Part of Highway 21 becomes Highway 29

At the end of last year, the southern section of Highway 21, from Namasia to Linyuan (both in Kaohsiung City), was redesignated Highway 29. According to Chinese-language media reports, this signals the central government's abandoning of any hopes to connect the northern segment of Highway 21 (which runs from near Puli in Nantou County to Tataka in Yushan National Park via Sun Moon Lake) with the southern part of the road. 

Environmentalists are applauding the move, as it will better protect ecologically-rich uplands. Highway 29 is 112km long; the southern end meets Highway 17, on which it's a short hop into Pingtung County's Donggang Township. Towns along the way include Jiaxian and Qishan. South of the latter, it passes right by Foguangshan and the Buddha Memorial Centre. Also accessed by the highway is San-He Tile Kiln, where I took these photos a few years ago. 

At the time of writing, the road was still labelled as Highway 21 on Google Maps.