The counties of Ilan and Hualien in northeastern Taiwan were the first parts of Taiwan to rise from the ocean floor when the Philippine plate rammed into the Eurasian plate six million years ago. After the Philippine plate began being subducted underneath the Eurasian plate, however, the force of the collision gradually shifted southward.
滄海桑田，六百萬年前菲律賓海板塊首先撞出東北部花蓮、宜蘭，隨著菲律賓板塊往地心俯衝，擠壓力量逐漸南移。