Around 4,350 Allied servicemen were held in 14 prison camps around Taiwan during the Second World War. More than 2,000 were British soldiers captured when Singapore fell in 1942, but Americans, Dutch, Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders were also confined. Three years later, in mid-1945, the Japanese were on the verge of losing the war. Allied blockades made it impossible to continue shipping copper back to Japan, so the mine at Jinguashi 金瓜石 was closed and the remaining PoWs were moved to other locations around the island, among them, 300 allied soldiers were moved to Kukutsu 礦窟俘營 in May of 1945. The site of "Jungle Camp" at Kukutsu was rediscovered in 1997 on Xintan Road 新潭路 in XinDian 新店. Kukutsu is the only internment camp of five in Taipei to be located. In confinement, the POWs suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of Japanese and Formosan guards. Around 10 percent of the men who were held in camps died as a direct result of neglect and abuse. Medication and food were withheld and torture and humiliation to the point of insanity were routine.
Xindian felwort 新店當藥 (xīndiàn dāng yào) Swertia shintenensis Hayata - 45 to 100 cm tall. First year only grow basal leaves in rosettes; producing a single flowering stem in second year. Basal leaves withering after seed dispersal in late winter. Root stout, fleshy, yellow-brown. Stem erect, simple, hollow, terete. Basal leaves persistent at anthesis, entire, glabrous, opposite, obovoid to spathulate, base cuneate and decurrent into wings of petiole, apex acute, adaxial surface glossy, 15-30 cm long, 8-10 cm wide; veins pinnate, midrib distinct, elevated on lower surface, veinlets enclosed at margin. Cauline leaves entire, opposite, sessile, ovate to cordate, base cordate, apex acute to acuminate, gradually diminishing in size toward apex of stem, variable in size, to 7 cm long, 5 cm wide, veins distinct. Infl orescences manyflowered thyrses, lax, spreading, to 45 cm. Flowers 5-merous, rare 4-merous, nodding, 3–4 cm in diameter. Pedicel 1.6–3 cm, slightly thickened at apex. Calyx tube 2–2.5 mm; lobes spreading, ovate to ovate-triangular, 3–3.5 mm, margin narrowly membranous, apex acute. Corolla yellowish green or pale yellow, with purple spots at upper part of lobes, tube 3–3.5 mm; lobes narrowly oblong, 17–19 mm, apex acute. Nectaries 1, naked, suborbicular, sunked, just below the middle of per corolla lobe. Filaments slightly fl attened, 6–7 mm; anthers yellow, narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 5 mm. Ovary laterally compressed; style indistinct, ca. 2 mm; stigma bifid, lobes capitate. Capsules ellipsoid, compressed, 1.5– 2 cm. Seeds dark brown, oblong, ca. 0.5 mm; seed coat echinate.
At 857 meters above sea level, Lion's head mountain 獅頭山 resembles a lion lying down and is the tallest mountain in Hsindian 新店, offering spectacular vistas over the Taipei basin.
Lion's head mountain top was the site of islander resistance into the early years of Japanese occupation - 1896-1898
Triangulation points 三角點 (sānjiǎo diǎn) are fixed surveying points used in geodetic surveying. Triangulation points are grouped together to form a network of triangulation. Positions of all land boundaries, roads, railways, bridges and other infrastructure can be accurately located using this network. Taiwan inherits its network from Japan. Class 1 Triangulation points 一等三角點 are installed approximately every 40 kilometres. The visible portion of a class 1 point is an 18 cm cube of stone with no writing inscribed on the north face, and "一等三角點" inscribed on the southern face of the stone. In Taiwan, along with ascending mountain peaks, records of visits to triangulation points are also collected.
The Camphor extraction operation built a watch tower here to watch for forest fires and anti-Japanese militia.
The trail, signage and site restoration are much more developed that we saw in years past, however the contractor has failed to maintain the trails to the point of their becoming hazards. English text on the signs is incomplete and often incorrect.
These signs record that the Japanese have overcome the island's Han occupants, but indigenous Tayan 泰雅 (tàiyǎ) remain a threat to the camphor extraction operations.
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