Eluanbi Lighthouse

Eluanbi Lighthouse (Chinese: 鵝鑾鼻燈塔; pinyin: Éluánbí Dēngtǎ) is a lighthouse in Kenting National Park, Taiwan. It is on Cape Eluanbi, which is the southernmost place in Taiwan. Cape Eluanbi is in Pingtung County. The lighthouse is managed by the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance. The lighthouse is built between the Pacific Ocean and the Taiwan Strait and it faces toward the Luzon Strait. The lighthouse is open to the public for the whole year. The lighthouse is sometimes called "The Light of East Asia", because its intensity is very powerful. History Eluanbi Lighthouse was built in 1883. It was built by the Qing Dynasty. It was built because a lot of accidents happened in this area. Ships crashed into the reefs in the waters nearby. The Qing Dynasty wanted to prevent accidents like the Rover Incident. W. F. Spindey, who was an English architect that was part of the Royal Geographical Society was hired to build this lighthouse. The lighthouse is the only one in Taiwan that is armed. It has a trench around it and a lot of gun holes in the wall. This was needed because many of the local Aboriginal people raided the lighthouse a lot. After the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Taiwan became a part of the Empire of Japan. Damage on the lighthouse from the First Sino-Japanese War was fixed in 1898 by the Japanese. In World War II, the lighthouse became damaged again during the Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1962. It still works and is a historical monument in Kenting National Park. Next to the lighthouse there is also a memorial of the "Taiwan Eight Magnificent Sceneries". References Other websites Kenting National Park (Taiwan) Archived 2008-12-10 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese) Eluanbi Lighthouse-Directorate General of Customs (Taiwan) Archived 2012-08-03 at the Wayback Machine (in English and Chinese) Eluanbi Lighthouse (Taiwan) (in Chinese) Maritime and Port Bureau MOTC