Huagang Agricultural Settlement

Huagang is a farming settlement strung along Lixing Industrial Road (力行產業道路) at approximately 2,450 meters above sea level, its name a contraction of “sentry post of anti-communist China” (反共中華之崗哨), a reference to the anti-airborne garrison once stationed in these remote heights in Ren’ai, Nantou. Approximately 160 veterans were resettled here in 1973 to clear land for cultivating high-mountain cabbage, garlic, and tea, forming eleven villages named after the characters in a patriotic slogan. Tiled gateways bearing faded Republic of China emblems still mark the entrances to three of these villages: Fuzhuang (復莊) and Xingzhuang (興莊), which face each other, and Zhongzhuang (中莊), further up the road. Nearly all of the original settlers have since passed away or moved down the mountain to assisted living centers, leaving the fields and remaining dormitories to newer farming families and migrant workers from Southeast Asia.