Tainan

Tainan 臺南
—  Provincial city  —
Tainan City · 臺南市 Southern City (南市)
Clockwise from top: The skyline of Tainan metropolitan area, Fort Provintia, Southern Taiwan Science Park, Anping dock, the shopping district nearby Tainan Station, National Cheng Kung University, Barclay Memorial Park.
Seal
Nickname(s): The Phoenix City (府城),[1] The Prefecture City
Country	Taiwan
Region	Southwestern Taiwan
Capital	Anping District (安平區)
Government
- Mayor	Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財)
Area(Ranked 17 of 25)
- Total	175.6456 km2 (67.8 sq mi)
Population (June 2010)
- Total	771,905
- Density	4,394.6/km2 (11,382/sq mi)
	Population ranked 11 of 25
Districts	6
Bird	Black-billed magpie[1]
Flower	Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia)
Tree	Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia)
Website	English Chinese

Tainan City (臺南市) is a city in southern Taiwan, the fourth largest after Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung. Currently a provincial municipality of Taiwan Province, the city will merge with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single direct-controlled municipality in December 2010. It is surrounded by Tainan County to the north and east and the Taiwan Strait to the west and south. Tainan's complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname "City of the Phoenix."^[2]

Tainan was established as the capital of the Kingdom of Tungning in 1661 and remained the capital of Taiwan prefecture under the Qing Dynasty until 1887, when the Qing established Taipei as the new provincial capital. Tainan has been historically regarded as one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, and its former name, Tayouan (大員), 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,^[3] the remains of the Eastern and Southern gates of the old city, and countless other historical monuments. The city is also famous for its local snack food and night markets. Tainan claims more Buddhist and Taoist temples than any other city in Taiwan.

History

Early history

Archaeological revelations of Zuozhen people in the township of Zuozhen suggest that the Tainan region has been inhabited for at least 20,000 to 30,000 years. The Sakam people of Sinkan sub-tribe were the indigenous inhabitant of present day Tainan City.^[4] The Siraya tribe dominated the region around the time the first foreigners arrived.

By late 1500s, Chinese tradesmen and fishermen had set up several bases along the west coast of Taiwan including a sandbar across the Taijiang inner sea off the bay of Sakam. "Tayouan" (大員, POJ: Tāi-ôan), meaning foreigners in Sirayan, was adopted by the Chinese as the name of the sandbar and later become the name of entire island – Taiwan.^[4][5][6] Slightly north of Tayouan along the shoreline near Beixianwei were Japanese tradesmen’s territories. These settlements were the bases of underground Chinese-Japanese trade.^[5]

The early Chinese and Japanese traded with the Sirayan people. They used salt and food to trade for deer hides and dried deer meat. Due to Chinese and Japanese influences, Sirayan gradually changed their culture and lifestyle. They started to use Chinese words in their language, use Japanese tantō in ritual events, and also migrated inland due to the expansion of newcomers. By the time the Europeans arrived, the influence of Chinese and Japanese traders and fishermen had already changed this region of the once-wild coastline.^[5][7]

Dutch Colony

Early Dutch colonists had attempted but failed to control Macau and the Penghu islands. In July 1622, V.O.C. admiral Cornelis Reyersz set sailed for Taiwan in search of a suitable new location to build a trading post. They established a small fort named Orange on Tayouan two years later. The fort then expanded and renamed Fort Zeelandia. The settlement was initially designed as a base to attack their Spanish rivals and as a trading post between China and Batavia. Later the post became the Dutch center of trade between China, Japan and Europe.^[5][7]

The area surrounding Zeelandia expanded as a result of the Dutch trading post in the area. In 1625, they built a new settlement called "The Provintia" in the Sakam area as a center for an agricultural colony. Dutch laid out policies to encourage Chinese farmers to migrate to the colony to grow rice and sugar cane. The settlement at Sakam was so successful it had overtaken Batavia, already a large cultivation area, in the 1650s.^[5]

After several expeditions and a forced occupation of the Spanish garrison in Keelung, the Dutch V.O.C. became the first authority to claim control of Taiwan Island; Castle Zeelandia was served as the seat of government.^[8]

Several incidents, most notably the Hamada Yahee incident (which took governor Pieter Nuyts as hostage), made the occupation of the area difficult. This was the result of conflicts between the Japanese and the Dutch colonists.^[7][9] Increased Chinese settler activity also diminished the power of the Dutch authorities in the area. Stresses from heavy Dutch taxation on Chinese peasants and the Dutch soldiers' role in the plunder and collapse of Ming dynasty, eventually led to the Guo Huaiyi Rebellion in 1652.^[7] Civil order was only restored after the support of the local Sinkanese, and then a new fort was built in Provintia to strengthen and maintain the defense of Dutch officials after the rebellion.

Zheng’s Regime

At the dawn of April 30, 1661, after being defeated by the Manchus in Nanjing, Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) lead a fleet of 25,000 soldiers and entered Taijiang via the narrow waterway of Luermen north of Tayouan. In five days, Zheng took down the Provintia and besieged the Zeelandia. The siege dragged on for both sides into a nine month stalemate. Zheng took over Zeelandia on February 7, 1662 after a Dutch surrender.^[5]

Zheng renamed Provintia to Dongdu (東都) or East Capital and Zeelandia to Anping. He sent his troops deep into the plain to establish agricultural settlements.^[5] Many towns surrounding Tainan City include in their names "Ying", "Jia", and "Tian", all derived from this event.

The city was renamed to Dongning soon after Zheng’s death in 1662. Chen Yonghua, the civil affair minister introduced Chinese bureaucracy, built the first Confucius temple on the island, and introduced the method of salt production to coastal areas. Chen also invited the British to set up their trading post in Anping to continue the trade relations between Japan and South East Asia, and to maintain its position as a center of trade.^[10]

Early Qing Dynasty Rule

On July 17, 1683, Qing naval commander Shi Lang defeated Zheng’s navy in Penghu Islands. Two days later, the fleet landed on Dongning with little resistance. In 1684 after heated discussions, the Qing decided to claim the island to keep it out of the hands of potential enemies.^[7] The Taiwan prefecture was established, and Tainan served as the prefecture city "Taiwan-fu" (臺灣府).

Under Qing legislation, building city walls was prohibited in Taiwan. In 1721, a rebellion initiated by Zhu Yiguei broke out in Tainan. The rebels took over the Prefecture City and then the entire island. The rebellion soon became a massacre between the Fujian descendents and the Guangdong descendents. It was only after the Qing army, who was dispatched from mainland China, intervened did the restoration of order came about the Prefecture City. After the rebellion, Qing decided to create a boundary around the city for control, by growing bamboo around the perimeter. After several rebellion outbreaks across the island, the Qing started to work on building the city wall of the Prefecture City in late 1780s.^[4]

A flood in 1823 brought rich silt from nearby rivers, which formed a widespread new fertile land across the Taijiang bay area between the Prefecture City and Anping. A canal system called "Wutiaogang" was built to keep the port in Prefecture City functioning but prevented large ships from entering the bay.^[4]

Late Qing Dynasty Rule

After 174 years of maritime restriction, the Qing reopened Anping port as part of the Tianjin treaty in 1858 followed by the establishment of the Anping Custom in 1864. Western merchants started to reside and build their trading posts in town near the remains of Fort Zeelandia.

In the spring of 1874, the Japanese launched a large-scale expedition to Taiwan. Following this, the Qing sent the imperial commissioner Shen Baozhen to Taiwan to strengthen its defense. In Prefecture City, Shen made several efforts to modernize the defense including: advocating a telegraph cable link between Prefecture City and Amoy,^[7] and inviting French engineers to design the Eternal Golden Castle in Erkunshen.^[4] It is notable that some parts of the castle were built using bricks demolished from Fort Zeelandia.^[11] After over 200 years of development the Prefecture City remained as the largest city in Taiwan and a Chinese city with foreign influence. The following is a description of the city by the Scottish missionary William Campbell in 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.^[12]

Taiwan became a province in 1885 and the city was renamed to the name it bears today – Tainan Fu (台南府). Tainan retained the status as a prefecture city while the capital of Taiwan province moved to Taichung, then to Taipei in 1887.

Japanese Colonial Era

As a consequence of the Chinese losing the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands were surrendered to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. After a bloody repression along the western corridor, the Japanese army arrived under the Tainan city gate on October 20, 1895. Liu Yongfu, the great general of the short-lived Republic of Formosa fled to Amoy, and left the city under the threat of civil disarray. English missionary Thomas Barclay was chosen by local elites and foreign tradesmen to direct Japanese force to enter the city. As a result, Tainan was taken without resistance.^[4]

The Japanese established Tainanken in 1895 but soon changed to Tainanchō in 1901, then Tainanshū in 1920. Tainanshū includes today’s Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan regions. Tainan served as the capital city. The Japanese introduced modern infrastructure in Tainan, including modern schools, creating a courthouse and a city hall, train stations and other rail transportations, a new Anping canal replacing Wutiaogang, new telecommunication facilities, Tainan airport, and an irrigation system across the Tainan and Chiayi regions. Modern urban designs were also introduced; old narrow streets and city walls were demolished, replaced with wide streets that formed the cityscape of the modern day Tainan city center.^[9]

On April 9, 1915, the Xilaian incident broke out in Yujing near Tainan. The leader, Yu Qingfang, launched a revolution to establish a Taiwanese nation. The revolution spread across the island, of which both Chinese and indigenous Taiwanese participated. The Japanese sent heavily armed troops to repress the event. The repression soon became a large scale massacre which eliminated many rural villages and thousands of people were killed during the repression, most being innocent villagers. Yu Qingfang was caught on August 22, 1915; more than 800 people were sentenced to death in Tainan court. Over 100 of them ended up been executed and the birthplace of the rebellion, Xilai Temple in Tainan, was demolished. The Xilaian incident was the largest uprising in the history of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan.^[4]

Post War and Republic of China

The Republic of China took over the island in 1945 after World War II. Tainan City and Tainan County became separate local entities under Taiwan Province in 1946. The 228 Incident broke out on February 28, 1947 in Taipei following widespread civil unrest. Tang Dezhang, a Taiwanese lawyer and a member of government which set up "The 228 Incident Commission", was arrested by the Chinese army on March 11. Claiming him as a separatist and after being questioned and tortured overnight the Chinese executed him the next day in the park in front of Tainan City Hall (now named Tang Dezhang Memorial Park). Tang was pronounced not guilty by court later in March.^[13] Like other regions in Taiwan, many political activists in Tainan suffered from KMT repression during this autocratic era

Tainan held its first councilor and mayoral election in 1950. On March 19th 2004, President Chen Shuibien was shot in Tainan during his campaign for a new term in office.^[14] The city has been a major center for pro-independent movement since the Japanese rule. On October 21, 2008, Chinese ARATS Vice President Zhang Mingqing was injured when he encountered protestors in Tainan Confucius Temple.^[15]

During the second half of 20th century, the city grew into a metropolis with over 1 million inhabitants. Tainan City and Tainan County will be merging to form a new special municipality, which is set to take effect in December 2010.

Tainan's Tainan Confucian Temple

Climate

Tainan has a humid subtropical climate that borders on a tropical wet and dry climate. The city is characterized by year-round high relative humidity and temperatures (although temperatures do dip somewhat in the winter months), with a rainy season (April to September) and a dry season (October to March).

Government

Tainan City Hall

Tainan District Court

Administrative districts

Tainan has 6 districts (區 qu):	District		Population	Land area
			as of 2009	km²
	■ Anping-qu	安平區	60,701	11.0663
	■ Annan-qu	安南區	176,015	107.2016
	■ East-qu	東區	194,436	13.4156
	■ West Central-qu	中西區	80,578	6.2600
	■ South-qu	南區	127,121	27.2681
	■ North-qu	北區	130,538	10.4340

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, but was merged into Tainan City in 1946. In 2004, Central District and West District were merged into the new West Central district.

Transportation

Rail

Tainan Station is a major stop on the Taiwan Railway Administration Western Line, with direct connections to Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Hsinchu, and Keelung. There are also local trains to reach closer destinations.

Tainan train station

Taiwan High Speed Rail Tainan Station is located just outside the city itself, in Gueiren Township. Using the High Speed Rail system passengers can reach Taipei in under ninety minutes.

Mass Rapid Transit

There have been mooted plans for a Tainan MRT system. However, there has not been any progress on the issue for several years.^[16] To improve connections with the HSR station and reduce the outlay for an MRT system, a new rail branch line is being built (the Shalun Line), and some new train stations are also planned to be added in the future.

THSR Tainan Station

Road

National Highway Nos. 1 and 3 run close by and connect via local highways to the city itself. Tainan City has a total of 142.9 km of highways, including national, local, and rural highways.^[17]

Air

Tainan Airport is located in the South District of the city. It is a domestic airport, currently operating flights to Kinmen and Makung.^[18] 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).^[19]

Education

Tainan Chengkung University

Tainan canal

Anping Fort

• National Cheng Kung University, one of the leading universities in Taiwan, is located in the East District. It is famous for its engineering programs. In 1931, NCKU was established as Tainan Technical College, located on the present Cheng-Kung Campus, with a total area of 183,000 square metres. As the number of colleges expanded, it was upgraded to a provincial university in 1956, then national university in 1971.^[20] Today, National Cheng Kung University serves nearly 21,000 students through 9 colleges, 39 departments, and 49 graduate institutes.^[21]
• Tainan Theological College and Seminary (臺南神學院) was established in 1876 by Thomas Barclay.^[22]
• Chang Jung Christian University is a private university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. CJU offers masters and doctoral degree programs and aims to promote fraternity, justice, and service for Taiwan. It is located south of the city, in Gueiren.
• Southern Taiwan University of Technology, founded in 1969, is located near the northeastern border of Tainan City, within a 30-minute driving distance from the Tainan Airport.
• The Tainan University of Technology (臺南科技大學) is a private university founded in 1964. The university offers graduate degrees in music, visual art, and applied sciences. The main campus actually sits in Tainan County just outside the official city limits.

Senior high schools

Public

• National Tainan First Senior High School
• National Tainan Second Senior High School
• National Tainan Girls' Senior High School
• National Chia-Chi Girls' Senior High School
• National Tainan Commercial Vocational School
• The Affiliated Senior Industrial Vocational Continuing Education High School of National Cheng Kung University
• National Tainan Marine & Fishery Vocational School
• Municipal Tainan Nan-Ning Senior High School
• Municipal Tainan Tu-Cheng High School

Private

• Feng-Ho Senior High School
• Chang Jung High School
• Sheng Kung Girls' High School
• Nan Ying Vocational High School of Business & Technology
• Salesian Technical School
• Chang Jung Girls' Senior High School
• Deguang Catholic High School [2]
• Kuang Hua Girls' Senior High School
• Tainan Liuhsin Senior High School
• Kuen-Shan Senior High School
• Ying-Hai High School

Politics

The city has generally been seen as a powerbase for the Democratic Progressive Party, especially in nationwide elections. However, the Kuomintang (KMT) have always had more seats in city council. 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.

City mayor

2001 Mayoral elections

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%.

2005 Mayoral elections

In 2005 Mayor Hsu was re-elected, polling 45.65% to Chen Rong-sheng's 41.40%.

Presidential elections

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.

1996 Presidential election

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.

2000 Presidential election

2004 Presidential election

2008 Presidential election

Notable natives

Koxinga Temple

The following is 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.

• Momofuku Ando (安藤百福) (1910–2007), founder of Nissin Foods and inventor of instant noodles^[23]
• Thomas Barclay (1849–1935), Christian missionary, lived in the city from 1875 to 1935
• William Campbell (1841–1921), Christian missionary, lived in the city from 1871 to 1917
• George Chang (張燦鍙) (1936–), politician, former mayor of Tainan (1997–2001)
• Chin-Feng Chen (陳金鋒) (1977–), first Taiwanese-born player to play Major League Baseball
• Chen Wei-Ling (陳葦綾), 2008 Olympic bronze medal-winning weightlifter
• Mao Gao-wen (毛高文) (1936–), chemist, former president of National Tsinghua University (1981–1987) and Minister of Education (1987–1993)
• Hsu Shih-Hsien (許世賢) (1908–1983), first female Taiwanese PhD
• Chin-Lung Hu (胡金龍), MLB infielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Jutoupi (1966–), recording artist
• Kao Ching-yuen (高清願) (1929–), businessman, founder and chairman of Uni-president
• Hong-Chih Kuo (郭泓志), MLB pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Tai-Yuan Kuo (郭泰源), retired pitcher for the Seibu Lions, foreign player with the most wins in Nippon Professional Baseball history
• Ang Lee (李安) (1954–), Academy Award–winning film director
• Chen-Yuan Lee (李鎮源) (1915–2001), pharmacologist and political activist, famous for research on snake venom
• Lien Heng (連橫) (1878–1936), historian, writer of The General History of Taiwan
• En-Yu Lin (林恩宇), baseball pitcher currently playing for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
• Lin Hsin-i (林信義) (1946–), businessman and politician, Minister of Economic Affairs (2000–2002), Vice Premier (2002–2004)
• Lin Mosei (林茂生) (1887–1947?), first Taiwanese philosophy PhD, academic, educator and calligrapher thought to have been killed following the 228 Incident.
• Ong Iok-tek (王育德) (1924–1985), scholar and authority of the Taiwanese Hokkien dialects
• Judy Ongg (翁倩玉) (1950–), actress, singer, author and artist
• Shi Wen-long (許文龍) (1928–), businessman, founder of Chi Mei Corporation
• Su Nan-cheng (蘇南成) (1936–), politician, former mayor of Tainan (1977–1985) and advisor to Chen Shui-bian
• Chien-Ming Wang (王建民), MLB pitcher for the New York Yankees
• Wu Hui Ju (吳蕙如), archer and also a member of the team that won the bronze medal for Chinese Taipei in 2004 Summer Olympics in the women's team archery competition
• Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) (1962–), entertainer and talk-show host

Sports

Uni-President Lions have been playing their home games at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium since 1999.

Tainan is home to the Uni-President Lions, who play their home games at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium.^[24] 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.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

The following places are sister cities to Tainan City^[25]:

• Monterey, California United States (1965)
• Gwangju, South Korea (1968)
• San Jose, California United States (1977)
• Kansas City, Missouri United States (1987)
• Pasay City, Philippines (1980)
• Cavite City, Philippines (1980)
• Tagaytay City, Philippines (1980)
• Trece Martires, Philippines (1980)
• Columbus, Ohio United States (1980)
• Kinmen, Republic of China (1981)
• Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (1981)
• Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa (1982)
• Orlando, Florida United States (1982)
• Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (1982)
• Fairbanks, Alaska United States (1983)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma United States (1986)
• Huntsville, Alabama United States(1986)
• Carbondale, Illinois United States(1991)
• Leuven, Belgium (1993)
• Ra'anana, Israel (1999)^[26]
• Zacapa, Guatemala (2003)
• Elbląg, Poland (2004)
• Ribe, Denmark (2005)
• Keçiören, Turkey (2005)
• Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines (2005)

Friendship cities

Tainan City also celebrates friendly relationships with two other locations, although they are not considered official sister cities.

• Penghu County, Republic of China
• Sendai, Japan

See also

• Administrative divisions of the Republic of China
• List of cities in the Republic of China (Taiwan)
• List of mayors of Tainan
• Dead whale exploded

References

External links

• Tainan travel guide from Wikitravel
• Tainan City Government Official Website (English)
• Tainan City Travel Information
• Tainan City Dynamic Bus Information System
• The Confucian temple in Tainan

Districts of Tainan District Annan West Central Anping North South East

Administrative divisions of the Republic of China (Otherwise known as Taiwan). Direct-controlled municipalities Kaohsiung · Taipei Taiwan Province Counties Changhua · Chiayi · Hsinchu · Hualien · Kaohsiung · Miaoli · Nantou · Penghu (Pescadores) · Pingtung · Taichung · Tainan · Taipei · Taitung · Taoyuan · Yilan · Yunlin Cities Chiayi · Hsinchu · Keelung · Taichung · Tainan Fujian Province Counties Kinmen · Lienchiang (Matsu Islands) Note: On December 25, 2010 the pink highlighted administrative divisions will be restructured or merged into direct-controlled municipalities. See also: Free Area of the Republic of China.