Not far off, a splash of yellow appears amidst the verdant green of the mountain forests, and the “Bong Bong Train” pulls in to Taipingshan Station. As the tourists climb aboard, their face masks cannot hide their excitement. To the clanging of a bell, the train slowly sets off again.

The tall Japanese cedars on the Maoxing Reminiscent Trail are reminders of the logging and reforestation that took place in the Taipingshan area in the era of Japanese rule.

Riding the Bong Bong Train

The Bong Bong Train was created by converting the railcars formerly used for transporting logs out of the forest, to carry passengers. Its onomatopoeic name has two origin ­stories: One is that describes the thump of the railcars striking against each other as the trains ran along the uneven tracks. The other is that it mimics the clatter of the rain flap opening and closing on the diesel locomotive’s exhaust stack.

On Taiwan’s one and only high-mountain Bong Bong Train, the cars are open and the air is full of phytoncides. Riding the train is like wandering through the mountain forest.

Forestry operations on Taipingshan (Mt. Taiping) began in 1914, when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule. To transport timber from the logging grounds, 16 rail lines were built, with a total length of over 100 kilo­meters. As the forestry industry in the area ran down in the 1970s, the Lanyang Forest District Office of the Forestry Bureau (today’s Luodong Forest District Office, LFDO) set to work to transform Tai­ping­shan into a forest recreation area. Logging operations halted completely in 1981, and the trains stopped running.

After a few years of preparation, the Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area opened to the public in 1983. To enable visitors to get a dynamic sense of the history of the logging industry here, in 1991 the LFDO resumed operation of the Maoxing Line of the Bong Bong Train, running from Taipingshan Station to Maoxing Station. The three-kilometer line offers views of majestic mountain scenery, along with steel bridges and towering trees. The sight of the bright yellow train crossing a red steel bridge is truly enchanting, and throughout the half-hour journey passengers are reluctant to put down their cameras.

Besides the Bong Bong Train, aerial cableways were formerly used to transport timber at Taipingshan. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs file photo)

Strolling historic trails

After disembarking from the train, we arrive at the Maoxing Reminiscent Trail. Lai Po-shu, a forest conservation manager with the LFDO, explains that in the past, after an area was logged it would be replanted, and the most commonly planted trees were Japanese cedars, followed by Taiwan red cypresses and Taiwan yellow cypresses. Along the trail visitors can see cedars, cypresses, and ferns. The 1100-meter main trail follows the route of the former railway, and from time to time visitors can see the old railroad lines. In some places the tracks are derelict and in others they are overgrown with vegetation. The LFDO has deliberately left these old tracks in place to remind people of days gone by.

The Jianqing Historic Trail, built along the route of the Jianqing Line of the old rail network, offers very different scenery.

Along the 900-meter trail visitors can see a wide vari­ety of scenes. At the 200-meter mark you can look at faraway mountains and gaze down upon the Lanyang Plain. Espe­cially on clear days after rain, high mountain ridges are visible in the distance, with peaks over 3000 meters including Xueshan (Mt. Xue), Mt. Pintian and Mt. Dabajian.

Along the trail, as well as old railroad tracks there is a switch formerly used to allow trains to change tracks. Among the things that most appeal to travelers are two stretches of winding railroad on cypress-wood bridges. The mottled wood is overgrown with moss, and when it is foggy the cypress forests on both sides of the tracks seem like a fairyland. This striking scenery is what prompted CNN to list Jianqing among the world’s 28 most beautiful trails.

On the Jianqing Historic Trail, visitors can see old railroad tracks overgrown with greenery.

Cherry-blossom dreams

For Wu Yung-hwa, a scholar of natural history, ­forest railways not only transported wood down from the mountains, they also brought natural historians up into the mountains, adding a romantic aspect to their history.

When the Japanese colonial government started logging operations on Taipingshan, biologists also began to collect and study the area’s living organisms. Wu says that the richly diverse but previously unexplored natural environment attracted many scholars. For example, the pioneering entomologist Tokuichi Shiraki came to Taipingshan in 1923, crossing the mountains from Taipei by the route now known as the Cao­ling Historic Trail, then catching a train to Yilan. From there, carrying his insect collecting gear, he walked to Taipingshan by following the Lanyang River. The journey was arduous, but he captured many new ­species, revealing the abundance of insect life in the Tai­ping­shan area.

After the railway between Taipingshan and Zhulin Station in Luodong began carrying passengers in 1926, Taipingshan became a popular destination for academics and tourists alike. Wu tells us that this was the year when the renowned natural historian Tadao Kano took the forest railway into Taipingshan and first encountered the endemic aurora swallowtail butterfly (Atrophaneura horishana), writing a beautiful new page on mountain travel in Taiwan.

“When I first saw the aurora swallowtail in the forest between the Taipingshan Clubhouse and Shendai Valley, I thought I was dreaming. Flying out from the green forest with its ‘cherry-blossom dream’ appearance, it was absolutely one of the can’t-miss sights of Taiwan’s insect world.”

Kano expressed his emotions in his writing, and to this day his vivid description makes seeing the aurora swallow­tail, with a flash of romantic cherry-­blossom red on its body and hind wings, a goal for many hikers.

Precious golden forest

The precious records left by early natural historians have inspired quests by later generations. For example, in his book Formosan Trees Indigenous to the Island, botanist Ryōzō Kanehira, director of the Department of Forestry at the Central Research Institute of the Government-­General of Taiwan, described the distribution of the Taiwan beech (Fagus hayatae), a relict species from the glacial ­period, which led to decades of searching by scholars.

Lai Po-shu explains that there were discrepancies in the locations of beech trees recorded in documents from those days, so the trees could not be found for a long time. It was not until 20-odd years ago that a Forestry Bur­eau aerial survey photograph revealed an 1100-­hectare swathe of natural beech forest showing its yellow autumn foliage. The bureau followed up with surveys and research, and constructed a Taiwan beech hiking trail.

“Taiwan is at the southernmost limit of beech species’ global range,” says Chen Kuan-wei, a technical specialist in the Conservation and Recreation Section at the LFDO. He adds that the Taiwan beech has a low seed setting rate, averaging only one productive seedfall every five years. Moreover, bamboo species such as Yushan cane (Yu­shania niitakayamensis) and Usawa cane (Pseudosasa usawai) grow densely in the understory of the beech’s habitat, making it dif­ficult for beech seedlings to grow. With the Taiwan beech already at a disadvantage in its nat­ural environ­ment, if the climate continues to warm, the beech, having no place to retreat to, could be replaced by other species with a competitive advantage. This is why the Taiwan beech is one of only four rare plant species protected under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act.

Maple leaves, mosses, drops of water glistening on leaf tips, spiders’ webs woven in contoured shapes… in the cloud forest of Taipingshan there is an abundance of life, and if you pay attention you will see surprises everywhere.

Reading the mountain forests

Forest recreation areas are places where citizens can make a connection with mountain forests. Lai observes that forests offer much more than just trees, and visitors can see many more things than they might imagine. For example, along the first section of the 3.8-kilometer Taiwan Beech Trail, which follows the old railroad tracks and is flat and easy to hike, one can admire geological rock formations, workers’ housing from the forestry era, and a wide variety of plant life.

Only 1% of the world’s forests are “cloud forests,” and Tai­ping­shan is in this category. Seasonal northeasterly monsoons bring abundant water vapor, wreathing the high-mountain forests in clouds and fog and thus creating the conditions for endemic Taiwanese species such as Taiwan red cypress, Taiwan yellow cypress, and Tai­wania to grow. Meanwhile, the moisture at ground level in the cloud forest favors the growth of bryophytes, which help retain water, playing an important role in soil con­serva­tion.

Chen Kuan-wei says that Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area has many hiking trails and different scenery in every season, which is why so many visitors come more than once. In April one can enjoy the blossoms of Rhodo­dendron rubropilosum var. taiwanalpinum, while in May the flowers of the common foxglove hang like strings of color­ful bells. Beside the central stairway at Taipingshan Villa there are naturally red-leaved Japan­ese maples, which show their colors from April to October. In autumn the Taiwan beech turns golden yellow, and in winter you can visit the Jiu­zhize Hot Spring, Taiwan’s only royal-­blue-­colored hot spring, and have the fun of boiling eggs with geo­thermal energy. The many faces of Taipingshan are well worth savoring in detail.

Taipingshan boasts the largest pure Taiwan beech forest on the island. Every October the leaves turn from green to yellow, and in the mist the golden-yellow woodland breathes tranquility.

About Luodong Forestry Culture Park
Although the Luodong Forestry Culture Park was orig-in-ally the end point for transporting timber out of the mountains, it is many people’s starting point for exploration. After the Taipingshan logging industry came to an end, the site was transformed into today’s park, which preserves the old timber storage pond, the Zhulin Station building, and tracks, loco-motives, wagons and cars of the forest railway. Former Japanese--style dormitories have become bookstores, teashops and exhibition rooms. A visit here will round out your impressions of the heyday of Taiwan’s logging industry.

With many trails and varying scenery all year round, Taipingshan attracts visitors to return again and again.

Wu Yung-hwa, who grew up around the timber transhipment facility that is now the Luodong Forestry Culture Park, notes that the park preserves trains from the forest railroad, the Zhulin Station building, and a timber storage pond. Everyone is welcome to come here to better understand the story of Luodong.