Taroko Cimu Bridge and Pavilion 太魯閣慈母橋與慈母亭

An integral part of the Cross-Island Highway PH8, the original Cimu Bridge was built in 1959 to connect the Lüshui and Tianxiang areas to the eastern part of Taroko National Park and Hualien.

Cimu in Chinese means “motherly devotion”. Legend says that in this area known as Heliu (合流) where the two rivers meet, a child was near to the river edge and swept away by a large current. Every day, the child’s mother would go to the river to wish for her child’s safe and quick return to her.

Due to extensive typhoon damage over the years and concerns about stability of the bridge, especially due to the growing popularity of Taroko National Park with tourists, a new Cimu Bridge was commissioned to replace the old one, and was completed in June of 1995.

This red, steel hanging bridge is 9.9M wide and 136M in length and crosses over the Laoxi River (荖西溪), about 1KM east of the Lüshui (綠水) area.

At each end of the bridge are marble stone lions with marble lotus stones on each side of the lion.

Under the bridge is a rock which looks like a frog, on top of which a pavilion was constructed to become the crown for the frog in memory of President Chiang Ching-kuo’s mother.

The Cimu Pavilion (慈母亭) is located at the eastern base of the bridge and was constructed in memory of president Chiang Kai-shek’s mother.