The "ends of the earth" on Hainan Island is very well-known. On Hengchun Peninsula, Pingtung County, Taiwan Province of my country, there is also a place similar to "Tianya Haijiao", which is the southernmost point of Kenting Monument. Because this place is located at the southernmost tip of Taiwan Island, Bashi Strait is on the right hand side of the monument, and the vast Pacific Ocean is on the left hand side. It is also appropriate to say that it is like "the ends of the earth".
Now people go to Taiwan to travel around Baodao, and Kenting will definitely stay there. There is Kenting Park, Longluan Lake, Maobitou, Baisha Bay, Longpan Park and other landscapes. Naturally, the white lighthouse, sailing stone and the southernmost point monument in Eluanbi Park are most worth visiting.
Kenting was originally just the name of a road in the small town of Hengchun, Pingtung County. It is said that during the Qing Dynasty, the pioneers from the mainland basically lived in this area near the sea, so the local people commonly called it "Kenting". The current Kenting Avenue has developed into a large-scale commercial street, with one or two-story houses on both sides, which have been converted into shops or hotels. At night, tourists who stay here will bring business opportunities to this street.
Because Kenting Park was built later, this street was also surrounded by the park, so Kenting became famous. It is said that in the 1980s, when Halley’s Comet flew over the earth, it was predicted that Kenting was the best place to watch the comet, which caused astronomy enthusiasts and tourists to flock to Kenting, thus driving Kenting of tourism.
The southernmost point of Treasure Island is at Eluanbi Park in Kenting. It is similar to a tentacles extending into the sea, and the locals call it "Cape Island". The geographical location here is 120 degrees 50 minutes and 0 seconds east longitude and 21 degrees 53 minutes and 59 seconds north latitude. Standing on the edge of the cape island, one step forward is the vast sea, and the land of Baodao ends here. But it used to be said that the southernmost point of Baodao was marked by a white lighthouse in Eluanbi Park.
This lighthouse has been around for a long time. It was originally built by the Qing government in 1883, spending one hundred taels of silver to buy land from the local aborigines. The height of the lighthouse built that year was 56.4 meters, and oil lamps were lit at night to guide passing ships. While building the lighthouse, a garrison fort was built along the lighthouse, and 500 Qing soldiers were stationed to protect the lighthouse. During World War II, the original lighthouse was destroyed. The white lighthouse that people see today was rebuilt in 1962, and its height was reduced to 24.1 meters.
As a century-old lighthouse, it has always been known as the landmark building at the southernmost point of Taiwan. Eluanbi Park, built in 1982, uses the lighthouse as the main landscape of the park to attract people who travel to Kenting to watch. It was not until the new Southernmost Point Monument was built that this white lighthouse was replaced.
From the parking lot on the edge of Eluanbi Park, walk along the hillside towards the seaside, walk through a tree-lined path paved with square bricks, and you can walk to the southernmost point monument. When entering the trail, there is a sign on the side of the road telling you that the southernmost monument is 500 meters away. In fact, this trail is too deep, and I always feel that the distance is far more than 500 meters.
On both sides of the trail are bushes that are taller than people. It can be seen that when the water rises, the seawater can submerge the roots of the bushes. Because of the shade of trees, walking on the road, you have no idea that there is a monument at the end of the road. After getting out of the bushes and passing a section of wooden plank road, the monument appeared at the junction of the sea and the shore.
The Southernmost Monument is not grand, and its height is only about three meters. It looks like a triangular concrete pillar from the front, and looks like a small sail on the right side. There is no written introduction on the stele, and it is not known when and what month the stele was built. The entire monument is erected on a viewing platform composed of wooden plank roads. The area of the platform is not too large. It is estimated that the platform will not be able to accommodate a tour group with two buses.
There is a row of stools around the platform for tourists to sit down and rest, and watch the Bashi Channel and the Pacific Ocean by the way. The sea water is sky-high, and there are no ships passing on the sea, but the beach below the platform is unique to the Kenting area. It is not a white and delicate sandy beach, but is full of coral reefs, in small pieces, like stone formations left on the beach, without the beauty of the beach at all.
In 2001, a serious oil spill occurred in this sea area. A Greek-registered freighter lost its power and was stranded on the seashore by wind and waves. Later, the hull ruptured, and more than 400 tons of fuel oil rushed to this beach with the sea water, causing serious environmental pollution. It is said that the coral reefs in this area are no longer able to grow normally.
Most tourists come to this southernmost point monument just to make a geographical location card to show that they have stepped on the southernmost point. The symbolic meaning is greater than the tourist experience, so many self-guided tourists simply skip this point and go to the fun attractions in Kenting. In fact, as a geographical indication, the significance of the southernmost point is that it is indeed the "end of the earth" on the island. About the author: Lu Jianhua Photography (photographer, traveler, self-media person)
