Taroko Wen Tianxiang Park 太魯閣文天祥公園, Wun Tien Hsiang Park
Located on top of a hill overlooking Tianxiang Village in Taroko National Park, the Wen Tianxiang Park was built to commemorate the man whom the village was named after.
A Song Dynasty hero viewed as a martyr, Wen Tianxiang was captured by the Mongolian Kublai Khan (元世祖) and pressured to forfeit the Southern Song areas to the Mongolians. He refused to betray the Song, and was executed 4 years after his imprisonment. The Song Dynasty subsequently fell and the Yuan Dynasty was established.
Before the current statue of Wen was built, the area was a shrine built during the Japanese colonial period to honour the 5TH Governor-General of Taiwan, Sakuma Samata (佐久間 左馬太), as he led the Taroko Campaign in 1914 against the local Taroko aboriginal population. After the ROC government relocated to Taiwan, the shrine (which had fallen into disrepair) was replaced by this park to honour Wen.
A presbyterian church is located next to park.
Previously known as Tabiduo, the village’s name was changed in honour of Wen Tianxiang by former president Chiang Ching-kuo.
