Nan-ao is a rural township in the southern part of Yilan County, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. It has a significant population of Atayal aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han...

. The township was the site of the Sayun incident during Japanese rule

Taiwan under Japanese rule

Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....

, made famous through the movie Sayon's Bell

Sayon's Bell

was a 1943 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Shimizu and based on the true story of a 17-year old Atayal girl called Sayun Hayun from Nan'oku village, Giran district, Taihoku Prefecture who went missing and thought to have drowned whilst helping carry the luggage of her teacher...

.

Nan-ao is in mountainous terrain part of the Central Mountain Range

Central Mountain Range

The Central Mountain Range, also known as the Chungyang Range , is the principal range of mountains in Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south.Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not so convenient...

.

• Area
  Area
  Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
  
  : 740.65 km²
• Population
  Population
  A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
  
  : 5,959 people in 1673 households (July 2006)

Nanao is divided into seven villages (from north to south):

• Dongyue
• Nan'ao
• Biho
• Jinyue
• Wuta
• Jinyang
• Aohua

Transportation

Nan-ao is served by the North-Link Line

North-Link Line

The North-Link Line is the central section of the Eastern Line of the Taiwan Railway Administration. It has a total length of 86.6 km, including the 7.4 km segment between Beipu and Hualien Port. -History:...

 of Taiwan Railway Administration

Taiwan Railway Administration

The Taiwan Railway Administration is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of China responsible for managing, maintaining, and running passenger and freight service on 1097 km of conventional railroad lines in Taiwan...

 at four stations: Dongao, Nanao, Wuta, and Hanben.

Taiwan Highway 9 passes through Nanao. Between Suao

Su-ao, Yilan

Su-ao , located in southern Yilan County, Taiwan, is an urban township that is famous for its seafood restaurants and cold springs. It is the destination of National Highway No. 5, Su-ao-Hualian Express Way, and North-Link Line of Taiwan Railway Administration...

 and Hualien, to the south, this road is known as the Suhua Highway (蘇花公路), and it features some of the most dramatic oceanside scenery in Taiwan.

External links

• Nanao Township Government Website