Poetic Cherry Blossom Season: Alishan Launches Poetry Trail and Elevated Cherry Blossom Viewing Path

By MOOK Travel Life Net’s Li Xinyi, compiled and reported

 

Alishan National Forest Recreation Area is an important and popular tourist attraction in Taiwan. The Chiayi Forest District Office of the Forestry Bureau is actively promoting the Alishan revitalization plan. Within Zhapingshan Park, situated at an elevation of 2,274 meters, it combines natural and cultural concepts in its planning and revitalization efforts. The office invited modern poets such as Zheng Chouyu to write poems on the theme of “Poetry for Alishan,” and used materials like basalt, glass, and wood to carve these poems into the landscape, creating the Alishan Poetry Trail that breathes new life into Zhapingshan Park. It is expected to open before the cherry blossom season.

The Chiayi Forest District Office of the Forestry Bureau noted that since last year (2012), the revitalization project of Zhapingshan Park has been underway. The park features planted cherry blossom forests, calla lilies, weeping crabapple, azaleas, multiflora wisteria, and hydrangeas. It is also home to rare bird species such as the Taiwan yuhina, Taiwan bush warbler, Taiwan hwamei, and green-backed tit. Coupled with the geological landscape of the Tashan Cliff, the area boasts rich natural and cultural characteristics. In recent years, as recreational functions within the forest recreation area have been strengthened, the Chiayi Forest District Office has focused on constructing a literary trail in Zhapingshan Park. Poets were invited to write about Alishan, using poetry to record the stories of the land. The poets invited span various eras of Taiwanese poetry, from modernist poets such as Lin Hengtai, Zheng Chouyu, Xi Murong, Yin Di, and Lin Huanzhang, to mid-generation poets such as Xiao Xiao, Zhang Mo, and Bai Ling, as well as Nobel Literature Prize-nominated poet Li Kui-xian and native Taiwanese poets such as Lu Hanxiu and Du Ye.

 

In addition, the Chiayi Forest Management Office has constructed an elevated walkway within Zhapingshan Park. The walkway stretches 176.7 meters in length and reaches a maximum height of 14 meters. From its endpoint platform, visitors can admire the majestic Tashan and enjoy aerial views of the graceful fir tree canopies and vast seas of cherry blossoms. It offers a unique perspective to appreciate the beauty of cherry blossoms from both ground level and above the treetops. After gathering ideas from the office staff, the elevated walkway was recently officially named “Cherry Path” and is expected to open to visitors before the cherry blossom season.

 

 

● Read more: Lantern festivals, bee-snorting fireworks, and firecracker parades – how Taiwan celebrates the Lantern Festival

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