Luodong Township () is an

urban township An urban township is a designation of a unit of local government in several countries. United States The term is called ''urban township'' Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio and urban town in Wisconsin. Generally, an urban township is afforded more loca ...

in the central part of Yilan County,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. Luodong is the smallest township in the county.

Naming

Its name and former name () derive from the Kavalan word '' rutung'', meaning "

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

", referring to a large population of monkeys there half century ago.

History

Qing Dynasty

Luodong Township Aerial Panorama facing the coast

Luodong Township Aerial Panorama facing the mountains

In 1804, Pingpu tribe chiefs Pan Xian Wen and Maoge from

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. For many centuries the site was h ...

led a group of people to settle in the Luodong area, where they established Alishih and Ashushih communities and developed agriculture on a large scale. In 1812,

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

officer Fan Bang Gan was assigned to Luodong. Two years later, Han settlers entered the region to begin clearing and developing the area. The Pingpu tribe and Han settlers fought over land ownership but eventually they ended up working together to develop Luodong. Years later, Luodong became a developed region with a combination of aboriginal and Han cultures.

Japanese Empire

Under Japanese rule, Luodong was developed into the base for industries established by the

Taiping Mountain Taiping Mountain or Taipingshan () is a mountain in Datong Township, Yilan County, Taiwan. It is one of Taiwan's three major forest recreation areas. At 1,950 meters (6,397 feet) above sea level, Taiping Mountain has nurtured an environment ri ...

logging business. In 1916, the Japanese government established the Giran Branch Office of the Forest Administration Bureau in charge of logging, transportation and storage of Taiping Mountain area timber with a log pond set up in today's Yuanshan Township. The branch office was then later on moved to Luodong due to the change in the lumber transportation from waterway to railway. Finally in 1924, upon the completion of railway connecting Luodong and ''Tuchang'' (土場 in

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 cens ...

), the branch office was officially moved to . From that moment onward, Luodong became a commercial center. From 1920-1945, Lutung was administrated as of

Taihoku Prefecture Taihoku Prefecture (台北州; ''Taihoku-shū'') was an administrative division of Taiwan created in 1920, during Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Keelung, New Taipei City, Taipei and Yilan County. Its government office, ...

Geography

Luodong is located on

Lanyang Plain Yilan Plain (), also called the Lanyang Plain (), or historically Kabalan (), Kapsulan (), Komalan () is a plain in Yilan County, Taiwan. The plain has an alluvial fan which formed by Lanyang River. The plain was formed in the shape of nearly eq ...

. It covers an area of and as of 2014 had a population of 72,533 people. It has a large, landscaped sports park.

Administrative divisions

Luodong Township consists of 25 villages and 524 neighborhoods. Villages in the township are Kaiming, Daxin, Tungan, Xinqun, Luozhuang, Nanchang, Nanhao, Chenggong, Rende, Renhe, Zhongshan, Hanmin, Weiyang, Xian, Beicheng, Guohua, Xianwen, Gongzheng, Jixiang, Xinyi, Shulin, Zhulin and Renai Village.

Tourist attractions

Luodong has a large night market -

Luodong Night Market The Luodong Night Market () is a night market in Luodong Township, Yilan County, Taiwan. Features The night market offers local snacks and fashionable shops. Local snacks range from mutton herbal soup, iced tapioca with red bean stuffed, rice ...

- containing many varieties of

local food Local food is food that is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed, often accompanied by a social structure and supply chain different from the large-scale supermarket system. Local food (or "locavore") movements aim to co ...

, such as scallion pancakes. Luodong has a large community which organizes dance clubs and recitals for the elderly. It is also the home of the locally famous Meihua Lake. Luodong has an excellent natural environment, and is close to both urban Yilan and Su'ao township, popular for its cold and hot springs. It is popular as a destination in the summer for its proximity to the Yilan Children's Festival as well as the farms of Sanxing township. People visit Luodong year-round to enjoy its charming bed and breakfasts.

Luodong Forestry Culture Park The Luodong Forestry Culture Park () is a park in Luodong Township, Yilan County, Taiwan. History In 1905, the original site of the park became a major timber production area of the Luodong Branch of the Taiping Forest Area, drawn by the F ...

is a former timber processing plant that was equipped with sawmills, lumber yards, an agency office, and workers' dormitories. The park still has a complete set of old industry facilities, early village buildings, storage units, and transport machinery. Another park in the township is

Luodong Sports Park Luodong Sports Park () is a park in Luodong Township, Yilan County, Taiwan. Architecture The park covers 47 hectares of land and it includes a range of facilities for sport including basketball and a swimming pool. The park is divided into f ...

. Festivals in the township include the Luodong Arts Festival Fringe.

Transportation

Rail

Luodong is served by the

Yilan Line The Yilan Line () is the northern section of the Eastern Line of the Taiwan Railways Administration in Taiwan. It has a length of 95 km. History This railroad was completed in 1924 as the Giran-sen during Imperial Japanese rule over Taiwan. ...

of Taiwan Railways at

Luodong Station Luodong () is a railway station in Luodong Township, Yilan County, Taiwan served by Taiwan Railways. Overview The station has one island platform and one side platform. The station building is located above the platforms and is accessible f ...

Road

The main bus station in the township is Luodong Transfer Station. There are two interchanges in Luodong township along National Highway 5.

Notable natives

* Chen Chin-te, acting Magistrate of Yilan County (2017–2018) *

Huang Chun-ming Huang Chun-ming (; born 13 February 1935) is a Taiwanese literary figure and teacher. Huang writes mainly about the tragic and sometimes humorous lives of ordinary Taiwanese people, and many of his short stories have been turned into films, inc ...

, novelist and writer *

Lin Mei-hsiu Lin Mei-hsiu (; born 6 June 1967) is a Taiwanese actress and television host. Filmography Television series Film Variety show Music video Theater Discography Singles Awards and nominations References External links * * ...

, actress and television host *

Lin Tsung-hsien Lin Tsung-hsien or Lin Tsong-shyan (; born 22 February 1962) is a Taiwanese politician. He was elected Yilan County Magistrate in 2009 and served until 2017, when he was appointed to lead the Council of Agriculture. Education and early career ...

, Minister of

Council of Agriculture The Council of Agriculture (COA, ) is the official government body in the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the Executive Yuan in charged with overseeing affairs related to agriculture, forestry, fishery, animal husbandry and food affairs. CAO is a ...

(2017–2018) *

Lin Zi-miao Lin Zi-miao (; born 28 January 1952) is a Taiwanese politician. She is the Magistrate of Yilan County since 25 December 2018. Political career Lin was mayor of her home township Luodong until 2018. 2018 Yilan County magistrate election She be ...

, Magistrate of Yilan County * Ran In-ting, watercolor artist *

Jimmy Liao Jimmy Liao (; pen name: , ; born 15 November 1958) is a Taiwanese illustrator as well as a picture book writer. His Chinese pen name, 幾米, is phonetically derived from his English given name Jimmy. Biography After graduating from Chinese Cultu ...

, illustrator * Doris Yeh, bassist of

Chthonic The word chthonic (), or chthonian, is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''χθών, "khthon"'', meaning earth or soil. It translates more directly from χθόνιος or "in, under, or beneath the earth" which can be differentiated from Γῆ ...

Janez Janež Janez Janež (pronounced ; January 14, 1913 – October 11, 1990) was a Slovene medical doctor and surgeon who worked for most of his life in mainland China and Taiwan. In Chinese he is known as Fan Fenglong () or simply Doctor Fan (). Life and ...

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

is doctor Janez Janež known as ''Fan Fenglong'' () or simply ''Doctor Fan'' ()

References

External links

* {{Coord, 24, 40, 36.06, N, 121, 46, 0.93, E, region:TW_type:city, display=title Townships in Yilan County, Taiwan Taiwan placenames originating from Formosan languages