Believe it or not, Taichung residents and visitors have ample opportunity to enjoy some hot springs that even the Japanese Meiji Emperor raved about, without spending money for a trip to Japan. The riverside hot springs of Guguan, a picturesque Taichung county mountain town, have been known since 1907. In particular, Guguan gained fame in Japan when it became known that Meiji Emperor impregnated his wife with a son after a soak in the hot spring there. Thus, these springs became known in Taiwan as the "Male Child Springs", also dubbed the "Meiji Hot Springs" by the Japanese emperor. With all that going for it, it is no wonder that visitors began to flock to Guguan, which is 800 meters above sea level, after the completion of the Central Cross-Island Highway, which the town straddles. More recently, Guguan has gone through a dark period resulting from the destruction suffered during the 921 Earthquake and Typhoon Toraji. Thanks to some reconstruction and innovation, however, area businessmen have reinvented this hot springs spa area as a unique attraction from other hot springs in northern Taiwan. Guguan's hot springs are carbonic acid springs with a pH of 7.6 and a temperature around 48-60 degree Celsius. The clear, transparent and odorless springs differ greatly from the strong scented hot springs in the northern region.
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