Chinese name: 馬武督森林
Located at: Hsinchu County
Website: http://www.discovery-forest.com.tw/
Mawudu Discovery Forest is located in the Qalang m'utu tribal village in Guanxi Town, Hsinchu County. In the past, it was the Jinxian Forest Amusement Park. According to the Association for the Sustainable Development of Indigenous Peoples, there was once a local village chief named “Wadan Malay (瓦旦馬賴),” who found that the flow of the stream had sent a lot of driftwood to the Hanguguan when he was hunting in Jinjin area and looking for a place to spend the night, so he spent the night at Hanguguan and named the Jinjin area "Mawudu." In the Atayal tribe, it refers to a personnel and materials collection area. At present, there are about 50 Atayal indigenous households who live in the Jinjin area.
Mawudu Discovery Forest is a warm temperate, broad-leaved forest environment with abundant animal and plant ecological resources. There are also two national treasure Chinese bayberry (Yangmei) trees here, which have an identity card at the Forestry Bureau. They are affectionately referred to as “Grandpa Yangmei,” which is nearly 300 years old, and the nearly 500-year-old “Grandma Yangmei.” The two yangmei trees stand next to each other, like an elderly couple standing side by side and still very much in love. They attract many mountain climbers and photographers who come here to enjoy the scenery and take photos. There is also a viewing platform in this area of the park to allow visitors to explore the Mawudu Discovery Forest Park and see the beautiful scenery of Taoyuan City in the distance.
In addition to its beautiful natural landscape, Mawudu Discovery Forest is also famous for being the location for filming the well-known inspirational TV drama series “Green Forest, My Home (綠光森林)” produced by Sanlih E-Television Inc. The drama production company rented the space and venues here, and used wooden building materials to set up the "Green Light Elementary School," a school depicted in the series.
Many fans of the drama came here to visit the places where the drama series was filmed, making Mawudu Discovery Forest famous. Although the show has been discontinued for many years, the park still retains the shooting scenes of that time, allowing visitors to come here and recall the scenes in the drama.
There is also the Sunshine Country Ecological Mushroom Garden (陽光國度生態菇園) in Mawudu Discovery Forest. Although it is not as well-known as Green Light Elementary School, there are still many tourists who come here to visit. Since Mawudu Discovery Forest has the original natural environment and pure pollution-free water quality, these resources can simulate the growth environment of wild mushrooms and growers can nurture mushrooms here without destroying the forest. Visitors can experience the harvest of fresh wood mushrooms and learn about mushrooms’ growth process, ideal environment for growing, and nutritional value.