Excerpts from Wikipedia.org
Kaohsiung City (高雄市; old name: Takao; coordinates 22°38'N, 120°16'E; ) is a city located in southern Taiwan. Kaohsiung City is also the second largest city in Taiwan, with population around 1.51 million.
Kaohsiung is a major center for manufacturing, refining, and transportation. Unlike Taipei, the streets of Kaohsiung are wide and traffic is less congested. 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 Republic of China Navy base.
Kaohsiung City will host the 2009 World Games, a multisport event primarily composed of sports not featured in the Olympic Games.
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 Love River flows into the harbor through the Old City and downtown. Kaohsiung's natural landmarks include the coral mountains Ape Hill, Shoushan and Banpingshan.
Port of Kaohsiung
Also 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 across the harbor. The Port of Kaohsiung is also Taiwan's largest container port, and is one of the largest in the world, ranking 6th in the world in terms of container throughput.
Rapid Transit
The Red Line of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System is now open, the Orange Line will be operational August, 2008. A light rail route that circles central Kaohsiung City will also be constructed when funding becomes available.
Attractions
- Love River (愛河)
- Tuntex Sky Tower (東帝士85國際廣場)
- Liouho Night Market (六合夜市)
- Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (高雄市立美術館)
- Cijin (旗津)
- Shou Shan Zoo (壽山動物園)
- Fo Guang Shan Monastery (佛光山)
- Former British Consulate at Takao (前清英國領事館)
- Holy Rosary Cathedral (前金天主堂)
- National Science and Technology Museum (國立科學工藝博物館)
- Kaohsiung Museum of History (高雄市立歷史博物館)
- Old Kaohsiung Railway Station (台鐵舊高雄車站)
- Kaohsiung Hakka Cultural Museum (高雄市客家文物館)
History of Kaohsiung
The written history of Kaohsiung can be traced back to the early 17th century, through archeological studies have found signs of human activity in the region from as long as 7000 years ago. Prior to the 17th century, the region was inhabited by the Makatau clan of the Siraya aboriginal tribe, who settled on what they named Ta-kau Isle (translated to 打狗嶼 by Ming Chinese explorers); "Takau" meaning "bamboo forest" in the aboriginal language. Dutch settlers colonizing Taiwan in 1624 referred to the region as Tankoya and named the harbor Tancoia. The first Chinese records of the region were written in 1603 by Chen Di, a member of Ming admiral Shen You-rong's expedition to rid the waters around Taiwan and Penghu of pirates. In his report on the "Eastern Barbarian Lands" (東蕃記), Chen Di referred to a Ta-kau Isle:
"It is unknown when the barbarians of the Eastern Lands arose on this island in the ocean beyond Penghu, but they are present at 起魍港, 加老灣, 歷大員, 堯港, Ta-kau Isle, 小淡水, 雙溪口, 加哩林, 沙巴里, and 大幫坑."
Various later historical documents of both the Ming and Qing Dynasties referred to Kaohsiung as either "Ta-kau" (打狗) or "Ta-ku" (打鼓). The modern name of 高雄 (pronounced "Takao" in Japanese and "Kaohsiung" in Mandarin) was not adopted until the Japanese colonial period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
