Sun Moon Lake's name is mainly derived from its shape. The eastern part is round like a sun, and the western part is narrow and long like a crescent moon. Actually, if you look at the lake from a high elevation you will see that it has a winding shoreline and is surrounded by mountains. The curves of the shoreline resemble dragons, and the peninsulas that project into the water from the surrounding mountains also look like dragons pushing into the water. At least, that is the opinion of the Fengshui or geomancy masters. They say that Sun Moon Lake has "Nine Dragons Chasing a Pearl", and so the shoreline has many place names that are related to dragons: Kunlun Dragon Ride, Green Dragon Mountain, Two Dragons Mountain, and others. The lake itself was once called "Dragon Lake". So the place where Provincial Highway 21 enters the lake is called Jioulongkou, meaning"Mouth of the Nine Dragons".Jianjing TempleJianjing Temple sits beside Jioulongkou, and although it is a very ordinary Earth God shrine, there is an interesting story behind it. Actually, there are two stories about how the temple came to be named Jianjing, or the "seeing crystal." One is that when the weather is clear, the sunlight reflecting off the ripples on the surface of the lake sparkles like crystal. The other story is that during the Japanese occupation period, when the Japanese started building the hydroelectric power plants, a group of bright objects that sparkled like crystal were frequently seen flying back and forth in the sky. At first the people didn't know what it was. But later on they learned that it was pieces of "dragon silver" which had originally lived at the bottom of the lake; when it was disturbed by the construction work, the "dragon silver" flew away in the direction of Puli.Bamboo Stone GardenRedeveloped from an old bamboo specimen garden, this garden now grows all kinds of bamboo. These can be seen together with large amounts of native pebbles used as construction materials to p...