Jin Chengwu’s Tree Is Sick! Too Many Visitors “Visiting the Sick” Prompt Resumption of Traffic Control on “Brunel Boulevard”

▲ The once lush Jin Chengwu’s Tree (left image) now has almost bare branches after being uprooted by the typhoon and replanted in the same spot (right image). (Photo / Reporter Chen Ziying; sourced from Deputy Magistrate Chang Chi-yi of Taitung County’s personal Facebook page)

Tourism Center / Comprehensive Report

The Brunel Boulevard in Taitung, which had entered a traffic control period due to farming activities, was briefly reopened to save Jin Chengwu’s Tree, which was blown down by a typhoon last week. However, in addition to tree conservation personnel, an increasing number of tourists have been coming specifically to check on the tree’s condition. As a result, the Chihshang Township Office resumed traffic control starting on the 27th. Even the tree doctor who came all the way from Japan can only enter by riding an agricultural iron ox cart.

Jin Chengwu’s Tree has long become one of the representative symbols of Taitung. However, last week, under the strong winds of Typhoon Matmo, it was uprooted and fell to the side. After rescue efforts by the Taitung County Government, the Chihshang Township Office, and many tree conservation workers, although it has been replanted in the same spot, it now only has bare branches—quite a contrast to its previously lush appearance.

The previously relaxed traffic control, which was intended to facilitate the access of military personnel and tree conservation workers for maintenance, has also been reinstated promptly due to the large number of tourists who came to see the ailing “tea-offering tree.” Even the tree doctor favored by the Japanese Emperor must switch to an iron ox cart to enter. Ordinary visitors can only access the area by bicycle. This measure not only protects the farmland that farmers have worked hard to plant but also allows the public to experience the slow-living joy of cycling through Brunel Boulevard, just as Jin Chengwu did in the advertisement.