Portal:Taiwan/Article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- October 2006
Kaohsiung City (Chinese: 高雄市, TongYong PinYin: GaoSyóng-shìh, Hanyu Pinyin: Gāoxióng-shì, POJ: Ko-hiông, ) is the second largest city in Taiwan with a population of 1,510,444 (2006 census). Kaohsiung City is province-level municipality of the Republic of China with a popularly elected mayor.
Kaohsiung is a major center for manufacturing, refining, and transportation. Unlike Taipei, the streets of Kaohsiung are wide and traffic is less congested than in Taipei. However, the air pollution around Kaohsiung is notoriously bad because of the heavy industry in the area. Kaohsiung is the major port through which most of Taiwan's oil is imported, which accounts for the large amount of heavy industry.
It is an export processing zone—producing aluminium, wood and paper products, fertilizers, cement, metals, machinery, and ships. Its harbor is the largest international port in Taiwan and ranked sixth in terms of volume of container traffic (2005 preliminary data). Kaohsiung is the center of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry, as well as home to a large ROC Navy base. Its subway system, and the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (KMRT), should be running in 2006.
Kaohsiung City will host the 2009 World Games, a multisport event primarily composed of sports not featured in the Olympic Games.
