Tainan City
臺南市[I] Tâi-lâm | |
|---|---|
Clockwise from top: Downtown Tainan, statue of Yoichi Hatta, THSR Tainan Station, danzai noodles, Fort Provintia, beehive firework in Yanshuei | |
 Flag  Logo | |
| Etymology: pinyin: Táinán; lit. 'Taiwan south' | |
| Nickname(s): | |
 | |
.svg) | |
| Country |  Republic of China (Taiwan) |
| Formed under Fort Zeelandia | 1624 |
| Capital of Kingdom of Tungning | 1661 |
| Tainan Prefecture | 1895 |
| Provincial city status | 25 October 1945 |
| Upgraded to special municipality and merger with Tainan County | 25 December 2010 |
| Seat | Anping, Xinying[2] |
| Districts | |
| Government | |
| • Body | |
| • Mayor | Huang Wei-cher (DPP) |
| Area | |
| 2,191.65 km2 (846.20 sq mi) | |
| • Urban | 259 km2 (100 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 7 out of 22 |
| Population (March 2023)[5] | |
| 1,856,642 | |
| • Rank | 6 of 22 |
| • Density | 850/km2 (2,200/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 1,205,000 |
| • Urban density | 4,700/km2 (12,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (National Standard Time) |
| Postal code | 700–745 |
| Area code | (0)6 |
| ISO 3166 code | TW-TNN |
| Bird | Pheasant-tailed jacana |
| Flower | Phalaenopsis |
| Tree | Delonix regia |
| Website | www |
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| Tainan City | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 臺南市 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台南市 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | たいなんし | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Katakana | タイナンシ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kyūjitai | 臺南市 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shinjitai | 台南市 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tainan (/ˈtaɪˈnɑːn/),[7] officially Tainan City,[I] is a special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "prefectural capital"[II] for its over 260 years of history as the capital of Taiwan under the Dutch rule, the Kingdom of Tungning and later Qing dynasty rule until 1887. Tainan's complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname "the Phoenix City".[8] Tainan is classified as a "Sufficiency"-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.[9]
As Taiwan's oldest urban area with 400 years history, Tainan was initially established by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a ruling and trading base called Fort Zeelandia during the Dutch colonial rule on the island. After Koxinga seized the Dutch fort in 1662, Tainan remained as the capital of the Tungning Kingdom ruled by House of Koxinga until 1683 and afterwards the capital of Taiwan Prefecture under the Qing dynasty until 1887, when the new provincial capital was first moved to present-day Taichung, and then to Taipei eventually. Following the cession of Taiwan, Tainan became the second capital of the short-lived Republic of Formosa from June to October in 1895 until the Capitulation of Tainan by the invading forces of Japanese empire. Under Japanese rule, the city was the seat of Tainan Prefecture. After the surrender of Japan in World War II, the Republic of China took control of Taiwan in 1945 and reorganized the city as a provincial city in Taiwan Province; a role that would remain in place until 2010 when the city was merged with nearby Tainan County into a new special municipality.
Tainan has been historically regarded as one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, and its former name, Tayouan, has been claimed to be the origin of the name "Taiwan". It is also one of Taiwan's cultural capitals, for its rich folk cultures including the famous local street food and traditional cuisine, extensively preserved Taoist rites and other living local traditions covering everything from child birth to funerals. The city houses the first Confucian school–temple in Taiwan, built in 1665,[10] the remains of the Eastern and Southern gates of the old city, and countless other historical monuments. Tainan claims more Buddhist and Taoist temples than any other city in Taiwan.
Cite error: There are <ref group=upper-roman> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=upper-roman}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Tainan University of Technology official site". Archived from the original on 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ 臺南市政府全球資訊網. Tainan.gov.tw. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
- ^ 《中華民國統計資訊網》縣市重要統計指標查詢系統網 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Demographia World Urban Areas PDF (April 2016)" (PDF). Demographia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ 臺南市統計月報 (PDF) (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
- ^ "Demographia World Urban Areas PDF" (PDF). Demographia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
- ^ "Tainan". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
- ^ Chang, Winnie (April 1994). "Rise of the Phoenix?". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ^ "The World According to GaWC 2020". GaWC – Research Network. Globalization and World Cities. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Tainan Confucian Temple". Council for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-08-19.