／Geographical position／

Smangus is a small Atayal tribe located in the northern mountain of Snow Mountain Range in Hsinchu County, the altitude of there is between 1,500 to 2,000 meters.

It is adjacent to nature reserve of Yuanyang Lake in the east, Mountain of Hu-Li in the north, Mountain of Ma-Wan in the south and Tai-Gun brook in the west. Smangus is an important water catchment area of Tamsui River around the full and rich ancient forests with alpine vegetation including Juniperus squamata, rhododendrons, Taiwan fir, hemlock, red cypress forest and Green broad-leaved forest.

Smangus Map

Special mountainous terrain brings Smangus good weather, the border of Snow Mountain Range in Ilan County separates the northeast monsoon in the winter and the side of the Li-Dong Mountain prevents moisture from northwest; therefore, the weather is always sunny and warm.

Before the road was built, the residents had to spend several hours to across valley to reach Sunbeam tribes to get foods and goods. Life here was hard and blocked out.

After the road was built in 1995, not only do residents here solve the transportation problem, the group of red cypress also makes a large number of tourists flock here and the tribe now has a different style than it used to be.