Three tunnels along an abandoned road on Shibaluohanshan (Eighteen Arhats Mountain, 十八羅漢山) in Kaohsiung that was once a key route for the camphor oil trade are now popular tourist attractions, and are expected to draw a lot of visitors over the Lunar New Year holiday.
One of the Liouguei Tunnels (六龜隧道) in Liouguei District (六龜) is inhabited by hundreds of Taiwanese leaf-nosed bats, while another is home to a large number of Pacific swallows, all of whom took up residence in the tunnels after 1992, when the road through them that was built in 1936 was replaced by one that bypasses the mountain.
Liouguei District is between the Pingtung Plain and the Central Mountain Range, and its forests, at 800m above sea level, were perfect for camphor trees, said local tour guide Chang Yun-cheng (張運正), whose family has lived in the area for several generations.
Photo: CNA
During the Japanese colonial era from 1895 to 1945, Liouguei was known for its output of camphor oil, which was a key ingredient in insect repellents as well as smokeless powder used in the production of bullets and artillery shells, Chang said.
The lucrativeness of the camphor trade led the Japanese colonial government to construct a route through Shibaluohanshan in the 1930s to facilitate the transport of camphor and logs.
The Japanese drilled six tunnels with a total length of 792m along the route, Chang said.
However, the importance of the tunnels as an economic and strategic lifeline gradually faded after Japan withdrew from Taiwan in 1945.
However, the increase in traffic in the 1980s, with a heavy volume of vehicles carrying visitors to Shibaluohanshan and other forested sites in Liouguei and neighboring Meinong District (美濃) led to the construction of Taiwan Provincial Highway 27A, which opened in 1992. At the same time, Shibaluohanshan was designated as part of a nature reserve, which left the tunnels to wildlife.
The Forestry Bureau reopened three of the tunnels to visitors in September last year, and hired guides to provide tours of their ecological and cultural features.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition