3. Onsite conditions

1. Village name classification and statistics in the Ershui area

Ershui Township has many villages, the names are directly related to the local natural environment or cultural features of Ershui Township. The following are the statistical data:

The names of villages are the starting points for exploring local history. The origins and evolution of village names can be used to trace back to their historical and geographical traces. In terms of nature and culture, the names reveal the thoughts of ancestors and the process of social activity. Thus, the village or place names represent history.

These village or place names arising from the early cultivation periods fully show the emotions and spirit of the ancestors who overcame so many difficulties in cultivating the area. This allows everyone who understands this historical trajectory to have a sense of admiration and gratitude. At the same time, the people of this area have a great sense of honor for their natural and cultural environment. Even though for 300 years, social changes have made the once-common names elegant, but the old village or place names are still frequently used in daily life, and passed on generation after generation.

Many of the old village names in Ershui included words like “cuo, liao, yuan, pu keng, dian, tian”. Based on this, it can be deduced that people in Ershui Township are closely connected to cultivation, opening ditches, hydraulics, and geographic environment. It is not too much to say that these connections are indispensable to life in Ershui Township.

The analysis is as follows:

1. Village names relating to “cultivation”:

Dachiuyuan, Taotsaiyuan, Chuweitsai, Taotsaichai, Chiantsailiao, Tiantsai, Dingdiantsai, Fuhsingchuangtsai.

2. Village names relating to “opening ditches”:

 Piliao, Pitsaitou, Shiwuchuang, Erbatsai.

3. Village names relating to “hydraulics”:

Guojuntsai, Shuiweitsai, Guohsitsai.

4. Village names relating to “geographic environment”:

Bitsaitou, Longtsaitou, Watsainei, Jietungkeng, Youshuikeng, Liutsaikeng, Kengkou, Dachijiao, Kulingjiao, Chingshuiputsai, Dingcutsai, Yuchitsai, Hutsainei.

5. Village names relating to “aborigines”:

Fantsaitian, Fantsailiao, Fantsaikou, Fantsaicu.

6. Village names relating to “ancestral place”:

Haifengliao.

2. Examples of the origins of village names

Based on the above, the village names are briefly introduced as evidence for the previous statements; at the same time, we can further understand the village or place names in Ershui.

1. Village names relating to “cultivation,” such as:

(1)Chiantsailiao: near the mountains of present-day Changhe Village, or next to the headrace of Babao Canal, the name comes from a tall soai-a tree (mango tree).

(2)Dachiuyuan: the old name of present-day Dayuan Village is “Dachiuyuan,” located on the gentle slope between Bagua Tableland and Jhuoshuei River; the landscape is higher and it is more difficult to lead water here. The name comes from the broad dry farm at initial cultivation.

(3)Dingdiantsai: present-day Yumin Village. Early on, there were two small stores here. In order to distinguish them, the villagers refer to the stores in present-day Yumin Village as “Dingdiantsai,” and the store near present-day Shenghua Village “Hsiadantsai.”

2. Village names relating to “opening ditches” such as:

(1) Piliao: a part of present-day Yuanchuan Village, next to Linsiansheng Temple, it was the old name of a place where the canal diggers of Jhuoshuei Canal (present-day Babao Main Canal) built shacks for resting.

(2)Erbatsai: present-day Guanghua Village Yuanji Road Section 4. Early on, the center of development at Ershui Township had the Erbashui Canal (also known as Erfengshui Canal), with water drawn and split into two by Shicu Canal (present-day Babao 1st Canal) next to “Tiantsai.” Passing the Jiji machinery warehouse, along Huimin Road, then passing the front of Ershui Station toward “Erbatsai”, finally into the present-day Babao 2nd Canal. Since this area was irrigated by the Erfengshui Canal, this area came to be called “Erbatsai”.

(3)Shiwuchuang: present-day Shiwu Village, “Shiwuchuang” was named because during the reign of Kangxi, Shih-cing Huang constructed the north shore of Shiwuchuang Canal; it is the village on the boundary of Ershui Township and Tianchung Township.

(1)Guojuntsai: present-day Guojun Village. Based on the name, this settlement passed by a canal, Babao 2nd Canal, and villagers living south of the canal called the settlement north of the canal “Guojuntsai”, and the villagers who live here call themselves “Guotsai.”

(2)Shuiweitsai: present-day Neighborhood 1 to 8 of Fuhsing Village. In terms of relative location, this is the end of Ershui Township Babao 1st Canal. For the whole Babao Canal, Babao 1st Canal and Babao 2nd Canal are the heads of canals flowing through Ershui Township.

(1)Watsainei: present-day Yuanchuan Village Bagua Tableland mountainside Yuemei Lane, it got its name because it is located at a curve in the canal.

(2)Bitsaitou: present-day Yuanchuan Village is located on the southern tip of Bagua Tableland, and it got its name since it is located under the nose tip of the protrusion of Bagua Tableland shaped like a dragon.

(3)Jietungken: a part of present-day Hehe Village (Kengnei Village in the past), located in Guzhong on the southern end of Bagua Tableland, and is the settlement at the highest point in the Ershui Township. The name comes from the autumn maple trees that grew all over the valley in the past. Another theory was that the land was shaped like scissors, earning the other name “Jiaodaokeng.”

(4)Hutsainei: a part of present-day Fuhsing Village, the village name “hu” does not refer to lake, but rather refer to a landscape that is higher on the sides and lower in the middle.

(5)Kulingjiao: a part of present-day Hehsing Village and “Xuezaidi,” next to “Chingshuitsai,” named for an old Kuling tree in the village in the past.

(6)Dachijiao: a part of present-day Guojun Village, right next to the Western Rail Line. Since Ershui is at a high altitude along the Taiwan Rail, in the past when trains were pulled by locomotives, trains would automatically slow down here. The cargo trains also found it hard to go uphill; this is why the villagers here were called “Dachijiao”.

(1)Fantsaitian: part of present-day Hehe Village, located on the foothills of Bagua Tableland, it was originally the farms and residences of villages of Tungluo. Today, the hillside orchards still have ancient “aborigine graves. This is a name used for the village for both Han and aborigines.

(2)Fantsaikou: on the foothills of present-day Fuhsing Village. Its name comes from the fact that it was the entrance to the early Tungluoshe settlement, this is a name used for the village for both Han and aborigines.