Luodong, Yilan
| Luodong 羅東鎮 |
|
|---|---|
| Township | |
Luodong Township
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 Location of Luodong within Yilan |
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| Country | Taiwan |
| Province | Taiwan Province |
| County | Yilan |
| Area | |
| • Total | 11.34 km2 (4.38 sq mi) |
| Population (December 2014) | |
| • Total | 72,533 |
Luodong Township (Chinese: 羅東鎮; pinyin: Luódōng Zhèn; Wade–Giles: Lo2-tung1 Chen4; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lô-tong) is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan. Luodong is the smallest township in the county.
Its name and former name (Chinese: 老懂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lō͘-tóng) derive from the Kavalan word rutung, meaning "monkey", referring to a large population of monkeys there half century ago.
In 1804, a Pingpu tribe chief Pan Xian Wen and Maoge from Changhua led a group of people to settle down in Luodong area, in which they established Alishih and Ashushih communities and developed a large scale agricultural industries. In 1812, Qing Dynasty officer Fan Bang Gan was assigned of Luodong. Two years later, Han settlers entered the region to begin clearing and developing the area. The Pingpu tribe and Han settlers used to fight over land ownership but eventually they ended up working together to develop Luodong. Years later, Luodong became a developed region with a special characteristics of the combination of aboriginal and Han cultures.
Under Japanese rule, Luodong was developed into the base for industries established by the Taiping Mountain logging business. In 1916, the Japanese government established the Giran Branch Office of the Forest Administration Bureau in charge of logging, transportation and storage of Taiping Mountain area timber with a log pond set up in today's Yuanshan Township. The branch office was then later on moved to Luodong due to the change in the lumber transportation from waterway to railway. Finally in 1924, upon the completion of railway connecting Luodong and Tuchang (土場 in Datong), the branch office was officially moved to Chikurin (竹林?). From that moment onward, Luodong became a commercial center. From 1920-1945, Lutung was administrated as Ratō Town (羅東街?) of Taihoku Prefecture.
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