Occupying an area of about 10 hectares, the Zhishan Park is located at the junction of Section 1, Zhicheng Road and Yusheng Street by the Shuang River, looking like a bowl. It is a large nature park filled with green, ecological, cultural, and historical landscapes. Looking like the appearance of Mt. Zhi in Fuzhou and Zhangzhou, it was named Zhishan during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty by early immigrants from these two places settling down on the north bank of the Tamsui River and Shilin. Chihshan Rock Culture has two definitions. First, it refers collectively to the cultural layer of various prehistoric periods found in Zhishan Yan. Under this definition, the existing Yuanshan Culture unearthed from the Yuanshan Historical Site includes the Botanical Garden Culture, Yuanshan Culture, Chihshan Rock Culture, Shuntanpu Culture, and Dapenkeng Culture. Such a way of cultural layer distributions is called “vertical stacking.” That is to say, different cultural layers are located in the same site but at different depths.
Occupying an area of about 10 hectares, the Zhishan Park is located at the junction of Section 1, Zhicheng Road and Yusheng Street by the Shuang River, looking like a bowl. It is a large nature park filled with green, ecological, cultural, and historical landscapes. Looking like the appearance of Mt. Zhi in Fuzhou and Zhangzhou, it was named Zhishan during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty by early immigrants from these two places settling down on the north bank of the Tamsui River and Shilin. Chihshan Rock Culture has two definitions. First, it refers collectively to the cultural layer of various prehistoric periods found in Zhishan Yan. Under this definition, the existing Yuanshan Culture unearthed from the Yuanshan Historical Site includes the Botanical Garden Culture, Yuanshan Culture, Chihshan Rock Culture, Shuntanpu Culture, and Dapenkeng Culture. Such a way of cultural layer distributions is called “vertical stacking.” That is to say, different cultural layers are located in the same site but at different depths. In general, Chihshan Rock Culture often refers to the new cultural layer excavated at about 2m deep underground in 1979. This cultural layer can be dated back to about 3600–3000 years ago. The site was found during the excavation of a building foundation. As it is located below the surface, many organic relics are preserved, such as woodware, ropes, rice, and plant seeds. There are also stone tools, pottery, and bone tools used as farming tools. Crowbars and decorations are special relics found at the site. A large quantity of rice with ears and farming tools have been excavated from the site, suggesting that growing rice was rather mature in that time. Moreover, a large quality of consumed animal remains, such as deer, pigs, muntjacs, and fish, have been recovered, suggesting that hunting and fishery were popular. As the origin of this culture cannot be found in any historical records of Taiwan, and this culture is different from other prehistoric cultures, such as Yuanshan Culture, found previously, it was named Chihshan Rock Culture after the discovery in 1979 according to international practice. Based on the universal culture distinction, Chihshan Rock Culture should belong to the late Neolithics, and Chihshan culture and history are well developed. Designated as a Grade III historical monument in 1979, “HuiJigong” in the park is an ancient temple built over 260 years ago in 1725. Koxinga is the major deity worshipped in the temple. At the beginning of Japanese colonial Taiwan, the park was designated as the start point for teaching Japanese. After the “Six Teachers’ Incident/Zhishanyan Incident” in the following year, the Japanese government deliberately turned this place into a spiritual symbol of Japanese educators. The handwritings of the Premier Hirobum Ito were inscribed behind the stone tablet. After long-term protection, many old trees are preserved along the ancient trail in the park. For example, the 300-year-old camphor tree standing next to the Yunong Reading Room is the park’s treasure. Long-time weathering has turned terrains and landforms in the park into various natural landscapes. For example, the sun stone, elephant stone, wormhole, onion stone, stone god, stone snake, and stone frog with fracture-shaped cracks are rich teaching materials of geology. Come on and enjoy a trip combining history, botany, ecology, and geology by strolling in the forest along the boardwalk.
