Look at a cross section of Taiwan Island, you will find that its topography is asymmetrical. The Central Mountain Range lies mostly in the eastern part, rather gentle on their western face with a wide plain in front, while their eastern face is mostly sheer cliffs rising sharply from the western shore of the Pacific Ocean. This came about due to the westward tilting of the Pacific Plate, which in turn caused Taiwan to incline westwards. The Liwu River de Scends ocean wards, down from its 3,440-meter-high source in the Qilai Mountains, landing right on the world-famous Qingshui Precipice on the east ast of Taiwan where, like a master craftsman, it carves out the Tailuge (Taroko)Gorge.

The gorge winds for about 20 kilometers along the course of the Liwu River from Tailuge in the east to Tianxiang in the west, with a gradient of 0.59 percent; it measures l, 660 meters at its deepest point and between l 0-20 meters at its narrowest. Since the cliffs are formed of crisp hard and solid marble with beautiful markings, they look quite lofty and majestic. The Atayal people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Tailuge Gorge who once had 97 tribes in the Liwu River basin, shaped a unique culture of their own, and Tailuge means "great mountain range" in their language.

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