New
7 Natural Wonders of the World
New Seven Wonders of Nature-One
of 28 nominees. Winners will be announced in 2011.
Yushan, also known as
Mount Jade or Mount Yu, is the highest
mountain in Taiwan and Yushan Range.
It is 3,952 metres (12,966 ft) above
sea level. It's also the 4th highest
mountain on an island.
Yushan National
Park
Yushan is part of Yushan National
Park, one of the national parks administered
by Taiwan. Under Japanese rule, it
was designated part of the Niitaka
(New Highest) Arisan National Park
in 1937. The mountain is one of favorite
of Taiwanese mountain climbers. Several
other high mountains are located neer
Yushan, including Siouguluan Mountain
( 3825 m, the 3rd highest mountain
in Taiwan), Mabolasih Mountain (3785
m), Guan Mountain (??, 3668 m). [1]
The park is also known
for its diverse and rich in wildlife
and ecology. The environment around
Yushan itself spans from Tropics and
Subtropical forests at its base to
Temperate zone or alpine conditions
at its peak. [2]
Alternate names
Jade Mountain was first observed by
westerners in 1857. W. Morrison, captain
of the American freighter SS Alexander,
sighted this mountain while departing
from Anping Harbor, in what is now
Anping, Tainan. He recorded this sighting
in his naval log, and the mountain
gained the name Mount Morrison in
western literature.
In 1900, after the annexation
of Taiwan by the Japanese, two Japanese
anthropologists, Torii Ryuzo and Mori
Ushinosuke, became the first people
to have been recorded ascending the
mountain. They gave the mountain the
name Niitakayama or Mount Niitaka,
literally the "New High Mountain",
because it was even higher than Mount
Fuji (3,776 m (12,388 ft) above sea
level) over 176 metres (577 ft) in
Japan (Empire of Japan) in earlier
20 century.
Under its Japanese name,
the mountain was used as the secret
code to signal the carrier fleet of
the Imperial Japanese Navy to begin
its attack against Pearl Harbor. The
code was Niitakayama Nobore (literally
"Climb the New High Mountain")
