It was not, in fact, until the mid-nineteenth century that Chinese pioneers began to arrive here in large numbers, led by two daring men who are now worshipped in a local temple alongside Koxinga, the seventeenth century hero.
延至十九世紀中期，此地才出現大規模的漢人移墾。咸豐元年（一八五一年），台北人黃阿鳳先後募得二千二百多人，由海陸東來，就在今天花蓮市豐川附近開墾，形成一些村落。