Yushan (mountain)

Yu Shan or Yushan, Tongku Saveq, Mount Niitaka (during Japanese rule), and Mount Morrison before Japanese rule, is the highest mountain in Taiwan at above sea level, giving Taiwan the 4th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. It is the highest point in the western Pacific region outside of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Yushan and its surrounding mountains belong to the Yushan Range. The area was once in the ocean; it rose to its current height because of the Eurasian Plate's movement over the Philippine Sea Plate. Yushan is ranked 40th by topographic isolation.

The mountains are now protected as the Yushan National Park. The national park is Taiwan's largest, highest, and least accessible national park. It contains the largest tract of wilderness remaining on the island.

Names

Yushan or Yù Shān is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese name It is also known as , , and , calques of the same name. The name derives from its appearance in the winter, when its thick snow cover is thought to make its peak look like stainless jade. It was previously known in English as a name sometimes mistakenly thought to honor the missionary Robert Morrison, but simply the name of an American captain who sighted it.

Other native names for the mountain include Saviah and Tongku Saveq (Bunun; the latter means "highest peak" or "sheltering peak"), Tanungu'incu (Kanakanavu), and Kanasian (Paiwan).

During the Empire of Japan's rule in Taiwan, the mountain became known as or Niitakayama ("New High Mountain") because new surveying showed that it was higher than in the Japanese archipelago. As recently as seventeen thousand years ago, permanent ice caps existed throughout Taiwan's highest mountains and extended owing to the wet climate down to ; whereas currently, the nearest glaciers to the Tropic of Cancer are in Mexico on the Iztaccíhuatl volcano.

The ocean waters off Taiwan's east coast are deep; in fact, submarine slopes plunge down to the Pacific Ocean at a grade of 1:10 and the ocean reaches a depth of more than about from the coast.

Hiking

With panoramic views, overlapping mountains, and deep, plunging valleys, Yushan National Park is well known for its scenery, sunrises, sunsets, geological features, and views of the clouds from above. Sea of clouds often fill the valleys. Yushan itself is the focal point of the park.

Yushan is one of the favorites among Taiwanese mountain climbers. For international peak baggers, Yushan is ranked as the 4th World Island Highpoints and the 3rd Asian Island Highpoints. Some hikers combine trips to Puncak Jaya () in Indonesia and Mount Kinabalu () in Malaysia to create an "Asian Trilogy".

Yushan has five main peaks:

Main Peak (玉山主峰), , the most popular of the peaks
Eastern Peak (玉山東峰), – from Main Peak
Western Peak (玉山西峰), – from Paiyun Lodge

All of the above vegetation variations can be seen in the Yushan area from low foothills to high summits with an elevation difference of . Because of these wide climatic and vegetation variations, this environment nurtures the richest and most diversified wildlife in Taiwan. Preliminary investigations reveal that there are 130 species of birds, 28 species of mammals, 17 species of reptiles, 12 species of amphibians, and 186 species of butterflies in Yushan National Park. In fact, Yushan is nicknamed "the ark" by academics who see it as a repository of Taiwan's rare species. It is almost an encyclopedia of Taiwan's ecological systems, a geological museum and an important habitat of one-third of Taiwan's endemic species, such as:

Formosan serow (台灣長鬃山羊)
Reeves's muntjac (台灣山羌)
Formosan black bear (台灣黑熊)
Formosan blue magpie (台灣藍鵲)
Formosan rock macaque (台灣獼猴)
Hemimyzon taitungensis (台東間爬岩鰍) and Varicorhinus tamusuiensis (Oshima) – Two unique fish species living in the Lekuleku River area.

History

Under the Qing Dynasty, W. Morrison, captain of the American steam freighter Alexander, sighted the mountain while departing from Anping Harbor (present-day Anping, Tainan) in 1857. His log was the first western mention of the mountain, which took his name in European accounts. European mountaineers couldn't access the mountain at the time due to hostile relations of local aborigines to both Qing authorities and Europeans.

Under the Japanese, the anthropologists Torii Ryūzō and Ushinosuke Mori became the first people recorded to summit the mountain in 1900. They gave it the name which was used as the name of the Niitaka Arisan National Park in 1937. The Imperial Japanese Navy also used the mountain's name in its "Go" signalNIITAKAYAMANOBORE 1208 ( [Kanji: ]), meaning "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208"to begin the surprise attack against the USN Pacific Fleet and its base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941 (8 December [1208] in Japanese calendar). During the time that Taiwan was an integral part of the Japanese Empire, Mt. Niitaka's height of 3,952 m meant that, for about 50 years, it was the highest mountain in Japan, 176 m higher than Mt. Fuji.

The Yushan weather station on the north peak was finished in 1943.

Under the Republic of China, a large bronze statue of Yu Youren was placed on the Yushan summit in 1966. The statue was cut down and thrown into a ravine by activists for Taiwan independence in 1996.

In recent years, Yushan has played an important role in a new focus on Taiwan's identity. Because of its iconic status, Yushan has been chosen to be the background of the newly issued NT$1,000 notes on 20 July 2005. Similarly, an asteroid discovered by National Central University's Lulin Observatory on 28 December 2007 was named "Yushan" in honor of the mountain.

Climate

Yushan has an alpine climate (Köppen ET/ETf). The tip of Yushan is usually covered with frost from November to March. Elevations above may sometimes see snow during the winter months, and there are four consecutive months of snow accumulation at places with elevations higher than . The first snow may appear in October and completely melts by May. Snow falls 24.3 days per year on average on Yushan, and the number is gradually decreasing.

Yushan receives around of precipitation annually. It rains an average of 140 days per year, with the greatest frequency between May and August. From May until the first part of June is plum rain season or monsoon season. Taiwan's typhoon season roughly falls between July and September. The peak month is in August, which sees of precipitation on average, compared to in December, the driest month.

Gallery

File:玉山主峰 (6786349819).jpg|Yushan (玉山) during winter season

File:玉山主峰 (6786353517).jpg|Yushan (玉山) during winter season

File:DSC04198雄偉的玉山主峰.jpg|Yushan (玉山) during winter season

File:玉山主峰 01.jpg|Yushan (玉山) during winter season

File:玉山主峰 02.jpg|Yushan (玉山) during winter season

File:玉山主峯_海拔3952公尺_單攻.jpg|Yushan Trail signage

File:Yushan Taiwan.jpg|Yushan (玉山)

File:Laonung River.jpg|Laonung River at the northeastern side of Yushan

File:YushanSeaCloud2.jpg|Sea of clouds on Yushan Trail

File:YushanSeaCloud3.jpg|Sea of clouds on Yushan Trail

File:YushanSeaCoud4.jpg|Sea of clouds on Yushan Trail

File:YushanSeaCloud5.jpg|Sea of clouds near Tatajia Anbu on Yushan Trail

File:Yushan(jade mountain) in the morning.jpg|Mountain in the morning

File:YushanSunrise.jpg|Sunrise at Yushan

File:YushanSunrise1.jpg|Sunrise at Yushan

File:YushanSunrise2.jpg|Sunrise at Yushan

File:YushanSunrise3.jpg|Sunrise at Yushan

File:Yushan(jade mountain) with sun set.jpg|Mountain with sunset

File:YushanPeak1.jpg|Hikers at the summit

File:FormosanRockMonkey.jpg|Formosan rock macaque found on Yushan Trail

File:Yu shan range as seen from Shin Kang mountain (Summer 2005).jpg|Yushan Range, eastern side view

File:新高主山與東山.jpg|Yushan on November 1, 1935

File:Mountain Yu.jpg|Painting of Yushan by Nasu Masaki (那須雅城)

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Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Taiwan Review
Yushan Scenic Beauty
2007 trip report and climbing information
Book on the first ascent (German)
Yushan Main Peak Trail Introduction