Gukeng

Gǔkēng (古坑), formerly Ānkǔkēng (庵古坑), is Yunlin’s largest township by area and the only one with significant mountain terrain, stretching east from the Jianan Plain into the Alishan Range. Settlers from Nanjing County in Zhangzhou arrived during the Qing dynasty; the township’s old name preserves its connection to thatched-hut (庵) villages in their homeland. Japanese colonial authorities planted Arabica coffee on Hébāo Mountain beginning in the 1930s, a legacy that underpins Gukeng’s modern identity as Taiwan’s most prominent domestic coffee-growing region. Several Japanese colonial era police facilities survive in the foothills, among them the Donghe Police Station (1929) and the Yongguang Police Station Residence, the latter restored as a coffee shop after sustaining damage in the 921 Earthquake.