Miaoli County GovernmentMiaoli County Government

Yuanli Township located at the southwest of Miaoli County is bordered by the north shore of Daan River to the south, and next to Dajia District of Taichung City. The Huoyanshan is located at the east and bordered by Sanyi Township, Tongxiao Township to the north, and Taiwan Strait to the west. It’s one of the earliest towns to be developed in Miaoli County. The terrain in Yuanli is divided into two main types, hills and plains; and the geography can be broken down into two main areas, Huoyanshan undulating ground and Yuanli plain.
Influenced by the alluvial of Daan River, it’s a very rare opportunity for the development of farming on Yuanli plain, which is rich in rice production; moreover, its irrigation water resource from the unpolluted Daan River has made Yuanli’s output and quality of rice the crown of Miaoli County and the reputation of being Miaoli’s Grain Barn. 
Yuanli area has a massive quantity of sharks; at the early stage after Taiwan’s Retrocession, due to inconvenient transportation and indurable freshness quality of sharks, whenever in the timing of the fishing season, it was often over-supplied and the production and marketing cannot be balanced. The township people take shark meat as an ingredient in the production of fish balls. Since all ingredients of the fish ball are from fresh shark meat off the coast, it has an incomparable taste to other similar products. The reputation of the “Yuanli Fish Ball” has spread far, and it’s become Yuanli’s local specialty. 
Yuanli Rush Mat originated a long time ago. It’s said that in Yongzheng 5 of Qing Dynasty, of the indigenous women of Pingpu Tribe in Yuanli, there were two women Puslul and Nasuma (both names are spelled by homophones) taking the wild Shichito Matgrass from the marshland at the downstream of Daan River and processing the grass by drying, flattening, and weaving to make rush mats and tools for rush mats, gloves, pants, and other tools. It’s the earliest origin of grass woven products.