Diaoshan Trail
Updates : 2023-03-29
Popularity 2900
Introduction
There are several theories on how the Fruitless Grave originated. One is that a Japanese mining technician was assigned to a job in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation period but never returned to marry his fiancé. Upon traveling to Taiwan, she learned that he had passed away from illness and erected this Fruitless Grave for him. The second variation is that a Japanese mining technician fell in love with a Taiwanese woman. He returned home to seek his parents' approval to marry her, but when he returned, he found that she had passed away from illness and so erected the Fruitless Grave. The third version has two Japanese men searching for gold in Shuangxi. Unfortunately, one falls down a valley and dies. His wife learns of this grievous news when she comes to Taiwan in search of her husband. On her way back to Japan with her husband's ashes, she catches a cold and passes away from a broken heart. The locals were moved by the resolve of this Japanese woman and thus erected a stone monument title "Fruitless Grave" at the site of her death in commemoration. The fourth and last version is that a Japanese gold prospector came here in search of riches, but wound up flat broke so he erected this monument and then departed.
Wu, Nian-zhen's film Hill of No Return was shot on the basis of the legend behind the Fruitless Grave.
References: Onsite interview
