Kaohsiung

From Free net encyclopedia

Alternative meaning: Kaohsiung County
Kaohsiung City
高雄市
Image:Kaohsiung City flag.png Image:Kaohsiung City seal.png
City flag City logo

Abbreviation: Kaohsiung (高雄)

City nickname: The Harbor City

Capital DistrictLinya Dist. (苓雅區)
Region Southern Taiwan
MayorYeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭, acting)

Area

Ranked 19 of 25

 - Total
 - % water

153.5927 km²
?%

Population

Ranked 5 of 25

 - Total (May 2004)
 - Density

1,510,441
9833/km²

Districts: 11
City flower:tree cotton (Bombax ceiba)
City tree:--
City bird:--
Image:Kaohsiung location.jpg

Image:Ddm 2004 027 Kaohsiung Harbor.jpg Kaohsiung (Chinese:高雄, TongYong PinYin: GaoSyóng, Hanyu Pinyin: Gāoxióng, POJ: Ko-hiông; coordinates 22°38'N, 120°16'E) is the second largest city in Taiwan (population around 1,450,000) with eleven districts. Kaohsiung can refer to either Kaohsiung City, which is administered directly by the central government of the Republic of China, or Kaohsiung County, which is administered as part of Taiwan Province. This article is about Kaohsiung City.

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. With its harbor one of the four largest in the world, Kaohsiung is the center of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry, as well as home to a large ROC Navy base. Its subway system, the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (KMRT), should be running in 2006.

Kaohsiung will host the 2009 World Games, a multisport event primarily composed of sports not featured in the Olympic Games.

Contents

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Subdivisions

Kaohsiung is divided into 11 administrative districts:

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The Old City

  • Cijin (旗津區)
  • Gushan (鼓山區)
  • Yancheng (鹽埕區)
  • Zuoying (左營區)
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Downtown

  • Sinsing (新興區)
  • Cianjin (前金區)
  • Lingya (苓雅區)
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Other

  • Sanmin (三民區)
  • Nanzih (楠梓區)
  • Cianjhen (前鎮區)
  • Siaogang (小港區)

Two islands in the South China Sea are administered by Kaohsiung and constitute part of Cijin District:

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Geography

Kaohsiung is located south of the Tropic of Cancer, the climate is tropical with average temperatures ranging from between 18.6 and 28.7 degrees Celsius, and average humidity between 60 and 81%. Average annual rainfall is 1134 mm.

The city sits on the southwestern coast of Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait. The downtown areas are centered around Kaohsiung Harbor with the island of Chijin on the other side of the harbor acting as a natural breakwater. The Ai (Love) River flows into the harbor through the Old City and downtown. Zuoying Harbor lies to the north of Kaohsiung Harbor and the city center. Kaohsiung's natural landmarks include the coral mountains Shoushan and Panpinshan.

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History

Founded near the end of the Ming Dynasty, the city grew up from a small village called in the 17th century Táⁿ-káu (打狗) in the Holo language spoken by most of the early immigrants (pronounced "Dagou" in Mandarin). The name originates from Makatao, the name of a local tribe and meaning "bamboo forest" in the local tribe's language. The Dutch established Fort Zeelandia in 1624, defeated local tribes around here in 1635, but were expelled by Koxinga in 1662. Under Zheng Jing's (son of Koxinga) control the area was named Wan-nien-chow in 1664. Following a further name change to Táⁿ-káu in the late 1670s, the town grew dramatically with immigrants from mainland China. In 1684 the Qing conquered Taiwan and renamed the town Fengshan County (鳳山縣), considering it a part of Taiwan Prefecture. It was first opened as a port during the 1680s.

In 1895 Taiwan was ceded to Japan as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. It was during this period that the city's name changed from 打狗 (pronounced Táⁿ-káu in Taiwanese) to 高雄 (Takao in Japanese). While the sound remained more or less the same, the old character meaning of "Beating Dog" was replaced with the more elegant-sounding "High Hero". The Japanese developed Kaohsiung, especially the harbour. As being an important military base and industry center, the city was heavily bombed by Task Force 38 and FEAF during 1944-1945.

After control of Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China in 1945, the official romanization of the city name came to be "Kao-hsiung", based on the Wade-Giles romanization of the Mandarin Chinese reading. Kaohsiung was upgraded to a municipality on July 1, 1979, by the Executive Yuan, which approved this proposal on November 19, 1978. The famous-in-hindsight Kaohsiung Incident of December 1979 occurred in the city.

See also: Political divisions of the Republic of China

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Politics

As the second largest city in Taiwan, the office of Mayor of Kaohsiung is viewed as a presitgious position, often at times seen as a counterweight to the Mayor of Taipei.

Kaohsiung is sometimes seen as the political mirror image of Taipei. While northern Taiwan leans towards the pan-blue coalition, southern Taiwan has traditionally leaned towards the pan-green coalition and Kaohsiung is no exception. Frank Hsieh of the DPP was reelected twice as Mayor of Kaohsiung, where he was widely credited with transforming the city from an industrial sprawl to an attractive modern metropolis. Hsieh resigned the office of mayor to take up the office of Premier of the Republic of China in 2005.

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Transportation

Image:Ddm 2004 006 Kaohsiung Cable Car on Rail.jpg Known as the "Harbor Capital" of Taiwan, Kaohsiung has always had a strong link with the ocean and maritime transportation. Ferries play a key role in everyday transportation, and often play the role that buses do in other cities, especially for transportation crossing the harbor. The Port of Kaohsiung is also Taiwan's largest container port, and is one of the largest in the world by some measurements.[1] However, Port of Kaohsiung is not officially a part of Kaohsiung City, instead it is administrated by the Port Authority of the Central Government. There is a push for Kaohsiung City to annex Port of Kaohsiung in order to facilitate better regional planning.

Kaohsiung City is also home to Taiwan's second largest airport, the Kaohsiung International Airport, which is located in the Siaogang District in southern Kaohsiung City.

A new metro system, the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System is currently under construction. A light rail route that circles central Kaohsiung City will also be constructed when funding becomes available. In 2004, Kaohsiung City Government, joining with Siemens AG, built a two-station circle route in Central Park in order to demonstrate the feasibility of building a light rail system in Kaohsiung City and alleviate some residents' concerns of light rail's negative impacts such as noise and traffic.

The city is served by the Taiwan Railway Administration's Western Line and Pingtung Line. Initially, Taiwan High Speed Rail will serve Kaohsiung City via its new Zuoying Station in northern Kaohsiung City when it opens in 2006. Taiwan High Speed Rail will later extend its southern terminus to the new Kaohsiung Station in central Kaohsiung City when funding becomes available. Both the new Zuoying Station and new Kaohsiung Station will be replacements of the old stations at roughly the same sites and they will be joint stations of the "Three Rails": Kaohsiung Rapid Transit, Taiwan Railway Administration, and Taiwan High Speed Rail. Additionally, the light rail route will serve the new Kaohsiung Station.

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Attractions

Image:Ddm 2004 016 Love River.jpg

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Education

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Sister cities

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External links

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Administrative divisions of the Republic of China Image:Flag of the Republic of China.svg
Provinces (streamlined): Taiwan Province | Fuchien Province
Central Municipalities: Kaohsiung City | Taipei City
Counties (Taiwan Province): Changhua County | Chiayi County | Hsinchu County | Hualien County | Kaohsiung County | Miaoli County | Nantou County | Penghu County | Pingtung County | Taichung County | Tainan County | Taipei County | Taitung County | Taoyuan County | Yilan County | Yunlin County
Counties (Fuchien Province): Kinmen County | Lienchiang County
Provincial Cities (Taiwan Province): Chiayi City | Hsinchu City | Keelung City | Taichung City | Tainan City

de:Kaohsiung es:Kaohsiung fr:Kaohsiung id:Kota Kaohsiung it:Kaohsiung nl:Kaohsiung ja:高雄市 no:Kaohsiung pl:Kaosiung pt:Kaohsiung fi:Kaohsiung zh:高雄市

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