English: Located in a subtropical zone, Taiwan is subject to the compression and uplift of earth's tectonic plates, creating many mountains over 2,000 metres above sea level, and receives a large amount of precipitation brought by the winter and summer monsoons. The humid, low-temperature environment and abundant sunshine creat a "cloud forest zone" at altitudes of 1,800 to 2,500 metres above sea level, where valuable coniferous forest such as the endemic Formosan cypress （Chamaecyparis formosensis）, Formosan hinoki （Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana）and the Taiwania （Taiwania cryptomerioides） thrive. In the middle and lower elevation, where the temperature is higher and the rainfall is more frequent, broad-leaved forest such as camphor trees are are abundant. Records exists of the harvesting of camphor trees as early as the 17th century during the Zheng period.