Hu Tiehua Monument

A memorial stele erected by county magistrate Huang Tuorong (黃拓榮) in 1964. It commemorates Hu Chuan (胡傳, 1841–1895), a relatively obscure late Qing dynasty era official remembered more for being the father of future Academia Sinica president Hu Shih (胡適) than for his own brief tenure as acting magistrate of Taitung from 1893. One of Hu’s signature efforts was attempting to suppress opium use among Taitung garrison troops, reportedly to little effect. Following the Japanese annexation of Taiwan in 1895 he sent his family back to China but stayed on himself, eventually perishing of thiamine deficiency in Xiamen in August 1895. The accompanying bronze statue was added in 2015.