Alishan Divine Tree is an over 3000-year-old red cypress. It has the oldest and the widest diameter in Asia. Located at 69 km of the Alishan Railway, it is an unusual landscape, together with Alishan Sunrise, Cloud Sea, High-Mountain Railway and Cherry Blossoms. In 1906 a Japanese technician, Siaoliyuanfu-erlang, found the Alishan giant woods with an average age of two or three thousand years old. It was expected a forest railway to go through here, so all the 300,000 sky-high cypress trees were chopped off.

This old red cypress was left out because its core was all eroded by lily-root fungi and useless. It is even festooned as a divine tree. This lonesome outstanding divine tree was hit by thunder in 1953. Thunder fire burned along the hollow trunk all the way down to the ground. But it still survived stubbornly. However, a second thunder hit the tree in 1956. The upper part of the divine tree got chopped off, so it died completely. In July 1997, the divine tree broke into 4 big pieces because of wind and rain and crashed the Alishan Forest Railway by it. So the Forest Affairs Bureau decided to put it down for visitors to admire and pay homage to.

According to the Agriculture Committee and the Forestry Affairs Bureau, any red cypress trees, which are older than 2000 years with a diameter over 12 meters, can be called a “super divine tree”. Since the old divine tree is down, the Alishan National Scenic Administration Department has planned to have a vote for a new second generation Alishan Divine Tree on internet and on the spot by the end of November, 2006. Visitors are welcome to go there by trail or by the forest railway to see.