1.
Taoyuan District
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Taoyuan District, formerly known as Taoyuan City, is a district of Taoyuan City in northwestern Taiwan. The seat of Taoyuan City is situated whithin its borders, Taoyuan is the native home to the plains tribes of Taiwanese aborigines. Taoyuans old name was Toahong since there used to be many peach blossoms in the area, in November 1901, under Japanese rule, a local administrative office, Toshien Chō, was established in the area. In 1909, the number of chō were reduced and the unit was renamed Tōen Chō. In 1920, the area was renamed Tōen Town, and incorporated into Tōen District, after the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China, it was Taoyuan Town, Taoyuan County. On 21 April 1971, Taoyuan was upgraded from a township to a county-controlled city called Taoyuan City. On 25 December 2014, the city was upgraded to become a district called Taoyuan District of the newly formed Taoyuan City from the former Taoyuan County, Taoyuan is located on the Taoyuan Plateau, contiguous on the northeast to Guishan District. The Nankan River is Taoyuans largest river, flowing from the southeast to the northwest, area,34.80 km2 Elevation,157 ft Population,427,815 people Taoyuan has a humid subtropical climate, with hot summers and mild winters. Precipitation is high throughout the year and is higher in the first half of the year. Due to the effect of wind from mainland China, Taoyuan is typically cooler than New Taipei, Taoyuan City Government Taoyuan City Council Within Taoyuan, there are five high schools,12 junior high schools,23 primary schools, and an intelligence initiation school. Taoyuan is also home to a number of buxibans, or cram schools or language schools, there are also 10 universities located in Taoyuan. Taoyuan was one of the host cities for the Taiwan European Film Festival in 2012, the Extended metropolis, settlement transition in Asia
2.
Kaohsiung
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Kaohsiung City is a special municipality in Taiwan. It is a city with sufficiency as categorized by Globalization. The Kaohsiung International Airport is the second largest airport in Taiwan, the Port of Kaohsiung is the largest harbor in Taiwan, but not officially part of Kaohsiung City. The southern terminal of the Freeway 1 is in Kaohsiung, for north-south travel on railway, the city is served by the Taiwan Railways Administration stations of TRA Western Line and Pingtung Line. The Taiwan High Speed Rail also provides fast and frequent railway connection to Taipei, the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit, the citys subway system, was launched in early 2008. Kaohsiung was the host city of the World Games 2009, a multi-sport event primarily composed of sports not featured in the Olympic Games, the city is also home to the Republic of China Navy fleet headquarters and academy. Hoklo immigrants to the area during the 16th and 17th centuries called it Takau, the surface meaning of the associated Chinese characters was beat the dog. According to one theory, the name Takau originates from the aboriginal Siraya language, according to another theory, the name evolved via metathesis from the name of the Makatao tribe, who inhabited the area at the time of European and Hoklo settlement. On a linguistic basis, the Makatao are considered to have part of a greater Siraya tribe. During the Dutch colonization of southern Taiwan, the area was known as Tancoia to the world for a period of about three decades. In 1662, the Dutch were expelled by the Kingdom of Tungning government and his son, Zheng Jing, renamed the village Banlian-chiu in 1664. The name of Takau was restored in the late 1670s, when the town expanded dramatically with immigrants from mainland China, in his 1903 general history of Taiwan, US Consul to Formosa James W. Davidson relates that Takow was already a well-known name in English. However, in 1920, the name was changed to Takao, while the new name had quite a different surface meaning, its pronunciation in Japanese sounded more or less the same as the old name spoken in Hokkien. After Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China, the name did not change, the name Takau remains the official name of the city in Austronesian languages of Taiwan such as Rukai, although these are not widely spoken in the city. The name also remains popular locally in the naming of businesses, associations, the written history of Kaohsiung can be traced back to the early 17th century, through archeological studies have found signs of human activity in the region from as long as 7000 years ago. Dutch settlers colonizing Taiwan in 1624 referred to the region as Tankoya, the first Chinese records of the region were written in 1603 by Chen Di, a member of Ming admiral Shen You-rongs expedition to rid the waters around Taiwan and Penghu of pirates. The earliest evidence of activity in the Kaohsiung area dates back to roughly 4700–5200 years ago. The prehistoric Dapenkeng, Niuchouzi, Dahu, and Niaosong civilizations were known to inhabit the region, unlike some other archeological sites in the area, the Longquan Temple ruins are relatively well preserved
3.
Taoyuan District, Kaohsiung
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Tauyuan District is a mountain indigenous district of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. It is the largest district in Kaohsiung City by area, the same Pinyin form, Taoyuan District, exists in two different districts in Taiwan, one is 桃源區 in Kaohsiung, the other is 桃園區 in Taoyuan City. Although the official English name is Taoyuan District, an English translated form used in Taoyuan District Office and it is the district that is most mountainous and most distant from the city center. The population density in Taoyuan District is one of the least in Taiwan, both Yushan National Park and Maolin National Scenic Area are situated in this district. Taoyuan District is very mountainous with little flat land. Laonong River passes through Tauyuan District and is an important water source for Kaoshiung, the climate of the Taoyuan district is tropical monsoon climate. The major populations are Bunun people and Saaroa people of the Taiwanese aborigines, during the period of Japanese rule, Taoyuan was grouped with modern-day Namasia and Maolin districts and classified as Savage Land, which was governed under Kizan District of Takao Prefecture
4.
Special municipality (Taiwan)
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A special municipality is an administrative division unit in Taiwan. Under the administrative structure of Taiwan, it is the highest rank of division and is equivalent to a province, after the streamline of provinces in 1998, the special municipalities along with provincial cities and counties are all directly led by the central government. Currently there are six municipalities in Taiwan, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei. In late 1949, the government of the Republic of China lost the Chinese Civil War and was relocated to Taipei, at this time all the special municipalities established in mainland China were lost. There were no special municipalities under the effective jurisdiction. In 1967, Taipei City, the first special municipality in Taiwan was created, Taipei served as the capital of the country since 1949 and was also the most populous city. Territory of the Taipei special municipality includes the original provincial Taipei City and 4 of its neighboring townships in Taipei County, including Neihu, Nangang, Muzha, in the next year, Shilin and Beitou of Yangmingshan Administrative Bureau were also merged into Taipei. In 1979, the international port and industrial city in the southwest of the country — Kaohsiung — were also upgraded to a special municipality. Territory of the Kaohsiung special municipality includes the original provincial Kaohsiung City, at this time, Taiwan was under the martial law era. All national and municipal elections were not held. The mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung were assigned by the Executive Yuan, for this point the special municipalities were also called Yuan-controlled municipalities at this period. Following the democratic reforms in the early 1990s, more thoughts of administrative division reforms, the Local Government Act was passed by the Legislative Yuan in 1999. This Act regulates the local bodies and came with some articles to deal with the possible changes of administrative divisions. In the Act also states that cities with population of over 1,250,000 and with significance on political, economic and this type of counties are often called quasi-municipalities. Taipei County was the first division within this case, in 2009, another amendment of Local Government Act gave councils of counties and cities the right to file petitions to reform themselves into special municipalities. In June 2010, the population of Taoyuan County also grew over 2 million and were qualified for being a quasi-municipality since 2011, the county government also sent a proposal to become a special municipality in 2012. Executive Yuan approved the proposal and the municipality of Taoyuan were formally established in December 25,2014. Currently, there are in six special municipalities under the central government
5.
China Airlines
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China Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Republic of China. It is headquartered in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and has 12,607 regular employees, China Airlines operates over 1,400 flights weekly to 118 airports in 115 cities across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. The cargo division operates 91 pure freighter flights weekly, the carrier was, in 2013, the 29th and 10th largest airline in the world in terms of passenger revenue per kilometer and freight RPK, respectively. With a fleet of two PBY Amphibians, China Airlines was established on December 16,1959, with its shares held by the Republic of China government. It was founded by an air force officer and initially concentrated on charter flights. During the 1960s, China Airlines was able to establish its first scheduled routes, in October 1962, a flight from Taipei to Hualien became the airlines first domestic service. Later, with the introduction of Caravelle and Boeing 727-100s, the airlines introduced international flights to South Vietnam, Hong Kong, with the airlines first two Boeing 707 aircraft, trans-Pacific flights to San Francisco via Tokyo were initiated on February 2,1970. The expansion of the companys 707 fleet also permitted more services in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, shortly thereafter, four brand new Boeing 747SP were introduced in 1977. Due to political pressure, Japan ended its ties with Taiwan in 1972. The 747SP aircraft made it possible for China Airlines to fly daily nonstop services from Taipei to its North American destinations without stopping over in Japan and it also allowed the airlines to introduce flights to Saudi Arabia and South Africa. In 1979, the airlines switched all operations from the small downtown Songshan International Airport to the newly built Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, following the introduction of 747-200s, the airlines introduced its first European destination, Amsterdam. The premise being that air carriers from the PRC and Taiwan were prevented crossing paths at any Japanese airports, thus CALs Osaka service, due to the citys only airport at Itami, would not be reinstated until years later. The crossing of flag-carriers occurred almost hourly at then British-controlled Hong Kongs Kaitak International Airport, adversely, other regional airports such as Bangkok, Singapore and Manila were entirely spared of this indignity imposed on Japan by China. The next 20 years saw sporadic but far-reaching growth for the company, later, the airline inaugurated its own round-the-world flight. 1993 saw China Airlines listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, later CAL would place one of the largest orders for the newest Boeing 747. The new 747s and an earlier an order with Airbus for over a dozen A300B4 wide body regional jets allowed for addition destination growth, as a result, in the mid-1990s, China Airlines subsidiary Mandarin Airlines took over some of its Sydney and Vancouver international routes. The plum blossom is Taiwans National Flower, throughout the 1990s, the airline employed many ex-ROC Air Force pilots. In addition, the company began recruiting university graduates as trainees in its own training program
6.
Taoyuan International Airport
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Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is an international airport serving the capital city of Taipei, Taiwan, and northern parts of the island. Located about 40 km west of Taipei in Dayuan District, Taoyuan and it is one of five Taiwanese airports with regular international flights, and is operated by the Taoyuan International Airport Corporation. In 2016, it was ranked the best airport for its size in the Asia-Pacific region by Airports Council International, the airport opened for commercial operations in 1979 and is an important regional trans-shipment center, passenger hub, and gateway for destinations in Asia. Formerly known as Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, the airport was renamed on 6 September 2006 to its current name and it is one of two that serves Taipei, the other, Taipei Songshan Airport, is located within city limits and served as Taipeis only international airport until 1979. Songshan now mainly serves chartered flights, domestic flights, and limited international flights and it is the main international hub for China Airlines and EVA Air. The airport, originally planned as Taoyuan International Airport, bore the name of late President Chiang Kai-shek until 2006, in Chinese, its former name was literally Chung-Cheng International Airport, where Chung-Cheng is the legal given name that Chiang Kai-shek had used since the 1910s. In Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek is associated with the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, local officials in Taoyuan City and members of the Pan-Green Coalition often referred to the hub by the name originally associated with it, Taoyuan International Airport. News organizations and local residents sometimes combined the two commonly used names as Taoyuan Chung-Cheng Airport, the Executive Yuan of then-President Chen Shui-bians administration officially approved the name Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for the hub on September 6,2006. The media in mainland China has always referred to the airport as Taoyuan International Airport so as to avoid mentioning Chiang Kai-shek, despite the name change, the airport is still known as Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport in all official records of IATA. In the 1970s, the airport in Taipei City — Taipei Songshan Airport — had become overcrowded. Thus, a new airport was planned to alleviate congestion, the new airport opened on February 26,1979, as part of the Ten Major Construction Projects pursued by the government in the 1970s. The airport was planned under the name Taoyuan International Airport but was later changed to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in memory of former President Chiang Kai-shek. The airport is the hub of China Airlines, the ROCs flag carrier, as well as EVA Air. The remaining gates opened on January 21,2005 for China Airlines, the airport has announced construction plans for Terminals 3. In October 2015, the design of British firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, over 2.3 billion US Dollars will be poured into the project, among the most costly constructions in modern Taiwanese history. The terminal is expected to be opened in 2020 and accommodate 45 million passengers per year, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport currently has two terminals, which are connected by two, short people movers. The third and fourth terminals are planned, and a transit system currently under construction will link the terminals together underground. Terminal 1 is the passenger terminal of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
7.
Taoyuan Station (HSR)
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THSR Taoyuan Station is an underground station of the Taiwan High Speed Rail located in Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. It is also known as Qingpu Station, Taoyuan HSR Station is an elevated station of Taoyuan Airport MRT, which fully operational March 2,2017. On November 10,2006, the station opened for service, on January 5,2007, the segment from the Banqiao Station to Xinzuoying Station opened for service and trains begin stopping at the station. The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation signed contracts with China Airlines for preferential services at this station for the airlines outbound passengers. The station is connected to the Taoyuan Airport MRT which began servicing to the station on March 2,2017, the underground station has two side platforms. Twenty-two hectares around the station are reserved for commercial and industrial development, ching Yun University Vanung University Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, frequent buses link the airport and the station. National Highway No.2 Dazhu Interchange Metro Walk Mall Liqingpu Elementary School Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium GLORIA OUTLETS
8.
Daxi Old Street
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The Daxi Old Street is a street in Daxi District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The street used to be the hub for camphor and tea trades which was built during the Japanese rule of Taiwan. The street is filled with diverse stores with the facade designed in Baroque style that is a blend of East and West. There are many specialty stores, snack bars and stores dealing in wooden products along the road, List of roads in Taiwan List of tourist attractions in Taiwan
9.
Shihmen Dam
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Shihmen Dam is a major rock fill dam across the Dahan River in northern Taoyuan City. It forms the Shihmen Reservoir, Taiwans third largest reservoir or artificial lake and it provides irrigation in Taoyuan, flood control for the Taipei Basin, and hydroelectricity and domestic water supply for more than three million people in northern Taiwan. Completed in 1964 after nine years of construction, Shihmen was Taiwans first multi-purpose water project, however, the project was criticized for its high cost and its impact on local communities, as more than 2,000 people were displaced to make way for the reservoir. Like many other reservoirs in Taiwan, Shihmen has suffered from sedimentation, efforts to reduce the rate of sediment accumulation, including dredging, check dam construction and watershed restoration work, have had a limited effect. This has diminished both the Shihmen Dams capability to contain floods and provide water during droughts, the Dahan River is the main river in northwestern Taiwan and is one of two tributaries that join in Taipei to form the Tamsui, Taiwans largest river system. Originating in the Xueshan Range, the river begins life as a mountain stream prone to flooding during typhoons. The Dahan skirts, but does not cross, the Taoyuan Plateau, River water enabled the irrigation of an additional 20,000 hectares of land in the Taoyuan area. Due to the storage capacity of the small Taoyuan ponds, there was often not enough water for irrigation in the dry season of November–April. After the war, the Republic of China was faced with food shortages, by the 1960s, the annual population growth had reached 350,000. In order to improve its economic self-sufficiency, the government initiated the construction of Shihmen Dam, the Shihmen Development Commission was established to oversee the project. The initial budget for the dam was NT$1.4 billion, starting in July 1955, access roads and worker facilities were constructed at the dam site, and the area of the future reservoir was prepared to accommodate flooding. About 2,000 people living in the Dahan River valley would be displaced by the project, although the government built new homes, schools and other infrastructure as well as providing land compensation to families, the resettlement programme was the subject of bitter controversy. The dam was designed by Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton, with construction overseen by Morrison-Knudsen, heavy construction began in late 1959 when large equipment arrived at the dam site. Although work was interrupted several times by typhoon flooding, the river was diverted into a tunnel in December 1960. The concrete cofferdam, later to serve as the core of the dam, was finished in 1962, notably, about 120 hectares of nearby farmland were purchased by the government to provide 6,675,000 cubic metres of earth and rock needed to build the dam. With the dam only partially complete in May 1963, the tunnel was plugged. In July 1963, Typhoon Wendy struck Taiwan, causing massive flooding, the embankment was topped out in June 1964, at a final cost of NT$4.85 billion. The dam was dedicated on June 14,1964 by Vice President Chen Cheng, a total of 7,500 people were employed in the construction of the dam, with as many as 6,000 workers on the site at one time
10.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
11.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
12.
District (Taiwan)
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Districts refer to a type of administrative division in Taiwan, an island controlled by the Republic of China. After World War II, Taiwan, formerly under Japanese rule, was handed over to the Republic of China, consequently, several provincial cities were established in Taiwan, including Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Pingtung, Taichung, Tainan and Taipei. On the other hand, the towns in the original prefecture-controlled cities were merged several districts. However Changhua and Pingtung were downgraded to county-controlled cities and their districts are now defunct, when Taipei was promoted as a special municipality by the central government in 1967, several townships surrounding the city were merged into Taipei City and were reorganized as its districts. Afterwards, through another reorganization in 1990, the 12 current districts were formed, in addition, Kaohsiung, the largest city in southern Taiwan, was promoted as a special municipality in 1979. Siaogang Township was also merged to Siaogang District, in December 2010, the four new special municipalities were established namely Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan. Their names, nevertheless, remained the same, the same thing happened to Taoyuan on 25 December 2014 where there are additional new 13 districts from the former county. These municipalities and provincial cities use district administrative centers for public services to serve the residents of these districts. Also, the directors of these districts and administrative centers are appointed by the mayors, in Taiwan, districts are the only subdivisions of special municipalities and provincial cities. Currently, there are 164 districts and 6 mountain indigenous districts located in the special municipalities, administrative divisions of Taiwan List of administrative divisions of Taiwan
13.
Bade District
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Bade District is a district in the central part of Taoyuan City, Taiwan. It is the smallest district in Taoyuan City, Bade City was originally established as Bakuaicuo during Qing Dynasty rule. During the period of Japanese rule, it was called Hachitoku Village, after the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China, the city was renamed to Bade Township in 1946. In 1995, it was changed to county-controlled city named Bade City, on 25 December 2014, it was finally changed to a district named Bade District. Cheng Wen-tsan, Mayor of Taoyuan City Eric Chu, Mayor of New Taipei City Bade City Government Website
14.
Daxi District
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This page is about Dasi District of Taoyuan City. For the borough of the name in Yilan County, see Dasi Station Daxi District, formerly known as Daxi Township, is a district in eastern Taoyuan City. In March 2012, it was named one of the Top 10 Small Tourist Towns by the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan, the Dasi area was occupied for several thousand years by the Atayal people. The Atayal called the local river Takoham in their native Austronesian language and this gave rise to similar names such as Toa-kho-ham in Hokkien and Taikokan in Japanese via transliteration. Eighteenth-century Han settlement in the Taipei Basin led many Atayal families to relocate upriver, the settlement later became an important trading post in the 19th century. In 1803, open fighting broke out two rival factions of Han settlers in Taipei, and many refugees fled south for safety. Among the refugees was the Lin Ben Yuan Family, one of the wealthiest clans in Taiwan at the time, the clan settled in Takoham, invested its fortunes in the settlement and brought prosperity to the whole region. Due to its location and the investments made by the Lin clan, Takoham became the center of trading. Goods would arrive here to be transported to Taipei via Dahan river, when the North-South Railway that bypasses the Takoham settlement was completed in 1909, the importance of river trade declined. Takoham lost its significance in North-South transportation, and is no longer a significant trading port, on the other hand, it became famous for the production of wooden furniture. In 1920, the Japanese government renamed this area Daikei, which was administered under Shinchiku Prefecture, after World War II, the ROC government has promoted the Mandarin romanizations Ta-hsi, and more recently Dasi, as its official name. Dasi dried tofu is an ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Dasi is also home to the mausoleums of two Kuomintang leaders, the late president Chiang Kai-shek in nearby Cihu and his son Chiang Ching-kuo in Touliao, Dasi has the headquarters of Kimlan. 3 and Provincial Highway No.66, feng Fei-fei, former singer and actress Taoyuan City Dasi Old Streets Daxi Town International Information System
15.
Dayuan District
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Dayuan District, formerly known as Dayuan Township is a rural, coastal district in northwestern Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Dayuan District was originally named Toa-khu-hng and it was changed to Ōsono Village during Japanese rule, and it was part of Tōen District, Shinchiku Prefecture. After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China and it became Dayuan District in 2014, when Taoyuan County and the city of Taoyuan merged into a special municipality. The population in 1986 was 56,995, by the end of May 2006, the total population had grown to 79,812, an average growth rate of 2. 03%. It is considered a population growing district. Area,87.3925 km² Population,85,667 people Dayuan District has an inclining topography from southwest to northwest with an height of 35 meters above sea level. Inland area are plains, rice fields or spacious flat lands. The district lies in the monsoon climate region. In winter, northwest monsoon is stronger and in the coldest months, in summer, it rains a lot but it is free from droughts during the winter seasons. The district consists of 18 villages and 407 neighborhoods, Evergreen Airlines Services Corporation, Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. and Evergreen Air Cargo Services Corporation, subsidiaries of Evergreen Group, are headquartered in Dayuan. The main agriculture products of the district are rice, watermelons, crops, vegetables. Fishery products are mostly in the ponds with a lot of grass carps, silver carps, carps. The fishing port also is the biggest one in Taoyuan County with the capacity of accommodating 50 ships in the part and 100 ships in the exterior part. Main fish species including pomfrets, sharks and mullets, the district houses the Dayuan Specialized Industry Park, Dayuan Extended Industry Park and Chun-Fa Industry Park. The main industries including chemical products, leather products, dyes, papermaking, metal, textiles, electronic and electric appliances manufacturing, food processing etc. The district is home to one senior high school, two public junior high schools 12 public elementary schools,17 public nursery schools,11 private nursery schools,3 private kindergartens. It also houses one district library and one community library
16.
Fuxing District, Taoyuan
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Fuxing District, formerly known as Fuxing Township or Fu-Hsing Township is a mountain indigenous district in eastern Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The main population is the Atayal people of the Taiwanese aborigines, Lalashan is a major feature of Fuxing, and the Shimen Reservoir, formed by Shimen Dam, is a popular nearby site. Fuxing District is, by area, the largest district in Taoyuan City, in August 2015, the Heliu community in the district were completely buried by landslide triggered by Typhoon Soudelor. 20.7 km > Xiao Wulai > Hewei Ancient Trees,22.7 km > Luofu > Roma Rd.28.2 km > Dawan > Najieshan. 31.1 km > Xuewu Tunnel > Fufushan,39.9 km > Gaoyi > Yingshan. 47.4 km > Galahe > Xuebaishan, Tangsuishan, Dilushan, Yufengshan, Siqiusishan,47.8 km > Shang Baling > Lalashan Ancient Trees, Tamanshan, Meiguiximoshan, Baling-Fushan Trail. 61.5 km > Lengshan 67.0 km > Mingchi > Babokulushan, Taoyuan Station 桃園06,30 – Linbankou 林班口開09,30 Taoyuan Station 桃園12,30 - Linbankou 林班口開15,30 Taoyuan Bus Co. Taoyuan Station 桃園06,50 - Linbankou 林班口開09,50 Zhongli Station 中壢10,30 - Linbankou 林班口開13,30 Taoyuan City Fu-Hsing Township Tourism Guide
17.
Guanyin District
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Guanyin District is a rural, coastal district in western Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Guanyin is the name of a Buddhist goddess, Guanyin was originally named as Shiguanyin during the Qing Dynasty rule. It was renamed to Guanyin in 1920 during the Japanese rule, on 25 December 2014, it was upgraded to a district named Guanyin District. Area,87.98 km² Population,64,845 people Guanyin is part of the fan in Taoyuan County. The coastline is about 15 km at the northern side
18.
Guishan District
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Guishan District is a rural district in northeastern Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Guishan was formerly known as Kulunsia, the name originated from a hill by the Mercy Buddha Temple of Shou Shan Rock, built in 7th year of the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty. The Plains Aborigines and Ketagalan tribes were located here, from 1920 to 1945, Kameyama Village was under Tōen District, Shinchiku Prefecture. In 1950, it was renamed to Guishan, on 25 December 2014, it was upgraded into a district called Guishan District. The Ministry of Justice operates Taipei Prison in Guishan,1 Huilong Station Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Station National Taiwan Sport University Station Nanxiang Station Taoyuan City Taoyuan Gueishan Township
19.
Longtan District, Taoyuan
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Longtan District is a rural district in southern Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Longtan is home to the headquarters of the Republic of China Army, the township is known for the Buddhist temple in the center of Longtan Lake and the large Bainien community project. The area is surrounded by industries and mountains. Longtan is home to a number of bases, and a few research installations. National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology and Institute of Nuclear Energy Research are two of the well known ones. Longtan used to be a township of the former Taoyuan County. On 25 December 2014, it was upgraded into a district of Taoyuan City, Taoyuan City Longtan travel guide from Wikivoyage Longtan Township Government website Facebook fanpage
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Luzhu District, Taoyuan
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Luzhu District is a district in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The downtown district, known as Nankan, is now a high-rise density living suburb for many who work in Taipei, the first opened shopping center in Taiwan, Taimall, is a weekend destination for many Taoyuan regional residents, located in Nankan, too. Taimall is located around 2 kilometers north-northwest of the Nankan interchange on highway no.1, Luzhu was upgraded to a county-controlled city from the former rural township on 3 June 2014. On 25 December 2014, it was upgraded again to a district named Luzhu District, EVA Air maintains its headquarters in Luzhu. The headquarters of Evergreen Marine Corporation is in Luzhu, colleges and universities, Kainan University International schools, Taoyuan American School Luzhu is located at kilometer 49 of the Highway no.1. Kengkou Station and Shanbi Station Taoyuan City Luzhu Civil Affairs Office
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Pingzhen District
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Pingzhen District is a district in the central part of Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Pingzhen was originally established as Changluliao during the Qing Dynasty rule of Taiwan, in 1920 under the Japanese rule, the city was renamed to Pingzhen. On 1 March 1992, it was upgraded as the third county-controlled city of Taoyuan County named Pingzhen City, on 25 December 2014, it was upgraded to a district named Pingzhen District when Taoyuan County was upgraded from a county to a municipality. The district spans over 47.75 km² of area and it is located in the middle part of a hilly plateau and the entire district is on a slope. Pingzhen District has a population of 212,328 people as of December 2014, most of the people in Pingzhen are Hakka people. To solve the supply problem, many ponds have been built in the past. Currently the district has 123 ponds, national Highway No.1 Provincial Highway No.1 Provincial Highway No.66 Pingzhen Loyalty Commendation Hall River Education Center Alicia Liu Taoyuan City Pingzhen City Office
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Yangmei District
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Yangmei District is a district in southwestern Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The traditional residents are Hakka people, Yangmei City was originally established as Yangmeili during Qing dynasty rule. The name was shortened Yōbai in 1920, during Japanese rule, under the Republic of China, the former township was upgraded to a county-controlled city after passing 150,000 in population. On 25 December 2014, it was upgraded again to a district, Yangmei is the third largest district in Taoyuan City. The center is only 40 minutes from the west coast of Taiwan, to the north it borders Pingzhen District, to the south it borders Hsinchu County. To the east, Yangmei borders Longtan District, the district owes its name from the abundance of Myrica rubra when Chinese immigrants entered the area. Area,89.1229 km2 Population,161,301 To the east, a fair amount of tea plantations can be found in this area. There are also several gated communities in the areas of Yangmei District—Sunny Forest Hill is the biggest and most famous of them. One of the most popular clubs in Taiwan, Sunrise Golf. Yangmei has high-tech industry in the area, with Chunghwa Picture Tube having a factory in the city, one of the largest clusters of TFT-LCD plants are located in the area, Yangmei is also a transport hub with several container terminals present in the city. Maersk Taiwan maintains a center in Yangmei. A fair amount of industry is also present, with Youth Industrial Park being home to much traditional industry. Another large industrial enterprise in Yangmei is China Motor Corporation, which builds Mitsubishi cars under license, generally, it is about 50 minutes driving time to Taipei City. Provincial Highway No.1 also serve the town, so that the system is convenient for travelers. Yangmei has three stations, Puxin, Yangmei and Fugang. The railway is a convenient route for commuters in Yangmei
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Zhongli District
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Zhongli District is a district in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Zhongli is spelled variously as Jungli, Jongli, Jhongli or Chungli on railway, bus stop, historically, the city is the site of the Jungli Incident of 1977, the most significant event of the democratization movement prior to the 1980s. In recent years a number of foreign workers have also settled in and around the city due to the heavy industries in the suburbs of the city. The city of Zhongli has 3 large parks and over 70 green reserves in the city for residents of Zhongli to enjoy, in the 19th century, the area was home to Pingpu aborigines. During the Qing dynasty, immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong Provinces arrived along with the Hakka, the original name of the area was Kan-a-lek due to its location between Tamsui and Hsinchu. During Japanese rule, the town was administered as Chūreki Town, Chūreki District, after the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945, Zhongli was assigned to be administered under Zhongli Town Administration Office. In October 1950, it was assigned under Taoyuan County, on 27 February 1967, the Taiwan Provincial Government promoted Zhongli as a county-controlled city and it became Zhongli City on 1 July 1967. On 25 December 2014, Taoyuan County was upgraded to a municipality named Taoyuan City. Zhonglis population was estimated at 397,083 in January 20017, Zhongli is one of the most multicultural cities due to its convenience and proximity to Taipei. This reflects the imbalance of development of western and eastern Zhongli, Zhongli TRA Station is surrounded by shops on the street and Zhongli also has a SOGO branched department store. Zhongli night market opens daily usually from 6 pm to 1 am, in addition there are two focus of street shops, known as Ta-tung and Jung-ping, both are within half an hour walk from the Zhongli station. The Zhongli-Neili Industrial park was established in 1976 December and this is a Combined multipurpose industry, controlled by the Economic Bureau of Taiwan, with a total area of 433 yards. There are currently 480 companies that have built factories or offices here, including electronic, metal, chemical, mechanical, food, textile. Zhongli City Library, four floors of books, allowed to be borrowed for a month. O. C, the TRA station is the 3rd busiest station in Taiwan. In addition, there is also Neili TRA station, the only HSR station situated in Taoyuan on the Taiwan High Speed Rail is a 15 min drive from Zhongli downtown, there are free shuttle buses from downtown to THSR station every 15–20 minutes. The Taipei/Airport MRT line is still under construction and estimated to finish in 2016, in addition, the Taiwan Railway Administration Zhongli Station provides conventional train connections to other Taiwanese cities. Zhongli is served by both National Highway No.1 and Provincial Highway No.66, the nationally owned e-go highway buses, near the Zhongli Station, are an inexpensive means of transport to other cities
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Mayor of Taipei
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The Mayor of Taipei is the head of the Taipei City Government and is elected to a four-year term. Taipei was elevated as a municipality from 1967. The mayor was an appointed by the central government from 1967 to 1994. The incumbent mayor is Ko Wen-je, kuomintang Independent Democratic Progressive Japanese rule era zh, 木原圓次 zh, 藤村寬太 zh, 廣谷致員 zh, 土居美水 Taipei Mayor of New Taipei Numazaki, Ichiro. The role of networks in the making of Taiwans guanxiqiye. Chinese Business Enterprise, Critical Perspectives on Business and Management
25.
Cheng Wen-tsan
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Cheng Wen-tsan is a Taiwanese politician. He is the first and incumbent Mayor of the newly established Taoyuan City, Cheng received his bachelors degree from the Department of Sociology and masters degree from the Graduate Institute of National Development of National Taiwan University. In the early 2000s Cheng worked for the Democratic Progressive Partys Information, Cheng joined the 2009 Taoyuan County magistrate election under the Democratic Progressive Party banner on 5 December 2009. However, he lost to Kuomintang opponent John Wu, lin was elected as the Mayor of Taoyuan City after winning the 2014 Taoyuan City mayoralty election held on 29 November 2014, defeating incumbent Magistrate John Wu of the Kuomintang. Lin appointed Chiu Tai-san and Wang Ming-teh as deputy mayors of Taoyuan
26.
Democratic Progressive Party
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The Democratic Progressive Party is a liberal political party in Republic of China, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. It is currently the majority ruling party, controlling both the presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, founded in 1986, the DPP is one of two major parties in Taiwan, along with the historically dominant Kuomintang. It has traditionally been associated with advocacy of human rights. The current leader is President Tsai Ing-wen, the member of the DPP to hold the office. The DPP is a member of Liberal International and a founding member of the Council of Asian Liberals. It represented Taiwan in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, the DPPs roots were in opposition to Kuomintang one-party authoritarian rule. It was founded as the Tangwai – or outside-the-KMT – movement and this movement culminated in the formation of the DPP as an alternative party on September 28,1986 when eighteen founding members met at Grand Hotel Taipei. A total of 132 people joined the party that day, the new party contested the 1986 election even though competing parties remained illegal under national law until the next year. The first members of the party drew heavily from the ranks of members and defense lawyers of political prisoners as well as intellectuals. Such individuals were strongly committed to change that would ensure constitutional support in Taiwan for freedoms of speech, press, assembly. The party did not at the outset give open support to an independent Taiwanese national identity–a move that could have invited a violent crackdown by the Taiwans Kuomintang rulers and its platform was pro-environment and pro-democracy. Party members began openly promoting a national identity for Taiwan separate from that of China, once the DPP had representation in the Legislative Yuan, the party used the legislature as a forum to challenge the government. However, it did not emerge as a force until 1991. Fears that the DPP would one day control of the legislature led then-President Lee Teng-hui to push through a series of amendments to strengthen presidential power. Chen softened the partys stance on independence to appeal to voters, appease the United States. He also promised not to change the ROC state symbols or declare formal independence as long as the Peoples Republic of China did not attack Taiwan. The DPP became the largest party having reached a plurality in the Legislative Yuan for the first time in 2002 following the 2001 legislative election, however, a majority coalition between the KMT, People First Party, and New Party prevented it from taking control of the chamber. In 2004, President Chen Shui-bian was re-elected by a narrow margin and he and Vice President Annette Lu had been involved in an assassination attempt only hours before the election
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Time in Taiwan
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National Standard Time is the official time zone in Taiwan defined by an UTC offset of +08,00. This standard is known as Taiwan Time, Taipei Time. The first time zone standard in Taiwan was enforced in January 1,1896, the standard is called Western Standard Time with time offset of UTC+08,00, based on 120°E longitude. In October 1,1937, the Western Standard Time zone is abolished and this time was used until the end of the Second World War. In September 21,1945, the Governor-General of Taiwan announced to revoke the order in 1937. After the wars end, Taiwan was annexed to the five time zones system of the Republic of China and was classified in the Chungyuan Standard Time with time offset of UTC+08,00. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Central Government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan, from this time, the five time zones system was no longer implemented except Chungyuan Standard Time on Taiwan. After the 1990s, the movement brought more localization thinking in Taiwan. The term Chungyuan, which means the Central Plain of China, is considered as Sinocentrism, thus the government on Taiwan now favors the term National Standard Time as official use. Along with the standard, popular alternatives include Taiwan Standard Time, Taipei Time. Daylight saving time was implemented in Taiwan after the Second World War on the summer of 1946–1961,1974,1975,1979, National Standard Time is now managed by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. National Standard Time used in Taiwan is also the same as Brunei, P. R. China, Malaysia, the IANA time zone database contains one zone for Taiwan, named Asia/Taipei
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Taiwan blue magpie
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The Taiwan blue magpie, also called the Taiwan magpie, Formosan blue magpie, or the long-tailed mountain lady, is a species of bird of the crow family. The Taiwan blue magpie was collected by Robert Swinhoe and described by John Gould, Swinhoe called it the Long-tailed Mountain-Nymph. The Taiwan blue magpie is sometimes placed in the genus Cissa and it forms a superspecies with the yellow-billed blue magpie and the red-billed blue magpie. The Taiwan blue magpie is endemic to Taiwan and it lives in broadleaf forests at elevations of 300–1,200 m. It is 63–68 cm in length, the tail measures around 34–42 cm in length. The wings are 20 cm long, the plumages of the male and female are similar. The head, neck and breast are black, the bill and feet are red. The rest of the plumage on the bird is mostly blue, the wings and tail feathers have white tips. The underwing-coverts are dark grey, and the feathers are light grey. The central pair of feathers are the longest. The other tail feathers have black bands, chicks are greyish, with a short tail and greyish-blue eyes. Taiwan blue magpies are not very afraid of people and they can be found near human residences in the mountains or newly cultivated lands. They are gregarious and are found in groups of three to twelve. The birds often fly in a line, following each other and this is sometimes called long-tailed formation. Similar to other members of the family, they have a raucous call which is described as a high-pitched cackling chatter. They also have calls like ga-kang, ga-kang, kwee-eep and gar-suee, Taiwan blue magpies are scavengers and omnivores. Their diet includes snakes, rodents, small insects, carrion, eggs and chicks of birds, plants, fruits. They also feed on food waste of humans and they sometimes store leftovers on the ground and cover them with leaves for future retrieval
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Peach
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The peach is a deciduous tree native to the region of Northwest China between the Tarim Basin and the north slopes of the Kunlun Shan mountains, where it was first domesticated and cultivated. It bears an edible fruit called a peach or a nectarine. The specific epithet refers to its widespread cultivation in Persia. It belongs to the genus Prunus which includes the cherry, apricot, almond and plum, the peach is classified with the almond in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated seed shell. Peach and nectarines are the species, even though they are regarded commercially as different fruits. The Peoples Republic of China is the worlds largest producer of peaches, Prunus persica grows to 4–10 m tall and 6 in. in diameter. The leaves are lanceolate, 7–16 cm long, 2–3 cm broad, the flowers are produced in early spring before the leaves, they are solitary or paired,2. 5–3 cm diameter, pink, with five petals. The fruit has yellow or whitish flesh, an aroma. The flesh is very delicate and easily bruised in some cultivars, the single, large seed is red-brown, oval shaped, approximately 1. 3–2 cm long, and is surrounded by a wood-like husk. Peaches, along with cherries, plums and apricots, are stone fruits, there are various heirloom varieties, including the Indian peach, which arrives in the latter part of the summer. Cultivated peaches are divided into clingstones and freestones, depending on whether the flesh sticks to the stone or not, Peaches with white flesh typically are very sweet with little acidity, while yellow-fleshed peaches typically have an acidic tang coupled with sweetness, though this also varies greatly. Both colors often have red on their skin. The scientific name persica, along with the word peach itself, the Ancient Romans referred to the peach as malum persicum Persian apple, later becoming French pêche, hence the English peach. The scientific name, Prunus persica, literally means Persian plum, fossil endocarps with characteristics indistinguishable from those of modern peaches have been recovered from late Pliocene deposits in Kunming, dating to 2.6 million years ago. In the absence of evidence that the plants were in other ways identical to the modern peach, until recently, it was believed that the cultivation started circa 2000 BC. Nevertheless, the recent evidence indicates that domestication occurred as early as 6000 BC in Zhejiang Province of China, the oldest archaeological peach stones are from the Kuahuqiao site. Archaeologists point at the Yangzi River valley as the place where the selection for favorable peach varieties likely took place. Peaches were mentioned in Chinese writings as far back as the 10th century BC and were a fruit of kings
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Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
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Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
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Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
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Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
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Bopomofo
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Zhuyin fuhao, Zhuyin or Bopomofo is a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of spoken Chinese, particularly the Mandarin dialect. The first two are traditional terms, whereas Bopomofo is the term, also used by the ISO. Consisting of 37 characters and four marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Zhuyin was introduced in China by the Republican Government in the 1910s and used alongside the Wade-Giles system, the Wade system was replaced by Hanyu Pinyin in 1958 by the Government of the Peoples Republic of China, and at the International Organization for Standardization in 1982. The informal name Bopomofo is derived from the first four syllables in the ordering of available syllables in Mandarin Chinese. The four Bopomofo characters that correspond to these syllables are placed first in a list of these characters. The same sequence is used by other speakers of Chinese to refer to other phonetic systems. The original formal name of the system was Guóyīn Zìmǔ and Zhùyīn Zìmǔ and it was later renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào, meaning phonetic symbols. In official documents, Zhuyin is occasionally called Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I, in English translations, the system is often also called either Chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols. A romanized phonetic system was released in 1984 as Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II, the Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Wu Zhihui from 1912 to 1913, created a system called Zhuyin Zimu, which was based on Zhang Binglins shorthand. A draft was released on July 11,1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education and it was later renamed first Guoyin Zimu and then, in April 1930, Zhuyin Fuhao. The last renaming addressed fears that the system might independently replace Chinese characters. Zhuyin remains the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing in school in Taiwan. It is also one of the most popular ways to enter Chinese characters into computers and smartphones, in elementary school, particularly in the lower years, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with Zhuyin as ruby characters as an aid to learning. Additionally, one newspaper in Taiwan, the Mandarin Daily News. In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some communities use Zhuyin as a learning tool. The Zhuyin characters were created by Zhang Binglin, and taken mainly from regularised forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents. It is to be noted that the first consonants are articulated from the front of the mouth to the back, /b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /d/, /t/, /n/, Zhuyin is written in the same stroke order rule as Chinese characters
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Hakka Chinese
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Hakka is not mutually intelligible with Yue, Wu, Southern Min, Mandarin or other branches of Chinese, and itself contains a few mutually unintellegible varieties. It is most closely related to Gan and is classified as a variety of Gan. There is also a possibility that the similarities are just a result of shared areal features, Taiwan, where Hakka is the native language of a significant minority of the islands residents, is a center for the study and preservation of the language. Pronunciation differences exist between the Taiwanese Hakka dialects and Mainland Chinas Hakka dialects, even in Taiwan, two local varieties of Hakka exist. The Meixian dialect of northeast Guangdong in China has been taken as the dialect by the Peoples Republic of China. The Guangdong Provincial Education Department created a romanization of Moiyen in 1960. The name of the Hakka people who are the predominant original native speakers of the variety literally means guest families or guest people, Hak 客 means guest, and ka 家 means family. Among themselves, Hakka people variously called their language Hak-ka-fa 客家話, Hak-fa, 客話, Tu-gong-dung-fa 土廣東話, literally Native Guangdong language, and Ngai-fa 我話, My/our language. The forebears of the Hakka came from present-day Central Plains provinces of Henan and Shaanxi, the presence of many archaic features occur in modern Hakka, including final consonants -p -t -k, as are found in other modern southern Chinese varieties, but which have been lost in Mandarin. Due to the migration of its speakers, Hakka may have influenced by other language areas through which the Hakka-speaking forebears migrated. For instance, common vocabulary is found in Hakka, Min, in recent times, many She people have become Hakka speakers. A regular pattern of change can generally be detected in Hakka, as in most Chinese varieties. Some examples, Characters such as 武 or 屋, are pronounced roughly mwio and uk in Early Middle Chinese, have an initial v phoneme in Hakka, being vu and vuk in Hakka respectively. Like in Mandarin, labiodentalisation process also changed mj- to a sound in Hakka before grave vowels. Middle Chinese initial phonemes /ɲ/ of the characters 人 and 日, among others, for comparison, in Mandarin, /ɲ/ became r-, while in Cantonese, it merged with initial /j/. The initial consonant phoneme exhibited by the character 話 is pronounced f or v in Hakka, the initial consonant of 學 hɔk usually corresponds with an h approximant in Hakka and a voiceless alveo-palatal fricative in Mandarin. Hakka has as many regional dialects as there are counties with Hakka speakers as the majority, some of these Hakka dialects are not mutually intelligible with each other. Surrounding Meixian are the counties of Pingyuan, Dabu, Jiaoling, Xingning, Wuhua, each is said to have its own special phonological points of interest
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Southern Min
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Southern Min, or Minnan, is a branch of Min Chinese spoken in certain parts of China including southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, and southern Zhejiang, and in Taiwan. The Min Nan dialects are spoken by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora, most notably the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia. In common parlance, Southern Min usually refers to Hokkien, including Amoy and Taiwanese Hokkien, the Southern Min dialect group also includes Teochew, though Teochew has limited mutual intelligibility with Hokkien. Hainanese is not mutually intellgible with other Southern Min and is considered a separate branch of Min. Southern Min is not mutually intelligible with Eastern Min, Pu-Xian Min, any other Min branch, Hakka, Cantonese, Shanghainese or Mandarin. Southern Min dialects are spoken in the part of Fujian. The variant spoken in Leizhou, Guangdong as well as Hainan is Hainanese and is not mutually intelligible with other Southern Min or Teochew, Hainanese is classified in some schemes as part of Southern Min and in other schemes as separate. Puxian Min was originally based on the Quanzhou dialect, but over time became heavily influenced by Eastern Min, eventually losing intellegility with Minnan. A forms of Southern Min spoken in Taiwan, collectively known as Taiwanese, Southern Min is a first language for most of the Hoklo people, the main ethnicity of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is not absolute, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Southern Min while some non-Hoklo speak Southern Min fluently, there are many Southern Min speakers also among Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. Many ethnic Chinese immigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian and brought the language to what is now Burma, Indonesia and present-day Malaysia and Singapore. In general, Southern Min from southern Fujian is known as Hokkien, Hokkienese, many Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese also originated in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong and speak Teochew language, the variant of Southern Min from that region. Southern Min-speakers form the majority of Chinese in Singapore, with the largest group being Hokkien, despite the similarities the two groups are rarely seen as part of the same Minnan Chinese subgroups. The variants of Southern Min spoken in Zhejiang province are most akin to that spoken in Quanzhou, the variants spoken in Taiwan are similar to the three Fujian variants and are collectively known as Taiwanese. Those Southern Min variants that are known as Hokkien in Southeast Asia also originate from these variants. The variants of Southern Min in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province are known as Teochew or Chaozhou. Teochew is of importance in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sumatra. The Philippines variant is mostly from the Quanzhou area as most of their forefathers are from the aforementioned area, the Southern Min language variant spoken around Shanwei and Haifeng differs markedly from Teochew and may represent a later migration from Zhangzhou
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Hokkien
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Hokkien /hɒˈkiɛn/ is a group of Southern Min dialects spoken throughout Southeastern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and by other overseas Chinese. Hokkien originated in southern Fujian, the Min-speaking province and it is closely related to Teochew, though there is limited mutual intelligibility, and is somewhat more distantly related to Hainanese and Leizhou dialect. Besides Hokkien, there are also other Min and Hakka dialects in Fujian province, the term Hokkien is etymologically derived from the Southern Min pronunciation for Fujian, the province from which the language hails. The variety is known by other terms such as the more general Min Nan or Southern Min. Fujianese and Fukienese are also used, although they are somewhat imprecise, the term Hokkien is not usually used in Mainland China or Taiwan. Conversely Hokkien is the name in Southeast Asia in both English, Chinese or other languages. Speakers of Hokkien, particularly those in Southeast Asia, typically refer to Hokkien as a dialect, people in Taiwan most often refer to Hokkien as the Taiwanese language, with Minnan and Holo also being used and 福建話 is not as common. Hokkien originated in the area of Fujian province, an important center for trade and migration. The major pole of Hokkien varieties outside of Fujian is Taiwan, the Taiwanese version mostly have origins with the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou variants, but since then, the Amoy dialect is becoming the modern prestige standard for the language. There are many Hokkien speakers among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia as well as in the United States, many ethnic Han Chinese emigrants to the region were Hoklo from southern Fujian, and brought the language to what is now Burma, Indonesia and present day Malaysia and Singapore. Many of the Hokkien dialects of this region are similar to Taiwanese and Amoynese. Hokkien is reportedly the native language of up to 80% of the Chinese people in the Philippines, Hokkien speakers form the largest group of overseas Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. Southern and part of western Fujian is home to four principal Hokkien dialects, Chinchew, Amoy, Chiangchew and Longyan, originating from the cities of Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Longyan. As Xiamen is the city of southern Fujian, Amoy is considered the most important, or even the prestige dialect. It is a hybrid of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, same as Amoy dialect, the varieties of Hokkien spoken in Taiwan are hybrids of the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou dialects, and are collectively known as Taiwanese Hokkien or just Taiwanese. Used by a majority of the population, it bears much importance from a socio-political perspective, the varieties of Hokkien in Southeast Asia originate from these dialects. The Singaporeans, Southern Malaysians and people in Indonesias Riau and surrounding islands variant is from the Quanzhou area and they speak a distinct form of Quanzhou Hokkien called Southern Peninsular Malaysian Hokkien. Among ethnic Chinese inhabitants of Penang, and other states in Northern Malaysia and Medan, with areas in North Sumatra, Indonesia
Republic of China (Taiwan)
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Hartford County, Connecticut, United States (1982)
Miaoli City, Taiwan (2006)
Incheon, South Korea (2009)
Ramat Gan, Israel (2016)
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (2017)[25][26]
Grenoble, France (2018)
Miyazaki, Japan (2018)
Media related to Taoyuan, Taiwan at Wikimedia Commons