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Taipei Information

Taipei City (Chinese: 臺北市 or 台北市; pinyin: Táiběi Shì)[1] is the capital of the Republic of China (ROC) (commonly known as Taiwan) and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan island. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean. Another coastal city, Tamsui, is about 20 km northwest at the river's mouth on the Taiwan Strait. It lies in the two relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung (基隆河) and Xindian (新店溪) rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border.[2] The city proper (Taipei City) is home to an estimated 2,618,772 people.[3] Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung together form the Taipei metropolitan area with a population of 6,900,273.[4] However, they are administered under different local governing bodies. "Taipei" sometimes refers to the whole metropolitan area, while "Taipei City" refers to the city proper. Taipei City proper is surrounded on all sides by New Taipei.

Taipei is the political, economic, and cultural center of Taiwan. The National Palace Museum which has one of the largest collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks in the world is located in Taipei. Considered to be a global city,[5] Taipei is part of a major industrial area. Railways, high speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports – Taipei Songshan and Taiwan Taoyuan.

Taipei was founded in the early 18th century and became an important center for overseas trade in the 19th century. The Qing Dynasty in China made Taipei the provincial capital of Taiwan in 1886.[6] When the Japanese acquired Taiwan in 1895 after the First Sino-Japanese War, they retained Taipei as the capital of the island, and also advanced an extensive urban planning in Taipei.[7] The Republic of China took over the island in 1945 following Japanese surrender. After losing Mainland China to the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) resettled the ROC government to Taiwan and declared Taipei the provisional capital of the Republic of China in December 1949.[8][9]

Contents

Culture

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attractions in Taipei and Taiwan

Tourism

See also: List of tourist attractions in Taipei

Memorial halls and museums

See also: National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attractions that was erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China.[10] The structure stands at the east end of Memorial Hall Square, site of the National Concert Hall and National Theater and their adjacent parks as well as the memorial. The landmarks of Liberty Square stand within sight of Taiwan's Presidential Building in Taipei's Zhongzheng District.

The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is a memorial to one of the most recognizable founding fathers of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen, and was completed on May 16, 1972.[11] From the opening of the hall, majority of the exhibits displayed were revolutionary events of the national founding fathers at the end of the Qing Dynasty. However, recently its function moved toward a multi-purpose social, educational and cultural center for the Taiwanese public.

The National Palace Museum houses over 600,000 ancient Chinese artifacts.

The National Palace Museum is an art gallery and museum built around a permanent collection centered on ancient Chinese artifacts. It should not be confused with the Palace Museum in Beijing (which it is named after); both institutions trace their origins to the same institution. The collections were divided in the 1940s as a result of the Chinese Civil War.[12][13] The National Palace Museum in Taipei now boasts a truly international collection while housing one of the world's largest collections of artifacts from ancient China.[13]

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum was established in 1983. Located in a purpose-built building inspired by Japanese metabolism, is was the first museum in Taiwan dedicated to modern art. The artworks in the museum are mostly done by Taiwanese artists. There are more than 3,000 artworks in the museum. Most of them are done after 1940 by Taiwanese artist, and are organized into 13 groups. In 2001, the first museum dedicated to contemporary art opened as MoCA Taipei or Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (台北當代藝術館), located in the old building of the Taipei City government.[14]

The National Taiwan Museum is the oldest museum in Taiwan. It was established as the Taiwan Governor Museum by the colonial government of Japan on October 24, 1908 to commemorate the inauguration of the North-South Railway during the Japanese rule in Taiwan.[15] The museum had a collection of over 10,000 items in its initial stages. In 1915, the new building of the museum in Taipei 228 Peace Memorial Park (formerly known as New Park) was inaugurated and became one of the major public buildings during Japanese rule. Since 1999, it has been renamed to the "National Taiwan Museum".[15]

Taipei 101 fireworks during the 2008 New Year's Celebrations

Taipei 101

Main article: Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is a 101-floor landmark skyscraper that claimed the title of world's tallest building when it opened in 2004. Taipei 101 is now the world's second tallest building. Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and constructed by KTRT Joint Venture and measuring 449 m (1,473 ft) from ground to roof, Taipei 101 lost the title of the tallest completed skyscraper in the world on January 4 2010. (The tallest skyscraper is now the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE). Built to withstand typhoon winds and earthquake tremors, the building incorporates many engineering innovations. Taipei 101 also set new records for ascending elevator speed which has also recently been surpassed by Burj Khalifa. The landmark has won numerous international awards for its innovations. A large mall is located at the base of the tower. Its indoor and outdoor observatories draw visitors from all over the world and its New Year's Eve fireworks display is a regular feature of international broadcasts.

Performing arts

The National Theater and Concert Hall stand at Taipei's Liberty Square and host a events by foreign and domestic performers. Other leading concert venues include Zhongshan Hall at Ximen and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall near Taipei 101.

A new cultural landmark, the Taipei Performing Arts Center, is slated to open in 2013.[16] The venue will stand near the Shilin Night Market and will house three theaters for events with multi-week runs. The architectural design was determined in 2009 in an international competition.[17] The same design process is also in place for a new Taipei Center for Popular Music and Taipei City Museum.[18]

Shopping and recreation

Main article: Shopping in Taipei

Taipei is known for its many night markets, the most famous of which is the Shilin Night Market in the Shilin District. The surrounding streets by Shilin Night Market are extremely crowded during the evening, usually opening late afternoon and operating well past midnight. Most night markets feature individual stalls selling a mixture of food, clothing, and consumer goods.

The busy streets of Ximending at night

Ximending has been a famous area for shopping and entertainment since the 1930s. Historic structures include a concert hall, a historic cinema, and the Red House Theater. Modern structures house karaoke businesses, art film cinemas, wide-release movie cinemas, electronic stores, and a wide variety of restaurants and fashion clothing stores.[19] The pedestrian area is especially popular with teens and has been called the "Harajuku" of Taipei.[20]

The newly developed Xinyi District is popular with tourists and locals alike for its many entertainment and shopping venues, as well as being the home of Taipei 101, a prime tourist attraction famous for being one of the world's tallest buildings. Malls in the area include the sprawling Shin Kong Mitsukoshi complex, Taipei 101 mall, Eslite Bookstore's flagship store (which includes a boutique mall), The Living Mall, New York New York shopping mall, and the Vieshow Cinemas (formerly known as Warner Village). The Xinyi district also serves as the center of Taipei's active nightlife, with several popular nightclubs concentrated in a relatively small area around the Neo19 and Taipei 101 buildings.

The thriving shopping area around Taipei Main Station includes the Taipei Underground Market and the original Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Shin Kong Life Tower. Other popular shopping destinations include the Zhongshan Metro Mall, Dihua Street, the Guang Hua Digital Plaza, and the Core Pacific City. The Miramar Entertainment Park is known for its large ferris wheel and IMAX theater.

Taipei maintains an extensive system of parks, green spaces, and nature preserves. Parks and forestry areas of note in and around the city include Yangmingshan National Park, Taipei Zoo and Da-an Forest Park. Yangmingshan National Park (located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the central city) is famous for its cherry blossoms, hot springs, and sulfur deposits. It is the home of famous writer Lin Yutang, the summer residence of Chiang Kai-shek, residences of foreign diplomats, the Chinese Culture University, the meeting place of the now defunct National Assembly of the Republic of China, and the Kuomintang Party Archives. The Taipei Zoo was founded in 1914 and covers an area of 165 hectares for animal sanctuary.

Bitan is known for boating and water sports. Tamsui is a popular sea-side resort town. Ocean beaches are accessible in several directions from Taipei.

Temples

Built in 1738, Longshan Temple is one of the oldest temples in the city.

Taipei is rich in beautiful, ornate temples housing Buddhist, Taoist, and Chinese folk religion deities. The Longshan Temple, built in 1738 and located in the Wanhua District, demonstrates an example of architecture with southern Chinese influences commonly seen on older buildings in Taiwan.

Xinsheng South Road is known as the "Road to Heaven" due to its high concentration of temples, shrines, churches, and mosques.[21][22] Other famous temples include Baoan Temple located in historic Dalongdong, a national historical site, and Xiahai City God Temple, located in the old Dadaocheng community, constructed with architecture similar to temples in southern Fujian.[23] The Taipei Confucius Temple traces its history back to 1879 during the Qing Dynasty and also incorporates southern Fujian-style architecture.[24]

Besides large temples, small outdoor shrines to local deities are very common and can be spotted on road sides, parks, and neighborhoods. Many homes and businesses may also set up small shrines of candles, figurines, and offerings. Some restaurants, for example, may set up a small shrine to the Kitchen god for success in a restaurant business.[25]

Festivals and events

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall during the annual Lantern Festival.

Many yearly festivals are held in Taipei, including the Taipei Lantern Festival when thousands of sky lanterns are released in Pingxi.[26] Common locations for festival celebrations include Memorial Square, Taipei 101, and the Zhongshan Hall in Ximending. On Double Ten Day, celebrations are held in front of the Presidential Building.

Other annual festivals include Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Ghost Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.[26] In recent years some festivals traditionally held in Taipei, such as the Double Ten Day fireworks and concerts, have increasingly been hosted by other cities in Taiwan.

One other huge celebration in Taipei is the one on New Year Eve. Every year, thousands of people will gather in front of the Taipei City Hall to celebrate the beginning of a new year. Every time, there will be many famous singers who perform on the stage that is set up for the New Year Celebration. The performance usually starts out around eight o’clock and continues until midnight. Artists and dancers will perform throughout the night and it is just like a concert. Then, thirty minutes before midnight, the Taipei governor and some Taipei politicians will come up the stage and count down with the people. Then, when the clock reaches midnight, there will be firework at Taipei 101 and every year since, the firework has last longer than the year before.

From November 6, 2010 to April 25, 2011, Taipei held the garden festival named Taipei International Flora Exposition. It will be the first such internationally recognized exposition to take place in Taiwan, and the seventh of its kind to take place in Asia. Flora Exposition visitors hit new 1-day high admissions on February 27, 2011 with 110,000 people showing.

Taipei in film

Romanization

See also: Romanization of Chinese in the Republic of China

The spelling "Taipei" derives from the Wade-Giles romanization T'ai-pei.[27] Under the official New Phonetic System (also known as Hanyu Pinyin) romanization system, which is used to romanize all street signage in Taipei, and the formerly official Tongyong Pinyin system,[28][29] the city's name is romanized as Táiběi. However, the familiarity of the longstanding "Taipei" spelling led government authorities to retain it as one of several exceptions to the general standard.

Geography

The city of Taipei, as seen from Maokong. Tracks of all Pacific typhoons between 1980 and 2005.

Taipei City is located in the Taipei Basin in northern Taiwan.[30] It is bordered by the Xindian River on the south and the Tamsui River on the west. The generally low-lying terrain of the central areas on the western side of the municipality slopes upward to the south and east and especially to the north,[2] where it reaches 1,120 metres (3,675 ft) at Cising Mountain (七星山), the highest (extinct) volcano in Taiwan in Yangmingshan National Park. The northern districts of Shilin and Beitou extend north of the Keelung River and are bordered by Yangmingshan National Park. The Taipei city limits cover an area ranked sixteenth of twenty-five among all counties and cities in Taiwan.

Two peaks, Cising Mountain and Mt. Datun, rise to the northeast of the city.[31] Cising Mountain is located on the Tatun Volcano Group and the tallest mountain at the rim of the Taipei Basin, with its main peak at 1,120 metres (3,670 ft). Mt. Datun's main peak is 1,092 metres (3,583 ft). These former volcanoes make up the western section of Yangmingshan National Park, extending from Mt. Datun northward to Mt. Caigongkeng (菜公坑山). Located on a broad saddle between two mountains, the area also contains the marshy Datun Pond.

To the southeast of the city lie the Songshan Hills and the Qingshui Ravine, which form a barrier of lush woods.[31]

Climate

Taipei has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) which is slightly short of a true tropical climate. Summers are very hot, humid, and accompanied by occasional heavy rainstorms and typhoons, while winters are short, mild and generally very foggy due to the northeasterly winds from the vast Siberian High being intensified by the pooling of this cooler air in the Taipei Basin. Due to Taiwan's location in the Pacific Ocean, it is affected by the Pacific typhoon season, which occurs between June and October.

Climate data for Taipei (1981–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 19.1 (66.4) 19.6 (67.3) 22.1 (71.8) 25.7 (78.3) 29.2 (84.6) 32.0 (89.6) 34.3 (93.7) 33.8 (92.8) 31.1 (88.0) 27.5 (81.5) 24.2 (75.6) 20.7 (69.3) 26.6 (79.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 16.1 (61.0) 16.5 (61.7) 18.5 (65.3) 21.9 (71.4) 25.2 (77.4) 27.7 (81.9) 29.6 (85.3) 29.2 (84.6) 27.4 (81.3) 24.5 (76.1) 21.5 (70.7) 17.9 (64.2) 23.00 (73.40)
Average low °C (°F) 13.9 (57.0) 14.2 (57.6) 15.8 (60.4) 19.0 (66.2) 22.3 (72.1) 24.6 (76.3) 26.3 (79.3) 26.1 (79.0) 24.8 (76.6) 22.3 (72.1) 19.3 (66.7) 15.6 (60.1) 20.4 (68.7)
Rainfall mm (inches) 83.2 (3.276) 170.3 (6.705) 180.4 (7.102) 177.8 (7) 234.5 (9.232) 325.9 (12.831) 245.1 (9.65) 322.1 (12.681) 360.5 (14.193) 148.9 (5.862) 83.1 (3.272) 73.3 (2.886) 2,405.1 (94.689)
% humidity 78.5 80.6 79.5 77.8 76.6 77.3 73.0 74.1 75.8 75.3 75.4 75.4 76.6
Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) 14.1 14.6 15.5 14.9 14.8 15.5 12.3 14.0 13.8 11.9 12.4 11.7 165.5
Sunshine hours 80.6 71.3 89.6 92.6 113.7 121.7 179.0 188.9 153.7 124.0 99.4 90.7 1,405.2
Source: [32]

Air quality

Motor vehicle engine exhaust, particularly from motor scooters, is a source of air pollution in Taipei. The levels of fine particulate matter, including PAHs, are consistently more serious in the mornings as there is less air movement; sunlight helps clear up some pollutants, which tend to be trapped close to the ground.[33] When compared to other Asian cities, however, Taipei has "excellent" capabilities for managing air quality in the city.[34] Occasionally, dust storms from Mainland China can temporarily bring poor air quality to the city.[35]

Administrative divisions

Taipei City is divided up into 12 administrative districts (區 qu).[36] Each district is further divided up into villages (里), which are further sub-divided up into neighborhoods (鄰).

District Population Area Postal code
Hanyu Pinyin 漢字 Wade-Giles as of 2009 km²
■ Běitóu 北投區 Pei-t'ou 249,319 56.8216 112
■ Shìlín 士林區 Shih-lin 285,459 62.3682 111
■ Dàtóng 大同區 Ta-t'ung 124,466 5.6815 103
■ Zhōngshān 中山區 Chung-shan 218,551 13.6821 104
■ Sōngshān 松山區 Sung-shan 209,903 9.2878 105
■ Nèihú 內湖區 Nei-hu 267,120 31.5787 114
■ Wànhuá 萬華區 Wan-hua 190,050 8.8522 108
■ Zhōngzhèng 中正區 Chung-cheng 159,464 7.6071 100
■ Dà'ān 大安區 Ta-an 313,371 11.3614 106
■ Xìnyì 信義區 Hsin-yi 227,232 11.2077 110
■ Nángǎng 南港區 Nan-kang 113,462 21.8424 115
■ Wénshān 文山區 Wen-shan 261,523 31.5090 116

City planning

The city is characterized by straight roads and public buildings of grand Western architectural styles.[37] The city is built on a square grid configuration, however these blocks are huge by international standards (500 m (1,640.42 ft) sides). However there is little uniformed planning within these blocks; therefore lanes (perpendicular to streets) and alleys (parallel with street, or conceptually, perpendicular to the lane) spill out from the main throughways. These minor roads are not always perpendicular and sometimes cut through the block diagonally.

Although development began in the western districts of the city from trade, the eastern districts of the city have become the downtown. Many of the western districts, already in decline, have become targets of new urban renewal projects.[37]

History

Diagram of Old Taipei revealing the original city wall and gates. Important buildings are highlighted. Main article: History of Taipei

First settlements

The region known as the Taipei Basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the eighteenth century.[38] Han Chinese mainly from Fujian Province of China began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709.[39][40] In the late 19th century, the Taipei area, where the major Han Chinese settlements in northern Taiwan and one of the designated overseas trade ports, Tamsui, were located, gained economic importance due to the booming overseas trade, especially that of tea exportation. In 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture (Chinese: 臺灣府) and incorporated into the new Taipei Prefecture as a new administrative entity of the Chinese government (Qing Dynasty).[7] Having been established adjoining the flourishing townships of Bangkah, Dalongdong, and Twatutia, the new prefectural capital was known as Chengnei (Chinese: 城內), "the inner city", and government buildings were erected there. From 1875 (during the Qing Dynasty) until the beginning of Japanese rule in 1895, Taipei was part of Tamsui County of the Taipei Prefecture and the prefectural capital. In 1886, when Taiwan was proclaimed a province of China, Taipei city was made the provincial capital. Taipei remained a temporary provincial capital before it officially became the capital of Taiwan in 1894. All that remains from the old Qing Dynasty city is the north gate. The west gate and city walls were demolished by the Japanese while the south gate, little south gate, and east gate were extensively modified by the Kuomintang (KMT) and have lost much of their original character.

Japanese rule

As settlement for losing the First Sino-Japanese War, China ceded the island of Taiwan to the Empire of Japan in 1895[40] as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. After the Japanese take-over, Taipei, called Taihoku in Japanese, was retained as the capital and emerged as the political center of the Japanese Colonial Government.[7] During that time the city acquired the characteristics of an administrative center, including many new public buildings and housing for civil servants. Much of the architecture of Taipei dates from the period of Japanese rule, including the Presidential Building which was the Office of the Taiwan Governor-General.

During Japanese rule, Taihoku was incorporated in 1920 as part of Taihoku Prefecture (台北縣). It included Bangka, Dadaocheng, and Chengnei among other small settlements. The eastern village Matsuyama (松山區) was annexed into Taihoku City in 1938. Upon the Japanese defeat in the Pacific War and its consequent surrender in August 1945, the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) assumed control of Taiwan. Subsequently, a temporary Office of the Taiwan Province Administrative Governor was established in Taipei City.[41]

Under the Republic of China

With President Chiang Kai-shek, the U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved hands to Taiwanese people during his visit to Taipei in June 1960.

On December 7, 1949, the KMT government under Chiang Kai-shek, after being forced to flee mainland China by the Communists at the Chinese Civil War, declared Taipei as the provisional capital of the Republic of China, with the official capital at Nanjing (Nanking).[8][9]

Taipei expanded greatly in the decades after 1949, and as approved on December 30, 1966 by the Executive Yuan, Taipei was declared a special centrally administered municipality on July 1, 1967 and given the administrative status of a province.[40] In the following year, Taipei City expanded again by annexing Shilin, Beitou, Neihu, Nangang, Jingmei, and Muzha. At that time, the city's total area increased f