Lioujiao Township is located in the northwest of Chiayi Township, and is a part of the Chianan Plain. It borders the Singang Township and Taibao City in the east, Puzihsi and Puzih City in the south, Dongshih Township in the west, and Beigangsi and Yunlin County in the north. Lioujiao Dapai runs through the center of the township and enters the sea at Dongshih Township. The landscape is flat, with an altitude of 8 meters; it is approximately 10.5 kilometers from the sea. The area measures approximately 62 square kilometers.
Lioujiao Township was originally called Liouchiadian. According to legend, Fujian Longxi County’s cultivator Shih Cheng Chen and six other tenant families arrived on the east coast of the downstream bend of the Bengangsi (now Beigangsi), 258 years before the founding of the Republic of China, and decided to stay there permanently. They settled about 4 kilometers from the southwest of today’s Beigang Township, and from there the name Liouchiadian (literal translation: six family tenant) was derived. After a few generations, and frequent communications with outsiders, Liouchiadian was mispronounced by outsiders, as “Chia” (literally: family) in Taiwanese. It sounds similar to “feet” in Taiwanese, hence during the Japanese ruling era, the place become known as Lioujiao (literally six feet), and has remained so until today.
The township is exceptionally rich in natural resources, with flat, green soil and farmland everywhere. It is a typical agricultural town, with approximately 5000 hectares of cultivation area. Mass agricultural products include paddy rice, sugar cane, corn, sweet yam, peanuts, and sorghum. Due to its ideal geographical environment and climate, cultivation of asparagus is also common. Asparagus gathering stations can be seen everywhere in the fields, which is one of the featured scenes of the fields. During the year of 1973 it was very popular to plant mulberries to raise silkworms. The planting area covered more than 150 hectares, producing more than 115,000 kilograms of cocoons per year. This made the township an important silkworm raising district in the country and it was beneficial in terms of both foreign exchange and improving farmers’ lives. At the time it was a big feature of Lioujiao Township’s Agriculture.
In recent years, to adapt to joining the WTO and to decrease impact on farmers, the township has turned to promoting refined and unique agricultural products. These include forage corn, sweet corn; net-type vegetables such as bell peppers, sponge cucumbers, muskmelons, green peppers etcetera. Tunnels of these vegetables can be seen on the farms, and have brought unlimited agricultural opportunities for farmers.
One of the town’s historical sites, is the “meeting of the turtle and snake,” a natural land formation whereby the Puzihsi runs through Taiwan Sugar Company’s Suantou branch and meets with the Bigou. As the old saying goes, the meeting of the turtle and snake keeps watch on the Puzihsi and Bigou openings to prevent catastrophes. The tomb of Ch’ing Dynasty’s Prefect General Wang De-Lu and his wife can be found in Shuanghan Village; the architecture is grand and majestic, with 8 stone statues of people, horses, goats and lions along the left and right sides of the tomb; it has been listed as a first grade historical site. Jhecheng Culture Park, located in Gongchang Village’s Suantou Sugar Factory, Puzihsi Ecological Park, the bike bridge that runs across Puzihsi (Changshou Bridge), Aosuan bike route and the farm scenes along it, are tour destinations which have been planned recently, and are excellent places in which to spend holidays.
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