Shoushan (, also commonly known in English as Monkey Mountain or Apes' Hill, in Japanese as Kotobuki-yama) is a mountain in
Gushan District
Gushan District () is district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
Administrative divisions
The district consists of Gufeng, Xiongfeng, Qianfeng, Guangrong, Minzu, Neiwei, Jianguo, Zhongzheng, Zijiang, Longjing, Zhengde, Pinghe, Minjiang, Housheng, Longzi, ...
,
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohs ...
,
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 northeast ...
, north of the main entrance to
Kaohsiung Harbor. It was named Ape Hill by the Dutch in the 17th century to describe many
Formosan rock macaque
The Formosan rock macaque (''Macaca cyclopis''), also known as the Formosan rock monkey or Taiwanese macaque, is a macaque endemic to the island of Taiwan, which has also been introduced to Japan. Besides humans, Formosan rock macaques are the on ...
s on this mountain. It is also called Chaishan (柴山) and includes the Snake Hill (蛇山 - a 17th-century term) in its northern part, and Long Life Hill named by Japanese in 1911-1915 for the crown-prince
Hirohito
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
in the southern part. In some old maps, the peak of the hill is called Saracen's Head. Now it is a nature park where biological diversity can be seen.
History
Shousan is one of the oldest
ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of civilization founded in Kaohsiung, dating back 4000 to 5000 years ago. Military installations were constructed through both
Qing rule throughout the 17 and 18th century and
Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945. It is now part of the Shoushan National Nature Park, and serves as a tourism attraction.
Historical landmarks
*
Former British Consulate at Takao
The British Consulate at Takao (or Ta-kau; ) is a former British consulate built in 1865 in Gushan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It has been designated a historic site by the Ministry of Culture.
It lies on the peak of Shaochuantou (哨船頭) ...
was established in 1865 as a trade centre between the Chinese and the English. It now serves as a preserve historical landmark.
*
Sizihwan
Sizihwan () is a community and sightseeing spot in Gushan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, named for the adjacent bay of the Taiwan Strait, also called Sizihwan.
Names
The name ''Sizih'' () can also refer to Xi Shi, an alternative name used by the ...
– Located at the southern base of the mountain and facing the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
Ocean, Sizihwan is a natural harbor that serves as a main tourist attraction in Kaohsiung due to its oceanic scenery.
*
National Sun Yat San University – First established in 1924 by Sun Yat-Sen as a means to create an education institution based on democratic ideals, the university was re-established in Sizihwan in 1980 after the
KMT relocated in Taiwan.
Ecology
Plant life
Despite its status as a
secondary forest
A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...
, there are over 800 species of plants residing within Shoushan, with its
tropical climate
Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher in the coo ...
providing a suitable place for growth and species diversity.
Notable species include:
* ''
Dendrocnide meyeniana'' ("dog bitten fruit" in Chinese) - notable for the rashes it can cause on human skin.
*
Paper mulberry
The paper mulberry (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', syn. ''Morus papyrifera'' L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia,[Banyan
A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...]
Animal species
Shoushan hosts a total of 5
amphibian
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arborea ...
species, 24
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchoce ...
s, 106
birds and 8
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s.
Notable species include:
*
Formosan rock macaque
The Formosan rock macaque (''Macaca cyclopis''), also known as the Formosan rock monkey or Taiwanese macaque, is a macaque endemic to the island of Taiwan, which has also been introduced to Japan. Besides humans, Formosan rock macaques are the on ...
, a rare animal found only in
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 northeast ...
.
*
Masked palm civet
The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many p ...
*
Black-throated laughingthrush
The black-throated laughingthrush (''Pterorhinus chinensis'') is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is found in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It occurs as an introduced species in Hong Kong. Based on a c ...
*''
Troides aeacus
''Troides aeacus'', the golden birdwing, is a large tropical butterfly belonging to the swallowtail family, Papilionidae.
Description
''Troides aeacus'' has a wingspan of about but can be as large as 194 mm. In the males the forewings are ...
'', a
swallowtail butterfly
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the larges ...
found only in Taiwan and China
Geography
Shoushan is located in southern Taiwan within the vicinity of Kaohsiung stretching across the Gushan district. 5.5
Kilometres
The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres ( kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for e ...
long from North to South and 2.5 kilometers wide from East to West with and overall
landmass
A landmass, or land mass, is a large region or area of land. The term is often used to refer to lands surrounded by an ocean or sea, such as a continent or a large island. In the field of geology, a landmass is a defined section of contine ...
of around 485 hectares. In terms of height, Shoushan reaches a maximum elevation at around 365 meters from above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised ...
. Stretching from the
Zuoying northern district to the southern peak of Sizihwan, Shoushan is the largest and most prominent landmark in Kaohsiung.
Climate
The
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
of Shoushan belongs in the
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
standard, with an average annual temperature of 25.1
Celsius
The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The d ...
degrees and the lowest at 19.1 degrees in January and the highest at 29.1 in August. The annual rainfall totals up to 1748.6
millimetres
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The microwave is between 1 meter to 1 millimeter.
The millimetre (American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, ...
, with the major
wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the se ...
taking place between June and August.
Geology
The mountain is made up of
coral reefs
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
C ...
and
calcium carbonate, with evidence of the landscape rising above sea level. The Calcium Carbonate is generally consisted of coral, sea
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from u ...
and shells, further supporting the theory. Due to its rise from sea level, the landscape of the mountain is severely effected by
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
from the sea, resulting in jagged cliffs and even calcium carbonate formed caves with
stalactite
A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via
''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble ...
.
Caves
The mountain and foothills contain a large number of caves, many of which are accessible. Four caves are open to the public during the dry season (November 1 to April 30) however a permit from the Shoushan National Nature Park management office is required for access.
Notability
Shoushan is the one of the mountains where Kaohsiung residents can see natural biological specimens within an hour's drive. There is an extensive system of boardwalk hiking trails that circle the mountain. Hikers can enjoy tea at various tea stations sprinkled throughout the trails. Water is carried to the tea stations by hikers who bring it from a reverse osmosis station at the bottom. From the tea station at the top of the mountain, hikers can see views of the Taiwan Strait through the trees.
The mountain is a reserve for
Formosan rock macaque
The Formosan rock macaque (''Macaca cyclopis''), also known as the Formosan rock monkey or Taiwanese macaque, is a macaque endemic to the island of Taiwan, which has also been introduced to Japan. Besides humans, Formosan rock macaques are the on ...
s. Thousands of these monkeys reside on the mountain pestering hikers who have food with them.
Transportation
There is an entrance to the mountain just east of the
Shou Shan Zoo
The Shoushan Zoo () is a zoo in Gushan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located on the northern border of Shoushan Park and houses animals from Asia, Africa, Americas and Australia, such as lions, tigers, elephants, black bears and kangaroos. ...
, as well as one beside the College of Liberal Arts building in
National Sun Yat-sen University
National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU; ) is a public research-intensive university renowned as an official think tank scholars' community, located in Sizihwan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. NSYSU is listed as one of six national research universities, ...
.
There are three other access points to the mountain along Gushan Road. The southernmost is beside Yuan Heng Temple; a second is located behind the Kaohsiung Municipal Ku Shan Senior High School; and the northernmost is located beside the Long Quan Temple, near the intersection with Xinjiang Road.
See also
*
List of tourist attractions in Taiwan
Popular tourist attractions in Taiwan include the following:
Attractions Historical buildings
* Beihai Tunnel, Beigan ()
* Beihai Tunnel, Nangan ()
* Daxi Wude Hall ()
* Et ...
*
Cihou Fort
References
External links
Map of hiking trails on Monkey Mountain
{{National parks of Taiwan
Mountains of Taiwan
Landforms of Kaohsiung
Tourist attractions in Kaohsiung
Gushan District