Secret trail of history and nature : the interpretation plan of the Shuishalian trail in Nantou County, Taiwan

Abstract

Heritage places should be interpreted and presented to the public in order to communicate their significance and allow the public to better understand their important history and stories. If a place is not well understood by the public, its significance will be ignored or simply destroyed. For more than a hundred years, the tribes of Taiwan’s aboriginal people have gone through political regimes of different dynasties, especially since the Japanese Occupation, such as the plan of migration, many tribes faced with changes in customs and group migration. As a historical record of a cultural landscape heritage, ancient trails are often a transportation medium that connects two settlements or even two ethnic groups. Today's aboriginal society is accompanied by the rapid loss of language, traditional knowledge, skills and culture at the same time as the country's economic growth and social development, it is necessary to conduct rigorous academic investigations and research as the ancient trails are important cultural assets of tangible cultural heritage for understanding the history and culture of the aborigines and the whole area. Through a dialogue with local residents, it was discovered that the Shuishalian Trail (水沙蓮古道) located in Taiwan’s Nantou County is one of the ancient trails used by Taiwan aboriginal tribes, and it occupies a special place in the hearts of locals and reflects the lives of them. However, few people today are aware of or understand its history except for locals and mountaineering organizations. This dissertation therefore focuses on the Shuishalian Trail with the scope of a heritage interpretation plan to establish an understanding of of the history and stories behind this important but neglected cultural landscape.