East Rift Valley National Scenic Area

In the past, Lintian Mountain Forestry Center, known as "Little Shanghai", was the fourth largest forestry center in Taiwan, the three largest forestry centers being Basian Mountain, Alishan and Taiping Mountain. By 1918, the mountain forest area that the Japanese referred to as "Molisaka" (transliterated as "Senban" in Chinese) was already being used for lumbering. After 1938, the lumbering industry in this area became more large-scale. In addition to constructing a lumber transportation railway and freight transportation ropeway, facilities included dormitories for the staff, a clinic, a welfare center, a rice store, a grocery store, a laundry, a barbershop, a fire department, a kindergarten and an elementary school. At that time, it allowed Lintian Mountain Forestry Center to become a fully-functional lumbering community, and at its peak, there were 400 to 500 households, with a population of over 2,000.


Lintian Mountain's lumber industry continued after Taiwan gained independence from Japan, and came to an end in 1991, when natural logging was no longer permitted. In the past more than ten years, the forest work stations have successively scaled down and merged, and the employee organizations have decreased. The once flourishing Lintian Mountain has gradually declined, and become a tiny, dying mountain village.


As one enters today's Lintian Mountain Forestry Center, the few remaining dormitories made of Chinese cypress are vestiges of the past. In the distant history, there remain some scattered, cultural traces that are very moving. Actually, through the joint efforts of the Forestry Bureau and local historians, many cultural resources have been preserved at Lintian Mountain. In addition to a variety of daily living articles, traditional firefighting tools, and lumbering machines and tools, various documents have been preserved, such as faded pictures and books. These are all on display at Lintian Mountain Forestry Culture and History Center, providing a complete testimony of Lintian Mountain's past history.