"When the Portuguese came to Asia looking for Japan, which they thought of as the 'islands of gold,' due to considerations of safety they must have followed the existing Ming maritime routes. If this is indeed the case, they would have first seen the Tatun mountains, the most obvious landmark on Taiwan's northern coast," reasons Liu Ko-hsiang.
「十六世紀葡萄牙人到東方來尋找『黃金島』日本時，為了安全考慮，應該是循著明朝的既有航線航行，如此一來，聳立在台灣北海岸的大屯火山群便是最明顯的地標」，劉克襄認為。