Hongye Hot Spring
- Location
- Hualien, Hualien County, Taiwan
- Water type
- bicarbonate, carbonated
- Temperature
- 42 °C
- pH
- 6.3
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Mineralised water — eases movement and joints.
Hongye Hot Spring—Red Leaf Hot Spring—in Hualien County, Taiwan, flows through a landscape whose autumn-colored maple imagery in the Chinese name carries a particular historical resonance: the Hongye area became internationally famous in 1968 when a local elementary school baseball team composed entirely of Taiwanese aboriginal children defeated visiting Japanese Little League champions from Wakayama Prefecture, a victory so unexpected and emotionally charged that it became a defining moment of Taiwanese sporting and national identity. The bicarbonate and carbonated waters emerge in the Ruisui area of eastern Taiwan's Rift Valley, where the geological collision zone between the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates drives exceptional geothermal activity and creates mineral-rich springs of considerable therapeutic value. The Red Leaf Spring's combination of effervescent bicarbonate mineral waters and extraordinary baseball heritage makes it one of eastern Taiwan's most culturally and geologically resonant thermal bathing destinations.