A stroll through old photos of Yuanli, revisiting images of bygone days

Yuanli Township

Yuanli Township, known as the "Granary of Miaoli" and the "Rice Barn of Miaoli," lies in the southwestern corner of Miaoli County in central Taiwan, China, bordering the north bank of the Daan River and Dajia District of Taichung City to the south, Sanyi Township along Huoyan Mountain to the east, Tongxiao Township to the north, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. It is one of the earliest-developed townships in Miaoli County.

Origin of the Place Name
The name of the township comes from the transliteration of the Taokas branch of the Pingpu people's Yuanli community (Wanli community, Wanrie). According to Abe Akihisa's "A Study of Taiwanese Place Names," the aboriginal language was translated as "Liwanli." Under simplification of the aboriginal language, forms such as "Wanli" and "Wanli" (different characters), and even "Wanli" and "Yuanli" as found in ancient documents, are all homophones with different characters from today's "Yuanli," and all refer to the same place.

The Eight Communities of Bengshan (Pengshan)
During the Kangxi and Yongzheng reigns of the Qing period, they were called the "Eight Communities of Bengshan" or "Bengshan"; after the Qianlong reign they were renamed the "Eight Communities of Pengshan" or "Pengshan."
The Eight Communities: Dajia East, Dajia West, Wanli, Fangli, Nanri, Shuangliao, Maoyu, Tunxiao.
Dajia East Community (present-day Dajia District and Waipu District of Taichung City), Dajia West Community (Dehua Community, present-day Dajia District and Daan District of Taichung City), Wanli Community (Yuanli Community, present-day Yuanli Township of Miaoli County), Fangli Community (Fangli Community, present-day Yuanli Township of Miaoli County), Nanri Community (Rinan Community, present-day Dajia District of Taichung City), Shuangliao Community (Baichen Community, present-day Dajia District of Taichung City), Maoyu Community (present-day Yuanli Township of Miaoli County), and Tunxiao Community (present-day Tongxiao Township of Miaoli County).
There is also the Ribei Community, which covers the inner area of Yuanli Township and neighboring townships.

I care about old houses, about Taiwan's agriculture, about the elderly, about memories, and about traditional food in Miaoli
"Our parents' generation, in pursuit of their freedom, went from the countryside to the city;

our generation, in pursuit of our freedom, goes from the city back to the countryside."

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Sources: Old Photographs of Miaoli, Wikipedia, Rural Little Love