Taitung Prefecture (Chinese: 臺東直隸州; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-tang Ti̍t-lē-chiu) was a division of Taiwan Province, which was created after 1887 during Qing rule.[1] The prefecture's seat of government, originally at Tsui-be (水尾; modern-day Ruisui, Hualien), was moved to Pi-lam (卑南; modern-day Taitung City) in 1888.[2] Plan to establish the sub-prefectures of Pi-lam (卑南) and Hoe-lian-kang (花蓮港) was aborted.
In 1895, with the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the successful Japanese invasion of Taiwan, the prefecture was reorganized as Taitō Chō in 1897 under Japanese rule.
The eastern prefecture of TAI-TANG, made up of the two sub-prefectures of Pi-lam and Hoe-lian-kang, with head-quarters at the middle-eastern centre called Tsui-be.