Baishihu Leisure Agriculture Area

In the Guangxu reign at the end of the Qing dynasty a quarry was set up in the Neihu hills, and the stone for the walls of Taipei Prefecture City was taken from here. Because the terrain was strategic, in the third month of 1787 (the 52nd year of the Qianlong reign), Baishihu was a battlefield where Lin Xiaowen, a follower of the anti-Qing rebel Lin Shuangwen, fought Qing troops. The area was also home to the Ketagalan Lizu community. The Lizu are said to have lived originally on the west bank of the Keelung River in Songshan, and moved gradually to the Baishihu area under the influence of Han Chinese land clearance in the Qing; they were renamed 'Xin Lizu' (New Lizu) to distinguish them from the 'Jiu Lizu' (Old Lizu) of Songshan. The Ketagalan Lizu community has since merged into Han society and disappeared. After Taiwan's retrocession, because of the Kaizhang Shengwang Temple at Bishanyan, the area was renamed Bishancun, and in 1968 it was formally renamed Bishanli, the name it still has. The Baishihu community is surrounded by mountains, and its settlement dates back to the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. It is ringed by Bishan, Baishihushan, Daluntoushan, Kaiyanshan, Dajianshan (now called Zhongyongshan) and Xiaojianshan (now called Yuanjuejianshan), and is the highest community in Neihu District, at about 250 to 450 m above sea level. The Baishihu area is a valley with subtropical broadleaf forest. Besides being suited to leisure farming, it links up with hiking trails on Baishihushan, Daluntoushan, Kaiyanshan and Longchuanyan, and is both a green backyard for local residents and a weekend outing for people from Taipei. Other points of interest in the Baishihu area: Baishihu Suspension Bridge, Houhu Wetland (Tongxinyuan Ecological Wetland), Guzhui Pond, the Fuqi (Couple) Trees and the old Huang family house at Shikan (Ziyunju). Neihu strawberry season: the strawberry season in Neihu District runs from December to May of the following year, peaking in March and April. Neihu has many strawberry farms suitable for day trips with family, partners or friends, and some farms also offer farm activities such as making strawberry jam or baking pizza in a wood-fired oven.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.