Theme Site─The Beigang Village, Guosing Township, Nantou County
Water．Bridge．Water Bridge．Water Wheel An Xanadu Outside the City－Beigang Village
The endless flowing Beigang River The Beigang River stone bridge (glutinous rice bridge) as a tower of strength The water bridge by which to get water from the opposite side of the River The water wheels reexhibiting the bygone era
At the time of July 02 Flood, this ancient bridge seeming to be weak have affected numberless people. |
In constructing this community, the SWCB and local residents has successfully accomplished a display of water wheels in different sizes, which takes water as the starting point and adopts the imagery of water wheel hometown. |
The Beigang Village in the Guosing Township of Nantou County is so named as the Beigang River flows through this place, and represents a rural clan living in a gardening basin surrounded by mountain forests. The Beigang river stone bridge (Glutinous Rice Bridge), a historical site in this village still stands firmly in the Beigang River despite of several great floods it has experienced before, reflecting the abundant charms of local humanism and culture as well as the innate spirits of Hakka who are fearless of any difficulty or hardship. As a result, this site has now become the spiritual symbol of the Beigang Village.
Due to the absence of any factory or culturing farm, both the air and water in the Beigang area are of unparalleled quality. Demonstrating their strong identification with this community, the residents here have strived to shape the features of local cultural industries under the guidance of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. Especially after the September 21 Earthquake and July 2nd Flood Destruction, these villagers have followed the example of Glutinous Rice Bridge rock-firm in the water to develop the interior connotations of Beigang Village-Water, Bridge, Water Wheel and Water Bridge, referring to the water in Beigang River, the Glutinous Rice Bridge, the water wheels of various sizes and the distinctive water bridge respectively. In this way, the musical water wheel installed near the Glutinous Rice Bridge has come into being. A combination of the creative thoughts and advanced technology, this music water wheel typical of the old-fashioned flavor can automatically tick with dings of various melodies every half an hour. Besides, this installation is the only one large-scale water wheel of the music clock style.
What a small clan living in a valley with the river traversing the freshly green mountain forests─Beigang Village. |
In addition to the Spiritual Symbol –Glutinous Rice Bridge, an arc water bridge built nearly 50 years ago also exists in this village. On this bridge, which is like a bright moon if overlooked from a far distance, young lovers are often seen to meet with each other as if “the Cowherd and the Girl Weaver” are coming together from either side of the magpie bridge. Thereby, the mythical scenes of romantic love are painted from time to time.
Other programs include the exciting trace of Wu Peng River or riding a bike on the bicycle trail to tour the village around. In addition, the tranquil Phoenix & Dragon falls, natural wellsprings and numerous scenic spots full of cultural assets and artistic beauty are all available in the Beigang village for your visit!
In the Beigang village, standing upon both sides of the river area are the magnificent mountain groups and exuberant forests, within which the unadorned and serene farm houses are located, and large groups of freely swimming fishes and shrimps are grown in the pure, limpid water here. A naturally fascinating scene of the beautiful countryside can be well painted out when the ancient trees growing on the chain of mountains and the scenery of river at dawn and dusk are tinged by the colors of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Multiple agricultural products of fine quality such as vegetables and flowers grown along with the seasonal changes can even satisfy the human needs to the greatest extent. Except the seasonal, fresh fruits that can be tasted here, the traditional Hakka gourmet foods that are both savory and flavored would be absolutely the favorites of gourmands.
Traditional lemongrass workshop producing the natural lemongrass oil |
The old master who inherits the ancient technology in the lemongrass extraction. |
A Kun Lemongrass Used to Have a Foot Bath
You can smell fragrant thoroughly by using only a thin piece of lemongrass soap. |
Diversified natural lemongrass products |
In the production of A Kun Lemongrass, an ancient extraction technology prevalent in the Japanese Occupation period has been inherited and traditional instruments have been used to extract and refine the most natural lemongrass oil, where such an ancient style industry can be regarded as unique throughout Taiwan. The SWCB has exhausted its efforts in the transformation of diversified industries as proved by its active provision of guidance to those lemongrass workshops and effective improvement of the peripheral environment for them. Nowadays, the A Kun Lemongrass Factory does not only involve in manufacturing and trading its products, but also extends its operation to include a number of rural recreational functions. For instance, using the lemongrass water disengaged from the lemongrasses can let tourists enjoy the fragrant and comfortable foot bath service, while these tourists can be well refreshed and exhilarated at a smell of the light lemongrass scent. The lemongrass is a kind of perennial herbage with the lemony aroma and of a mild property. So far, multiple commodities made of this plant have been developed.
The cozy farm accommodation. Have a taste of wild vegetables in the countryside. Assimilation of phytoncide
The traditional simplex Hakka accommodations |
To provide the tourists with a feeling of homebound setting, the rural accommodations are named as Hou Tou Cuo signifying the home of a married girl so that tourists coming here will sense the local warm and fragrant ambience. The bosses of such accommodations would satiate the stomachs of their customers by such cooked dishes as the wild rural vegetables free from pesticide, lemongrass chicken flavor meal, Nantou’s own ailanthus prickly-ash and fried chicken eggs. At Mei Zhuang which is full of the Hakka features and styles, rural dishes can be provided in combination with the accommodation and hotspring, as well as with such DIY activities as a walk on surrounding walkways, assimilation of phytoncide, big bites of Hakka gourmet foods and glutinous rice bridge sand pictures for small children.
The exquisite, elegant European-style accommodations. |
Quality water, fresh air, and vivid lotuses in a full pool of water. |
Wandering in the Greenland and mild wind... |
A romantic encounter in the afternoon... |
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2006