Eternal Spring Shrine

The Eternal Spring Shrine (Changchun Shrine) is the most photographed sight in Taroko Gorge — a red pavilion built directly over a waterfall, connected to the cliff face by a narrow bridge, with the gorge walls rising above and the river below. It was built in 1958 to commemorate the workers who died building the Cross-Island Highway; the water flowing continuously beneath it gives it the name.

The shrine is visible from the highway just inside the gorge entrance, and a short walk from a parking area leads to the bridge. A longer path continues up the cliff face above the shrine via a series of tunnels and steps, emerging at viewpoints over the gorge and the Pacific coast visible in the distance. The path above the shrine is less crowded than the main gorge road and offers views of the gorge from above rather than within it. The shrine's setting — waterfall, red pavilion, marble canyon — is genuinely spectacular.

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A story
The Changchun Shrine (Eternal Spring Shrine) was built to commemorate the 450 workers who died during the construction of the Cross-Island Highway from 1956 to 1960 — mostly prisoners of war and political detainees from the Chinese Civil War, who were put to work on the project without pay. The official memorial focuses on the "sacrifice" for Taiwan's development; the political circumstances of the workers' presence on the project are less prominently acknowledged.

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