Qingtiangang: A Century-Long Tug-of-War among Grassland, Bunkers, and Water Buffalo

Thirty-Second Overview

Qingtiangang on Yangmingshan, this seemingly tranquil expanse of green grassland, is in fact a “site of clashing wills” spanning more than a century. It was once a hunting ground of the Ketagalan people, a strategic military stronghold guarded by the Qing-era “Henan Braves,” and the large-scale “Dailing Pass Ranch” of the Japanese colonial period. Yet after this volcanic grassland was transformed into a national park in 1985, the water buffalo that had once coexisted with humans were labeled an “alien species,” culminating in mass deaths during the winter of 2020 after human-made fencing restricted their movement. This article takes you through the haze of the tourist landscape to see the power and tragedy of life hidden behind bunkers and barbed wire, and the enduring question of whether humans and nature should “coexist” or be “managed.”

Layers of History: From Indigenous Hunting Ground to Military Stronghold

Qingtiangang is located on the northern side of Yangmingshan National Park, in the center of the Datun Volcano Group, surrounded by Zhuzi Mountain, Qigu Mountain, and Huangzui Mountain ¹. The history of this grassland is far heavier than the selfie-taking footsteps of modern visitors. Its old names included “Niupu,” “Daling,” and “Lingtouyan.” As early as the period of the Plains Indigenous Ketagalan people, such as the Jinbaoli community in Jinshan and the Masuoweng community in Shilin, it may already have been an important hunting ground or a route of communication between communities ². During the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty, there were already records of cattle grazing here; even earlier, preindustrial land uses such as camphor extraction, tea cultivation, or charcoal burning may also have taken place ².

📝 Curator's Note: History here is not a chronology, but layered “geology of power.” From Ketagalan livelihoods and Qing military patrols to Japanese colonial livestock experiments, each layer defined a different face of this grassland.

During Qing rule, because of its strategic terrain, its overlook of the Taipei Basin, and its connections to Jinshan, Tamsui, and Keelung, Qingtiangang became an important military garrison site. The Qing troops stationed here were known as the “Henan Braves.” They patrolled sulfur-producing areas, prevented illegal extraction, and left defensive traces along the Jinbaoli Trail, also known as the Yulu Historic Trail. The area around “Jixinlun,” for instance, contains remains of Qing-era military encampments ^{3 4}.

After Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, many anti-Japanese resistance forces retreated here, assembling about a thousand troops and engaging Japanese forces for several months. The surviving historic “city gate” is a witness to those years of warfare ⁵. During the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese recognized the value of the area’s level terrain and established “Dailing Pass Ranch” in 1934, introducing carpet grass as pasture. At its peak, the number of cattle across the area ranged from 1,700 to 3,000 head ^{6 5 7}. At the time, Qingtiangang was the most important private grazing area in the Taipei Basin. Countless cowherds brought herds here to feed, forming a distinctive pastoral landscape ⁷.

After the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan, “Yangmingshan Ranch” was planned here in 1952 and administered by the Taipei City Farmers’ Association, continuing the site’s livestock function ^{5 7}. The grassland’s name was also changed from “Dailing Pass” to “Qingtiangang” by then-president Chiang Ching-kuo, drawing on the idea of “standing upright between heaven and earth.” The name also echoed the “Qingtian Troops” stationed there at the time, giving it strong military symbolism ⁴.

The Silence of the Bunkers: A Hidden Military Heritage

Many visitors come to Qingtiangang and notice only the seemingly guileless water buffalo, while rarely discovering the 11 bunkers scattered across the grassland, including six round bunkers and five concealed bunkers ⁶. Most of these bunkers were built after the Second World War as anti-airborne facilities established by the army to defend against paratroopers ^{6 8}. During the martial law period, Qingtiangang was a military control zone. Republic of China armed forces were stationed there, and anti-airborne bunkers, tank shelters, barracks, and training grounds were expanded ⁴.

In fact, Qingtiangang’s militarized history began even earlier. During the Japanese colonial period, the area already had air-raid shelters, underground bunkers, and reportedly more than 2,000 foxholes ⁴. Today, visitors can still follow the circular trail to search for military remains such as Bunkers No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4, as well as the Jinbaoli Trail city gate. Some bunkers are even hidden among silvergrass. These cold structures of reinforced concrete silently narrate the strategic pressures Taiwan faced in different historical periods.

📝 Curator's Note: When we pursue an airy, photogenic backdrop on the grassland, we are in fact standing on a Cold War defensive skeleton. This coexistence of “everyday tourism” and “extreme militarization” is precisely the most real tension in Taiwan’s landscape.

Volcanic Geology and Ecology: The Grassland's Vitality and the Water Buffalo Dispute

Qingtiangang lies within the Datun Volcano Group and is a plateau formed from weathered pyroclastic rock and andesite. Its acidic, well-drained soil created a distinctive environment suited to the growth of carpet grass (Axonopus compressus) ⁹. Yet the winter conditions of low temperatures, strong winds, and high elevation, at about 600 to 700 meters, also cause the nutritional value of pasture to drop sharply in winter. This became one of the natural backdrops to the 2020 water buffalo deaths ^{9 10}.

Besides water buffalo, Qingtiangang Grassland is also habitat for many native organisms. The national park’s main reason for classifying water buffalo as an “alien species” is their possible impact on native plant diversity. Ecological advocates, however, have advanced the idea of “cultural landscape organisms,” arguing that water buffalo maintain the open grassland through grazing, effectively preventing shrub encroachment and forming an indispensable part of sustaining this landscape ^{10 11}.

Tragedy beneath the Fence: The 2020 Water Buffalo Deaths

This century-long relationship of coexistence suffered a severe blow in the winter of 2020. After cattle injured visitors in 2018, the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters, in pursuit of the “best social distance between people and cattle,” installed several kilometers of barbed-wire fencing along the central trail ^{12 13 14}. Although the project received the 20th Public Construction Golden Quality Award, it became a “boundary of death” for the water buffalo.

In December 2020, northern Taiwan experienced days of cold, rainy weather, and feral water buffalo on Qingtiangang Grassland began collapsing one after another. By December 23, 30 water buffalo had died ^{12 15 16}. Ultimately, the total number of dead water buffalo in Qingtiangang and surrounding areas reached about 50, and the mortality rate in the enclosed area once reached 87% ^{17 11}. Taipei City’s Animal Protection Office initially determined the cause of death to be “malnutrition” ¹². The Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters responded that this was due to “natural environmental factors” ¹².

But this explanation drew severe criticism from the Control Yuan and conservation groups. In a press release dated February 20, 2021, the Control Yuan clearly stated: “The deaths of the water buffalo were related to the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters’ enclosure and restriction of living space, and it believes the Headquarters committed negligence resulting in animal deaths.” ^{18 19} Conservationists pointed out that, without fencing restrictions, the herds could have freely migrated to lower-elevation, wind-sheltered areas to forage. It was the human “will to manage” that severed their route to survival ^{12 3 20 21}.

📝 Curator's Note: The claim of “natural death” appears pale in front of the barbed-wire fence. This was not ecological succession, but a survival blockage triggered by management boundaries.

Subsequent Developments and Current Status (2021-2026)

After the water buffalo deaths, the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters adjusted its management strategy. Some barbed wire was removed or replaced with non-barbed fencing, migration corridors for cattle were opened, supplemental feed such as hay and salt blocks was provided, and cattle sheds were repaired to help the animals overwinter. In addition, bulls were castrated to control population size ^{17 11}.

As of February 2026, there were about 24 water buffalo in the Qingtiangang area, while the Dingshan and Shitiling area had about 32 ^{17 22}. The Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters continues to promote “separation of humans and cattle” and population control, while also discussing coexistence plans with local communities, such as subsidizing farmers to install electric pasture fencing to reduce crop damage caused by cattle descending the mountain. The ecological function of water buffalo as the grassland’s “natural lawnmowers” remains recognized, but the potential risk of human-livestock conflict still exists. The search for a more pragmatic model of coexistence remains ongoing ^{23 17 24 25}.

Yulu Historic Trail: Moonlight over Fish Porters and the Passage of Time

At the edge of the grassland lies another historical artery: the Yulu Historic Trail, also known as the Jinbaoli Trail. This old trail, about 30 to 41 kilometers long, was an important early transportation route between Jinshan and Shilin ^{26 27 2 28}. A century ago, countless “fish porters” shouldered catches from Huanggang fishing village in Jinshan under the moonlight, crossed Qingtiangang, and headed to Shilin to sell them ^{26 27}.

The Yulu Historic Trail was not only an economic lifeline, but also a miniature of everyday life and culture. The old trail included different routes such as the “Henan Brave Road,” used by Qing troops, and the “Japanese Road,” built by the Japanese military for transporting artillery ². After the Yangjin Highway opened, the old trail gradually became a hiking route ^{29 30}. In recent years, the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters has continued restoration work, allowing visitors to move among stoneworking remains and Earth God temples and sense the atmosphere of earlier settlers’ reclamation ².

📝 Curator's Note: The Yulu Historic Trail symbolizes “movement,” while the fence is enforced “stillness.” The century-long history of Qingtiangang is an enduring tug-of-war between flow and blockage.

Conclusion: Whose Grassland? Whose Lives?

The story of Qingtiangang is a struggle over “who has the right to define this land.” For Indigenous peoples, it was a hunting ground; for the military, a defensive position; for farmers, a pasture; for visitors, a check-in destination; and for management agencies, a space that needs to be “regulated.” This grassland carries multiple and often conflicting “wills.”

When we take photos with water buffalo on the grassland, perhaps we should remember the lives that collapsed at the edge of the fence. Qingtiangang is not merely a grassland. It is a mirror reflecting how, in the human pursuit of order, we often ignore life’s most basic need for movement. Water buffalo are not purely an “invasive species,” but the result of a century of coexistence with this land. Yet human-livestock conflict and management challenges are also real. For example, the “4K Camera-kun livestream couple outdoor sex incident” that occurred in mid-May 2026 ^{31 32 33} once again triggered discussion over the management of public space and legal boundaries.

Qingtiangang’s future requires not only fences, but also deeper dialogue between humans and nature. How to strike a balance among ecological conservation, animal welfare, and visitor safety is a shared challenge before us. Perhaps through continued monitoring and community dialogue, we can find a sustainable path of coexistence, so that these “historical cohabitants” no longer pay the price for human decisions.

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