Kaohsiung ( ; old names: Takao, Takow, Takau) is a city located in southwestern Taiwan. It is enclosed by the Kaohsiung County, and faces the Taiwan Strait on the west. As one of two Direct-controlled municipalities under the administration of Republic of China (ROC), Kaohsiung is officially named as the Kaohsiung City, a province-level political division. It is divided into eleven districts, each with an office.
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Kaohsiung ( ; old names: Takao, Takow, Takau) is a city located in southwestern Taiwan. It is enclosed by the Kaohsiung County, and faces the Taiwan Strait on the west. As one of two Direct-controlled municipalities under the administration of Republic of China (ROC), Kaohsiung is officially named as the Kaohsiung City, a province-level political division. It is divided into eleven districts, each with an office.
Kaohsiung is the most densely populated and the second largest city in Taiwan, with a population around 1.5 million. It is a center for manufacturing, refining, shipbuilding, and other light and heavy industries. A major port, through which pass most of Taiwan's marine imports and exports, is located at the city but is not managed by the city government. An international airport, the terminal of Sun Yat-sen Freeway, and the railway stations of Western Line and Taiwan High Speed Rail, are also located in Kaohsiung. The city is also a home to the Republic of China Navy.
The Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit, a subway system of the city, was launched in early 2008. Kaohsiung will host the 2009 World Games, a multisport event primarily composed of sports not featured in the Olympic Games.
History
main: History of Kaohsiung
Founded near the end of the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century, the village was known as Takau ( ; POJ: Táⁿ-káu) in the Hoklo language spoken by most of the early immigrants. The name originates from the Makatao language of the local aboriginal tribe and translates as "bamboo forest". The Dutch established Fort Zeelandia in 1624 and defeated the local tribes in 1635. They called the place Tancoia. The Dutch were later expelled by the Kingdom of Tungning government founded by Ming Dynasty loyalists of Koxinga in 1662. Zheng Jing, the son of Koxinga, renamed the village Wan-nien-chow ( ) in 1664. The name was restored to Takau in the late 1670s, when the town expanded dramatically with immigrants from mainland China. In 1684 the Qing Dynasty annexed Taiwan and renamed the town Fengshan County ( ), 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 was changed from 打狗 (Taiwanese: Táⁿ-káu) to 高雄 (romaji: Takao). While the sound remained more or less the same, the literal meaning of the name changed from "Beating Dog" to "High Hero". The Japanese developed Takao, especially the harbour. 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 Standard Mandarin reading of the kanji name. Kaohsiung was upgraded to a municipality on July 1, 1979, by the Executive Yuan, which approved this proposal on November 19, 1978. The Kaohsiung Incident took place in Kaohsiung on December 10, 1979.
