Hengchun Township 恆春鎮

Setting and climate

From about October to April the monsoon from Siberia runs south along the Central Mountain Range and, where the mountains drop away at the peninsula, speeds down towards the sea as the strong luoshan wind (落山風, "wind coming down the mountain"). The climate is tropical monsoon with small temperature swings; the rainy season runs from May to October. Most of Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園) lies inside the township and is named after its village of Kentingliao (墾丁寮), whose main street is where park visitors go to eat.

History

The area was once called Langqiao (琅嶠), a transcription of the Paiwan name Ljungkiaw. After the Mudan Incident (牡丹社事件) of 1874, the imperial commissioner Shen Baozhen (沈葆楨) asked the Qing court to build a walled town and create a county here. Hengchun County was set up in 1875 and named Hengchun, "eternal spring", for its mild climate; it was the first county seat in the Pingtung area. Under Japanese rule the town was the seat of Hengchun District in Takao Prefecture.

What to see

Shen Baozhen built the Hengchun old town (恆春古城) to strengthen coastal defence, with a wall, four gates facing east, west, south and north, gun platforms above the gates and a moat outside. The Japanese colonial government protected it as a historic site in 1935, and the wall was damaged in several places in the earthquake of 26 December 2006.

Eluanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔), a white cast-iron tower on the Eluanbi headland, is the southernmost lighthouse on Taiwan's main island. The Ministry of Culture says the Qing built it after the 1867 Rover shipwreck and the Mudan Incident, finishing it in 1883 from parts prefabricated in Britain. It was walled like a fort with gun loopholes and a moat, and was upgraded to a national monument in 2024. Chaoyin Temple (潮音寺) at Maobitou (貓鼻頭) remembers Japanese and Korean people who died when their ships were sunk in the Bashi Channel during the Pacific War.

Food and local products

The township's "three treasures" are sisal, Gangkou tea (港口茶) and onions. Plentiful sun and the dry luoshan wind suit onion growing, and sisal, introduced in 1901 for rope and sacking, was an important crop of the Japanese colonial economy.

Highlights

• Hengchun Old Town 恆春古城: Walled town with four gates built by Shen Baozhen after the 1874 Mudan Incident; designated a historic site in 1935.
• Eluanbi Lighthouse 鵝鑾鼻燈塔: Fortified cast-iron lighthouse completed in 1883, a national monument since 2024.
• Kenting National Park 墾丁國家公園: Mostly within the township and named after its village of Kentingliao.
• Gangkou tea 港口茶: One of Hengchun's three treasures, with sisal and onions.