Kaohsiung (}};Pe̍h-ōe-jī:
Ko-hiông; old names:
Takao,
Takow,
Takau) is a city located in southwestern
Taiwan. It is enclosed by
Kaohsiung County, and faces the
Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named
Kaohsiung City, is divided into eleven districts. The city is one of two
special municipalities under administration of the
Republic of China (also known as Taiwan), which grants it the same status as a province. By the end of 2010 the city will be merged with
Kaohsiung County to form a larger municipality.
http://taiwanjournal.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xitem=53774&ctnode=413&mp=9
Kaohsiung is the most densely
populated and the
second largest city in Taiwan, with a population around 1.5 million.
Welcome to Kaohsiung City - Statistics It is a center for manufacturing, refining, shipbuilding, and other light and heavy industries. A major port, through which pass most of Taiwan's marine imports and exports, is located at the city but is not managed by the city government.
Kaohsiung International Airport serving the city is the second largest airport in Taiwan. The
Port of Kaohsiung is the largest harbor in Taiwan. Kaohsiung is the terminal of the
Sun Yat-sen Freeway. The city is served by the railway stations of
Western Line and
Pingtung Line.
Taiwan High Speed Rail connects it with
Taipei City. The
Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit, the city's subway system, was launched in early 2008. Kaohsiung was the host city of the
2009 World Games, a multisport event primarily composed of sports not featured in the
Olympic Games. The city is also home to the
Republic of China Navy.
History
Founded near the end of the
Ming Dynasty in the 17th century, the village was known as Takau () in the
Hoklo language spoken by most of the early immigrants. The name originates from the
Makatao language of the local
aboriginal tribe and translates as "bamboo forest". The
Dutch established
Fort Zeelandia in 1624 and defeated the local tribes in 1635. They called the place
Tancoia. The Dutch were later expelled by the
Kingdom of Tungning government founded by Ming Dynasty loyalists of
Koxinga in 1662.
Zheng Jing, the son of Koxinga, renamed the village Wannian Zhou () in 1664. The name was restored to Takau in the late 1670s, when the town expanded dramatically with immigrants from
mainland China. In 1684 the
Qing Dynasty annexed
Taiwan and renamed the town Fengshan County (), considering it a part of Taiwan Prefecture. It was first opened as a port during the 1680s.
In 1895, Taiwan was ceded to
Japan as part of the
Treaty of Shimonoseki. It was during this period that the city's name was changed from 打狗 (
Taiwanese:
Táⁿ-káu) to 高雄 (
romaji:
Takao). While the sound remained more or less the same when pronounced in Japanese, the literal meaning of the name changed from "Beating Dog" to "High Hero". The Japanese developed Takao, especially the harbour. An important military base and industry center, the city was heavily bombed by
Task Force 38 and
FEAF during 1944–1945.
After control of Taiwan was handed to the
Republic of China in 1945, the official romanization of the city name came to be "Kao-hsiung", based on the
Wade–Giles romanization of the
Standard Mandarin reading of the
kanji name.
What's in changing a name? Taiwan Journal Vol. XXVI No. 19 May 15, 2009 "...while name Kaohsiung is technically the Mandarin pronunciation of the Japanese written version of a Holo Taiwanese rendition of an old aboriginal name..." Kaohsiung was upgraded to a
municipality on July 1, 1979, by the
Executive Yuan, which approved this proposal on November 19, 1978. The
Kaohsiung Incident took place in Kaohsiung on December 10, 1979.
Geography
The city sits on the southwestern coast of Taiwan facing the
Taiwan Strait. The downtown areas are centered around Kaohsiung Harbor with the island of Cijin on the other side of the harbor acting as a natural
breakwater. The
Love River (or Ai River) flows into the harbor through the Old City and downtown. Zuoying Military Harbor lies to the north of Kaohsiung Harbor and the city center. Kaohsiung's natural landmarks include the coral mountains
Ape Hill, Shoushan and Banpingshan.
Climate
Kaohsiung is located south of the
Tropic of Cancer. The climate is
tropical, specifically a
tropical wet and dry climate (
Koppen Aw), with average temperatures ranging from between 18.6 and 28.7 degrees Celsius, and average
humidity between 60 and 81%. Average annual rainfall is approximately 1785 mm, focused primarily from June to August.
Government