Location, Landscape, and Population of Hualien
Beautiful Hualien County--it is like a fat and short silkworm crawling in yam-shaped Taiwan, and is situated in eastern Taiwan. Hualien, facing the immense Pacific Ocean on the east and leaning against the steep and majestic Central Mountain Range on the west, borders Taichung County, Nantou County and Kaohsiung County. The northern border is between the Dajhuoshui River and Yi-lan County, and its southern side joins part of the Coastal Range with Taitung County.
Hualien County stretches around 137.5 km from north to south, with its longest width being 43 km long from east to west, and its narrowest east-west width is 27 km long. The easternmost point of Hualien County is the mouth of the Dazhuoshui River with geographical coordinate of longitude 121° 46’16’’ E. The westernmost point is the eastern side of Cloud Peak in Zhuoxi Township with a geographical coordinate of longitude 120° 58’48’’ E. The northernmost location is the south bank of the Dazhuoshui River with a geographical coordinate of latitude 24° 22’23’’ N. The southernmost location is the southern border of Fuli Township with a geographical coordinate of latitude 23° 5’26’’ N. Hualien County is 4628.5714 sq. km and occupies one eighth of the total area of Taiwan. It is also the largest county of the 21 counties and cities in Taiwan. It has a population of about 345,521 October 2006, and its population density is 74.64 persons sq. km.
The Landscape of Hualien
Although the total area of Hualien County is the largest in Taiwan, only 7% of it is plains that is inhabited by people. The rest is occupied by rivers (6%), and mountains (87%). The distribution of mountains, rivers, and plains are as followed: the mountains are composed of the Central Mountain Range in the west and the Coastal Mountains in the east. The Central Mountain Range is like the backbone of Taiwan, running from the north of the country to the south. It leans toward the east and the mountains in the range are most located within Hualien County and its border. Hence, the mountains and hills facing the east are of great proportion. Unlike western Taiwan where the mountains stretch into plains, the coastal mountains are erect right next to the Pacific Ocean and extend into Taitung County occupying a massive portion of the land. The main rivers within Hualien County are the Hualien River, Xiuguluan River, and its branches. The plains stretch along the valleys between the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mountains. The width of the plains extends around 3 to 6 kilometers. Due to the constraint of its landscape, the citizens of Hualien County reside mostly on the alluvial fans of valley plains. Alluvial fans occur when the river enters the plain from the mountain area; the slower flowing speed causes the sedimentation of sands and gravels. As the sediments extend, they forms a fan shaped deposit known as an alluvial fan. Alluvial fans are often flat with rich soil, and are suitable for human inhabitation. Hence, they are often populated.
The Majestic Mountains of Hualien
Mountains take up 87% of the area in Hualien County and have played a vital role in our daily life. We see mountains everywhere we go within the county; hence, we have to know more about these grand mountains. When we take the trains from Hualien to go south, all things we can see are mountains. The county adjoins the Coastal Mountains on the east and the Central Mountain Range on the west. These two mountain ranges are parallel to each other just like mother and child, creating a unique landscape of their own. The Central Mountain Range was created in Nan-ao Evolution Movement about 70 million years ago, when uplifting forces from the collision and compression of crust pushed it above the sea surface. The geological structure consists of sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, silt sandstones, slate stones and breccias, and it also contains rich mines of gold sands, marbles, crystals and jade stones. The animal and plant ecology are also versatile and precious. Accordingly, the central government has established Taroko National Park and Yushan National Park to preserve the precious and delicate plants and animals. Most portions of the National Parks are located in Hualien County, and we are proud of them. In addition, Central Mountain Range consists numerous mountains, those more than 3,000 meters high mountains are listed in the “Hundred Mountains of Taiwan”. There are 43 of them located in Hualien County, such as Xiuguluan Mountain, Nanhu Mountain, Central Range Point, Qilai Mountain, Hehuan Mountain, and they all enjoy unspeakable fame among the mountaineers.
As of the east Coast Mountains, are much lower. The tallest Xingang Mountain is only 1682 meters high. The differences in the height are due to the different timing of formation. The Coastal Range was formed over four million years ago by the collision and compression of Philippine and Eurasian plates. In addition, the geological structure is composed of soft sediments which have weaker anti-erosion property and are vulnerable to wind. Currently, the two mountain ranges are still “growing” with amazing speed, with 5 mm per year for the Central Mountain Range, and 3 cm per year for the Coastal Range. Moreover, these two mountains are converging to each other with the speed of 2.3 cm per year. With such speed, they are expected to join together 200,000 years after! But before that, we should now focus on preserving the green mountains and clean water of the beautiful environment.
Clean Rivers of Hualien County
Since the west side of Hualien County is occupied with the Central Mountain Range, covered with vast ancient forests, where abundant water sources flow down the valleys into rivers and create an exquisite natural environment in Hualien County. The major rivers within Hualien County locating from the north to the south are as follows: Heping River (known as Dajhuoshui River), Liwu River, Hualien River, and Xiuguluan River. The weather in Hualien bestows the rivers with rich water flows, and because of deferred development, the rivers are protected from pollutions.
Heping River, the river bordering between Hualien County and Yi-lan County, originates from the East Point of Nanhu Mountain and extends 42 kilometers in length. Liwu River originates from the area between Hehuan Mountain and the North Point of Qilai Mountain, with its middle stream cutting through the valley full of limestone and granite gneiss, and this creates the majestic Taroko Gorge which is the most beautiful spot in the Taroko National Park. The rift valley of Liwu River, known as saw-cut valley in geology, is the world famous river-eroded landscape and is listed as the world-class scenery. It is certainly the treasure of Hualien.
Hualien River, originating from Xinlujun Mountain, northwest of Dafu, converging by branches of Matai’an River, Wanli River, Shoufeng River and Mugua River, flows northwest along the Huatung Valley, and empties itself into Pacific Ocean at the Haulien Mountain of the northernmost point of the Coastal Range. Xiuguluan River, originating from Dapo Pond of Chishang Township, is converged with Malangou River, Hongye River, Taiping River, Zhuoxi, Chingshui River, and Lele River. It flows from south to north along Huatung Valley, turns east at Ruisui Township, cuts through the Coastal Range and pours into Pacific Ocean at Dagangkou of Fengping Township. It stretches for 81 kilometers with beautiful scenery on both banks, and the rapid currents make the river a perfect place for rafting. The clean water incubates two kinds of rare and precious fish, the alticorpus and spinibarbus hollandi which are both under protection by government regulations.
Hualien County is gifted with clean rivers, and it is our duty to protect the environments, so that the coming generations can enjoy catching fish and shrimp in the water.
Beautiful Coastline of Hualien
The coastline of Hualien extends 142 kilometers, from Heping River at the border of Yi-lan County on the north to the Dagangkou in Fengping Township on the south. The Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Range, along with segments and sediments from the rivers, create beautiful landscape and breath-taking views. Moreover, the area from Heping village in the southern mouth of Ruping River to Chongde, located along the Central Mountain Range next to the Pacific Ocean, is the famous Chingshui Cliff which is higher than 1,000 meters. In addition, there lies a beautiful beach between Hualien and Jiqi Bay which is suitable for aqua recreation activities, and it is the only place that potentially suit for beach recreation development in Hualien.
Shimen coastal area on the south, consisted of volcanic breccias from Duluan Mountain, is eroded by waves and forms the most representative landscape, the Shihmen sea-eroded cave. Shitiping, a lifted sea-eroded terrace south of Shimen, is another sea terrace. In the third year of Guangxu Era in the Qing Dynasty, General Wu Guang-liang, while leading the army to explore the area, saw the rocks arraying like stairs, therefore, named it as Shitiping (rock stair terrace). Generally speaking, the coastline in Hualien, is one kind of fault coastlines, composed of bays, headlands, beaches, cliffs, stone stairs, lifted coral rocks, rock benches, and among others. These picturesque landscapes provide the best natural materials for recreation and education.
Weather and Earthquake in Hualien
Weather, influenced by locations, landscapes, mountains, oceans and etc, determines how we live by. After understanding the natural environment of Hualien, let us briefly discuss the weather in Hualien. Because east Hualien faces the Pacific Ocean and west lies on the Central Mountain Range, with the Tropic of Cancer going through in Ruisui Township, the climate is like spring all year round, warm in winter and cool in summer. The Kuroshio Current of the Pacific Ocean, flowing into her eastern seacoast and releasing warm current, creates warmer temperature in the winter. In addition, the grand Central Mountain Range blocks the cold wind in the winter. In the summer, the seasonable wind from the Pacific Ocean cools temperatures down making Hualien County a comfortable place to live. However, the typhoon season often causes damages in Hualien every year. Since Taiwan is right on the path of typhoons, Hualien is usually the first location that typhoon enters. Strong winds, pouring rains and floods often cause great damages. However, if the typhoon does not enter, droughts or floods could happen. Thus, as long as we are fully prepared for the incoming of typhoons, the threats can be reduced. Apart from hazards of typhoons, earthquakes in Hualien are an evitable natural catastrophe. Taiwan is located in the Circum-Pacific Seismic Zone; moreover, Hualien resides on the border of the Philippine and Eurasian plates which collide and compress, and consequently create frequent earthquakes in Hualien.
Earthquakes are unpredictable so we rely on usual safety preparations, and we need to be familiar with safety procedures to reduce the damages to the minimum, so our lives and properties can be fully secured.