Wulai District ( Atayal: Ulay; ) is a mountain indigenous district in southern

New Taipei City New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, be ...

in northern

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 ...

. It sits near the border with

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

and is famous for its

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

. It is the largest district in New Taipei, as well as the most mountainous, and is home to the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Atayal people The Atayal (), also known as the Tayal and the Tayan, are a Taiwanese indigenous people. The Atayal people number around 90,000, approximately 15.9% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the third-largest indigenous group. The pre ...

Name

The name of the town derives from the Atayal phrase ''kilux ulay'' meaning "hot and poisonous" when an Atayal hunter hunting by a stream saw mist coming from the stream.

History

Formerly classified as "Aboriginal Area" under

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, ...

during Japanese rule. After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the

Republic of China 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 ...

in 1945, Wulai was organized as a rural township of

Taipei County New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, be ...

. On June 22, 2001, President

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...

visited a local school and hosted the graduation ceremony. On 25 December 2010, Taipei County was upgraded to a

special municipality Special municipality may refer to: * Special municipality (Netherlands) There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility fo ...

named

and Wulai was upgraded into a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

. In August 2015, Wulai was devastated by

Typhoon Soudelor Typhoon Soudelor, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Hanna, was the third most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2015 after Hurricane Patricia and Cyclone Pam as well as the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2015 Pacific typhoon season. Sou ...

, wiping out several hotels and destroying hot springs in the region. Course of the

Nanshi River The Nanshi River (; DT: Lamsiw kev) is a river in Taiwan. The river is governed by Water Management Office of Taipei City Government overseen by the Water Resources Agency. Geography The river flows through Wulai District and Xindian District o ...

that passes through the district has changed and the riverbank was eroded heavily by surging water. Heavy landslides were attributed to the

overdevelopment In international economics, overdevelopment refers to a way of seeing global inequality and pollution that focuses on the negative consequences of excessive consumption. It exists as the mutually constitutive counterpart to the more commonly known ...

of the mountain areas around the river which damaged the soil and watershed along the slope lands.

Geography

Txu-pclmaps-oclc-6550512-kakubanzazn-2321-ii

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

: (average) *

Area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

: *

Population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

: 6,165 People (December 2014)

Administrative divisions

Wulai District is divided into five urban villages: * Zhongzhi/Jhongjhih (), Wulai (), Xiaoyi/Siaoyi (), Xinxian/Sinsian () and Fushan () Village.

Tourist attractions

Wulai is a tourist town most renowned for its

, sightseeing, and aboriginal culture. Other activities include hiking, camping, swimming, fishing, and birdwatching. During the spring, visitors come see the cherry trees bloom. According to locals, bathing in the odorless hot springs can cure skin diseases (such as ringworm, eczema, and herpes). * Fushan Botanical Garden * Neidong National Forest Recreation Area *

Wulai Atayal Museum Wulai District ( Atayal: Ulay; ) is a mountain indigenous district in southern New Taipei City in northern Taiwan. It sits near the border with Taipei and is famous for its hot springs. It is the largest district in New Taipei, as well as the m ...

Wulai Forestry Life Museum The Wulai Forestry Life Museum () is a museum about forest in Wulai District, New Taipei, Taiwan. History The museum was formerly the Wulai Tram Museum or Wulai Log Cart Museum (). Exhibitions The museum exhibits the history of logging in Wula ...

Wulai Old Street The Wulai Old Street () is a street in Wulai District, New Taipei, Taiwan. Architecture The street is a shopping district located along Huanshan Road and Pubu Road. It is located at Atayal aboriginal village filled with many food stalls and re ...

* Yun Hsien Resort * Wulai Hot Spring – visitors often go to the numerous hot spring hotels, public baths, as well as the

. * Waterfalls – Several waterfalls exist in the Wulai gorge, but the largest is Wulai Waterfall. * Wulai Gondola – the gondola takes visitors to the top of Wulai Waterfall, where it accesses the Yun Hsien Resort. * Atayal aboriginal culture – many shops in Wulai specialize in aboriginal foods, arts, crafts, and clothing.

Transportation

Road

Wulai District is accessible by Xindian Bus from Xindian Station of

Taipei Metro Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), branded as Metro Taipei, is a rapid transit system serving the areas of Taipei and New Taipei City, New Taipei in Taiwan, operated by the State-owned enterprise, government-owned Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation ...

to Wulai Bus Terminus. The 9A branch line of the Provincial Highway 9 passes through the district.

Rail

The district also has the

Wulai Scenic Train The Wulai Scenic Train (), also known as Wulai Trolley, is a 1.6 km railway line in Wulai District, New Taipei, Taiwan. History The rail cart was originally designed by the Japanese government in 1928 to transport timber, logging tools, tea an ...

, a converted mine train built during the Japanese era that takes visitors from downtown Wulai to the attractions at the base of Wulai Waterfall.

Notable people

* Tony Coolidge (1970-), Atayal-American filmmaker

Gallery

File:Wulai IMG 0291.JPG, Children playing in the Wulai River File:Wulai IMG 0310.JPG, Wulai Falls as seen from above from the Gondola File:Wulai IMG 0315.JPG, Wulai Gorge as seen from the Gondola File:Wulai IMG 0276.JPG, Aboriginal Shops on the main street File:Dreamland Park, Wulai.jpg, Yun Hsien Resort File:Tonghou River in Wulai.jpg, A view of the buildings around theTonghou River.

References

External links

*
台北縣烏來鄉簡介 - 烏來四季1
('Introduction to Wulai Township, Taipei County - The Four Seasons in Wulai, Part 1') {{coord, 24, 52, N, 121, 33, E, display=title, region:TW_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Taiwan placenames originating from Formosan languages