Hualien

Hualien (花蓮) is an administrative division in eastern Taiwan. Hualien City is the capital, largest city, and main transportation hub for onward travel along the east coast. The county is most widely known as the home of Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園), but it also encompasses the northern half of the fertile Huadong Valley, another major tourist destination and the traditional territory of the Amis and Bunun peoples.

Home to numerous Indigenous peoples, the region saw little Han Chinese settlement until the late Qing dynasty era, and remained sparsely populated until well into the Japanese colonial period. Japanese colonization left an indelible mark on the region through immigrant villages in Shoufeng and Fenglin, the forestry operations at Lintianshan, and an unusually high concentration of Shinto shrines. Xiulin, the largest township in all Taiwan, encompasses an extraordinary wealth of natural and cultural heritage leading into the rugged mountains of the interior.