City Flag |
City Seal |
Abbreviation | Southern City 南市 |
Nickname | The Phoenix City,[1] The Prefecture City 府城 |
Capital | Anping District (安平區) |
Region | Southwestern Taiwan |
Mayor | Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) |
Area | 175.6456 km² (Ranked 17 of 25) |
Population (Nov, 2007) | |
- Population | 764,147 (Ranked 11 of 25) |
- Density | 4,350.50 /km² |
Districts | 6 |
Website | English Trad. Chinese |
Symbols | |
- Bird | Black-billed magpie [1] |
- Flower | Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) |
- Tree | Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) |
Tainan (traditional Chinese: 臺南/台南; simplified Chinese: 台南; pinyin: Táinán; Wade-Giles: T'ai-nan; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-lâm, literally "Southern Taiwan") is the fourth largest city in Taiwan after Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung. It is officially administrated as a provincial city of Taiwan Province in the Republic of China.
Tainan was established as the capital of Taiwan in 1661 and remained the capital until 1887 during the Qing Dynasty. In fact, "Tayoan"/"Tayouan" is the old name of Tainan and became the name of the island later. The city is famous for its abundant historical buildings and relics.
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Little is known about Tainan prior to the Dutch rule except that it was a settlement of Han Chinese immigrants in the 14th and 15th centuries and was named Tayoan (大圓, POJ: Tāi-ôan, from Sirayan). The Dutch established a trading post in 1624 at present-day Anping[2], and used it as a base of operation for a variety of business they conducted in the region. However, in 1661 the outpost was under siege by a fleet of Ming Dynasty remnants led by Koxinga, who established his own kingdom on Taiwan and renamed the city Tungtu (traditional Chinese: 東都; literally "East Capital") after the Dutch capitulated and withdrew from the island. In 1684, the Qing Dynasty conquered Taiwan and established Taiwan-fu (Taiwan Government) as the first official local government in Taiwan.[3]
William Campbell described the city in the 1870s:
As to Taiwan-fu itself, I may say that the brick wall which surrounds it is about fifteen feet in thickness, twenty-five in height, and some five miles in circumference. Lofty watch-towers are built over the four main gateways, and large spaces within the city are given to the principal temples and yamens—or quarters occupied by the civil and military mandarins. There is much need in Taiwan-fu for the carrying out of a City Improvement Scheme. Pleasant walks, no doubt, there are, and some of the shops have an appearance which is decidedly attractive; but, as a rule, the streets are narrow, winding, ill-paved, and odorous.[4]
Taiwan-fu was later renamed to Tainan-fu in 1885 when Taiwan was established as a province. Because it was formerly the capital of Taiwan, Tainan is also called Fu-cheng (traditional Chinese: 府城; literally "Government City"). Tainan also served as the capital of the Republic of Formosa after the Japanese took Taipei bloodlessly.
Tainan has been historically regarded as one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, and its former name, Tayoan, has been claimed to be the source of the name Taiwan. It is also one of Taiwan's cultural capitals, as it houses the first Confucian School/Temple, built in 1665 on the island[5], the remains of the Northern and Southern gates of the old city, and countless other historical monuments.
Tainan claims more Buddhist and Taoist temples than any city in Taiwan. Tainan City (台南市) is administratively a municipality of Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. It is surrounded by Tainan County to the north and east and the South China Sea to the west and south. Tainan's complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname "City of the Phoenix."[1]
Tainan City currently has 6 districts: Anping, Annan, East, West-Central, South, and North districts.
Annan district was originally the An-Shun township of Tainan County, and was merged into Tainan City in 1946. In 2004, Central District and West District were merged into the new West-Central district.
The following places are sister cities to Tainan City[6]:
Tainan City also celebrates friendly relationships with two other locations, although they are not considered official sister cities.
Tainan Station is a major stop on the Western Line, with direct connections to Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Hsinchu and Keelung. There are also local trains to reach closer destinations.
Tainan HSR Station is located just outside the city itself, in Gueiren township. Using the High Speed Rail system travellers can reach Taipei in under ninety minutes.
There have been plans mooted for a Tainan MRT system. However, there has not been any progress on the issue for several years.[7]
To improve the communication with HSR station and save the expenses for MRT, a new rail brach line is being built. See zh:沙崙線(Shalun Line).
National Highway Nos. 1 and 3 run close by and connect via local highways to the city itself. Tainan City has a total of 142.9km of highways, including national, local and rural highways.[8]
Tainan Airport is located in the South District of the city. It is a domestic airport, currently operating flights to Kinmen and Makung.[9] Previously there were also services to Taipei's Songshan Airport, but these were dropped in light of falling revenues (generally agreed to be a result of the High Speed Rail commencing operation and rising fuel costs).[10]
Public
Private
The city has historically been seen as a powerbase for the Democratic Progressive Party. However, in the most recent presidential elections (2008), a narrow majority of the city's residents voted for the eventual winner, Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang.
Hsu Tain-Tsair of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected with 43.23% of the vote. His closest rival was the Kuomintang legislator Chen Rong-sheng, who garnered 37.40%.
In 2005 Mayor Hsu was re-elected, polling 45.65% to Chen Rong-sheng's 41.40%.
A majority of city residents have voted for the winning candidates in every presidential election since the position was first chosen by popular vote in 1996.
In common with every other city and county in the Republic of China, with the exception of Nantou, a majority of Tainan residents voted for eventual winner Lee Teng-hui and vice-president Lien Chan.
Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
President | Vice president | ||||
Independent | James Soong | Chang Chau-hsiung | 114,299 | 27.53% | |
Kuomintang | Lien Chan | Vincent Siew | 107,679 | 25.93% | |
New Party | Li Ao | Elmer Fung | 580 | 0.14% | |
Independent | Hsu Hsin-liang | Josephine Chu | 1,408 | 0.34% | |
Democratic Progressive Party | Chen Shui-bian | Annette Lu | 191,261 | 45.06% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
President | Vice president | ||||
Democratic Progressive Party | Chen Shui-bian | Annette Lu | 251,397 | 57.77% | |
Kuomintang | Lien Chan | James Soong | 183,786 | 42.23% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
President | Vice president | ||||
Democratic Progressive Party | Frank Hsieh | Su Tseng-chang | 216,815 | 49.29% | |
Kuomintang | Ma Ying-jeou | Vincent Siew | 223,034 | 50.71% |
A non-exhaustive list of famous people born in Tainan, educated there, prominent in the life of the city, or otherwise associated with the city.
Tainan is home to the Uni-President Lions, who play their home games at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium.[15] It is also the birthplace of Chien-Ming Wang, Hong-Chih Kuo, Tai-Yuan Kuo, En-Yu Lin, and many other prominent Taiwanese baseball players.
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