The survey’s first stage, which included the west part of the trail from Jhushan to Dashuiku, was already completed in August 1987. The survey of the east part of the trail began in September 1987, and continued for a year. It included collection of literature, documents, and actual surveying of the trail from Dashuiku to Yuli, a distance which stretched 63.63 km. Apart from differentiating between the Batongguan Historical Trail from the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese-era Batongguan Traversing Road, the study also looked at the Qing Dynasty’s management of eastern Taiwan after the opening of the old trail, the story of the building of the Batongguan Traversing Road during the Japanese occupation, the migration of the Bunun tribe in this area, the rebellion against the Japanese. Individual chapters are devoted to these topics.