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Zhuzilin's Secret?
The land dispute angle is right but the timeline is off. It goes back further than the 80s, there was a resettlement fight in the 1970s when the government wanted to rezone that slope for tea plantation expansion, and a handful of families basically just ignored the notices and stayed put. What you're seeing now is the descendants of the holdouts, which is why the buildings look abandoned but aren't.
The smile is probably just recognition. People up there can tell within about ten seconds whether you're a lost hiker or someone who actually lives nearby, and they find the lost ones mildly entertaining. If you want context without bothering anyone, the small land god temple just past the last house has a stone tablet from 1978 with the original family names carved on it. It's weathered but readable if you crouch down.
that smile is a Zhinan thing, not a Zhuzilin secret. the old folks up there have watched people wander in lost since the cable car opened in 2007, and before that it was hikers doing the Zhangshan loop. half the time they're smiling because they know you're about to walk 20 min in the wrong direction toward the ridge.
if you want the actual story, come back on a weekday morning and sit at the tiny shop near Zhinan Temple station. buy a tea, dont rush it, and someone will eventually tell you about the land disputes from the 80s when developers tried to buy up the whole slope. most families refused. thats why it still looks like that.
Zhuzilin is a real place, it's up past the Maokong tea slopes near the Zhinan area, and the "hamlet" you found is basically the last few farming households that never sold out when the tea tourism boom hit. The smile is prob just amusement, locals there have watched hikers and stray-dog chasers wander in confused for decades. If you go back, the trail behind the temple connects over to Zhangshan Temple, takes about 40 min, way better than the road.
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Seeking recommendations for facial or massage treatments targeting jaw tension and TMJ issues
For muscle-based jaw tightness, the traditional 推拿 places often do better than the fancy facial spas, and they're cheaper. There's a small 國術館 near Shuanglian I go to for neck and jaw stuff, the guy works the masseter from outside and does traction on the cervical spine, which is where a lot of referred jaw tension actually starts. Around NT$800 for 40 minutes, no booking app, you just walk in. It won't fix a real joint problem but if your issue is muscular clenching it's worth a try.
if its actual tmj stuff and not just cosmetic face massage, go see a dentist who does 咬合板 (occlusal splint) first, the massage places treat the symptom not the joint. dr chen at a clinic off fuxing south road near daan park sorted my clicking in like 3 visits, mostly by adjusting my bite & giving me a night guard. the relief from that lasted way longer than any spa facial i tried
my physio at a small clinic near Liuzhangli MRT did intraoral work on my masseter and pterygoid muscles, basically gloved finger inside the cheek releasing trigger points. weird at first but it fixed the morning headaches within maybe 4 sessions. its not a spa thing at all, its rehab, so book it as a medical visit. 針灸 also helped me, the needles go in the jaw and temple, but the physio did more for the actual tightness.