From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anping (Chinese: 安平; pinyin: Ānpíng; Wade-Giles: An-p'ing; POJ: An-pêng) is a district of Tainan City. The history of Anping dates back to the 17th century, when Dutch East India Company occupied Tayuan/Tayoan (the origin of the modern name Taiwan). In the period of the Japanese occupation, the history of trade between China and Japan unfolded at Anping.

Anping was a small island separated from mainland Taiwan until the 19th century. Because of the ocean current, the small ocean between Anping island and Taiwan was silted up on account of lots of sand brought by the ocean current. Afterwards, the small ocean between Anping island and Taiwan gradually disappeared. And then, Anping was getting closer to mainland Taiwan and became a part of Tainan.

[edit] Attractions

• Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan)

When Dutch occupied Tayoan, they built up the first castle in Taiwan called Fort Zeelandia. At that time, it was the heartbeat of politics and trade in Taiwan. In the period of being occupied, Fort Zeelandia had several name changes. One of its latest names is "Anping Castle".

• Eternal Golden Castle

Eternal Golden Castle was built in 1874 by Shen Bao-Jhen, one of famous officials in Cing Dynasty. At that time it was used to defend the Japanese army's invasion and maintain the Anping ocean's safeguard. In 1895, when Taiwan was occupied by Japan, Taiwan's people fought against Japanese's battleship by this fortress. During the war between Japan and Russia, Japanese government sold some cannons of Eternal Golden Castle in order to pay for the war expense. Afterwards, the fortress lost its military value.