Zhuzihu

Erosion broke a gap in it and the water gradually drained away, leaving a hollow. Since early times it has been divided into three enclosed areas: Donghu, Dinghu and Xiahu. Donghu is the area around Hutian Elementary School, where the name Zhuzihu began. Dinghu is a small basin of about 20 hectares beyond Hutian Bridge, along the farm road to the right; it is called Dinghu ('upper lake') because it lies above Donghu. Xiahu is the basin around what is now Haiyu Avenue, with Zhuzihu Stream running through it; it lies lower than Donghu, hence the name Xiahu ('lower lake'). As the lake drained it became wetland, and more than 1,000 years ago the Ketagalan, a Pingpu people, began to settle and farm here. When Han Chinese settlers arrived 200 years ago, they found muddy ground covered in bamboo and called it Zhuzihu ('bamboo lake'; in Hokkien the word for 'lake' can mean muddy ground). An old local legend gives another origin: the mountain basin was once thick with arrow bamboo, and when wind from the peaks swept through it, the bamboo rippled like the surface of a lake. Calla lilies are native to South Africa. Their Chinese name, 'horse-hoof lotus', comes from the bract, which looks like an upturned horse hoof when open, and from the way the plant grows in water like a lotus. They flower from January to May, peaking in March and April. The calla lilies of Zhuzihu are mainly white. The white part is a spathe, not the flower; many tiny flowers grow on the yellow spadix in its centre, with male and female flowers arranged separately. In late May, as the white calla lily season ends, purple-blue hydrangeas come into full bloom around the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. About seven or eight varieties of hydrangea are grown here, in white, pink with red edges, pink, magenta, pale blue and blue, with both large and medium flower heads in the farms, in rich, layered colours.

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