Where the Ocean Meets the Mountains—Qingshui Cliff

Qing­shui Cliff sits between the villages of He­ping and ­Chongde in Hua­lien’s Xiu­lin Township, where the mountains meet the sea, and is the only section of coastline in Ta­roko National Park. In 2013, the cliff was voted eighth on the list of Taiwan’s Top Ten Landscapes, coming in behind Ye­liu, Yu­shan’s main peak, Sun Moon Lake, Jin­gua­shi, Gui­shan Island, Moon World, and the cirques of Mt. Xue.

The 118-kilometer Su’ao–Hua­lien Highway passes along Qingshui Cliff. Heading south from Su’ao, this 12-km stretch starts at the He­ren Tunnel and ends at the ­Chongde Tunnel, two of the 12 tunnels along the highway’s course.

With the cliff rising to an average height of more than 800 meters, the journey along the road that runs across the cliff face is a precipitous one—if it had been a vote for “Taiwan’s most heart-stopping landscapes,” Qing­shui Cliff would have been a shoo-in.

Taroko National Park guide Lin Mao­yao explains that the Ta­roko area is home to many mountains, including Mt. Liwu, Mt. Qian­li­yan, and Mt. You’an, but the one closest to the Hua­lien coastline is the 2,408-meter Mt. Qing­shui. It is this mountain’s seaward face that forms Qing­shui Cliff.

Seen from the ocean, the waves crashing against the rocks highlight the majesty of Qingshui Cliff.

Around 9 million years ago, off what is now the coast of Hua­lien, the Philippine and Eurasian plates collided, pushing the Earth’s crust up and beginning a process of mountain formation, or “orogenesis,” that gave birth to a number of soaring peaks. Mt. Qing­shui was a product of this orogenesis.

Where plates meet we often find cracks, or “faults.” Liou Ying-san, associate professor at National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, explains that the peak of Mt. Qing­shui is a scant 5 km from the coast, unusually close for such a tall mountain, and that it is “a part that got shunted upward where the fault passed through.”

The upward movement of this side of the fault created an escarpment—Qing­shui Cliff. Professor Liou further explains that cliffs like this tend to form in line with the orientation of the fault, meaning that if the fault is steeply vertical, the resulting escarpment will be too.

On the beach at the foot of Qingshui Cliff, the marble rocks give off a marvelous, almost other-worldly white glow.

Of course, at the mention of faults one’s mind naturally turns to earthquakes.

On this front, Liou notes that Qing­shui Cliff stands at a point where the northward-moving Philippine plate is being subducted under the Eurasian plate, and the area is indeed one of Hua­lien’s three most quake-prone zones.

The other two are situated in the Pacific Ocean to the east and southeast of Hua­lien County, and are also connected with fault activity.

Orogenesis and fault activity have shaped the rugged cliffs and mountains of Hua­lien’s coastline, and it was this geography that left the area cut off from the rest of Taiwan until the 19th century.

Taroko National Park guide Lin Mao­yao notes that people of the Shi­san­hang Culture of 1,200 years ago avoided the Qing­shui Cliff area and settled instead in the Liwu River basin. When the Dutch and Spanish came prospecting for gold along the Liwu River, they too chose to bypass the cliff by sea.

After centuries of erosion by ocean waves, Qingshui Cliff’s magnificent rock strata are now on full display, an astonishing example of the wonder of nature.

Much of eastern Taiwan was virtually cut off from the outside world until 1874, when the Mu­dan Incident led to Qing Chinese imperial commissioner Shen Bao­zhen being dispatched to Taiwan to “open the mountains and pacify the savages.” The primary element of this effort involved the creation of three major roadways in northern, central, and southern Taiwan. The northern one, now known as the Su­hua Old Trail, opened up a route between Su’ao and Hua­lien. It was only in 1875, when the trail was opened up, that the authorities made their first incursions into the east.

Later, once Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the new regime opened up another route running from Su’ao to Hua­lien. Finished in 1932, this coastal road forms the basis of today’s Su’ao–Hua­lien Highway.

These historic routes are still visible today, and offer some great views of Qing­shui Cliff.

After passing through the He­ren Tunnel, the Su’ao–Hua­lien Highway continues on through the Ren­qing Tunnel, and then the He­qing Tunnel. Liou Ying-san recommends looking to the north or south from the He­qing Tunnel to take in the winding lines of Qing­shui Cliff. If the weather’s good, you’ll even be able to see the Liwu River delta, Mt. Mei­lun, and the Coastal Mountain Range. All told, it’s a spectacular vista.

On top of this, Ta­roko National Park also offers three trails—He­ren, ­Huide, and ­Chongde—that go down to the sea. Of the three, both Professor Liou and Lin Mao­yao recommend taking the He­ren Trail, which starts just north of the He­ren boundary marker at the entrance to Ta­roko National Park.

This trail runs about 160 meters down to the shore, where you will be greeted by a gravel beach and wonderful sea caves.

As you approach the cliff face, veins of quartz reveal themselves, winding through the gray rock like long white scarves.

Qingshui Cliff is primarily made up of green schist, gneiss, and marble, and the cliff’s rocks can be dated to as far back as 250 million years ago.

Many places in Taiwan feature these rocks, says Liou, but only at Qing­shui Cliff are they so clearly visible, thanks to the centuries of erosion and exposure the near-vertical cliff has experienced.

Tourist cruises and whale-watching boats between Hua­lien and Su’ao offer especially fantastic views of the soaring sea cliffs from the ocean. The sections around the northern end of the ­Chongde Tunnel, and between the Da­qing­shui and He­qing Tunnels, are particularly impressive.

The beauty of both cliff and ocean at Qing­shui, a spectacular work of nature, was listed as one of Taiwan’s top eight scenic destinations by the Taiwan Provincial Government as far back as 1953, alongside the mid-autumn moon reflected in Sun Moon Lake, the snows of Yushan, the sunset at Fort Zeelandia, the sea of clouds at Ali­shan, the night lights of fishing boats in Penghu, and Taroko Gorge.

In 2013, the Forestry Bureau held an online vote to name “Taiwan’s Top Ten Landscapes.” To Professor Liou, Qing­shui Cliff is representative of the rugged geography of Hualien; however, with Qing­shui Cliff nominated, the similarly spectacular Taroko Gorge, previously a top-eight destination, was left out. “I really never expected the gorge to not be nominated,” says Liou.

Before opening up the voting, the Forestry Bureau engaged scholars to draw up a list of candidate locations for the ballot.

Liou was one of the scholars invited to participate. When the initial listing was drawn up, he remarks, Taroko Gorge, which most people think of as a single place, was unfortunately broken up into individual scenic spots, such as Yan­zi­kou, the Cave of Nine Turns, and ­Zhuilu Cliff, that were nominated separately. This ended up splitting Ta­roko Gorge’s vote, meaning no part of it made the final ten.

If there’s another vote in the future, Liou hopes that both Qing­shui Cliff and Ta­roko Gorge will make the list, as both are time-tested destinations of breathtaking scenic

beauty.