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The Houtong Cat Village or Houdong Cat Village () is a
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
in
Ruifang District Ruifang District () is a suburban district in eastern New Taipei City, Taiwan. History During Japanese rule, Ruifang was called , and was administered as part of of Taihoku Prefecture. Mining was an important industry in Ruifang (then kno ...
,
New Taipei New Taipei City is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest s ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
known for its cat population.


Name

Houtong was originally called ''Kau-tong'' () due to the existence of a cave inhabited by monkeys in the early days.


History

Houtong was once a rich small mining town in Ruifang, renowned for a well-preserved culture surrounding its railway, which was built during the
Japanese rule of Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The shor ...
. During its prosperous years, the area produced around 220,000 tons of coal per year, the largest coal output of a single area in Taiwan. This attracted many immigrants to the area, which further spurred the town's growth to as many as 900 households with a population of more than 6,000 people. The last facility built in the area was a coal purification factory, built in 1920. As the
coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
industry began to decline in the 1990s, the area also declined. Young residents started to emigrate to look for other opportunities, and eventually only a few hundred residents remained once the mining industry had died out. However, in 2008 a local cat lover organized volunteers to start offering abandoned cats a better life. They posted the cats' pictures online, resulting in an overwhelming response from other cat lovers around the nation. Soon, Houtong became a center for cat lovers as word spread, and the number of cats living there increased – thus reviving a declining village, and transforming it into a tourist destination. Some cats are sterilized, and will have one of their ears trimmed as confirmation – this helps to keep check on the local population of cats, and also helps identify new cats which enter into the village.


Features

The village features shops, cafes and relaxing places for tourists. It is also located near the origin of the
Keelung River The Keelung River () is a river in northern Taiwan. The Keelung River originates in the mountains west-northwest of the town of Jingtong in Pingxi District, New Taipei City, flows down to a rift valley and then flows ENE to Sandiaoling. Then i ...
. The pristine, green waters of the river are accessible via steps. Drivers entering the town are greeted with a sign that reads "A lot of stray cats here. Drive slowly." A special bridge has been constructed above the busy railway, to allow safe passage for the cats.


Transportation

The village is accessible from Houtong Station of Taiwan Railways. From
Jiufen Jiufen, also spelled Jioufen or Chiufen (), is a seaside mountain area in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. History During the first years of the Qing Dynasty, the isolated village housed nine families, thus the village would request "n ...
, it is approximately 10 minutes and NT 350 by taxi, which makes it a good secondary destination after Jiufen if planning a day trip. Houtong is also the origin of two trails which can be hiked to reach Jiufen.


See also

*
Mining in Taiwan Mining has been practiced in Taiwan for hundreds of years. Sulfur was an early important resource collected on the island. Coal mining expanded in the 19th century to keep up with demand from increased foreign trade. Heavy industry was further exp ...
*
List of endemic species of Taiwan The endemic species of Taiwan are organisms that are endemic to the island of Taiwan— that is, they occur nowhere else on Earth. Percentages of endemic animals of all living species in Taiwan. ---- Percentages of endemic plants of all livi ...


References

{{commons category Cats Geography of New Taipei Tourist attractions in New Taipei Villages in Taiwan