Before the Han Chinese settlers came, before the Hokkien-speaking immigrants laid out streets and markets, the land along the northern bank of the Zhuoshui River belonged to the Babuza — one of Taiwan's Austronesian indigenous peoples. Their name for the place, Sailei, is the origin of everything that followed. Later Chinese colonizers added their own layer: the town was also known as Lethng, named after the hometown of early settlers from Fujian Province. The eventual name Xiluo — sometimes romanized as Siluo — is the Mandarin rendering of the Hokkien pronunciation of a word that was never Chinese to begin with. That kind of accumulated naming is common across Taiwan, and Xiluo wears its etymological history with the ease of a place that has seen many arrivals.

Step outside Xiluo's urban center and the flat Yunlin plain opens up into field after field of vegetables. The township is one of the most important vegetable-growing areas in Taiwan, a distinction earned by the fertility of the Zhuoshui River alluvial soil and the reliable labor of farming families who have worked this land for generations. Cabbages, scallions, and leafy greens move from Xiluo's fields to markets across the island. It is agricultural work that rarely attracts tourists but sustains a food culture — and Xiluo's produce, arriving daily at Taiwanese wet markets, is part of what makes the island's cuisine as fresh and varied as it is.

Xiluo's most famous physical landmark is its bridge — the Xiluo Bridge, which spans the Zhuoshui River and connects Yunlin County to Changhua County on the opposite bank. The bridge is a local icon, appearing in photographs and appearing on lists of tourist attractions in central Taiwan. The Zhuoshui River is the longest river in Taiwan and marks a significant geographic and cultural boundary in the west of the island. Crossing it here, on the Xiluo Bridge, links two different agricultural worlds. The bridge draws visitors who come to walk its length and photograph the river spreading wide across its gravel bed — a view that rewards the crossing.

For a township of moderate size on the Yunlin plain, Xiluo has produced an unusually varied list of notable figures. Jeff Chang, one of Taiwan's most successful ballad singers, was born here. Chung Jen-pi, a recognized master of potehi — the glove-puppet theater tradition brought from Fujian that became deeply rooted in Taiwanese popular culture — also came from Xiluo. Thomas Liao, a mid-twentieth-century Taiwanese independence activist, was a native. Lee Chia-fen, educator and politician, and television presenter Liao Hsiao-chun round out a list that spans entertainment, art, politics, and education. The Jhen Wen Academy, a historical school, and Yanping Street, with its old shophouses, give the town's cultural depth physical form.