Chinook winds, onions, Kenting...these are the impressions people have of the Hengchun Peninsula, Taiwan's "tail." Folk singer Chen Ta long ago turned the local ditty "Remembering" into a quintessential Taiwanese folk song and, in doing so, added a touch of nostalgia to popular views of the region.

Over the past 400 years, the peninsula has played a prominent role in Taiwan's development. Checheng Township, as the gateway to the north, has been the most important site on the peninsula. From the Dutch occupation in the 17th century, to Zheng Jing's sending in of settlers in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, to the international bombshell that resulted from the 19th-century Mutan Village Incident, to Checheng's becoming the "onion kingdom" in the 20th century, history's high and low points have been played out at this place. Despite all this, Checheng seems to be falling slowly into a state of decline.

In 2000, Taiwan's National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium was founded, and has since attracted over 1 million visitors each year. But while many have heard about the aquarium, few know about Checheng Township. Most people past through without stopping, heading straight for Kenting National Park in Hengchun Township.

Checheng is like a forgotten pearl on the Hengchun Peninsula, warmly lustrous from the incessant polishing of the sun and the chinook winds.

In the minds of the early Taiwanese, the geography of the island ranged from Keelung in the north to "Langchiao," referring to Checheng in Pingtung, in the south. In 1624, the Dutch established a presence in Taiwan, and in 1625 Jacob Noordeloos surveyed the island for his map of Taiwan, dubbing the Hengchun Peninsula Suijte Cap, or "southern cape," and ordering military units to take control of the region.

At the time, Langchiao was the territory of the indigenous Paiwan people. It was a lush, densely forested area that they called "Kabeyawan," which sounds rather like "Turtle Cliff Bay" in Chinese (another explanation has it that at dusk sea turtles could be seen stacked upon each other on the ocean cliffs, giving rise to this name).

The Mutan Village Incident

In 1664, Zheng Chenggong's son Zheng Jing ruled over Taiwan. As part of his system of government, he sent forces ashore at Turtle Cliff Bay to clear the land for cultivation and establish a military outpost called Tunglingpu. Gradually, a settlement sprang up around the present-day site of the Chen-an Temple square in Tungpu Village, Checheng Township.

In 1684, Zheng Jing's son Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing dynasty, which took over governance of Taiwan. At the time, the Paiwan people were fierce and practiced headhunting. On top of that, Langchiao's climate was blistering hot in summer and subject to chinook winds in winter. In just 46 years, eight out of nine assistant magistrates assigned to the then Fengshan County died of disease. The county magistrate made an official request to the Qing court to abandon its jurisdiction over the Hengchun Peninsula.

In 1721, Zhu Yigui of Luohanmen (modern-day Neimen Township in Kaohsiung County), a duck farmer known as "King Duck," raised an insurrection to protest government corruption. This event earned the Hengchun Peninsula a reputation as a hideout for rebels and bandits.

The following year the governor of Fujian Province, Yang Jingsu, ordered that a stone boundary marker be erected to prohibit any Han Chinese from moving into Langchiao. The region became an outlying area, a perception that did not change until the Mutan Village Incident 150 years later.

The incident unfolded in the following way: in 1874, a boat containing a group of Ryuku Islanders drifted ashore at Langchiao, where they were killed by local Aboriginals. The Japanese military, which had long had a greedy eye on Taiwan, used the incident as a pretext for a reprisal attack. The Japanese came ashore at Sheliao Village in Checheng and, after defeating the Paiwan of villages such as Mutan and Kaoshihfo, not only refused to leave but instead made plans to settle in the area for the long term. Only after British and US mediation did the Qing government pay reparations for the incident. Realizing Japanese designs on the region, the imperial envoy Shen Baozhen petitioned the Qing court to establish a governmental presence at Langchiao, naming the area Hengchun County and placing it under the jurisdiction of Tainan.

Tradition has it that the name "Checheng" itself comes from the context of the Han Chinese extracting large amounts of timber and charcoal to ship to the Tainan area. As the Chinese were under frequent attack by the indigenous people, the residents surrounded themselves with a log fence, giving rise to the name chaicheng, or "timber wall." Later, when indigenous raiders burned through the fence, the Chinese resorted to using dozens of oxcarts that had transported charcoal. With these in place as a defensive barrier, "timber wall" became "cart wall," or "Checheng."

Farming in decline

Over the past 400 years, the peninsula has played a prominent role in Taiwan's development. Checheng Township, as the gateway to the north, has been the most important site on the peninsula. From the Dutch occupation in the 17th century, to Zheng Jing's sending in of settlers in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, to the international bombshell that resulted from the 19th-century Mutan Village Incident, to Checheng's becoming the "onion kingdom" in the 20th century, history's high and low points have been played out at this place. Despite all this, Checheng seems to be falling slowly into a state of decline.

In 2000, Taiwan's National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium was founded, and has since attracted over 1 million visitors each year. But while many have heard about the aquarium, few know about Checheng Township. Most people past through without stopping, heading straight for Kenting National Park in Hengchun Township.

Checheng is like a forgotten pearl on the Hengchun Peninsula, warmly lustrous from the incessant polishing of the sun and the chinook winds.

In the minds of the early Taiwanese, the geography of the island ranged from Keelung in the north to "Langchiao," referring to Checheng in Pingtung, in the south. In 1624, the Dutch established a presence in Taiwan, and in 1625 Jacob Noordeloos surveyed the island for his map of Taiwan, dubbing the Hengchun Peninsula Suijte Cap, or "southern cape," and ordering military units to take control of the region.

At the time, Langchiao was the territory of the indigenous Paiwan people. It was a lush, densely forested area that they called "Kabeyawan," which sounds rather like "Turtle Cliff Bay" in Chinese (another explanation has it that at dusk sea turtles could be seen stacked upon each other on the ocean cliffs, giving rise to this name).

During the era of Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945), Checheng produced vast quantities of sisal. In 1945, when Taiwan was turned over to Nationalist rule, Checheng Township became part of Pingtung County. As with most other Taiwanese farming areas, Checheng's population began to flow outward, with the aged remaining behind. At present the township has barely more than 10,000 residents, most of whom work in agriculture.

Not only is Checheng in a remote area, but each winter, from October to April, it is subject to fierce chinook winds. As northeasterly monsoon winds blow across the peaks of the Central Mountain Range, over 3,000 meters high and descend the southern slopes to the Tawu Mountains of the Hengchun Peninsula, the fall in elevation causes strong air currents to flow downwards, giving rise to the powerful winds.

According to longtime residents, thechinook winds can last from two to three hours to several days. At their swiftest, they can travel at over 20 meters per second, filling the air with swirling dust.

Half a century ago, the people of Checheng realized they would need to turn the chinook winds, which outsiders saw as a source of trouble, into a seasonal resource. They thus began cultivating onions.

Onions were introduced into Taiwan from Japan in 1912. After World War II, Taiwanese agricultural research stations began moving onion cultivation from central Taiwan down to Pingtung, promoting it vigorously on the Hengchun Peninsula.

Onion kingdom

According to Wang Chi-fa, who heads up the Checheng Farmers' Association, "Onions thrive when it's dry, and Hengchun's dry climate prevents insects from doing them damage. Not only that, the chinook winds blow away harmful pests and mist, which stimulates the onions' growth and facilitates their harvesting, drying and storage."

Checheng's balmy climate works well with onion varieties that do not need many days of sunlight to thrive. Usually, the onions here are ready for harvesting in just four months. Not needing much sunlight, they are juicy and crisp. Since 1956, onions have become an important export for Taiwan, and the "onion kingdom" of Checheng has supplied over 60% of Taiwan's onion harvests. Wang recalls how, during the heyday of onion cultivation in Taiwan, "selling one plot's worth of onions would pay for the next plot of land."

Unfortunately, in the last 20 years, Taiwanese have increasingly invested in farming in mainland China, causing onion bulbs and farming technology to move off-island. This has resulted in mainland China underpricing its onions. Not only has Taiwan lost out to China in its onion exports to Japan, but the domestic market has also seen stiff competition from American, Australian, and Canadian onions, following Taiwan's entry into the WTO. All this has meant a diminishing of the influence of Hengchun onions. Nowadays, one sees the painful sight of large bags of onions, unsold at NT$50 each, along Provincial Highway 26.

To regain lost ground and protect the local economy, Checheng Farmers' Association established the Onion Museum ten years ago. Furthermore, the association has been doing well with newly developed products such as onion wine, onion tuna sauce, onion drinks, onion pastries, onion vinegar, and other related products.

Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs

Another natural resource for which Checheng is renowned is the Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs, which make up one of the four great hot spring centers in Taiwan.

One can get there by taking Provincial Highway 26 southbound, past the Checheng Farmers' Association, then turning left along County Road 199 and traveling about 5 kilometers. The Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs, surrounded by mountains, are natural springs that flow up from beneath the earth. The name Ssuchunghsi, which means "fourfold river," comes from the topography of the place, being a mountainous basin surrounded by four tiers of flowing rivers that early settlers had to traverse.

The springs are alkaline, containing large quantities of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate; the waters may be drunken as well as bathed in. The quality of the water and the beauty of the natural scenery once attracted Prince Nobuhito, the brother of the Emperor Hirohito of Japan, here for his honeymoon. In order to properly receive the prince, the governor-general of Taiwan spared no labor in arranging for a stone road to be paved from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, and established a custom-built bathhouse for the prince at the Shankou Hotel at the source of the hot springs. That bathhouse still stands today.

Amazing duck eggs

The hot springs of Ssuchunghsi have also given rise to another famous local product, popularly known as "hot-springs duck eggs" or "red-yolk duck eggs." One can see ubiquitous signs advertising red-yolk duck eggs from Fengkang down throughout the Hengchun Peninsula.

Pan Hsu-huang, 41, raises ducks on the Hengchun Peninsula. In the early days, he says, ducks were left to roam freely along the Ssuchung River. This spacious natural environment, the microorganisms and minerals that the ducks absorbed from the sand and small stones along the river, and the fiber they ingested from feeding on grass caused the yolks of their eggs to take on a full, reddish color. Local residents used water from the hot springs to produce unique-tasting red-yolk eggs and preserved eggs, beloved by local gourmands.

These eggs are different from factory-farmed duck eggs, which can be produced by the tens of thousands, and come from ducks that are raised in dense quarters and fed a mixed diet. In contrast to this, Pan, who has 1,500 egg-laying ducks, allows them to roam freely and mixes in hay grass to supplement their diet. He says, "Hay grass is a wonderful natural flavoring. It not only prevents the eggs from having any rank odor, but also contains carotene, which serves as a natural dye for the yolks."

Formerly there was no special emphasis on red-yolk eggs in Checheng, but when Pan returned 17 years ago to carry on his father's duck egg business, he began using this feature to establish his brand identity. He renamed his products "Pan family farm red-yolk eggs," and other egg farmers began to follow suit.

Seven years ago, after a report in the news media, "red-yolk eggs" became widely known. Duck egg wholesalers set up stands near the Fu-an Temple, and during the brief period of seven days during the lunar year holiday, 40,000 eggs were sold. Sensing an opportunity, nearby businesses began to advertise their own red-yolk eggs, slashing prices to the extent that, whereas before, NT$100 would have purchased 11 eggs, they now purchased 32. Duck egg stands began to proliferate, and Fu-an Temple was even jokingly dubbed "Duck Egg Temple."

According to statistics, the monthly output of red-yolk eggs from free-range ducks in the Ssuchunghsi hot springs area should be only 60-70,000 eggs. However, in recent years, as the number of visitors coming to the Hengchun Peninsula has burgeoned, inauthentic goods have been mixed in with the authentic, and one sees a worrisome sales volume of 2 million "red-yolk" eggs per month.

Taiwan's largest earth god shrine

Fu-an Temple in Checheng was founded in 1662, and thus boasts a history of over 300 years. The coastal stretch behind the temple, called "Tieting Harbor" in olden days, was the place where settlers from Quanzhou in Fujian would come ashore, arriving here as settlers after their initial disembarkation in Tainan's Anping Harbor. In order to pray for peace, these settlers established the Chingsheng Pavilion, dedicated to the earth god. In 1951, further fundraising resulted in the shrine's renovation and renaming as Fu-an Temple.

Fu-an Temple is the largest earth god temple in Taiwan. During renovations in 1987, the brazier that was constructed for paper offering money ended featuring an unusual thermal effect; offering money placed at its opening would be sucked in to the fire. Originally an accidental feature of the design of the brazier, this unique and seemingly supernatural characteristic became a big draw for tourists.

Recently, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, established seven years ago, has become synonymous with Checheng. One of the ten largest in the world, the museum has revolutionized tourism to Kenting and also vaulted modest Checheng Township onto the world stage.

However, even though it possesses all the characteristics needed to make it an attractive travel destination, Checheng has not come out with any special tourist itineraries, and still lacks marketing for its local industries and activities. It also lacks a developed tourism infrastructure. Moreover, its public exposure cannot match the sudden prominence of the Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival. How can this "pearl of the southern cape" attract its share of the nearly 5 million tourists who pass through on their way to Kenting each year? It seems that more hard work will be needed to bring this about. l

Checheng Township Fact File

Checheng Township lies within Pingtung County, and includes 11 villages. It has an area of 53.51 square kilometers, and a population of 10,187, mostly working in agriculture.

Checheng Township, along with Mutan Township to its north, Hengchun Township to its south and Manchou Township to its southeast, is part of the Hengchun Peninsula. To its east is the Central Mountain Range, with its many peaks, while to its west lies the Taiwan Strait.

Aside from its main product, onions, Checheng also produces red-yolk duck eggs and the sweet dish iced mung beans. Checheng is also the site of the Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs, one of the four major hot spring sites in Taiwan. Also here is Fu-an Temple, over 300 years old and the largest earth god temple in Taiwan. In 2000, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium was added to the tourist destinations that draw visitors to Checheng.

In the area are numerous historic sites relating to the Mutan Village Incident, such as the historic battlefield at Shihmen, the graves of the 54 Ryuku Islanders, the Kuishan Encampment Memorial, and a memorial to the Japanese commander Tsugumichi Saigo.

Sweet iced mung beans

The Mutan Village Incident

In 1664, Zheng Chenggong's son Zheng Jing ruled over Taiwan. As part of his system of government, he sent forces ashore at Turtle Cliff Bay to clear the land for cultivation and establish a military outpost called Tunglingpu. Gradually, a settlement sprang up around the present-day site of the Chen-an Temple square in Tungpu Village, Checheng Township.

In 1684, Zheng Jing's son Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing dynasty, which took over governance of Taiwan. At the time, the Paiwan people were fierce and practiced headhunting. On top of that, Langchiao's climate was blistering hot in summer and subject to chinook winds in winter. In just 46 years, eight out of nine assistant magistrates assigned to the then Fengshan County died of disease. The county magistrate made an official request to the Qing court to abandon its jurisdiction over the Hengchun Peninsula.

In 1721, Zhu Yigui of Luohanmen (modern-day Neimen Township in Kaohsiung County), a duck farmer known as "King Duck," raised an insurrection to protest government corruption. This event earned the Hengchun Peninsula a reputation as a hideout for rebels and bandits.

The following year the governor of Fujian Province, Yang Jingsu, ordered that a stone boundary marker be erected to prohibit any Han Chinese from moving into Langchiao. The region became an outlying area, a perception that did not change until the Mutan Village Incident 150 years later.

The incident unfolded in the following way: in 1874, a boat containing a group of Ryuku Islanders drifted ashore at Langchiao, where they were killed by local Aboriginals. The Japanese military, which had long had a greedy eye on Taiwan, used the incident as a pretext for a reprisal attack. The Japanese came ashore at Sheliao Village in Checheng and, after defeating the Paiwan of villages such as Mutan and Kaoshihfo, not only refused to leave but instead made plans to settle in the area for the long term. Only after British and US mediation did the Qing government pay reparations for the incident. Realizing Japanese designs on the region, the imperial envoy Shen Baozhen petitioned the Qing court to establish a governmental presence at Langchiao, naming the area Hengchun County and placing it under the jurisdiction of Tainan.

Tradition has it that the name "Checheng" itself comes from the context of the Han Chinese extracting large amounts of timber and charcoal to ship to the Tainan area. As the Chinese were under frequent attack by the indigenous people, the residents surrounded themselves with a log fence, giving rise to the name chaicheng, or "timber wall." Later, when indigenous raiders burned through the fence, the Chinese resorted to using dozens of oxcarts that had transported charcoal. With these in place as a defensive barrier, "timber wall" became "cart wall," or "Checheng."

Checheng's Fu-an Temple, built during the Yongli reign of the Ming dynasty (1646-1661), is the largest earth god temple in Southeast Asia. Devotees from earth god temples all over Taiwan come regularly to renew their temples' ties with their ancestral temple, which causes the offering fires to burn resplendently and brings in a steady stream of visitors.

Farming in decline

During the era of Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945), Checheng produced vast quantities of sisal. In 1945, when Taiwan was turned over to Nationalist rule, Checheng Township became part of Pingtung County. As with most other Taiwanese farming areas, Checheng's population began to flow outward, with the aged remaining behind. At present the township has barely more than 10,000 residents, most of whom work in agriculture.

Not only is Checheng in a remote area, but each winter, from October to April, it is subject to fierce chinook winds. As northeasterly monsoon winds blow across the peaks of the Central Mountain Range, over 3,000 meters high and descend the southern slopes to the Tawu Mountains of the Hengchun Peninsula, the fall in elevation causes strong air currents to flow downwards, giving rise to the powerful winds.

According to longtime residents, thechinook winds can last from two to three hours to several days. At their swiftest, they can travel at over 20 meters per second, filling the air with swirling dust.

Half a century ago, the people of Checheng realized they would need to turn the chinook winds, which outsiders saw as a source of trouble, into a seasonal resource. They thus began cultivating onions.

Onions were introduced into Taiwan from Japan in 1912. After World War II, Taiwanese agricultural research stations began moving onion cultivation from central Taiwan down to Pingtung, promoting it vigorously on the Hengchun Peninsula.

Onion kingdom

According to Wang Chi-fa, who heads up the Checheng Farmers' Association, "Onions thrive when it's dry, and Hengchun's dry climate prevents insects from doing them damage. Not only that, the chinook winds blow away harmful pests and mist, which stimulates the onions' growth and facilitates their harvesting, drying and storage."

Checheng's balmy climate works well with onion varieties that do not need many days of sunlight to thrive. Usually, the onions here are ready for harvesting in just four months. Not needing much sunlight, they are juicy and crisp. Since 1956, onions have become an important export for Taiwan, and the "onion kingdom" of Checheng has supplied over 60% of Taiwan's onion harvests. Wang recalls how, during the heyday of onion cultivation in Taiwan, "selling one plot's worth of onions would pay for the next plot of land."

Unfortunately, in the last 20 years, Taiwanese have increasingly invested in farming in mainland China, causing onion bulbs and farming technology to move off-island. This has resulted in mainland China underpricing its onions. Not only has Taiwan lost out to China in its onion exports to Japan, but the domestic market has also seen stiff competition from American, Australian, and Canadian onions, following Taiwan's entry into the WTO. All this has meant a diminishing of the influence of Hengchun onions. Nowadays, one sees the painful sight of large bags of onions, unsold at NT$50 each, along Provincial Highway 26.

To regain lost ground and protect the local economy, Checheng Farmers' Association established the Onion Museum ten years ago. Furthermore, the association has been doing well with newly developed products such as onion wine, onion tuna sauce, onion drinks, onion pastries, onion vinegar, and other related products.

Checheng has been dubbed the "onion kingdom" due to its hot, dry climate and the prevalence of chinook winds. Just ahead of the long weekend of the Dragon Boat Festival, sacks of onions are kept in the refrigerated warehouses of the farmers' association, where they await their eventual roadside sale to tourists.

Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs

Another natural resource for which Checheng is renowned is the Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs, which make up one of the four great hot spring centers in Taiwan.

One can get there by taking Provincial Highway 26 southbound, past the Checheng Farmers' Association, then turning left along County Road 199 and traveling about 5 kilometers. The Ssuchunghsi Hot Springs, surrounded by mountains, are natural springs that flow up from beneath the earth. The name Ssuchunghsi, which means "fourfold river," comes from the topography of the place, being a mountainous basin surrounded by four tiers of flowing rivers that early settlers had to traverse.

The springs are alkaline, containing large quantities of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate; the waters may be drunken as well as bathed in. The quality of the water and the beauty of the natural scenery once attracted Prince Nobuhito, the brother of the Emperor Hirohito of Japan, here for his honeymoon. In order to properly receive the prince, the governor-general of Taiwan spared no labor in arranging for a stone road to be paved from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, and established a custom-built bathhouse for the prince at the Shankou Hotel at the source of the hot springs. That bathhouse still stands today.

Ssuchunghsi has long been considered one of the four great hot springs of Taiwan, along with those at Yangmingshan, Peitou, and Kuantzuling in Tainan. To the right is the "Prince's Hot Spring," the honeymoon spot for Prince Nobuhito and his newlywed wife.

Amazing duck eggs

The hot springs of Ssuchunghsi have also given rise to another famous local product, popularly known as "hot-springs duck eggs" or "red-yolk duck eggs." One can see ubiquitous signs advertising red-yolk duck eggs from Fengkang down throughout the Hengchun Peninsula.

Pan Hsu-huang, 41, raises ducks on the Hengchun Peninsula. In the early days, he says, ducks were left to roam freely along the Ssuchung River. This spacious natural environment, the microorganisms and minerals that the ducks absorbed from the sand and small stones along the river, and the fiber they ingested from feeding on grass caused the yolks of their eggs to take on a full, reddish color. Local residents used water from the hot springs to produce unique-tasting red-yolk eggs and preserved eggs, beloved by local gourmands.

These eggs are different from factory-farmed duck eggs, which can be produced by the tens of thousands, and come from ducks that are raised in dense quarters and fed a mixed diet. In contrast to this, Pan, who has 1,500 egg-laying ducks, allows them to roam freely and mixes in hay grass to supplement their diet. He says, "Hay grass is a wonderful natural flavoring. It not only prevents the eggs from having any rank odor, but also contains carotene, which serves as a natural dye for the yolks."

Formerly there was no special emphasis on red-yolk eggs in Checheng, but when Pan returned 17 years ago to carry on his father's duck egg business, he began using this feature to establish his brand identity. He renamed his products "Pan family farm red-yolk eggs," and other egg farmers began to follow suit.

Seven years ago, after a report in the news media, "red-yolk eggs" became widely known. Duck egg wholesalers set up stands near the Fu-an Temple, and during the brief period of seven days during the lunar year holiday, 40,000 eggs were sold. Sensing an opportunity, nearby businesses began to advertise their own red-yolk eggs, slashing prices to the extent that, whereas before, NT$100 would have purchased 11 eggs, they now purchased 32. Duck egg stands began to proliferate, and Fu-an Temple was even jokingly dubbed "Duck Egg Temple."

According to statistics, the monthly output of red-yolk eggs from free-range ducks in the Ssuchunghsi hot springs area should be only 60-70,000 eggs. However, in recent years, as the number of visitors coming to the Hengchun Peninsula has burgeoned, inauthentic goods have been mixed in with the authentic, and one sees a worrisome sales volume of 2 million "red-yolk" eggs per month.

Taiwan's largest earth god shrine

Fu-an Temple in Checheng was founded in 1662, and thus boasts a history of over 300 years. The coastal stretch behind the temple, called "Tieting Harbor" in olden days, was the place where settlers from Quanzhou in Fujian would come ashore, arriving here as settlers after their initial disembarkation in Tainan's Anping Harbor. In order to pray for peace, these settlers established the Chingsheng Pavilion, dedicated to the earth god. In 1951, further fundraising resulted in the shrine's renovation and renaming as Fu-an Temple.

Fu-an Temple is the largest earth god temple in Taiwan. During renovations in 1987, the brazier that was constructed for paper offering money ended featuring an unusual thermal effect; offering money placed at its opening would be sucked in to the fire. Originally an accidental feature of the design of the brazier, this unique and seemingly supernatural characteristic became a big draw for tourists.

Recently, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, established seven years ago, has become synonymous with Checheng. One of the ten largest in the world, the museum has revolutionized tourism to Kenting and also vaulted modest Checheng Township onto the world stage.

However, even though it possesses all the characteristics needed to make it an attractive travel destination, Checheng has not come out with any special tourist itineraries, and still lacks marketing for its local industries and activities. It also lacks a developed tourism infrastructure. Moreover, its public exposure cannot match the sudden prominence of the Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival. How can this "pearl of the southern cape" attract its share of the nearly 5 million tourists who pass through on their way to Kenting each year? It seems that more hard work will be needed to bring this about. l

Ssuchunghsi has long been considered one of the four great hot springs of Taiwan, along with those at Yangmingshan, Peitou, and Kuantzuling in Tainan. To the right is the "Prince's Hot Spring," the honeymoon spot for Prince Nobuhito and his newlywed wife.

The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, one of the world's top ten such museums, has just added a much-visited "virtual deep-sea aquarium." The picture shows a paddling pool at the museum's entrance.

At seven each morning, Pan Hsu-huang of Pan Family Farms comes in to gather eggs. His "red-yolked duck eggs" are a renowned local specialty, but buyers need to beware counterfeits.

As strategic territory, the Hengchun Peninsula was fought over during the era of the great sea powers. Pictured is the memorial at the old battleground of Shimen.