Lalu Island

Coordinates: 23°51′20″N 120°54′40″E / 23.85556°N 120.91111°E / 23.85556; 120.91111

Lalu Island

Lalu island (Thao language:Lalu,Chinese: 拉魯島) is a small island in Sun Moon Lake, Yuchi Township, Nantou County, Taiwan. The island used to be much bigger, separating the lake into a part shaped like crescent moon and another part shaped like a round sun. When the island was still bigger, people lived on it. Under Japanese rule, the island was renamed "Jade Island" (Japanese: 玉島), and in the 1930s, the Japanese built a dam that raised the water level in the lake and almost entirely flooded the island. After Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan in 1949, the island was renamed Kuang-hua Island (Chinese: 光華島; literally: "glorious China island"). In 1999 the island shrank as portions sank during the 921 earthquake, which also destroyed a wedding pavilion constructed by the local government in 1978.

"Lalu" is an Austronesian word roughly corresponding to "after", "later" (Chinese: 後,）with similar meanings from Taiwan to Indonesia. In legend, Thao hunters discovered Sun Moon Lake while chasing a white deer through the surrounding mountains. The deer eventually led them to the lake, which they found to be not only beautiful, but abundant with fish.[1] Today, the white deer of legends is immortalized as a marble statue on Lalu Island.

In recent years, due to increasing social and political awareness, more deference and recognition are being given to Taiwanese aborigines. As a result, after the 921 earthquake, the island was renamed in the Thao language as "Lalu".[2]


Transportation

The island and surrounding area is accessible by buses from Taichung Station or Taipei Main Station.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Marie Elena Martinez (17 June 2012). "A beauty in the middle of Taiwan’s ‘beautiful island’". Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC.
  2. ↑ "Lalu Island". Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration. 11 January 2017.


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