The mountains surrounding this waterfall are forests where the Atayal people have long lived and hunted. Xiaowulai is a waterfall located in Fuxing District,…
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The mountains surrounding this waterfall are forests where the Atayal people have long lived and hunted.
Xiaowulai is a waterfall located in Fuxing District, on the mountainous side of Taoyuan City. The word "Wulai" is said to come from the Atayal language, meaning "hot water," and it shares its origin with the Wulai Hot Springs in New Taipei City.
The water of this falls is born from the very same rain that the people of the tableland once tried to gather into ponds. Rain falling upon the mountains descends here, eventually joins the Dahan River, gathers in the Shimen Reservoir, and travels through the Taoyuan Canal toward the fields of the tableland. A single path of water connects mountain and plateau.
For the Atayal people, mountain and water were life itself. They caught fish in the rivers, pursued game through the forests, and grew millet on the slopes. Hunting grounds were passed down through each family line, and there was a strict rule never to enter the territory of another family.
The Atayal once practiced facial tattooing. For men, it marked their prowess in the hunt; for women, their skill at the loom. This custom was banned during the period of Japanese rule, and today almost no one remains who bears such markings.
Here, the roar of the falls is loud enough to nearly drown out the human voice.
Those who once peered into the ponds on the tableland may never have known of this waterfall. And yet, that very water had come from here.
