Ruisui Township is a rural township located in southern

Hualien County Hualien County ( Mandarin Wade–Giles: Hua¹-lien² Hsien⁴; Pīnyīn: ''Huālián Xiàn''; Hokkien POJ: ''Hoa-lian-koān'' or ''Hoa-liân-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Fâ-lièn-yen''; Amis: ''Kalingko'') is a county on the east coast of Taiwan. I ...

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 ...

, and has a population of 12,107 inhabitants in 11 villages. The population is composed of Hoklo,

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

, and

Taiwanese aborigines Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China ...

, most of whom are Amis. Agriculture and tourism are major industries.

History

During Qing rule, the headquarters of Taitung Prefecture was located in modern-day Ruisui, known then as ''Tsui-be'', or ''Tsui-boe'' (). Those

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

() were rendered ''Mizuo'' in Japanese during

Japanese rule of Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The shor ...

, but were later changed to , ''Mizuho'' in 1917. This written form was retained after the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

takeover of Taiwan in 1945; the characters are pronounced ''Sūi-sūi'' and ''Ruìsuì'' in Taiwanese and

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

, respectively.

Geography

The township lies in an alluvial plain which located midway up the

Huadong Valley The Huadong Valley or Hualien–Taitung Valley (), also known as East Rift Valley or the Longitudinal Valley, is a long and narrow valley located between the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mountain Range. It is also recognized as a plai ...

between the

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

, Coastal Mountain Range and Wuhe Terrace. Rafting activity on the Xiuguluan River often starts from the Ruisui Bridge. The climate is between tropical and subtropical monsoon with a humid climate. The

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted tow ...

passes through the township.

Administrative divisions

The township comprises 11 villages: Fumin, Fuxing, Fuyuan, Hegang, Jimei, Ruibei, Ruiliang, Ruimei, Ruisui, Ruixiang and Wuhe.

Tourist attractions

Wuhe Plateau in the middle of the valley

* Fuyuan National Forest Recreation Area * Rareseed Ranch * Ruisui Tropic of Cancer Marker * Saoba Stone Pillars *Ruisui Hotspring *Honyeh Hotspring (Red Leaf Hotspring) *Wuhe Terrace Tea Plantations *Ruisui Rafting Tourist Center ( Xiuguluan River Rafting) *Ruisui Range * Fuyuan Bao'an Temple * Fuyuan Butterfly Village * Maliyun Tribal Village * Ruisui Qinglian Temple

Transportation

Taiwan Railway Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is a railway operator in Taiwan. It is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, responsible for managing, maintaining, and running conventional passenger and freight railway services ...

stations on the Hualien–Taitung Line in Ruisui include: * Fuyuan Station * Ruisui Station

Highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

in Ruisui include: * Provincial Highway 9, a north-south route through the Huadong Valley *, a parallel route crisscrossing the Xiugulan River

Sister cities

Misato, Akita is a town located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 19,337 in 6632 households and a population density of 119 persons per km². The total area was . Geography Misato is located at the far southeastern of Akit ...

, Japan (friendship city)

Notable natives

* T.H. Tung, businessperson

References

Bibliography

External links

Office of Ruisui Township
{{Taiwanese aboriginal areas Townships in Hualien County