Gukeng Township covers an area of about 166 square kilometres, accounting for about one-eighth of the total area of Yunlin County, with sprawling plains, undulating hills, and mountain ranges, as well as a wide variety of agricultural products.
The township was selected as one of the ‘Taiwan Classic Mountain Towns’ by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in 2020, and the environment is like an ecological paradise where ‘nothing is done but governed’, which is why it has been known as the ‘backyard of Yunlin County’ and the ‘Yangmingshan of Central Taiwan’. The simple, simple and thirsty humanistic style of its townships, coupled with the natural and profound green water and green mountains, make it seem to be the modern ‘Pure Land of the World’.
In order to be certified as an International Slow City, it is necessary to go through a series of hurdles, including the preservation of local characteristics in environment, culture and industry, etc. Gukeng Township has always been actively promoting community building and endeavouring to preserve the purest and most beautiful things in the area.
In order to become an international slow city, the most important thing is people, and all residents must reach a consensus and work together. Gukeng Township is actively promoting and publicising the hope that the residents of each community will work together to create a Canaanite place where visitors can ‘slow down or even stop’, so that they can experience the beauty of ‘slow life’ physically, mentally and spiritually, and thus lead to the creation of a ‘slow city’, which will lead to a ‘slow life’. This will enable visitors to experience the beauty of ‘slow life’ and in turn promote the development of local industries.
The village hopes to create a comfortable tourism environment through the concept of a slow city, develop leisure and tourism, pass on cultural values, promote the use of local agricultural products, proof of coffee origin, and a high degree of integration between information technology and industry to create the characteristics of Gukeng, cohesion of slow city awareness, introduction of the slow city concept, and strive for the slow city certification, as well as to connect with the world, and to live a slow life together.
Food of Gukeng
Coffee
Gukeng is the original home of coffee in Taiwan. During the Japanese rule period, the Japanese government chose Gukeng to grow coffee in moderate latitude and climate conditions, and because Taiwan is an island-type climate country, the coffee produced has its own unique coffee flavour of Taiwan.
The Songyue Coffee Farm has won many awards, including the 1st place in the 2020 CQI International Coffee Quality Association Certification. Qingshanping Coffee Farm was also awarded the 1st place in the 2021 CQI International Coffee Quality Association Certification, and Huashan Coffee has been designated as the national banquet coffee.
The oldest brand in the village, Baden Coffee, was established in 1984 and became one of the top ten recommended coffee shops in the world in 2012.
Ma Bamboo Shoots
The cultivated area of bamboo shoots in Gukeng used to be the largest in Taiwan at more than 4,000 hectares, and was known as the ‘Kingdom of Bamboo Shoots,’ one of the economic crops that earned foreign exchange in the early days.
In recent years, the Tai Po community has endeavoured to revive the bamboo shoots industry by launching a bamboo shoots feast tour, while the Guilin community has given full play to its creativity by creating the ‘Huang Jinshan Squid’, which has been highly favoured by gourmets and has made a name for itself abroad, with even Japanese tourists coming to purchase the squid.
World Champion Jam
World Champion ‘Marmalade The Cream Bus Bakery in Gukeng Township won 2 gold and 1 silver in the Japan round of the 2021 World Citrus Marmalade Competition, 2 silver and 1 bronze in the UK round, and 1 gold and 1 bronze in the 2024 World Citrus Marmalade Competition. It is a legend that the mother and daughter of the proprietor, Winnie Chan and Ziggy Yeung, have won the same world awards, and the skills of their handmade ‘Winnie’s Marmalade’ are even more world-class!
Orange
Due to the large temperature difference between day and night, excellent water quality, and the long-term cultivation and management of fruit farmers, Gukeng Township grows high quality orange with high sweetness, juicy flavour, and strong fragrance. Gukeng Township has more than 1,000 hectares of orange planting, and it is the area with the largest production of orange in Taiwan, accounting for about 30% of the country’s production, and it has the reputation of being the ‘Home of the Orange’ and the ‘Kingdom of the Orange’.
Bitter Tea Oil
Bitter tea oil culture in Taiwan has nearly a hundred years of history, Taiwan’s national treasure, the Oriental olive oil reputation, and Gukeng Caoling planted more than a century of large-scale bitter tea trees, known for its abundant production of bitter tea oil, the local Shennong Hotel – Liu Wenzhen also won the Shennong Award for the excellent quality of bitter tea oil. Lai Kee’s bitter tea oil was awarded the 2015 Yunlin County Top Ten Gifts and Accompaniments.
In addition, bitter tea oil chicken is one of the must-try delicacies in Caoling, and the bitter tea oil is used in many ways, such as stir-frying, drinking it raw for gastrointestinal health, and even as a sunscreen, making it known as the ‘gold of the plant’ in the world of nutrition.
Two-Color Dragon Fruit
‘Champion Two-coloured Dragon Fruit’. Zhang Kesen, a villager from Hebao, Gukeng Township, returned to his hometown to work as a farmer after his discharge from the army and has been planting red dragon fruits for nearly 10 years. On 29th October 2020, he participated in the national ‘Red Dragon Fruit Quality Fruit Evaluation’ and won the first place with the ‘Two-colour Fire Dragon Fruit’, which has made the two-colour fire dragon fruits famous, and the price of each one exceeds a hundred yuan, and the supply still falls short of the demand.
Housing of Gukeng
Donghe Chen Mansion
Donghe Chen Mansion is one of the largest ancient mansions in Gukeng. The Chen family has a large family business and is very powerful. According to legend, the Chen family sold 8 acres of land and hired a master from Tangshan to build the mansion, which is a triplex style house with a five-panel Minnan hard mountain style building. On 24 October 2012, the Yunlin County Government declared it a historical building, and it is now known as the Monster Village House B&B – Donghe Chen Mansion.
Nagamitsu Story House
The Nagamitsu Police Station Dormitory was built in 1933 and completed in 1933. It is a common Japanese brick and wooden building, and is a one-room dormitory for the Chief of Inspection of Magistrates. The purpose of the elevated floor is to prevent moisture and ventilation. The building is made of cement tiles, bamboo plywood walls, bricks, red cypress, willow fir, and a few cypresses. The building was declared a historical building on April 22, 2008, and restoration was completed in July, 105, and is now known as the Yonggwang Storyteller’s House, which is leased to a café owner, and it’s a real treat to enjoy a slow meal and a slow chat in an ancient, nostalgic, and quiet space!
Guesthouses
Gukeng Township has a well-developed tourism industry, with as many as 48 B&Bs, and is full of all kinds of special B&Bs. It is worth mentioning the most special Beast Village B&B, which is famous for its nostalgic style, and is a centuries-old Hakka triplex – Donghe Chen Mansion – which is a county-designated historical building, where you can experience the taste of living in an old house, In addition to the classic coffee lodges, Gukeng also has castle style, wooden house style, cypress style, nostalgic style, leisure farm style, etc., which is worth a visit.
Transportation of Gukeng
Orange Fragrance Bicycle Trail
Located in Gukeng Township, the ‘Orange Fragrance Bicycle Trail – Canal Trail’ has a total length of 19 kilometres, starting from the office in Huanzi Village and connecting with the Green Tunnel Market, there are two routes, one from the Green Tunnel to the Riverside Park, Fuchi High School and ending at the Fairy Queen’s Palace in Kanshou Village, and the other entering the Gukeng Village Bicycle Trail at the Riverside Park to the end of the Shiyuoxi Suspension Bridge and to National Highway No. 3 (Hebao Village), and you can appreciate Green Tunnel Park No. 228 along the way, Along the way, you can enjoy the Green Tunnel 228 Park, Gukeng Township Riverside Park, Fuk Luk Sau Tourist Winery, Gukeng Village, etc. to feel various beautiful rural styles.
Dapu Bicycle Trail
In the rural community of Tai Po Gold Medal, it is planned that the Songbai Creek Railway Trail is suitable for both walking and horseback riding, with a full round trip of about 6 kilometres, so you can take a leisurely outdoor plant teaching, and from time to time, you can see raptors circling in the air, and you can learn about the migratory paths of Taiwan’s Purple Butterfly Trail. Along the banks of the Songbai Creek, you can take a stroll with your whole family or ride a bicycle, and experience the beauty of the streams and the mountainous forests ecology for yourself.
Dajian Mountain is located at the junction of Gukeng Township of Yunlin County and Meishan Township of Chiayi County, with an altitude of 1304M, a small Baiyue, with a first-class triangle point at the top. This mountain is located at the western end of the Alishan mountain range, with an excellent view, close to the tea plantations can be viewed, and in the distance you can look out over the Yushan Mountain and the Taiwan Strait; most of the mountaineers hiking down below the Gukeng Huashan Recreation Area to taste Huashan coffee, there are a number of well-planned scenic hiking trails, and there are a lot of visitors on holidays, making it a popular countryside mountain road in this area.
The Erjian Mountain Trail is about 380 metres long, shuttling between tea gardens and industrial roads, and connecting to the mountain peak prismatic trails, with a wide view of the mountains as you stroll along the way, making it a scenic trail with the advantage of sunrise.
Jianan Yunfeng
‘Jia Nan Yunfeng Peak’ is located at the top of the peak on the border of Chiayi, Nantou and Yunlin counties, and is the highest peak in Yunlin County, with a height of 1,795 metres. When viewed from afar, the mountain is precipitous and towers into the sky. When viewed from afar, the mountain is precipitous and soaring into the sky. Climbing to the top of this peak, you can see the beautiful scenery of the Yushan Mountain Range. Along the trail, there is a 300-year-old giant tree that is the largest in Taiwan, and along the trail, there are beautiful and continuous bamboo forests, and in the primitive forests, there are huge old trees such as the Huangqi Giant Tree and the Ox-Camphor Giant Tree, etc. The trail continues to the Cape of Good Hope, and the outlook from the boulder on the Cape of Good Hope is excellent, and below it, there is the craggy cliffs, so that you can see the faraway places such as Shihpi, Caoling, and Fenshan, etc. and appreciate the magnificent beauty of the crags. The Cape of Good Hope Boulder offers a great view of the cliffs below.
Education in Gukeng
International Spiritual Eco-Village
The term ‘Gukeng International Spiritual Eco-Village’ appeared in 2019, initiated by a group of aspiring individuals in the Mayuan area of Gukeng Township, Yunlin County. This ‘village’ has no real administrative boundaries, and the villagers include local residents who have been working hard for hundreds of years, Fuzi practitioners and organic farmers who have been settling here for more than 20 years, as well as people who have settled outside the village but are actively involved in community interactions. What is initiated here is a community vision centred on spiritual upliftment, which is implemented in the daily actions of respecting life, sharing life, cherishing the ecology, and taking care of production.
Cheung Wu Ecological Primary and Secondary School
‘Camphor Lake Eco Primary and Secondary School, also known as Candy House Fantasy Primary School, is situated in the middle of a mountain forest and tea plantation, with a breathtaking view from the top. It also introduces character education, incorporates a four-season curriculum, and builds an excellent teaching system to complement digital learning and bridge the gap between urban and rural areas, in the hope of creating a school with knowledge and character. We hope to create a school with knowledge and character, so that students in the mountainous areas will no longer be remote, and at the same time can maintain a high degree of competitiveness.
Waldorf Experimental Primary School
After the passage of the Three Laws on Experimental Education in 2014, Gukeng Township Shanfeng Waldorf Experimental Elementary School became the first public experimental school in Taiwan approved by the Ministry of Education’s Deliberation Committee. Shanfeng Elementary School has been able to run a pilot Waldorf education experimental programme since 2011, using Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of humanistic education to run the school type and experimental education. Based on Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of anthroposophical education, the school operates a school type, experimental education, and in order to provide a closer connection between the community and the school, the school invites elders to the school to share the historical and cultural development of the local area, so that the children can have a deeper understanding of their hometowns and cultivate a sense of local sentiment.
Grass Ridge Ecological and Geological National Primary School
The school is located among the peaks at an altitude of 1,000 metres and has a beautiful campus. 2014 saw the completion of the new school building, which is made of bricks and wood and has a rustic and elegant appearance, winning the ‘Taiwan Architecture Award’, which is known as the Oscar of Taiwan’s architectural industry, and the school has also been chosen as one of the six most beautiful elementary schools in Taiwan by online votes.
Huainan Elementary School
The Huainan community is one of the least populated communities in Taiwan. However, more than ten years ago, the school cooperated with the Huainan Elementary School, which was about to be abolished, to develop the coffee industry in Gukeng and the ecological care of the community into the school’s special curriculum, leading students to experience mountain and wildlife education, completing the bicycle study tour, and assisting in the coffee farmer’s charity sale, which enabled the students to create a practical and interactive link with the community, strengthened the sense of local empathy, and attracted many students to attend school in other districts, changing the fate of the abolished school. The school was also honoured with the Ministry of Education’s Golden Quality Award for Teaching Excellence for the year 111.
Entertainment in Gukeng
Flower Festival
Gukeng all kinds of flowers are colorful, February cherry blossom season Caoling area has tens of thousands of cherry blossoms, species including cold cherry, white flower mountain cherry, mountain cherry blossom, Yaezakura, fuji cherry, three color cherry, drooping cherry, etc., group of flowers compete with colorful beautiful, every year in February-March in this organized cherry blossom season attracts a large number of crowds; Gukeng Township is the main producer of Taiwan’s liatian, planting area is extensive, in March, it is the liatian blossoms in full bloom season, forming Every March, it is the season when the willow blossoms bloom, forming a sea of white flowers, and the scent of the flowers everywhere is so amazing that it is called “March Snow”; in April, the Tung Blossom Park in Hebao Mountain, Gukeng Township, is in full bloom, with 2,000 tung blossom trees planted there, and coffee trees planted underneath the tung blossom trees in the Japanese colonial period, forming a unique landscape, and it is the only place to enjoy the tung blossom in Yunlin County for its high quality flower appreciation.
Caoling Stone Wall Forest Healing Base
“Caoling stone wall forest healing base,” the scope of the Yunlin hill, cedar forest trails, Wuyuan two angles, Muma Road and other scenic spots, since 2022, held annually at the end of October in this stone wall forest healing festival opened the beauty of the stone wall of the Gukeng Caoling in Yunlin, calling for forest healing experts to lead the walk into the mountains and forests, in the most undisturbed forests re-entering the forests, the Qingshui River hand in hand with the mountains surrounded by the secret of nature, the Flying Hill, under the rock wall Extravagant! The rock walls under Fei Shan are magnificent, and the canyons are full of strange bottles and caves. The mountains and forests are just like a treasure house to be deciphered, which hides a lot of marvelous nature and humanities, and this is the most mysterious and green area worth exploring in the mountains and forests of central Taiwan.
Jianhu Mountain World
Jianhu Mountain World covers an area of more than 60 hectares, combining a theme park and a five-star resort hotel. Surrounded by 140,000 trees and shrubs, Jianhu Mountain World also features flowers, local coffee, and nature and humanities to educate and entertain, and every year, there is the only New Year’s Eve fireworks display on the Ferris wheel in Asia, which is a complex tour that integrates recreation, amusement, cultural and creative industries, lodging, and shopping, and is suitable for leisure vacations, conferences, and business trips. In 2023, Jianhu Mountain World will generate nearly one million tourist arrivals, making it a must-see vacation destination in Gukeng.
Green Tunnel Park
Gukeng Green Tunnel Park is about two kilometers long, with mango trees with a history of about fifty years planted on both sides, forming a green tunnel that shades the sky and provides shelter from the summer heat. There are Taiwan Sugar Trains running along the road, whose compartments are quite unique, and on holidays, there are a lot of specialty bazaars selling local agricultural products, various snacks and coffee, and there are even street performers here to add a lot of artistic atmosphere, and there is a large grass lawn for picnics next to the tunnel. There is also a large lawn for picnics next to the tunnel, and the famous Bee Storytelling Museum is also located here, which is well worth a visit during the holidays.
Grass Ridge Geopark
The most famous geological features of the park are the Caoling Landslide and the accompanying weir lake, as well as a variety of other features, such as hanging valley waterfalls, canyon terrain, kettle caves, dense layers of fossilized shells, limestone, and porous rocks. In addition, there are also a variety of special geoscapes and geological resources, which are of great academic and educational significance in the preservation of natural landscapes.
Bee Story Pavilion
Bee Story Pavilion is located in Gukeng Township, next to the Green Tunnel, the museum has the largest apiary in Asia Asia’s largest apiary, the area across Taiwan and Thailand, the beekeeping business through three generations of the family for nearly 80 years, and year after year won the national honey quality assessment of the first class, first prize award, the second floor is specially set up transparent glass beehives, you can observe the ecology of the bees from a distance, but also can be pre-ordered to DIY the four seasons of honey brewing fruits and nectar love! The Honey Garden Café next to the entrance allows you to taste the sweet and fragrant flavor of honey. Right next to the apiary, from the place of production to the table, the freshness is delivered directly to the table, and a variety of bee products are sold for afternoon tea. Natural honey produced by the family is used instead of artificial syrups, so that visitors can taste the sweetness of health and peace of mind in every mouthful, and it is a regular weekend trip for many adults and children.
Fulushou Distillery
Located in Gukeng Township, Yunlin County, the “Fulushou Distillery” is the largest private distillery in Taiwan. In addition to its advanced distilling equipment and machinery, the distillery also features a well-designed museum within its premises, making it an excellent educational resource. Visitors can gain a comprehensive understanding of the raw materials and processes involved in liquor production. Combining traditional solid-state brewing techniques with century-old well water, the company produces aromatic kaoliang liquor. The “Fu” brand liquor has repeatedly been recognized by the International Taste Institute in Belgium, winning numerous gold awards and bringing international prestige to Taiwan’s private distilling industry.
Changsheng Winery
Changsheng Winery initially focused on food and bamboo shoot processing. However, with changing times and the opening of markets under the WTO, it transitioned into a rural winery, becoming the first legally established rural winery in Gukeng. The winery produces a variety of wines, vinegars, and enzyme products, primarily made from Yunlin’s local agricultural specialties. Visitors are invited to savor the delightful flavors born from this region’s pristine natural environment.
The Orange Lifestyle Festival
Gukeng is rich in natural produce and becomes a major citrus production area during the autumn and winter seasons (the largest producer of oranges and the second-largest producer of Murcott mandarins in Taiwan). During this time, the landscape is adorned with vibrant shades of orange and yellow. Various events, such as the Orange Festival and Murcott Mandarin Festival, are actively organized to promote local agricultural products, vividly showcasing the essence and spirit of an “orange lifestyle.”
The Coffee Culture Festival
The Taiwan Coffee Festival has been held in Gukeng since 2003, and this year marks its 21st edition. The festival is typically hosted at the “Gukeng Green Tunnel” and “Huashan Elementary School.” Visitors can explore the camping-style coffee market and carnival, discovering their favorite coffees, beverages, and lifestyle items, while immersing themselves in the aroma of coffee, music, and a picnic atmosphere.