Everything about Taroko Gorge totally explained
» "Taroko" can also refer to the Truku aboriginal tribe.
Taroko National Park (;
Taiwanese POJ: Taroko kok-ka kong-hn̂g) is one of the
six national parks of
Taiwan and was named after the Taroko Gorge, the landmark gorge of the park. It spans the counties of
Hualien,
Taichung, and
Nantou on the island of
Taiwan.
The park was originally established as the Tsugitaka Taroko National Park (次高タロコ国立公園
Tsugitaka Taroko kokuritsu kōen) by the
Governor-General of Taiwan on
December 12,
1937 when Taiwan was part of the
Empire of Japan. After the Empire of Japan's defeat in
World War II, the
Republic of China assumed control of Taiwan. The ROC government subsequently abolished the park on
August 15,
1945. It wasn't until
November 28,
1986 that the park was reestablished.
Sights include:
- Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞 Jiuqiu Dong, pictured at right)
- Eternal Spring Shrine (長春祠 Changchun, pictured below)
- Swallow's Mouth (燕子口)
- Jinheng Park (靳珩公園)
- The Bridge of the Kind Mother (慈母橋)
- Tiansiang (天祥)
- Jhueilu Precipice (錐麓斷崖)
- Lioufang Bridge (流芳橋): 1,666 meters above the riverbed
- Hill of Yu the Great (大禹嶺)
- Buluo Bay (布洛灣)
Origin of the name
The name,
Taroko, means the "magnificent and beautiful". Long ago a tribeman of the
Truku aboriginal tribe saw the beauty of the azure Pacific when he walked out of the gorge. Astonished by the elegance of the scene, he cried: "Taroko!". And so it became the name of the place, in fashion not dissimilar to how the island,
Formosa, got its name.
Geology
Taroko Gorge and its surrounding area are well known for their abundant supply of
marble, leading to its nickname, "The Marble Gorge". The rock now seen in Taroko began over 200 million years ago as sediment on the bottom of the ocean. As the sediment collected, it was subject to increasingly large amounts of pressure which eventually hardened it into
limestone. Over the past 100 million years, compression between the
Philippine and
Eurasian techtonic plates supplied additional pressure that
metamorphosed the limestone into marble. Uplifting forces from the plate collision pushed this rock above the surface of the ocean to where we see it today. In fact, the region is still being uplifted by approximately 0.5cm per year.
The gorge itself was carved into the marble by the erosive power of the Liwu River.
In addition, there are known to be
Mt. Jade in this gorge. This jade is only found in Taiwan and the jade from this area supplies the jade market in Hualien. These mountains can be seen from rafting (a common activity during summer months in Taroko Gorge) through the rivers.
Pictures
Image:Taroko national park Taiwan 1.jpg|Tunnel of Nine Turns, Taroko National Park
Image:Tailuge -taroko-.jpg|Eternal Spring Shrine, Taroko National Park, Hualien on the east coast.Taken by Kyle Mullaney, 2004
Image:Ti Tsang 1.jpg|Ksitigarbha (Dizang) statue at the Hsiang-te Temple, in the Taroko Gorge
Further Information
Get more info on 'Taroko Gorge'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://taroko_national_park.totallyexplained.com">Taroko National Park Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
