Taoyuan, Taiwan


Taoyuan is a special municipality in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City, Hsinchu County, and Yilan County. Taoyuan District is the seat of the municipal government and which, along with Zhongli District, forms a large metropolitan area. Taoyuan developed from a satellite city of Taipei metropolitan area to become the fourth-largest metropolitan area, and fifth-largest populated city in Taiwan. Since commuting to the Taipei metropolitan area is easy, Taoyuan has seen the fastest population growth of all cities in Taiwan.
"Taoyuan" means "peach garden" in Chinese, since the area used to have many peach trees. The city is home to many industrial parks and tech company headquarters. Taoyuan International Airport, which serves the capital, Taipei and the rest of northern Taiwan, is located in this city.
The city of Taoyuan has been elevated to special municipality status since 2014 from the original Taoyuan County. At the same time, the former county-administered city of Taoyuan was also promoted to Taoyuan District within the new municipality.

History

Early history

In ancient times, the Taoyuan plateau was the home of the Taiwanese plains aborigines. In prehistory, the Ketagalan people settled in . In the early years of Dutch colonization, Spanish colonization, and Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty, there were no large-scale cultivation or industrial activities. During the Qing era, a number of people from Fujian Province and Guangdong province began to immigrate into present-day Taoyuan to develop and farm the land. They planted peach trees, which, when fully bloomed in spring, were so beautiful that the people named the land Toahong.

Japanese rule (1895–1945)

In November 1901, under Japanese rule, a local administrative office,, was established in the area, and renamed in 1905. In 1920, the Tōen area was incorporated into Shinchiku Prefecture.
During the Japanese era, the staged migration policy caused Taoyuan to develop into a city with a variety of cultures. For example, temples and worship paths symbolized cultural systems. were used to represent military systems, and the old Taoyuan City Office signified political systems.

Post-war (1945–present)

In 1950, Taoyuan County was established by the Republic of China government. On 21 April 1971, Taoyuan City was made the county seat of Taoyuan County. It had 6 cities, 1 urban township and 6 rural townships. Being located at the edge of the Greater Taipei region, this caused some structural and lifestyle changes within Taiwanese society. Trade prosperity in recent years and the proliferation of job opportunities helped Taoyuan develop into a major economic district in northern Taiwan and the population has increased ever since.
On 16 February 1998, China Airlines Flight 676 crashed in Taoyaun City near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing all 196 people on board and seven more on the ground.
On 25 December 2014, Taoyuan County was reorganized into the special municipality of Taoyuan City.

Geography

Taoyuan is located approximately southwest of Taipei, in northern Taiwan, and occupies. It is made up of low-lying plains, interconnected mountains and plateaus. Its shape has a long and narrow southeast-to-northwest trend, with the southeast in the Xueshan Range and the far end on the shores of the Taiwan Strait.
There are many irrigation ponds at Taoyuan Plateau, which caused Taoyuan to earn the nickname "Thousand-pond Township".

Climate

Taoyuan has a humid subtropical climate, with mild to warm winters and hot summers, typical of northern Taiwan.

Ethnic composition

Year1981年1982年1983年1984年1985年1986年1987年1988年1989年1990年
Population1,093,6211,129,5761,160,7091,189,7521,211,2491,232,2091,259,5031,288,6261,320,3591,355,175
Year1991年1992年1993年1994年1995年1996年1997年1998年1999年2000年
Population1,385,1651,415,5461,448,1861,483,9551,524,1271,570,4561,614,4711,650,9841,691,2921,732,617
Year2001年2002年2003年2004年2005年2006年2007年2008年2009年2010年
Population1,762,9631,792,6031,822,0751,853,0291,880,3161,911,1611,934,9681,958,6861,978,7822,002,060
Year2011年2012年2013年2014年2015年2016年2017年2018年2019年
Population2,013,3052,030,1612,044,0232,058,3282,105,7802,147,7632,188,0172,220,8722,249,037

Han Chinese

Hoklo

As of most of the cities and urban towns of Taiwan, Minnan people are one of the largest ethnic groups of Taoyuan, most of whom live in northern Taoyuan which comprises the northern districts of Taoyuan, including Taoyuan city centre, Bade, Daxi, Dayuan, Guishan and Luzhu, and the city seat of government, Taoyuan District citycentre.

Hakka

The Hakka are the second-largest ethnic group in the city after the Minnan ethnicity who won against the Hakkas in clan wars moved to the poor mountainous regions in southern Taoyuan, most of the Hakka peasants live in the rural peasant village areas of southern Taoyuan, which includes Zhongli, Pingzhen, Yangmei, Longtan, Guanyin and Xinwu districts. With more than 785,000 Hakka people, Taoyuan hosts the largest Hakka population among all of Taiwan's administrative divisions.

Waishengren

After the Chinese Civil War, many people from mainland China settled in the then-Taoyuan County after the retreat of the nationalist government in 1949. Most of them live in military dependents' villages in Zhongli, Pingzhen and Guishan. :zh:龍岡|Longgang is well known for its immigrants from Yunnan, featuring many Yunnan-style restaurants.

Aborigines

Most Taiwanese aborigines in the city live in Fuxing District, with most of them belonging to the Atayal people.

Economy

Taoyuan is one of the Taiwan's top industrial and technological cities. High-tech companies including Quanta, MiTAC, Inotera, Nanya Technology, HTC, CPT and AU Optronics have all opted to build or expand their factories in Taoyuan. Taoyuan has now become a bastion of electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. Over 200 of Taiwan's top 500 manufacturing companies have factories in Taoyuan. Taoyuan has also led Taiwan in terms of industrial output for nine straight years.
There are now 29 industrial areas with of non-urban industrial land and of urban industrial land. There are over of land available for factories and industrial use in the city, representing the fact that Taoyuan's development bureau is based on industry and commerce. There are also 9 sites for mixed industrial-commercial use, the most of any county and city in Taiwan.
On 26 March 2010, China Airlines moved into its new headquarters on the grounds of Taipei Taoyuan International Airport and in Dayuan Township in Taoyuan County. EVA Air maintains its headquarters in Luzhu District. Evergreen Airlines Services Corporation, Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp., and Evergreen Air Cargo Services Corporation, subsidiaries of Evergreen Group, are headquartered in Dayuan.
On 25 December 2016, The Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency was inaugurated in northern Taoyuan City, in a governmental effort to foster innovation, promote the Internet of Things sector and attract top-class technology talent. The Asian Silicon Valley project aimed to transform Taiwan into an R&D hub for the IoT sector as well as a global center of entrepreneurship.

Administration

Taoyuan City is divided into 12 municipal districts and 1 mountain indigenous district.
TypeNameChineseTaiwaneseHakkaFormosanArea Population
DistrictBadePat-tekPat-tet33.71187,848
DistrictDaxiTāi-kheThai-hâi105.1493,388
DistrictDayuanTōa-hn̂gThai-yèn87.3985,667
DistrictGuanyinKoan-imKôn-yîm87.9864,845
DistrictGuishanKu-soaⁿKuî-sân72.01145,706
DistrictLongtanLiông-thâmLiùng-thâm75.23118,648
DistrictLuzhuLô·-tekLù-tsuk75.50155,626
DistrictPingzhenPêng-tìnPhìn-tsṳ́n47.75218,290
DistrictTaoyuanThô-hn̂gThò-yèn34.80427,815
DistrictXinwuSin-okSîn-vuk85.0248,469
DistrictYangmeiIûⁿ-mûiYông-muì89.12161,301
DistrictZhongliTiong-le̍kChûng-la̍k76.52390,251
Mountain
indigenous
district		FuxingHo̍k-hengFu̍k-hînPyasanAtayal350.7810,932

Colors indicate the common language status of Hakka and Formosan languages within each division.
Prior to its upgrade to become municipality on 25 December 2014, Taoyuan County used to have 6 county-administered cities, 1 urban township, 5 rural townships, and 1 Mountain indigenous township.

Tourism

Shimen Reservoir

is one of Taiwan's major reservoirs. Once the largest water conservancy project in Southeast Asia, visitors may find many restaurants open near the reservoir serving fresh reservoir fish delicacies. There is also a bikeway surrounding the back pond. Shimen Reservoir provides almost all of the water in Taoyuan, as well as to New Taipei City's Xinzhuang, Banqiao, and Linkou districts.

Daxi Old Street

is one of the more famous Taiwanese old streets. It used to be a bustling hub for camphor and the tea trade, filled with diverse stores with façades designed in a Baroque style. The street also has the Daxi Wood Art Ecomuseum, which includes buildings such as Daxi Butokuden and Lee Teng-fan's Ancient Residence.

Cihu Mausoleum

is the final resting place of the former president of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek.

Window on China Theme Park

The Window on China Theme Park is one of Taiwan's earliest theme parks, established in 1984. The park consists of three areas: Mini World, Water Park, and Amusement Park. The park features numerous small-scale replicas of many famous world landmarks.

Lalashan

is one of Taiwan's "natural protection zones," including 500- to 2,800-year-old divine trees and the "No. 5 Divine Tree," which predates Confucius.

Furen Temple

was established in 1813, and located along Daxi Old Street in Daxi District.

Tianhou Temple

was established in 1826, and is located in Xinwu District. The temple built a bronze statue of Mazu in 2002, which is the 2nd-tallest statue of Mazu in Taiwan and the 3rd-tallest in the world.

Taoyuan Martyrs' Shrine

is one of the best-kept Shinto shrines outside Japan.

Longgang Mosque

The Longgang Mosque in Zhongli District is Taiwan's fifth mosque. It was originally built in 1967 to serve an area with many Taiwanese Muslims.

Government and politics

Mayor

In 2001, Eric Chu of the Kuomintang defeated Democratic Progressive Party incumbent Peng Shao-Chin in the race for Taoyuan County magistrate. Peng had inherited the magistrate position after Annette Lu vacated the post to serve as vice president. Chu ran for re-election in 2005 and defeated DPP challenger Pao-Ching Cheng, CEO of the Taiwan Salt Company.
In 2009, John Wu of the KMT defeated his DPP opponent, Cheng Wen-tsan and became the Magistrate of Taoyuan County.
After the upgrade of Taoyuan County to Taoyuan City, Cheng Wen-tsan of the DPP won the 2014 Taoyuan City mayoralty election, on 29 November 2014, and became the city's first mayor, starting 25 December 2014.

Presidential elections

1996 presidential election

A majority of Taoyuan County residents voted for eventual winner Lee Teng-hui and vice president Lien Chan.

2000 presidential election

2004 Presidential election

2008 presidential election

2012 presidential election

2016 presidential election

2020 presidential election

Education

Public universities

Elementary schools

Industry and environment

A former RCA facility is located in the city. The RCA facility is the source of significant trichloroethylene contamination.

Sports

Taoyuan is home to the Lamigo Monkeys, CPBL, team, which plays its home games at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
The Taoyuan County Stadium, built in 1993, is a multi-use stadium which is used mostly for football matches and it also has an athletics track. The stadium has a capacity of 30,000 people. It is within walking distance South West from Taoyuan Senior High School Station of the Taiwan Railway Administration.
The Taoyuan Arena, also built in 1993, is an indoor sporting arena located in Taoyuan District. The concept of its roof structure was based on the bicycle structure, the outer ring and inner tire of the bicycle wheels are connected by cable wires. It occupies an area of 1.5 hectare with capacity of 15,000 audiences. It is used to host indoor sporting events, such as basketball and volleyball.
The then-Taoyuan County is also the birthplace of Taiwanese professional golfer Yani Tseng and taekwondo athlete Chu Mu-Yen.

Transportation

Rail

The rapid transit system is operational since April 2017.
and 3 are nearby and connect via local highways to the city itself. National Highway No. 2 connects to Taoyuan International Airport. Bridges in the city are Luofu Bridge.

Bus

at Dayuan District is the largest airport in Taiwan. It serves as the main international hub for China Airlines and EVA Air. Taipei Taoyuan handled a total of 25,114,418 passengers in 2010. It is the fifteenth-busiest air freight hub in the world and thirteenth-busiest airport by international passenger traffic. Taipei Taoyuan International Airport currently has two terminals which are connected by two, short people movers. A third terminal is planned, and a rapid transit system currently under construction will link the terminals together underground.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Words in native languages