Half screen mountain

Half Screen mountain story

There is a famous mountain between Nan-Tzu and Tso-Ying near Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. It is called “Half-Screen Mountain”, as it looks like a Chinese screen with one half missing. Do you know why it is called Half-Screen Mountain?

Long, long ago, this mountain was jealous of another mountain next to it. The other mountain’s name was Jade Mountain. Jade Mountain was higher than Half-Screen Mountain but Half-Screen Mountain did not want to admit this.

One day, it challenged Jade Mountain. “Let’s see who is the higher,” it said. “God can be our judge.”

Jade Mountain was angry as it knew it was the higher of the two. “Don’t be foolish. You know I am higher.” It replied.

“Impossible!” Half-Screen Mountain said. “I am so high that if a piece of bean curd were placed on my head, the sky would be broken.”

At this moment, God was passing by and  heard what Half-Screen Mountain said. He decided to punish Half-Screen Mountain. He ordered the God of Thunder to strike the mountain with his hammer. The God of Thunder did so. The mountain split in two and half of it fell into the valley below.

From that day on, people called it Half-Screen Mountain. It was never heard to boat again.