Xiangshan ( zh, t=象山), also known as Elephant Mountain or Mount Elephant, is a mountain in

Xinyi District, Taipei Xinyi District or Sinyi District is the seat of the Taipei City Government and Taipei City Council. The district includes Taipei 101, Taipei International Convention Center, Taipei World Trade Center, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Taipei), Nat ...

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 is close to the

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 ...

Xiangshan Station. It is 183m (600ft) high and has a hiking with a distance of about 1.5km (0.93mi)

Taipei 101 Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...

can be seen from the trail. The Six Giant Rocks on the peak are a tourist attraction in Xiangshan, and there are platforms for photographers.

Name

"Xiangshan" means "Elephant Mountain" in Chinese. Xiangshan's name comes from its

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

-like shape.

Geology

Xiangshan is one of the "Four Beast Mountains", part of the Nangang Mountain System. It is mainly composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

. Plants include the ferns ''

Cibotium cumingii ''Cibotium cumingii'' is a species of tree fern, of the genus ''Cibotium''. It is named after the 19th century collector, Hugh Cuming. Its apex and young fronds are covered with reddish hairs. It can be found growing in open forest or in hilly a ...

'' and '' Cyathea lepifera''.

Transportation

The mountain is accessible by walking south from Exit 2 of Xiangshan Station of the

References

Landforms of Taipei Mountains of Taiwan {{taiwan-geo-stub