Chiayi

Chiayi(/ˈdʒjɑːˈiː/,TaigiPOJ:Ka-gī;Chinese:嘉義), officially known asChiayi City, is acitylocated inChianan Plaininsouthwestern Taiwan, surrounded byChiayi Countywith a population of 263,188 inhabitants as of January 2023.
TheHoanya peopleinhabited present-day Chiayi under its historical name ofTirosenprior to the arrival ofHan Chinesein Taiwan and was ruled by theDutchand theKingdom of Tungningunder various names. During theQing dynasty, Tirosen was governed as part ofTaiwan PrefectureinFujianunderZhuluo Countyand the city was renamedKageein 1787. The city was renamedKagiduring theJapanese erabut anearthquake in 1906destroyed much of the town. Kagi was administered as part ofTainan Prefecturefrom 1920 onwards. Following thesurrender of Japanin 1945, theRepublic of China, whodeposed the Qing in 1911, took control of the city (renamed Chiayi City) and administered it as a provincial city ofTaiwan Provincebefore being integrated into Chiayi County in 1950 as acounty-administered city. The city was restored to its status as a provincial city in 1982. In 1998, Taiwan Province was streamlined and Chiayi City has been governed directly since then by theExecutive Yuan.
The city is known forAlishan National Scenic Areaand warmhumid subtropical climatein the summer months. Left with the landmarks of Japanese colonial rule, Chiayi City has the round-island railway system andAlishan Forest Railwaywhere the city is the starting point along with various Japanese temples.
Like the county, Chiayi City's former Chinese placename was Tsu-lo-san(Chinese:諸羅山;pinyin:Zhūluóshān;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Chu-lô-san), a representation of the originalFormosan-languagenameTirosen. A shortened version, Tsulo, was then used to nameTsulo County, which originally covered the underdeveloped northern two-thirds of the island. In 1704, the county seat was moved to Tsulosan, the site of modern-dayChiayi City. Following the 1723Zhu Yiguirebellion, the county was reduced in size. In 1787, the county and city were renamedChiayi(嘉義;lit.'commended righteousness') by theQianlong Emperorto acknowledge the citizens' loyalty during theLin Shuangwen rebellion.
First inhabited by theHoanyaaborigines, the region was namedTirosen(variantsTirocen,Tiracen). With the arrival ofHan Chineseimmigrants in southwestern Taiwan, the name evolved to becomeTsulosan(Chinese:諸羅山;pinyin:Zhūluóshān;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Chu-lô-san) inHokkien. Eventually, Tsulosan was shortened to simply Tsulo. Because of the choice of the characters, it has been mistakenly suggested that the origin of the name came from the expression "mountains surrounding the east". "Peach City" is another name for Chiayi City due to its peach-shaped territory in ancient times. The tip of the peach is around Central Fountain and was called "Peach-tip" by citizens.
Tsulosan was once the foothold to which people from the mainland immigrated. In 1621,Chinese Peter[zh], who came fromZhangzhou,FujianProvince, first led his people to cultivate this land after they landed atPonkan(modern-dayBeigang).
Records from theDutch era, beginning in 1624, show Tirosen as the usual form of the name; it also occurred asTirassen,Tirozen,Tilocen,Tilossen,Tilocen, andThilocen.The place was north of Mattau (modern-dayMadou, Tainan) and south of Favorlang (Huwei, Yunlin).
In 1661 (the 15th year ofYung-Li,Ming dynasty),Koxingadefeated the Dutch based in Taiwan and founded theKingdom of Tungning. He established one province,Cheng-Tien-Fu[zh], and two counties,Tien-Hsing[zh]andWan-Nien[zh], demarcated by the Hsin-Kang River (Chinese:新港溪, now theYanshui River). Chiayi was under the jurisdiction of the Tien-Hsing County.
In 1683, when Qing rule began, the island was governed asTaiwan Prefectureunder the administration ofFujian Province. In 1684,Tsulo Countywas established and initially encompassed the underdeveloped northern two-thirds of Taiwan. (Taiwan and Hongsoa counties were divided from Wan-Nien County during theKingdom of Tungning, which was changed from Tien-Hsing County.) In 1704, the county seat was moved to Tsulosan, the site of modern-day Chiayi City, and had wooden city walls.
In 1727, the county magistrate, Liu Liang-Bi rebuilt the gatehouses and set a gun platform for each gatehouse. The four gatehouses were named: "Chin Shan" (襟山) for East, "Tai Hai" (帶海) for West, "Chung Yang" (崇陽) for South, and "Kung Chen" (拱辰) for North. In 1734 (the 12th year of Yongzheng), magistrate Lu-Hung built piercing-bamboo to better protect the city.
In 1786, theLin Shuangwen rebellionwas an attempt to siege Tsulosan but failed to overcome the defense of the inhabitants. Consequently, on November 3 of the next year, the Qing Emperor conferred the nameKagee(嘉義;lit.'commended righteousness') to praise the citizens' loyalty.
In the mid-1800s, a custom of annual riotous massstoningdeveloped in the city.
In 1887, a separateTaiwan Provincewas declared and the island was administratively divided into four prefectures; the city of Kagee belonged toTainan Prefecture.
In 1895, Taiwan was ceded toJapanin theTreaty of Shimonoseki. The1906 Meishan earthquakedevastated the entire city wall except the Eastern Gate. The Japanese authorities reconstructed the city. Industries and trades started to flourish. According to the census taken in 1904, Kagi was the fourth most populous city in Taiwan, with a population of over twenty thousand.
TheGreat Kagi earthquake(later also known as the 1906 Meishan earthquake) struck the city in mid March 1906.
In 1907, the construction ofAlishan Forest RailwaytoMount Aliwas begun. In 1920, the city became an autonomous group asKagi Town(嘉義街), Kagi District, withinTainan Prefecture, which included modern-dayTainan City,Chiayi CountyandYunlin County. In 1930, the town was upgraded to an autonomous city under the same prefecture.
After thehandover of Taiwan from Japanto theRepublic of Chinain October 1945,Chiayi Citywas established as aprovincial cityofTaiwan Province. The city consisted of 8 districts, which were Bajiang, Beimen, Beizhen, Nanmen, Tungmen,Tungshan, Ximen and ZhuweiDistricts. In 1946, the districts was reorganized to 6 districts in which Bajiang and Nanmen were merged to become Xinnan, Beimen and Beizhen were merged to become Xinbei, Tungmen and Tungshan were merged to become Xindong, Ximen and Zhuwei were merged to become Xinxi District and there were 2 addition of districts fromTainan Countywhich wereShuishangandTaibao Districts.
Chiayi saw some of the most violent events during the228 Incident. In early March, local militas surrounded theShueishang Airportand fought against theKMTmilitary.There were over 300 casualties.On 12 March 1947, negotiators for peace, includingTan Teng-phoandPhuan Bok-tsi[zh], were arrested after arriving at the airport and were executed on 25 March. The Kuomintang also executed many civilians in Chiayi.
On 16 August 1950, because of the re-allocation of administrative areas in which Taiwan was divided into 16 counties, five provincial cities and a special bureau, Chiayi City was downgraded to acounty-administered cityand merged withChiayi Countyto be thecounty seat. As a result, a shortage of capital hindered its development.
On 1 July 1982, Chiayi City was elevated again to aprovincial cityas a result of pressure from local elites.On 6 October 1990, theEast DistrictandWest Districtwere established.
Chiayi City is located on the north side ofChianan Plain, south west of Taiwan Island. On the east side is theMount Ali, on the west side is theChiayi Airport, on the north side is thePuzi Riverand on the south side is theBazhang River. The distance from east to west of Chiayi City is 15.8 km (9.8 mi) and from north to south is 10.5 km (6.5 mi) with a total area of 60.0256 km(23.1760 sq mi). Chiayi City is completely surrounded byChiayi County. Most of Chiayi City land is broad flat fertile plains. The terrain slowly rises from west to east. Chiayi is also one of the closest Taiwanese cities to theTropic of Cancer, with the latitudinal line lying just south of the city.
Chiayi City has a warmhumid subtropical climate(KöppenCwa) that closely borders a truetropical climate. Northeasterly winds during fall and winter mean that rainfall is depressed during that time, while southwesterly winds during summer and the later portion of spring bring most of the year's rainfall, with more than 60% falling from June to August. Humidity is high year-round, even during winter.
Chiayi City is aprovincial cityofTaiwan Provinceof theRepublic of China. The city is governed by theChiayi City Government, while the residence is represented in theChiayi City Council. The currentMayorof Chiayi City isHuang Min-huiof theKuomintang.
Chiayi City is divided into twodistricts.East Districtis the city seat which houses theChiayi City Government.
Chiayi City voted oneDemocratic Progressive Partylegislator to be in theLegislative Yuanduring the2020 Taiwanese legislative election. It has historically been a verypan-Greencity. During the martial law era, most people of Chiayi supportedtangwaipoliticians. However, the voting gap between the DPP and the KMT has narrowed in recent years.In the2022 Taiwanese local elections, Chiayi City re-electedHuang Min-huiofKuomintangto be themayor.
On 17 December 2015,Chiayi City Governmentlaunched a program to set up solar panels at schools and offices in the city to reduce green house gases. The program is expected to produce 3.55 million kWh of electricity annually and to help reducing carbon emission by 1,700 tonnes.
Chiayi is the city of wind music in Taiwan. The wind music festival started as a local event in 1988, when it was more like a joint performance by local wind music bands. Over the years the festival has become the most anticipated annual event in Chiayi.
Major sporting events held by Chiayi include:
Chiayi istwinnedwith:
Chiayi City is served byChiayi StationandJiabei Stationof theTaiwan Railways Administration. Chiayi Station is the starting point for theAlishan Forest Railway. The city is also accessible fromTHSR Chiayi StationinChiayi County.
Chiayi Bus Rapid Transitconnects Chiayi City toChiayi HSR stationin the neighboringTaibao City.Chiayi City Busserves the urban areas of Chiayi City.
Chiayi City is served byChiayi Airportin the neighboringShuishang Township.
Chiayi City and its street foods, including the famousChiayi turkey rice, were featured on theNetflix TV series,Street Food, in season 1.
23°28′48″N120°26′59″E﻿ / ﻿23.48000°N 120.44972°E﻿ /23.48000; 120.44972