A Day in Town: Daan, Waipu, Houli, Dajia (Taichung City)

I just completed my ninth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Taichung City, one of the six special municipalities, which, along with three provincial cities and 13 counties, make up the subnational divisions of Taiwan. Bordering Miaoli County and Hsinchu County to the north, Ilan County to the northeast, Hualien County to the east, Changhua County and Nantou County to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west, Taichung City has a population of over 2.8 million, making it the second most populous administrative division of Taiwan after New Taipei City. There are 29 districts in Taichung City, including Heping District, which occupies the eastern half of the city and forms part of the Central Mountain Range and the Xueshan Range. On this trip I visited four districts: Daan, Waipu, Houli, and Dajia, which collectively formed the northwestern corner of the city.

I spent my first day in Daan District, the coastal plain sandwiched between the Daan River in the north and the Dajia River in the south. Bordering Dajia District to the north and east and Qingshui District to the south, Daan shares the same name with Daan District of Taipei City. While it's not uncommon for two townships or districts to share the same name, normally one of the two will be renamed to avoid confusion; this is apparently not the case for Daan District of the two cities. I first took a train to Qingshui Railway Station, and started exploring northward on foot, crossing the Dajia River and entering Daan District. I continued walking until I reached the legendary Daan Port. From there, I rented a Youbike and rode up to Yuanli Township,  Miaoli County, where my hostel was located. Daan administers 11 villages, and during my day there I visited 8 of them. 

As part of my pre-trip study, I read an introduction about Daan, and learned surprisingly that it was involved in the Nerbudda incident—the summary execution of 197 crewmembers of the British merchant ships Nerbudda and Ann on 10 August 1842 by Chinese authorities in Taiwan during the First Opium War. In September 1841, Nerbudda was shipwrecked near Keelung, and in March 1842 Ann was shipwrecked at Da'an harbour. Surviving crewmembers from both ships—primarily Indian camp followers and lascars—were captured by Chinese forces and marched south to Tainan, the prefectural capital of Taiwan, where they were imprisoned in a granary before being beheaded in August, by order of the Daoguang Emperor in the wake of Britain's victory over the Chinese at the Battle of Ningpo.

Daan was once a major sea port in central Taiwan. Though it became silted and no longer functions as a port, there are many legends associated with it still talked about today, of which two interested me particularly. The first one tells a story in which the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was on a ship cruising the southeastern coastline of China and encountered a storm, forcing the ship to drift off its course for days. When the storm had passed, the ship reached Daan Port safely, and the emperor therefore named it Daan, which literally means "great safety". The second legend is also about the name—Daan Port was also known as Haiongkugang—which literally means "whale cave port" because as the legend has it, the port was frequented by whales and dolphins. 

I spent my second day in Waipu District, which was surrounded by its three neighboring districts: Dajia in the north and west, Qingshui in the southwest, and Houli in the southeast. The name Waipu literally means "outer fields"—flat fields in the otherwise hilly terrain called Houli Plateau with an average elevation of 200 meters above sea level which comprises Waipu and Houli Districts. To this end, Houli was originally known as Neipu, literally meaning "inner fields" in contrast to Waipu; it was renamed Houli later in order to avoid being confused with the Neipu Township of Pingtung County. I started my day in Waipu by riding a Youbike to Tiezhenshan—which literally means "cutting board mountain", given its shape—an iconic mountain standing 236 meters above sea level. Tiezhenshan is a renowned recreational area and also serves as the natural border of Dajia District and Waipu District. Riding downhill, I entered Waipu District, then started exploring on foot. On this day, I visited six of the eleven villages administered by Waipu District.

Having walked for about two hours, I reached Wangyou Valley, another well-known scenic spot on the narrow plain situated between the Dajia River and the Houli Plateau. Wangyou literally means "forget worry", and the place was so named thanks to its breathtaking view featuring the vast, lush rice fields, with the magnificent plateau and the blue sky in the background.

Encountering interesting names is a source of my pleasure during backpacking, and on this day I was pleased to find the same in Waipu. On the left side of this merged image was an address I saw, with the street named Damalu, which literally means "big road". On the right side was the Google Map showing a spot named Dashirenchi, which literally means "hit to death mound", telling the story of an early Han Chinese settler, when journeying here and climbing the mound, accidentally killed his companion who had intended to rob him.

On the third day, I visited Houli, a district with various iconic establishments that are well known nationwide. I had an appointment in Taipei in the afternoon, so I started my day early by taking a train to Dajia Station. From there, I transferred to a bus and got off at Sikwaitsu, a bus stop at the border of Waipu District and Houli District. Then, I started exploring on foot southeast toward Houli Train Station to catch a train to Taipei. Houli District administers 18 villages, and I visited 10 of them during my day there.

Soon after I entered Houli District, I followed the sign to reach Yuemei Sugar Manufacturing Plant, a production site of Taiwan Sugar Corporation, once the largest corporation in Taiwan. Sugar cane planting and sugar production in Taiwan date back to the Dutch Formosa period, with thousands of Chinese laborers introduced into Taiwan to care for the fledgling industry.  It kept growing in the following centuries, with the production output reaching its peak in 1939 under Japanese rule. After the end of World War Two, Taiwan Sugar Corporation was established to consolidate the assets left by the Japanese that had been considerably damaged during the war. Over time, sugar manufacturing regained its prominence in Taiwan's economy, with sugar export accounting for 79% of total foreign exchange generated in the 1960s. Displayed in this photo are the sugar plant facilities that were set up a century ago and were then state-of-the-art. Though no longer functional, they were well preserved, and through them I could imagine the time in which the industry dominated Taiwan's economy, similar to what chip-making does today.

Built during the Japanese rule, Houli District Administration Office was another historical building that was well maintained and still functional today. What made it even more eye-catching was a giant sculpture of saxophone erected in front of the building, telling the story that starts with Chang Lien-cheng, a local resident who made the first saxophone in Taiwan on his own. His effort initiated the development of saxophone industries in Taiwan and it has continued since then. To date, nearly four decades after the passing of Chang Lien-cheng, Taiwan—Houli District in particular— remains a leading center of saxophone production in the world.

On the fourth day, I visited Dajia District, which borders Waipu to the east, Qingshui to the south, Daan and the Taiwan Strait to the west, and Yuanli Township of Miaoli County to the north. Endowed with fertile lands and ideally situated where major travel routes by land, river and sea all met, Dajia developed early and has remained a center of agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing in central Taiwan. Besides, Dajia is home to Jenn Lann Temple, arguably the best known Mazu temple in Taiwan with its annual religious procession held in the third lunar month. In April, 2025, an estimated 600,000 pilgrims participated in the procession that lasted 9 days, along the 340 kilometres route covering Taichung City, Changhua County, Yunlin County and Chiayi County. 

I started my day in Dajia District by taking a train to Rinan, the northernmost village of Dajia bordering Yuanli Township of Miaoli County. From there, I explored on foot southward. There are 29 villages in Dajia District, and I visited 15 of them during my day there.  Soon after I exited Rinan Railway Station, I stumbled upon a sign introducing Jiouzhanli, the first village built in this neighborhood in the 18th century by early Han Chinese settlers. Located about one kilometer from the railway station, Jiouzhanli literally means "nine plough land", which represents a vast piece of farmland (one plough is equivalent to 0.05 square kilometers), capable of sustaining settlers flocking in from elsewhere. However, the booming village became a backwater after the introduction of railway in Taiwan in 1893 and lost its prominence gradually. To date, the village is partially abandoned, but walking around it I could still imagine its prosperous past.

Among its famous historical and cultural sites, I was particularly interested in Lin Chastity Memorial Arch which has stood in downtown Dajia for 177 years. The memorial tells the story of Lin Chunniang, a girl born to a poor family in Daan in 1779. She was adopted by the Yu couple in Dajia as the future bride for their son—a tradition of arranged marriage called Tongyangxi dating back to pre-modern China. However, when she turned 12, her would-be husband died prematurely.  Loyal to him even after his death, Lin Chunniang decided never to marry anyone else and to stay and take care of the Yu family for the rest of her life. Her story of chastity and piety was so famous that the memorial was first erected, while she was still living in Dajia, in 1848. As a side story, Dajia was so important that a city wall was built in 1827, and the memorial was erected at the south gate of the city wall. An even more fascinating anecdote relates to The Tai Chao-chuen Incident, one of the three major rebellions in Taiwan during the Qing dynasty. After the rebellion broke out in 1862, the government army was outnumbered and besieged within the city wall of Dajia by the rebelling army. Facing an acute water shortage, the defending army was about to surrender, but Lin Chunniang famously came forward to pray to God, then it miraculously rained, resolving the water crisis instantly. The soldiers inside the city wall were motivated and fought bravely to win the battle against the rebels.

Though my travel destinations were in Taichung City, I stayed at a hostel in Yuanli Township of Miaoli County. Situated in the southwestern corner of Miaoli and bordering Dajia District of Taichung, Yuanli, along with Tongxiao, Houlong, and Zhunan, is the four adjacent coastal townships of Miaoli County where Minnan people are the major ethnic group, in contrast to the rest of the county where Hakka people form the majority. My hostel was conveniently located near Yuanli Railway Station. It was a convenient and restful stay and I look forward to staying at this hostel again for my future backpacking.