Mingjian Township

Nantou's Mingjian Township is renowned for its tea industry centered around Songboling, producing abundant Songboling Evergreen Tea, a crucial ingredient for Taiwan's bubble tea. It is also Taiwan's largest ginger-producing area and yields high-quality pineapples and yams. For tourism, you can visit Songboling Tian Gong Temple or experience the Mingjian Family Ecological Park and the cold spring wetland in Xinjie Village. Its rich landscapes include tea plantations, wetland scenery, and the Qixing Fortification integrating military bunkers, showcasing simple human warmth and abundant ecology.

Mingjian Township offers a rich variety of agricultural products. The most famous is tea; Songboling is one of the largest tea-producing areas in Taiwan, known for Songboling Evergreen Tea, and is a key supplier for Taiwan's bubble tea industry. Additionally, Mingjian Township is the largest ginger-producing area in Taiwan, with excellent quality. Pineapples are also a major product, making it one of Taiwan's northernmost pineapple production areas with diverse varieties, harvested annually. Yams and water spinach are also local specialty agricultural products.

Nantou County's Mingjian Township is divided into 23 villages and 372 neighborhoods. Each village has a village chief responsible for managing the neighborhoods within its jurisdiction.

The place name 'Mingjian Township' originates from the former name 'Nanzai'. The term 'Nanzai' refers to the area around present-day Nanya Village, Zhongzheng Village (where the township office is located), and Zhongshan Village. Due to the low-lying terrain, rainwater would gather, forming muddy swamps year-round, which locals called 'Nanzai'. As the Hokkien pronunciation of 'Nanzai' is similar to the kun'yomi reading of the Japanese word 'Meiken', during the Japanese colonial period, the Governor-General of Taiwan changed 'Nanzai' to 'Mingjian' in the 9th year of the Republic of China (1920). This is the origin of the township's name.

The average altitude of Nantou County's Mingjian Township ranges approximately between 200 to 700 meters. The western part of the township belongs to the Bagua Mountain Plateau, with altitudes around 200 to 432 meters. The central plains area, largely consisting of paddy fields, is around 200 meters above sea level. The eastern part is adjacent to the Jiji Mountains, with its highest peak being Songboling Mountain at approximately 430 meters, and the eastern areas reaching an altitude of about 404 meters.