／The Discovery of Giant Trees／

On July 1991, to improve peach planting of Smangus, Zeng Zhenchuan, head of community, went to Baling tribes in Fuhsing Township, Taoyuan County with a five elders to take seeds. In Baling, they found the giant trees of the Lala Mountain had not only throve the tourism industry of Baling, but also made the Lala Mountain Peaches famous.

Giant trees and peaches improved the life standard of the Atayal people in Baling greatly. Why the people of Smangus cannot have these while the people of Baling can? There must be some way for the people of Smangus to survive. After several days of pondering, the head of community seemed to hear Atayal God saying to him during his sleep, "There are much more unknown giant trees in Smangus."

Where were the giant trees? The instruction of the Atayal God was absolutely right, so the head of community asked people to find giant trees during the ancestral domain.

After two or three months, the reward for hard working finally paid off, they finally found spectacular red cypress group in Smangus. Smangus giant tree group owns more than twenty thousand years old red cypresses. According to the giant tree list in 1996 released by Forestry Bureau, Smangus ranked second place and third place for owning giant trees.

The discovery of Giant tree group has not only help build the Smangus route, but also driven the development of tourism in Smangus.

Yaya, one of Giant Trees