for the farmers, it's also about raising the profile of Chinshan's sweet potato and taro. But many of the hard-working farmers are already elderly, and there's not much interest among the younger generation in taking up the back-breaking work. As it promotes tourism, the local government also needs to draw young people back to the farm.

Places for body and soul

Seaside towns in Taiwan often have a lot of temples. Chinshan locals put their faith in Matsu, the goddess of seafarers, and the biggest local temple is Tsuhu Temple. Originally built in 1809, it has been rebuilt several times in its history of nearly 200 years. Inside, there is a pair of dragon pillars carved from Formosan michelia wood that date from 1873. Temple head Wang Yuan-yuan says most such pillars are of stone and have three sections of engraving, but at the time Chinshan was too poor so to save money they only engraved two. Since Chinshan is a port town, there are also carvings of fish, shrimp, crabs, and octopuses--a rare sight in Taiwanese temples.

Tsuhu Temple is also a starting point for excursions through the old main street of Chinshan. It's called Chinpaoli Street, after the town's old name. It was developed by Koxinga to station troops during the Ming Dynasty, and by the reign of Yongzheng (1732-1735) in the Qing, it had developed into a commercial street.

The buildings on Chinpaoli are in the traditional Taiwanese style of long, connected rows, each having a storefront with living quarters in the back. They're narrow in front, but they are deep and twist around inside. The best examples of the style on the street are the Po-ai Chinese Medicine Shop and its neighbor the Taifeng Rice Shop. The Po-ai Medicine Shop is a red brick two-story building that shows a foreign influence. It is well-kept outside, and the interior still has the original wooden counter and medicine cabinets.

The Taifeng Rice Shop next door still has its face of 100 years, comprised of windows opened on either side, and a door opened in the center when the store is open for business. Wooden planks can be placed over the windows when the shop is closed. The shop's owner, Mr. Liu, says his grandfather started the business in the Qing Dynasty. At that time there were many pirates and thieves around, so he constructed it with a special mezzanine where rice could be stored and employees could sleep. The mezzanine is enclosed but for two small decorative windows, keeping outsiders from seeing inside, and also protecting the employees from attacks.

"Employees living upstairs had to be alert. If they saw pirates outside from the window, they had to rush to warn the owner to run for his life." The Taifeng Rice Shop was destroyed when the Japanese army torched Chinpaoli Street, and Mr. Liu's father rebuilt it in the same style. The square wooden scoops, old-fashioned scale, and two-story rice mill are all in the classic traditional rice store style.

As the sun rises, the morning light falls on the tidal pools, rock formations, and cliffs of Chinshan's secluded "Secret Beach."

Duck on the menu

At the mention of Chinshan Township, many people will immediately think of the delicious local duck meat. Long lines form at the duck meat restaurant across from the Kuang An Temple every lunch hour. The employees rush to serve them, and the knife of the owner, Mr. Li, never rests as he slices up the meat.

Mr. Li says most ducks are slaughtered at the age of 80-some days, but he has his suppliers wait 120 days in the summer, and 130 in the winter. "Ducks raised that long are in their prime at that time and don't have any unpleasant smell. Their meat is especially tasty," he says proudly. No MSG is used in the cooking process, and no flavoring is added. His secret preparation method keeps the skin from flaking or falling off, and he uses the broth for making noodles. It's a hit with customers.

Li says that ducks are the same as humans--when it's too hot out, they don't eat much, and they lose body fat. That means the duck is best in late autumn. His requirements that his vendors feed the ducks high-quality feed like corn and cracked rice and use mountain spring water also contribute to Chinshan duck's fame. This former marketplace noodle stall has developed a reputation that has put its products on official banquet tables.

Chinshan Township's Juming Museum is a must-see site for both local and foreign visitors.

Road to Taipei

Chinshan's two fishing ports, Huang-kang and Shuiwei, are known for their snapper, red tuna, and small-squid catches. To get the fish to the Taipei market while still fresh and worth top dollar prices, the Japanese built the old fishing road in 1903. Called Chinpaoli Avenue at the time, it stretched through four kilometers of the mountainous terrain between Chinshan and Taipei. According to local old-timers, fishermen would head out to sea at dusk and stay out sometimes until early the next morning depending on their catches. Most would sell their fish to wholesalers, who would in turn hire porters to carry them overnight over the old road to vendors in Shihlin, Talungtung, or Tataocheng.

Seventy-five-year-old Hsu Lien-shu, who started fishing with his father at age 13, remembers well the thousands of Japanese soldiers posted to the coast along Chinshan in the latter days of World War II. The Japanese forced fishermen to sell all of their catch to the fishermen's association, which in turn gave most of it to the army. As civilians could only get very little meat through ration coupons, some fishermen would hide fish in their boats, dry them, and sell them on the black market.

After the Yangmingshan-Chinshan highway opened, the old fishing road fell into disuse and became grown over. Fortunately, with the leisure boom of recent years, the road has been listed as one of Yangmingshan National Park's 12 major trails and has become a popular spot for weekend hikers.

a man holds some just unearthed "rock-jumping taro."

Five kinds of baths

In the past, Shihtoushan Park was a restricted military area. Now that it is open to the public, military structures such as trenches, fortified buildings, and the Kuangwu Tunnel dug by the Japanese connecting the Huangkang and Shuiwei ports, have become unlikely tourist attractions. Tsai Chen-tsung, head of the North Coast and Kuanyinshan National Scenic Area Administration, says, "Since Shihtoushan Park opened to the public, it's retained most of its old growth coastal forest and abundant natural environmental resources. It's the only tourist spot in Taiwan with five types of bathing," he says: mountain-spring bathing, forest-spring bathing, hot-springs bathing, ocean bathing and sunbathing.

From the park's Chungcheng Pavilion, around 300 meters from the eastern slope of Chinshan Cape, you can see the two peaks of Candlestick Island--one of the "Eight Sights of Chinshan." Candlestick Island is a pair of igneous rock pillars around 100 meters high and attached at the base, which gained their name due to their resemblance to a pair of candlesticks.

Huangkang Fishing Port is to the left of Shihtoushan. The beautiful view by night of the fishing boats' lights in the port is another of the eight sights. To the right is Shuiwei Fishing Port. If you follow along the wave-break there and then make your way through the giant crack in the rocks, you'll come to the "Secret Beach." There you'll find odd rock formations carved by the tides, as well as tidal pools and cliffs. In early spring, the tidal zone turns green with algae, and in early summer it turns red with seaweed. The colorful pools and dramatic cliffs were even featured in the film accompanying the national anthem that used to be played in theaters before every movie.

In late August, as the Chinshan Sweet Potato Festival and the Fishing Village Carnival are getting underway, local businesses are also funding a photo competition called "A Day in the Life of Shihtou-shan." And in late September the Northern Coast and Kuanyinshan National Scenic Area Administration plans to complete work on a five-kilometer bike path from Wanli to Chungchiao.

In addition to the sights mentioned above, the area offers other attractions, such as Dharma Drum Mountain, the Juming Museum, the tomb of Teresa Teng on Chinpaoshan, the Chinshan bathing beach, surfing at Chungchiao, and the Governor-General Hot Springs. Chinshan Township is shaping up to be a hot destination.

Chinshan Township Fact File

Taipei County's Chinshan Township is approximately 49 square kilometers in area. It's bordered by Wanli to the southeast, Shihmen to the north and west, and Yangmingshan due south. Its population is around 21,800 people, who for the most part are farmers or fishermen. The township is known for its red-heart sweet potato, "rock-jumping taro," and bamboo shoots.

Chinshan Township is conveniently located at the crossroads of the Tanshui-Chinshan, Keelung-Chinshan, and Yangmingshan-Chinshan highways. Tourist draws include not only the "Eight Views of Chinshan" but also Dharma Drum Mountain, the Juming Museum, and the tomb of Teresa Teng on Chinpaoshan.

Shops along Chinshan's Old Street sell various kinds of sweet potatoes, one of the local must-try delicacies.

The Chinshan Township Tourism Association held a photography competition called "A Day in the Life of Shihtoushan" to promote Shihtoushan Park's natural beauty. This fine entry is entitled "Huangkang at Night."

Teresa Teng fans can pay their respects at her tomb, located at Chinpaoshan overlooking Chinshan Township.

Every afternoon at the fishing ports of Huangkang and Shuiwei, locals bait fishing nets with herring.

Local taro farmers brave the sun to tend to their crops. Every year in early autumn, sea breezes off the nearby "Rock-Jumping Coast" make for a firm, savory local specialty, "rock-jumping taro."

Chinshan's famous duck restaurant has gone from humble beginnings as a marketplace noodle stand to a gourmet supplier of duck for official banquets.

The natural beauty of Candlestick Island (pictured at right)--located around 300 meters from Chinshan Cape on its eastern side--is one of the "Eight Sights of Chinshan."