Among the cemeteries located here are the following:
Jile Cemetery
Taipei Public Cemetery No. 6
Muslim Cemetery
And three White Terror cemeteries.
Prior to the arrival of the Kuomintang, this area had been primarily tea-growing land, owned and farmed by local families for a century and a half. It has long been the tradition of farmers to bury their loved ones on family-owned land, and thus graves began appearing on the hillsides. A tomb dated 1831 has been spotted here, but there may be even older graves. But when the KMT took control of Taiwan, they declared the entire area a place for burials. Here is the final resting place of KMT heroes and victims, folks rich and poor, soldier and civilian, famous and anonymous. There are even a few foreigners buried here.
This area is particularly fascinating because of the sheer variety of different styles of tombs visible here. Some are demarcated by horseshoe-shaped walls, some are shaped like loaves of bread, some like little houses, some grand monuments, some just tiny stones. There are graves of Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, and Christians. If there's one place in Taiwan to get a good overview of the diversity of grave styles, this is the place.
A horseshoe-shaped tomb, and above it, a house-shaped tomb
A loaf-shaped tomb
The tomb of the Taiwanese activist Chiang Wei-shui
Getting there:
To reach the cemeteries, exit Liuzhangli MRT station, turn right and walk immediately across the street. The next street is Chongde Street. From there, you can walk a couple km up the road, or take a cab. In the lead-up weeks before the Qingming Festival, free shuttle services are available on this road on the weekends. A convenient place to start exploring is the at prominent white pagoda.
On Google Street View:
Pagoda area
Tours:
Interesting, informative tours of this area are often given by Linda Gail Arrigo.
