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Updated Thursday, November 6, 2008 11:36 am TWN, By Richard Saunders, Special to The China Post



	Despite the devastation caused by a series of typhoons, the Fengshan area is still one of great beauty. (By Richard Saunders, Special to The China Post) More Photos (3)

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Nature at its most awesome in Fengshan

Twelve years on, the legacy of Typhoon Herb (together with damage caused by several later typhoons) is still plainly obvious at Fengshan. The bed of the Shigupan Stream, which runs past the village, is now a huge expanse of light gray-colored boulders a hundred meters or more in width, while several of the village’s former best-known beauty spots, such as the Dadienyu Waterfall (大點雨瀑布) and the Snake-Laying-an Egg Tree (蛇樹下蛋) have been destroyed. While wiping out several fine sights, however, the great ‘landslide of the century,’ as the villagers call it, also created a few startling new ones, while nature has happily lost no time in softening the devastation wreaked upon this enchanting mountain scenery.

For some idea of the scale of the disaster, take a look at the huge boulders (which, astonishingly, were washed down here by the awesome deluge caused by Herb) hidden amongst the undergrowth of the Landslide Commemorative Park on the edge of the village. Just as fascinating as these huge blocks of stone, however, is Mother Nature’s ability to soften and heal these vast gashes. She’s done her job almost too well here, as some of the paths winding between the boulders are already very overgrown!

Nature’s astonishing ability to both destroy and then to heal with startling rapidity is visible everywhere around the town, but nowhere more so than at Shipan Valley (石盤谷), a couple of kilometers above the village. The lower gorge, where the stream plunges over a series of six waterfalls, has been repeatedly devastated by floods, and to this day the ugly pale rock of the gorge is free of the smallest vestige of softening foliage. Follow the trail up beyond the highest of the falls, however, and nature has already reclaimed the softer landscape of the upper reaches of the valley, which are carpeted with flowering busy lizzie, ferns and young trees.

Fengshan continues to be on the receiving end of some of the worst of Taiwan’s most destructive weather. On our visit in late October, a stretch of one of the two roads that now wind up to the village was another victim of the multiple downpours that had swept Taiwan the month before. No doubt future typhoons will cause more damage in this, and other beautiful spots deep in the island’s mountainous interior. Yet just as clear is the certainty that Nature will repair the devastation she wreaks, and this beautiful landscape will continue to inspire awe and delight in those that make the trek out to this secluded corner of the island.

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