| Zhonghe District 中和區 |
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| — District — | |
| Zhonghe District, with Taipei 101 in the background | |
| Location of Zhonghe in New Taipei City | |
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Zhonghe District
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Republic of China |
| Region | Northern Taiwan |
| Special municipality | New Taipei City (新北市) |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Chiu Chui-yi 邱垂益 (KMT) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 20.294 km2 (7.8 sq mi) |
| Population (March 2010) | |
| • Total | 414,849 |
| Time zone | CST (UTC+8) |
| Postal code | 235 |
| Website | http://www.zhonghe.tpc.gov.tw |
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| Chinese | 中和區 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Zhonghe District (Chinese: 中和區; pinyin: Zhōnghé Qū, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-hô Khu), historically spelled Chung-Ho, is a district in New Taipei in northern Taiwan (Republic of China). Zhonghe is a burgeoning satellite city of Taipei.
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Zhonghe lies just south-west of Taipei City and shares borders with Banqiao, Xindian, Tucheng and Yonghe Districts of New Taipei City, as well as Taipei City. The average annual temperature is 21.7 °C (71.1 °F) and the precipitation averages 2,111 millimetres (83.1 in) per year.
The present-day area of Zhonghe District was originally settled by aboriginal tribes. During conflict between the colonial forces of the Dutch and the Spanish, the area is recorded by the Dutch as Chiron, from the name of one of the tribes living there.[1] This name is preserved in on of the constituent villages of the city, called Xiulang Li (秀朗里), and the bridge which connects Zhonghe to Xindian.
The area was subsequently settled by Han migrants from Fujian but remained relatively unimportant until the end of the Second World War. In 1946 the population of the area of present-day Zhonghe and Yonghe was 30,000 and it was classified as a rural township (鄉 xiāng).[2]
Due to rapid population growth Yonghe was separated from Zhonghe in 1958. Subsequently, on January 1, 1979, Zhonghe was upgraded to county-controlled city status after reaching a population of 170,000.[2]
Zhonghe is divided into 93 lǐ (里; villages), which are further subdivided into lín (鄰; neighbourhoods), of which there are 2,972 in total. Some administration is shared with neighbouring Yonghe District; due to both this and their proximity, they are sometimes collectively known as Shuanghe (雙和; literally Twin "He", because both cities feature the character 和 (hé) in their names).
Zhonghe is served by the Zhonghe Line of the Taipei Metro, three stations of which are located in the city: Yongan Market, Jingan and the terminal station, Nanshijiao. In addition, Xiulang Bridge passes through Zhonghe and has an interchange there, as does the National Highway No.3.
Two major bridges connect Zhonghe with other areas:
Zhonghe is home to the National Taiwan Library, which is located in the grounds of the 8-23 Memorial Park. It has one of the best collections in Taiwan of factual books about Taiwan in English.
There are nine elementary schools, four junior high schools, one senior high school, and three private high schools in Zhonghe. The Hwa Hsia Institute of Technology is also located in the city.
The offices of a number of technology companies are located in the district, including the Asia-Pacific head office of Viewsonic,[3] a Texas Instruments research facility,[4] the head offices of Cooler Master,[5] and Micro-Star International.[6]
Huaxin Street (華新街), near Nanshijiao MRT Station, is home to a large proportion of Taiwan's small Burmese immigrant population. Zhonghe District is home to 40,000 Burmese Chinese (2008), making up 10% of Zhonghe's population, and constituting one of the largest communities of Burmese Chinese outside of Burma.[7] Consequently there are numerous stores and restaurants in this area selling Burmese produce and there are also cultural events on occasion.[8]
Zhonghe, Taiwan is twinned with:
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