Dragon Cave Route Name Translations

I had gone through and translated the Lungtung Rock Climbing Guide route names for my own edification, rationalizing that I was studying Mandarin instead of just playing. With some fear of being laughed at by the nationals and those with superior language ability to mine, I decided to go ahead and  put the list of names online (some "names" appear to be more descriptions of the route than names). Each name will be identified by corresponding page number and route number in the guidebook. In the case where an English name is given but the Chinese name is significantly different, I went ahead and also translated the Chinese name equivalent. If the name is in parentheses, I wrote the translation in parentheses. I did not attempt to give the Chinese translation for the names listed only in English; someone else will have to do that. There were also a couple of routes without any name but that a name had been given in the old topo papers. So, this is my best initial attempt. My Mandarin is not very good, and in some instances I didn't have a clue as to the actual meaning of the name other than a literal translation of each character. In a few instances I did not even attempt to put down an English name. Please feel free to make suggestions as to more accurate or suitable translations by dropping me a message at (taiwan_rock [at] yahoo.com). My hope is that this page will be an impetus for including an English name for each route in future editions of the guidebook. It may also help non-Mandarin speakers to have a means to discuss routes at LungTung by name prior to a second edition. (rev. August 23, 2002)
p. 57 #1b Generation Gap
#2 (Two Friends)
#3 Last Crisis
#5 (English Letter "Z")
p. 59 #1 Extreme Pain
#2 Walk The Wall
#4 Tightness Depends On You
#5 Little Hole
p. 61 #1 The Emperor's Final Reign
p. 63 #1 Dragon Door
#2  (Windswept Crack)
#3a Windswept Face Left
#3b Windswept Face Right
#4 Windswept Corner
p. 65 #7a (Pleasantly Surprised)
#7b (Good Friends)
#9a (Tiger Tooth)
p. 69 #3 Cow Devil Dihedral
#8 Ride The Horse
#9 (The East Won't Fail)
p. 71 #5 Mini Crevice
p. 77 #4 Ocean Watching Day **
p. 81 #1a Daily Meeting
p. 87 #2 Fuse
p. 89 #2 Oblique Line
p. 93 #2 One Hole
#3 Passing Of Time
#4 The Indonesian
#5 (?)
#7 (Number One Desert)
#8 (The Tide Comes And Goes)
p. 95 #9 Cockroach Nest
p. 103 #6 Fast Road
#7 Concave Hole
#8 Climb Over The Wall
#9 Dean Of Students
#11 Caterpillar
p. 105 #1 Horizontal Bar
#2 Ballet
#3 Gold Finger
#4 Dihedral
#6 Ghost Foot Seven (?)
#8 Headache
p. 107 #1 Teddy Boy
#3 (aka. Four Seas One Family)
#4 Concave Hole Hanging Cliff
#5 Concave Hole Dihedral
#6 Skyhook
#7 Four Point Contact
#8 Saddle Up
#9 White Snake Cave Exit
#11 Long Lane Dihedral
#12 Wanting To Pray
(Tip Heaven's Hand)
p. 109 #6 Skyhook
#11 Long Lane Dihedral
#12 Wanting To Pray
(Tip Heaven's Hand)
p. 111 #1 Fireman's Ladder
#2 Ordinary Class
#3 Guidance Class
#4 Detention
p. 113 #1 Rhinoceros Dihedral
#2 Rhinoceros Arete
#4 Seventy-seven
#5 Climb Heaven's Ladder
#6 Heaven's Ladder Dihedral
#7 Gravel Pile
#8 Black Hole
#9 Edge Of The Universe
p. 115 #1 Fresco
#3 As You Wish
#5 Frightened Without Danger
p. 119 #1a Scenery
p. 119 #3 Ninety-five Devilish Barriers (?)
p. 121 #6 Wedding Route
#7 Northeast Arete
#8 Violin
#9 Small Three Corners
#10 Big Three Corners
p. 123 #9 The Great Wall
p. 125 #2 (Harp)
#6 Chimney Stack
p. 127 #3 Birdman
#4 Soar To Heaven
p. 129 #2 (?)
#3 Adagio
#4 Seaside Teahouse
p. 131 #2a Don't Undertake Reluctantly
#2b Rabid Dog
#4a Dog Leg
#4b I've Arrived
p. 133 #1 Big Nosed Sage
p. 137 #6 Third Nose
p. 139 #9 Last Huge Rock
p. 141 #11 Straight Up
#12 Thin Horse
p. 145 #4 Big Belly Overhang
p. 147 #1 Face The Wall
#3 Secret Switch
#4 Small Crevice
#5 Three Cornered Relationship
p. 153 #2 First Of Three Routes On The Dragon Spine
#3 Second Of Three Routes On The Dragon Spine
#4 Third of Three Routes On The Dragon Spine
p. 155 #3 Spicy Noodle Line
p. 157 #6 Snackbar
p. 159 #6 Snackbar
p. 163 #1 Blowing Wind
#2 Western Path
#3 Antiquity
#4 Old Tree
#5 Under The First Floor
#6 Raven
#8 Beehive
#9 Sand
#10 Pull Back In The Air
#11 Mud
p. 171 #4 Tailess Bear
p. 173 #5 Great Visitor Route
p. 179 #1 Anonymous
p. 183 #4 I Love Taiwan
p. 185 #1 Black Faced Person
#2 White Faced Person
p. 193 #1 Perfectly Overhung
#2 Dragon Pool
p. 195 #1 Straw Hat Sister-in-law
p. 201 #3 Treachery
p. 203 #1 Water Heater
p. 207 #5 One Mountain Is Further Than Another Is Tall (?)
p. 209 #6 Laugh Proud Vagabond
p. 211 #1 Indebted Woman's Panic
#2 Twist And Turn (Left Twist)
#3 Twist And Turn (Right Twist)
#4 Bloody Fingers (Barehanded)
p. 213 #5 Big Rock Dropping **
p. 215 #1 Stir Up Trouble
#2 Motorcycle
#3 FaLaLi (?)
p. 217 #2 Motorcycle
#3 FaLaLi (?)
p. 219 #6 Attack In And Out
#7 Arete
p. 223 #2 Displaying Every Remarkable Talent
#3 Contemplation
#4a Two Problems
#5b Law Of Star Attraction
#6 Daily Blue Skies
p. 225 #2 Little Turtle Mountain

**A note from Wang Ta-Chi, who put up numerous routes at LungTung:

. . . I have found that your translations are excellent, except some particular names I put in Chinese which have certain "contexts". For example, a popular .9 bolted routes "Ocean Watching Day" was named after a title of a famous Taiwanese novel. The book is a story of a whore who dreamed about to have a baby of her own. So she decided to get conceived without knowing the male's name. She got a baby. When this happened, she also regained her dignity and started to try to reorganize her life. And one day, she decided to pay a visit, with the newborn, to the place where she was a whore. On the train going back there, she sang a song to the baby, "Ocean Watching Day" -- in Chinese -- is a piece of lyric of that song. It means new life, hope, dignity, and love.

P. 213, # 5 "Drop the Big Rock" was named because when Two-teeth and I were clearing that route a huge rock took off and dropped just passing us. If "Big Rock Dropping" appears to be more "realistic", I suggest to give it a change.

There are more. Anyway, your translations bring me back to those good old days, and I sincerely thank you for that.

I hope you have enjoyed your stay when you were in Taiwan, and your experience at Long-dome. It's a shame that we did not climb together.

Regards.

Ta-Chi

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