The valley between the ranges

The valley is a long, narrow depression between the Central Mountain Range on the west and the Coastal Mountain Range on the east. It is about 180 kilometres long, running from Hualien City in the north to Taitung City in the south. Geologists believe it marks the northern end of the Philippine Mobile Belt, a collage of plate fragments and volcanic intrusions that has been squeezed against the Eurasian plate. The valley floor is made of alluvium brought down by three river systems, the Hualien, Xiuguluan and Beinan, all of which reach the Pacific. The land is flat, green and unusually wide for eastern Taiwan.

The valley is the agricultural heart of the east coast. Rice is the main crop, grown in flooded paddies that mirror the mountains in the weeks after planting. The fields are small and worked by families, and the villages are strung along the road and the railway. Between the paddies are orchards, tea gardens and fields of vegetables, and the foothills are forested. The Huadong Highway, part of Provincial Highway 9, runs the length of the valley, and the railway follows it closely. Road and rail link the valley’s settlements, all within the narrow corridor between the two ranges.

The valley is best seen from a train, where paddies and mountain slopes unfold beyond the windows. Ruisui and Antong have hot springs, and the Chishang and Fuli areas are known for rice. The road is also a cycling route, with quiet lanes branching off the highway into the villages. The valley is home to Amis, Bunun and other indigenous communities, whose festivals and hunting traditions are tied to the mountains. In the evening the light comes low across the paddies, and the two ranges turn blue. It is a landscape that rewards stopping rather than passing through.