Driving through the area and I’d like to see if I can find a brick and mortar place to learn about the Mudan Incident.
https://taiwantoday.tw/news_amp.php?unit=2,6,10,15,18&post=244440
There’s a memorial park.
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I saw that, didn’t realize it wasn’t hours up into the hills.
Thanks!
Any museums displays? I heard Tainan, but haven’t had the chance to follow up on it.
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We hiked the Coats trail last week which is probably related to the Mudan incident . 5k return low altitude trail through the hills. .Not a soul on it but lots of signs of wildlife and monkeys are there too. No great views but good exercise.
Also went up to the old Japanese memorial marker on top of a hill near the memorial park.with great views of the valley around it. The memorial park and related landmarks are all long the side of the road, easy to find.
You can check out sichongxi for hot springs if in the area. There’s also a very quiet reservoir park there in Mudan but can’t get onto the dam itself. There’s a museum at the dam that was supposed to be open but wasn’t open when we were there.
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Cool. Thanks! 
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There was one in Taipei, then in Pingtung City, in 2022. It was named “Listening to Mudan: Formosa Incident of 1874 (聆聽牡丹的聲音).” The Taipei version was excellent!
Guy
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Saw that. On the road. Will report back!
feel like you just last week were in the northernmost reaches of the outlying islands and now you’re down in Pingdong… Getting around good 
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Retirement suits me.
So we made it to Mudan. Overcast at the time which made it easier to hike up the hill. Very cool history which makes me even more curious about the whole thing.
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And the history:
I’d like to learn more about the aboriginal girl who was taken back to Japan. She did NOT look too pleased.
Nice side trip. 
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Nice phots ! Now I want to go visit.
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My gosh now that is a subject waiting for a Paiwan filmmaker to take on!
Analagously, check out Finding Sayun directed by Atayal filmmaker Laha Mabow and her brilliant retelling of Sayun’s story (visible in southern Yilan in various memorial sites) from the perspective(s) of her people.
Guy
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It’s a short drive from Provincial highway 1. And you get to stop and see the red faced Taoist god.
There are more sites to see up here as well. The place on the river where the ambush was laid. A battleground we didn’t hike to. Be nice to get a guided tour.
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All in Mandarin.
The Japanese military first arranged for businessman
Ōkura Kihachirō (大倉喜八郎) to bring her back to Japan. The same Ōkura family owns this hotel in Taipei today.
Ōkura sent this Paiwan girl to an Ueda family instead.
The young Paiwan girl learned some Japanese before the conflict was over and she was sent back to Taiwan before the Japanese troops left. General Saigō Jūdō held a banquet and invited Qing and Paiwan leaders to see the “transformation” of this girl. After that she disappeared from the records.
When Japanese writer Hirano Kumiko wrote about the incident, she visited villages to do some field research. An elderly Paiwan woman claimed to be related to the Paiwan girl, and said the girl’s parents and grandparents were killed in the war, and she chose to commit suicide by hanging on a tree next to the river. No sure how credible it is, but there’s no way to verify at this point.
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A tragic story, waiting to be retold—much like the great Atayal director Laha Mebow did with her brilliant film Finding Sayun.
Guy
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So you said. 
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