# Taipei

| Taipei 臺北 |
| --- |
| Special municipality |
| Taipei Ceety · 臺北市 |
|  |
| BannerSeal |
| Eik-name(s): The Ceety o Azaleas |
|  |
| Coordinates: ﻿ / ﻿ |
| Kintra | Republic o Cheenae (Taiwan) |
| Region | Northren Taiwan |
| Settled | 1709 |
| Ceety seat | Xinyi Destrict |
| Destrict-diveesions | 12 destricts |
| Govrenment |
|  • Teep | Taipei Ceety Govrenment |
|  • Mayor | Hau Lung-pin (KMT) |
| Area |
|  • Special municipality | 271.7997 km2 (104.9425 sq mi) |
|  • Water | 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi)  1.0% |
| Population (December 2014) |
|  • Special municipality | 2,702,315 (Ranked 4 o 22) |
|  • Urban | 7,438,000 (Jan '15) |
|  • Metro | 7,021,482 |
|   | (Metropolitan aurie) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (CST) |
| Postal code | 100–116 |
| Area code(s) | (0)2 |
| Districts | 12 |
| Bird | Formosan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea) |
| Flouer | Azalea (*Rhododendron nudiflorum*) |
| Tree | Banyan (India laurel fig, *Ficus microcarpa*) |
| Website | taipei.gov.tw (in Inglis) |
| The metropolitan aurie (or tri-ceeties) o Taipei includes Taipei, New Taipei, an Keelung. |

**Taipei Ceety** (traditeeonal Cheenese: 臺北市; simplifeed Cheenese: 台北市; pinyin: *Táiběi Shì*; literally "Northren Taiwan Ceety") is the seicont lairgest ceety o Taiwan an the caipital o the Republic o Cheenae (commonly kent as "Taiwan"). Situatit at the tip o the island, Taipei is locatit on the Danshui River, an is aboot 25 km soothwast o Keelung, its port on the Paceefic Ocean. Anither coastal ceety, Danshui, is aboot 20 km northwast at the river's mooth on the Taiwan Strait. It lies in the twa relatively nairae valleys o the Keelung (基隆河) an Xindian (新店溪) rivers, which jyne tae form the Danshui River alang the ceety's wastren border. The ceety proper (Taipei Ceety) is hame tae an estimatit 2,607,428 fowk. Taipei Ceety, New Taipei, an Keelung Ceety thegither form the Taipei metropolitan aurie wi a population o 6,776,264. Housomeivver, thay are admeenistered unner different local govrenin bodies. "Taipei" whiles refers tae the whole metropolitan aurie, while "Taipei Ceety" refers tae the ceety proper.

Taipei is the poleetical, economic, an cultural centre o Taiwan. The Naitional Taiwan University is locatit in Taipei, as well as the Naitional Palace Museum, which haes ane o the lairgest collections o Cheenese airtifacts an airtwirks in the warld. Considered tae be a global ceety, Taipei is pairt o a major industrial aurie. Railways, hicht speed rail, hichtways, airports, an bus lines connect Taipei wi aw pairts o the island. The ceety is served bi twa airports - Taipei Songshan an Taiwan Taoyuan.

Taipei wis foondit in the early 18t century an became an important centre for owerseas tred in the 19t century. The Cheenese govrenment, then the Qing Dynasty, made Taipei the provincial caipital o Taiwan in 1886. When the Japanese acquired Taiwan in 1895 efter the First Sino-Japanese War, thay retained Taipei as the caipital o the island. The Republic o Cheenae teuk ower the island in 1945 efter Japan's defeat in Warld War II. Efter losin the Cheenese Ceevil War tae the Communists, Chiang Kai-shek an his govrenment retreatit tae Taiwan an declared Taipei the proveesional caipital o the Republic o Cheenae in December 1949.

## Romanization

The spellin "Taipei" derives frae the Wade-Giles romanization *T'ai-pei,* which is pronoonced [ˌtʰaɪˈpʰeɪ] in Inglis.

In Mandarin Cheenese, housomeivver, the pronunciation is slichtly different ([tʰǎipèi]). Unner the offeecial New Phonetic seestem (an' a' kent as Hanyu Pinyin) romanization seestem, which is uised tae romanize aw street signage in Taipei, an the formerly offeecial Tongyong Pinyin seestem, the ceety's name is romanized as *Táiběi*. Housomeivver, the familiarity o the langstandin "Taipei" spellin led govrenment authorities tae retain it as ane o several exceptions tae the general staundart.

## Ceetyscape

 Panorameec view of Taipei's skyleene at day

 Panorameec view of the skyline of Xinyi Special District (Taipei) skyleene at night.

## Internaitional relations

### Twin touns — Sister ceeties

Taipei is twinned wi:

|  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| * Houston, Texas, USA (1961)
* Lomé, Togo (1966)
* Manila, Philippines (1966)
* Cotonou, Benin (1967)
* Seoul, Republic o Korea (1968)
* Quezon Ceety, Philippines (1968)
* Ho Chi Minh Ceety, Vietnam (1968)
* San Francisco, Californie, USA (1970)
* Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (1970)
* Guam, USA (1973)
* Tegucigalpa, Honduras (1975)
* Cleveland, Ohio, USA (1975)
* Jeddah, Saudi Arabie (1978)
* Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (1978)
* Marshall, Texas, USA (1978)
* Phoenix, Arizona, USA (1979)
* Los Angeles, Californie, USA (1979)
 | * Atlanta, Georgie, USA (1979)
* Oklahoma Ceety, Oklahoma, USA (1981)
* Johannesburg, Sooth Africae (1982)
* Gold Coast, Australie (1982)
* Pretoria, Sooth Africae (1983)
* San José, Costa Rica (1984)
* Lilongwe, Malawi (1984)
* Versailles, Fraunce (1986)
* Asunción, Paraguay (1987)
* Panama Ceety, Panama (1989)
* Managua, Nicaragua (1992)
* San Salvador, El Salvador (1993)
* Warsaw, Poland (1995)
* Ulan-Ude, Roushie (1996)
* Boston, Massachusetts, USA (1997)
* Dallas, Texas, USA (1997)
* Dakar, Senegal (1997)
 | * Banjul, Gambie (1997)
* Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (1997)
* Mbabane, Swaziland (1997)
* Ulan Bator, Mongolie (1997)
* San Nicolás, Mexico (1997)
* La Paz, Bolivie (1997)
* Guatemala Ceety, Guatemala (1998)
* Monrovia, Liberie (1998)
* Vilnius, Lithuanie (1998)
* Majuro, Marshall Islands (1998)
* Riga, Latvie (2001)
* Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (2008)
* Daegu, Republic o Korea (2010)
* Penang, Malaysie (2011)
* Tokyo, Japan (2012)
 |

### Pairtner ceety

* Anchorage, Alaska, USA (1997)

### Friendship ceeties

* Perth, Australie (1999)
* Orange Coonty, Californie, USA (2000)