Culture and Countryside 文化與農村
A Visit to Yilan, Home of Taiwan Literary Great Huang Chun-ming
Text: Joe Henley
Photos: Maggie Song
Many visitors to Yilan come for the beaches, the hot springs, and the natural surroundings. But the county also has much in store for culture vultures. Head to the area around Yilan Railway Station, for example, to learn more about one of Taiwan’s greatest contemporary writers.
Though less than an hour away from Taipei via the much-tunneled National Freeway 5, Yilan is a world removed from the fast pace of big-city life. Yilan City is home to less than 100,000 people, and the surrounding countryside is framed by a backdrop of green-blanketed mountains to north, west, and south and the steel-blue Pacific to the east.
The city sits on the Lanyang Plain, on which most residents of the county reside. This is the second-largest expanse of flat land in the country, covered for the most part with a patchwork of rice paddies and fields. The county is home to charming small towns as well, such as Jiaoxi, known for its hot springs, and Luodong, famed for its night market, a mecca for Taiwanese foodies. There is also the beautiful black-sand Wai’ao Beach, with modest waves suitable for beginner- to intermediate-level surfers.
Yilan, home to members of the Kavalan and Atayal tribes, has a multifaceted culture. Native traditions are today being brought back to prominence following long-term efforts to stamp them out by the dominant majority. Despite this multifaceted culture, however, Yilan is a place where the local identity is resolutely Taiwanese, thanks in part to artists and writers such as Huang Chun-ming, who have taken it upon themselves to observe and record what it truly means to be called Taiwan ren(ren means “person/people”).