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)
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**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