Sisal Industry Historical Monument

The Sisal Industry Historical Monument is located in Hengchun Township in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County.

Sisal as a plant was introduced to Taiwan in 1901, for experimental planting. Within 20 years, it had developed into one of the major crops of the Hengchun Peninsula. Huge demand for sisal byproducts, mostly packaging materials and high quality ropes, meant that large areas were cleared to become sisal plantations. By the 1960s, just prior to the collapse of demand for sisal as a result of the development of nylon and other synthetic fibers, a quarter of all farmers in the region had planted sisal.

Sisal plants can still be seen around Kenting and elsewhere on the Hengchun Peninsula. However, it is no longer a major crop. The Sisal Industry Historical Monument exhibits some of the equipment used to process sisal, as well as some of the old buildings that used to form the main processing center during the Japanese colonial occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945).