Toushe is an old Thao village. From early times, the Aboriginal ancestors called it “Toushe”. It is located close to the current location of Shueili, to the Southwest of Yuchih Township. Touche was the name for the Moon Lake section of Sun Moon Lake, which according to the local legend, was the lakeside where the ancestors of the Thao chased the white deer from Alishan, and from that time, the Thao migrated to the area between the two lakes. The earliest lake waters of the Moon Lake were quiet and secluded, with beautiful scenery and clear skies. During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the Japanese chose Moon Lake as a location to build a reservoir, where the waters of Moon Lake would be electronically pumped via a canal. Consequently, the area around Moon Lake was flooded, and the residents had to relocate to the Sun Lake basin.This basin is located at an elevation of 600 meters, and enjoys a mild and cool climate. A few decades ago, there were bright green rice paddies, and every year during the autumn harvest, the landscape turned into a beautiful shiny gold color. The peat soil-quality was very fertile, producing an abundance of rice. There were six wooden rice mills, and one has been preserved for display next to the stage in the plaza of the Three Sages (Sanshen) Temple. In recent years, rice has been replaced by vegetables as the main product of Yuchih Township.For thousands of years, due to the effects of alternating water-plant growth and silting, the basin has accumulated a large, vast area of peat bog, which is about 50 hectares in width, and 10 meters deep. Due to the swamp environment, organic matter does not decompose easily, and this has resulted in the forming and accumulation of the peat. Peat is the most extensively used and most important organic cultivating material in the world. Much research shows that during the 18th century, it was already being used for the production of vegetab...