Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and a
special municipality Special municipality may refer to:
* Special municipality (Netherlands)
There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility fo ...
of the
Republic of China (Taiwan).
[ Located in ]Northern Taiwan The regions of Taiwan are based on the historical administrative divisions. However, most of the definitions are not precise.
Division into two regions
* Eastern and Western Taiwan: the Central Mountain Range separates Taiwan into east and west.
:* ...
, Taipei City is an enclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
of the municipality of New Taipei City
New Taipei City is a 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 special municipality by area, be ...
that sits about southwest of the northern port city of Keelung
Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...
. Most of the city rests on the Taipei Basin
The Taipei Basin () is a geographic region in northern Taiwan. It is the largest basin in Taiwan. The basin is bounded by the Yangmingshan to the north, the Linkou Plateau to the west, and the Ridge of Xueshan Range to the southeast. The shape ...
, an ancient lakebed. The basin is bounded by the relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung
Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...
and Xindian rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River
The Tamsui River (alternatively Danshui River, ) is third longest river in Taiwan after Zhuoshui River and Gaoping River, with a total length of , flowing through Hsinchu County, Taoyuan, Taipei and New Taipei City. It is located in northern pa ...
along the city's western border.
The city of Taipei is home to an estimated population of 2,646,204 (2019), forming the core part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, which includes the nearby cities of New Taipei and Keelung with a population of 7,047,559, the 40th most-populous urban area in the world—roughly one-third of Taiwanese citizens live in the metro district. The name "Taipei" can refer either to the whole metropolitan area or just the city itself. Taipei has been the seat of the ROC central government since 1949 and was the seat of Taiwan Province from 1887 to 1895 and again from 1945 until 1956 when the provincial government moved to Zhongxing New Village
Zhongxing New Village, sometimes rendered as Chunghsing New Village is an urban village located in Nantou City, Nantou County, Taiwan (ROC) and was until 2018, when the Taiwan Provincial Government was abolished, was the seat of government of ...
in Nantou County
Nantou County (; Hokkien POJ: ''Lâm-tâu-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Nàm-thèu-yen'') is the second largest county of Taiwan by area, located in the central part of the country. It is also the only non-coastal county in Taiwan. Its name derives fro ...
, it became the nation's special municipality (then known as Yuan-controlled municipality) on 1 July 1967 from provincial city status.
Taipei is the economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
, political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
, educational
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
and cultural
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
center of Taiwan and one of the major hubs in East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
. Considered to be a global city and rated as an Alpha − City by GaWC
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershire ...
, Taipei is part of a major high-tech industrial area. Railways
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
, highways
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
, airports and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports – Songshan and Taoyuan. The municipality is home to various world-famous architectural or cultural landmarks, such as the former tallest building in the world between 2004 and 2009, Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
, other notable tourist attractions include Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Dalongdong Baoan Temple
Dalongdong Baoan Temple () also known as the Taipei Baoan Temple () is a Chinese folk religion, Taiwanese folk religion temple built in the Datong District, Taipei, Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan. The present temple was originally built by clan m ...
, Hsing Tian Kong
Xingtian Temple (; also Xingtian Gong or Hsing Tian Kong) is a popular temple in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. This temple is devoted to Lord Guan, the Patron Deity of businessmen, military personnel and policeman. This temple is situated ...
, Lungshan Temple of Manka
Bangka Lungshan Temple (also Lungshan Temple of Manka, Mengjia Longshan Temple) is a Chinese folk religious temple in Wanhua District (alternately known as Bangka/Mengjia), Taipei, Taiwan. The temple was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers from ...
, National Palace Museum
The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...
, Presidential Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
, Taipei Guest House
The Taipei Guest House () is the historical building located at 1 Ketagalan Boulevard, Bo'ai Special Zone, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is owned by the Government of the Republic of China and used as a state guest house for receivi ...
and Zhinan Temple
Zhinan Temple (; also called , Xiāngōng Miào; also unofficially anglicized as "Chihnan" or "Jhihnan") is a Taoist temple on the slopes of Houshan (猴山, "Monkey Mountain") in Muzha, a suburb of Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded in 1882. The t ...
. Popular shopping districts
A shopping street or shopping district is a designated road or quarter of a city/town that is composed of individual Retail, retail establishments (such as Retail store, stores, Boutique, boutiques, Restaurant, restaurants, and Shopping center, ...
including Ximending as well as several night markets
Night markets or night bazaars are street markets which operate at night and are generally dedicated to more leisurely strolling, shopping, and eating than more businesslike day markets. They are typically open-air markets popular in East Asia, Sou ...
dispersed throughout the city. Natural features such as Maokong
Maokong () is an area located in Wenshan District of Taipei, Taiwan. The area used to be the biggest tea growing area of Taipei. There are many intertwining footpaths which have been used to transport tea. Now, it is a popular place for tea culture ...
, Yangmingshan and hot springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
are also well known to international visitors.
In English-language news reports, the name ''Taipei'' often serves as a synecdoche
Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy: it is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term comes from Greek .
Examples in common Engl ...
referring to central government of Taiwan. Due to the ambiguous political status of Taiwan
The controversy surrounding the political status of Taiwan or the Taiwan issue is a result of World War II, the second phase of the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949), and the Cold War.
The basic issue hinges on who the islands of Taiwan, Peng ...
internationally, the term ''Chinese Taipei
"Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan.
Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...
'' is also frequently used as a synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
for the entire country, as when Taiwan's governmental representatives participate in international organizations or Taiwan's athletes compete in international sporting events, including the Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
.
Romanization
The spellings Taipei and Tʻai-pei derive from the Wade–Giles
Wade–Giles () is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade, during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert A. Giles's '' Chinese–English Dictionary'' of ...
romanization ''Tʻai²-pei³'' which means ''the North of Taiwan'' in Chinese. The name could be also romanized as ''Táiběi'' according to Hanyu Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
and Tongyong Pinyin
Tongyong Pinyin () was the official romanization of Mandarin in Taiwan between 2002 and 2008. The system was unofficially used between 2000 and 2002, when a new romanization system for Taiwan was being evaluated for adoption. Taiwan's Ministry of ...
.
The city has also been known as Tai-pak (derived from Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...
) and Taipeh.
History
Prior to the significant influx of Han Chinese colonists, the region of Taipei Basin
The Taipei Basin () is a geographic region in northern Taiwan. It is the largest basin in Taiwan. The basin is bounded by the Yangmingshan to the north, the Linkou Plateau to the west, and the Ridge of Xueshan Range to the southeast. The shape ...
was mainly inhabited by the plains aborigines
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands.
...
called Ketagalan
Ketagalan or Ketangalan () are a Taiwanese aborigines, Taiwanese aboriginal people originating in what is now the Taipei Basin. Their Ketagalan language, language has now become extinct.
On 21 March 1996, the road in front of the Presidential O ...
. The number of Han colonists gradually increased in the early 18th century under Qing Dynasty rule after the government began permitting development in the area. In 1875, the northern part of the island was incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture.
It was formerly established as Taipeh-fu and was the temporary capital of the island in 1887 when it was declared a province ( Fukien-Taiwan Province). Taipeh was formally made the provincial capital in 1894. The romanized transcription of Taipeh was changed to Taihoku in 1895 when the Empire of Japan annexed Taiwan, based on the Japanese reading of the two characters. The writing in Chinese characters remained unaltered. Under Japanese rule, the city was administered under Taihoku Prefecture
Taihoku Prefecture (台北州; ''Taihoku-shū'') was an administrative division of Taiwan created in 1920, during Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Keelung, New Taipei City, Taipei and Yilan County. Its government office, ...
. Taiwan's Japanese rulers embarked on an extensive program of advanced urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
that featured extensive railroad links. A number of Taipei landmarks and cultural institutions date from this period.
Following the surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
to the Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
during 1945, effective control of Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China (ROC). After facing defeat from Communist forces, the ruling Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
relocated the ROC government
The Government of the Republic of China, is the national government of the Republic of China whose ''de facto'' territory currently consists of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other island groups in the "free area". Governed by the Dem ...
to Taiwan and declared Taipei the provisional capital A temporary capital or a provisional capital is a city or town chosen by a government as an interim base of operations due to some difficulty in retaining or establishing control of a different metropolitan area. The most common circumstances leadin ...
of the ROC in December 1949. Taiwan's Kuomintang rulers regarded the city as the capital of Taiwan Province and their control as mandated by General Order No. 1.
In 1990, Taipei provided the backdrop for the Wild Lily student rallies that moved Taiwanese society from one-party rule to multi-party democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
by 1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
. The city has ever since served as the seat of Taiwan's democratically elected national government.
Early settlers–Qing dynasty
The region known as the Taipei Basin
The Taipei Basin () is a geographic region in northern Taiwan. It is the largest basin in Taiwan. The basin is bounded by the Yangmingshan to the north, the Linkou Plateau to the west, and the Ridge of Xueshan Range to the southeast. The shape ...
was home to Ketagalan
Ketagalan or Ketangalan () are a Taiwanese aborigines, Taiwanese aboriginal people originating in what is now the Taipei Basin. Their Ketagalan language, language has now become extinct.
On 21 March 1996, the road in front of the Presidential O ...
tribes before the eighteenth century. Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...
colonists from Dabu County
Dabu County () is a county in Meizhou City, in the east of Guangdong Province, China. A center of Hakka culture, it has a population of 375,000.
Famous natives
This is the ancestral hometown of 1st Guyana President Arthur Chung even though the ...
, Yongding County, Anxi and Tong'an of Southern Fujian began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709.
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
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
export. In 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture and incorporated into the new Taipeh Prefecture as a new administrative entity of the Qing dynasty. Having been established adjoining the flourishing townships of Bangka, Dalongdong
Dalongdong (), or Toalongpong (; and variants 大浪泵/大隆同), is an old village in historical Taipei located near the narrows of the confluence of the Keelung and Tamsui Rivers. The district has since been merged with the newer Twatutia dis ...
, and Twatutia, the new prefectural capital was known as ''Chengnei'' (), "the inner city", and government buildings were erected there. From 1875 until the beginning of Japanese rule in 1895, Taipei was part of Tamsui County of Taipeh Prefecture and the prefectural capital.
In 1885, as work commenced to govern the island as a province, Taipeh was thus temporarily designated as a provincial capital. The city officially became the capital in 1894. Nowadays, all that remains from the historical period is the north gate. The west gate and city walls
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
were demolished by the Japanese while the south gate, little south gate, and east gate were extensively modified by the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
and have lost much of their original character.
Empire of Japan
As settlement for losing the First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...
, China ceded the island of Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, News media, press and Western literature, literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of ...
to the Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
in 1895 as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki
The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...
. After the Japanese takeover, Taipei, romanized into English as Taihoku following the Japanese language pronunciation, was retained as the capital. It subsequently emerged as the political center of the Japanese Colonial Government. 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 Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
which was the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan.
During Japanese rule, Taihoku was incorporated in 1920 as part of Taihoku Prefecture
Taihoku Prefecture (台北州; ''Taihoku-shū'') was an administrative division of Taiwan created in 1920, during Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Keelung, New Taipei City, Taipei and Yilan County. Its government office, ...
. It included Bangka, Twatutia, and among other small settlements. The eastern village of was annexed into Taihoku City in 1938. Taihoku and surrounding areas were bombed by Allied forces on several occasions. The largest of these Allied air raids, the Taihoku Air Raid
The Taihoku Air Raid () that took place on 31 May 1945 was the largest Allied air raid on the city of Taihoku (modern-day Taipei), then under Japanese colonial rule, during World War II. Many residents were killed in the raid and tens of thou ...
, took place on 31 May 1945.
Post-WW2 under ROC
Upon the Japanese defeat following the nuclear bomb destruction of Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
and its consequent surrender in August 1945, the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(Chinese Nationalist Party) assumed control of Taiwan. Subsequently, Taipei was established as a provincial city and a temporary Office of the Taiwan Province Administrative Governor was established in it. In 1947 the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT) government under Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
declared island-wide martial law in Taiwan
Martial law in Taiwan () refers to the periods in the history of Taiwan after World War II during control by the Republic of China Armed Forces of the Kuomintang-led Government of the Republic of China regime. The term is specifically used to ...
as a result of the 28 February Incident, which began with incidents in Taipei but led to an island-wide crackdown on the local population by forces loyal to Chiang. Two years later, on 7 December 1949, Chiang and the Kuomintang forces were forced to flee mainland China by the after defeat by Communist revolutionaries. The KMT-led national government that fled to Taiwan declared Taipei to be the provisional capital of a continuing Republic of China.[ Taipei has never been declared the official capital but Kuomintang loyalists today generally regard it as such. In 2004 elementary textbook references stating "Nanjing is the capital of the Republic of China" were replaced with "Taipei is the location of the central government of the Republic of China."]
Taipei expanded greatly in the decades after 1949, and as approved on 30 December 1966, by the Executive Yuan
The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan.
...
, Taipei was declared a special municipality Special municipality may refer to:
* Special municipality (Netherlands)
There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility fo ...
on 1 July 1967. In the following year, Taipei City expanded again by annexing Shilin, Beitou
Beitou District is the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Taiwan. The historical spelling of the district is Peitou. The name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Kipatauw'', meaning witch. Beitou is the most mountainous and ...
, Neihu
Neihu District is a district of Taipei City, Taiwan. Neihu means "inner lake." The older name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Tayour'' (transliterated by the Dutch as ''Cattajo''), meaning woman's head ornament.
Many mountainous roads and ...
, Nangang, Jingmei
Jingmei () is a neighborhood in Taipei City. Formerly an administrative district, in 1990 it merged with Muzha District become western parts of new created Wenshan District.
Jingmei is located south of downtown Taipei with adjacency with Xindian ...
, and Muzha. At that time, the city's total area increased fourfold by absorbing several outlying towns and villages and the population increased to 1.56 million people.
The city's population, which had reached one million in the early 1960s, also expanded rapidly after 1967, exceeding two million by the mid-1970s. Although growth within the city itself gradually slowed thereafter — its population had become relatively stable by the mid-1990s – Taipei remained one of the world's most densely populated urban areas, and the population continued to increase in the region surrounding the city, notably along the corridor between Taipei and Keelung
Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...
.
In 1990 Taipei's 16 districts were consolidated into the current 12 districts. Mass democracy rallies that year in the plaza around Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall led to an island-wide transition to multi-party democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
, where legislators are chosen via regularly scheduled popular elections, during the presidency of Lee Teng-Hui
Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and economist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the fir ...
.
Geography
Taipei City is located in the Taipei Basin
The Taipei Basin () is a geographic region in northern Taiwan. It is the largest basin in Taiwan. The basin is bounded by the Yangmingshan to the north, the Linkou Plateau to the west, and the Ridge of Xueshan Range to the southeast. The shape ...
in northern 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 ...
. It is bordered by the Xindian River
The Xindian River (or Xindian Creek) () is a river in northern Taiwan. It flows through New Taipei and the capital Taipei for .
Overview
The Xindian River is one of the three major tributaries into the Tamsui River. Its main tributary is the Be ...
on the south and the Tamsui River
The Tamsui River (alternatively Danshui River, ) is third longest river in Taiwan after Zhuoshui River and Gaoping River, with a total length of , flowing through Hsinchu County, Taoyuan, Taipei and New Taipei City. It is located in northern pa ...
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, where it reaches the -tall Qixing Mountain, the highest (dormant) volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
in Taiwan in Yangmingshan National Park. The northern districts of Shilin and Beitou
Beitou District is the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Taiwan. The historical spelling of the district is Peitou. The name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Kipatauw'', meaning witch. Beitou is the most mountainous and ...
extend north of the Keelung River and are bordered by Yangmingshan National Park. The Taipei city limits cover an area of , ranking sixteenth of twenty-five among all counties and cities in Taiwan.
Two peaks, Qixing Mountain and Mt. Datun, rise to the northeast of the city. Qixing Mountain is located on the Tatun Volcano Group
Tatun Volcanoes (), a group of volcanoes located in northern Taiwan, is located 15 km north of Taipei, and lies to the west of Keelung. It just adjoins the northern coast of the Taiwan island. The volcano group was a result of episodic volca ...
; its -high main peak renders it the tallest mountain at the rim of the Taipei Basin; -high Mt. Datun is a close runner up. These former volcanoes make up the western section of Yangmingshan National Park, extending from Mt. Datun northward to Mt. Caigongkeng (). 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.
Climate
Taipei has a humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
( Köppen: ''Cfa''). Summers are long-lasting, very hot and humid, and accompanied by occasional heavy rainstorms and typhoons; while winters are short, generally warm and generally very fog
Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...
gy due to the northeasterly winds from the vast Siberian High being intensified by the pooling of this cooler air in the Taipei Basin. As in the rest of Northern Taiwan, daytime temperatures of Taipei can often peak above during a warm winter day, while they can dip below that same level during afternoon showers and thunderstorms in the summer. Occasional cold fronts during the winter months can drop the daily temperature by , though temperatures rarely drop below . Extreme temperatures ranged from on 13 February 1901 to on 24 July 2020, while snow has never been recorded in the city besides on mountains located within the city limit such as Yangmingshan. Due to Taiwan's location in the Pacific Ocean, it is affected by the Pacific typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
season, which occurs between June and October.
Air quality
In comparison to other Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
n cities, Taipei has "excellent" capabilities for managing air quality in the city. Its rainy climate, location near the coast, and strong environmental regulations have prevented air pollution from becoming a substantial health issue, at least compared to cities in southeast Asia and industrial China. However, smog is extremely common and there is poor visibility throughout the city after rainless days.
Motor vehicle engine exhaust, particularly from motor scooters, is a source of air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
in Taipei. There are higher levels of fine particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the mornings because of less air movement; sunlight reduces some pollution.
Cityscape
Demographics
While Taipei City is home to 2,704,810 people (2015), the greater metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
has a population of 7,047,559 people. Even though the population of the city has been decreasing in recent years, the population of adjacent New Taipei has been increasing. The population loss, while rapid in its early years, has been stabilized by new lower density development and campaigns designed to increase the birthrate in the city. As a result, the population has begun to rise again since 2010.
Due to Taipei's geography and location in the Taipei Basin
The Taipei Basin () is a geographic region in northern Taiwan. It is the largest basin in Taiwan. The basin is bounded by the Yangmingshan to the north, the Linkou Plateau to the west, and the Ridge of Xueshan Range to the southeast. The shape ...
as well as differing times of settlement and differing degrees of economic development of its districts, Taipei's population is not evenly distributed. The districts of Daan
Daan may refer to: People
*Daan (given name), Dutch short form for Daniel
*Saumya Daan (born 1982), Indian voice actor
*Serge Daan (1940–2018), Dutch zoologist
* DAAN, a Belgian band led by Daan Stuyven
* Da'an, a character in the television ser ...
, Songshan, and Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 cens ...
are the most densely populated. These districts, along with adjacent communities such as Yonghe and Zhonghe, contain some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the world.
In 2008, the crude birth rate stood at 7.88%, while the mortality rate
Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of de ...
stood at 5.94%. A decreasing and rapidly aging population is an important issue for the city. By the end of 2009, one in ten people in Taipei was over 65 years of age. Residents who had obtained a college education or higher accounted for 43.48% of the population, and the literacy rate stood at 99.18%.
Like the rest of Taiwan, Taipei is composed of four major ethnic groups: Hoklos
The Hoklo people or Hokkien people () are a Han Chinese (also Han Taiwanese) subgroup who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to Minnan region, Southeastern Fujian, China and known by various endonyms or other relate ...
, Mainlanders, Hakkas, and aborigines. Although Hoklos and Mainlanders form the majority of the population of the city, in recent decades many Hakkas have moved into the city. The aboriginal population in the city stands at 16,713 at the end of 2018 (<1%), concentrated mostly in the suburban districts. Foreigners (mainly from Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
) numbered 69,982 at the end of 2019.
Economy
As Taiwan's business, financial, and technology hub, Taipei has been at the center of rapid economic development in the country and has now become one of the global cities in technology and electronics. This development is part of the so-called Taiwan Miracle which has seen dramatic growth in the city following foreign direct investment
A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
in the 1960s. Taiwan is now a creditor
A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property ...
economy, holding one of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves of over US$403 billion as of December 2012.
Despite the Asian financial crisis, the economy continues to expand at about 5% per year, with virtually full employment and low inflation. The city's GDP stand at US$327 billion in 2014. , the nominal GDP per capita in Taipei city is 5th highest in East Asia, behind Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka, and Hong Kong, but ahead of Seoul, as well as London and Paris, according to ''The Economist''. GDP per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in Taipei in 2015 was US$44173, behind that of Singapore (US$90151 in 2016 from the IMF) and Hong Kong (US$58322 in 2016 from the IMF; also based on PPP). The ''Financial Times'' ranked Taipei highly in economic potential (2nd, behind Tokyo) and business friendliness (4th) in 2015. The city is home to 30 billionaires, the 16th most in the world, ahead of many global cities such as Los Angeles and Sydney. Business Insider also ranks Taipei the 5th most high-tech city globally, the highest in Asia, in 2017. While the IESE Cities in Motion Index 2017 ranks Taipei as the smartest technology city globally.
Taipei's main development fields include the information and communications technology
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...
(hardware and software), biotechnology, general merchandizing (wholesale/retail), financial services, and MICE
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
industries. Most of the country's major firms are based there including Acer Computers
Acer Inc. ( ) is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology, headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City
New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiw ...
, Asus, CTBC Bank
CTBC Bank () is amongst the largest privately owned banks in Taiwan.
History
It was established in 1966 under the name China Securities and Investment Corporation. In 1971, its name was changed to Chinatrust Investment Company Limited. In 1992, i ...
, Fubon Financial Holding
Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd. () ( ) is a financial investment holding company consists of the following key subsidiaries: Fubon Asset Management, Fubon Insurance Co. Ltd., Fubon Securities, Fubon Bank (present Taipei Fubon Bank), Fubon Lif ...
, Tatung Company, D-Link
D-Link Corporation is a Taiwanese multinational networking equipment manufacturing corporation headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded in March 1986 in Taipei as ''Datex Systems Inc.''
History
D-Link Corporation changed its name fr ...
, and others. 5 Global Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Taipei. The city also attracts many multi-national corporations, international financial institutions, foreign consulates, and business organizations to set up base there. Thus, Taipei has nearly 3,500 registered foreign businesses and attracts over 50% of the total foreign investment in Taiwan. Foreign companies with offices or regional headquarters in Taipei include Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
, IBM, Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
, HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
, Citibank
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
, Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
, JP Morgan, PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
, and many others. Most financial and foreign firms like to reside in the central business district of Taipei, the Xinyi Special District
Xinyi Planning District ( zh, 信義計畫區), also known as the Xinyi Planning Area, is located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The total area of the Xinyi Planning District is 153 hectares. It was designed in the 1970s and developed from ...
. With Citi, JP Morgan, DBS Bank, Cathay Life Insurance, Shin Kong Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Bank, and soon Fubon Financial and Nan Shan Life Insurance all establishing skyscrapers in the area. Meanwhile, technology and electronics companies are often co-located in the Neihu Technology Park
Neihu District is a district of Taipei City, Taiwan. Neihu means "inner lake." The older name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Tayour'' (transliterated by the Dutch as ''Cattajo''), meaning woman's head ornament.
Many mountainous roads an ...
or the Nankang Software Park
The Nankang Software Park (NKSP; ) is located in the 87-hectare Nangang Trade and Economic Park, Taipei, Taiwan.
Location
The Nankang Software Park is located on east side of Taipei City. The park is accessible by three highways, one expressway, ...
. The startup and innovation scene in Taipei is also very vibrant. In 2018 alone, Microsoft announced plans to invest US$34 million to create an artificial intelligence R&D center in Taipei, while Google announced it will hire 300 people and train 5,000 more in artificial intelligence for machines. Taipei is Google's biggest engineering site in Asia. IBM also announced in 2018 that it will develop a cloud research lab and expand its R&D center in Taipei with eyes on artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and cloud computing. According to the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Development Index, Taipei's entrepreneurial spirit ranks 6th worldwide and 1st in Asia. Taipei has more than 400 startups and numerous incubation centers, accelerators, venture capitals, and angel investors. The city's startup ecosystem is valued at US$580 million by Startup Genome in 2018.
Tourism is a small but significant component of the local economy with international visitors totaling almost 3 million in 2008. Taipei has many top tourist attractions and contributes a significant amount to the US$6.8 billion tourism industry in Taiwan.
Culture
Tourism
Tourism is a major part of Taipei's economy. In 2013, over 6.3 million overseas visitors visited Taipei, making the city the 15th most visited globally. The influx of visitors contributed US$10.8 billion to the city's economy in 2013, the 9th highest in the world and the most of any city in the Chinese-speaking world.
Commemorative sites and museums
The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall () is a national monument, landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. It is located in Taipei.
The monument, surround ...
is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attraction that was erected in memory of General Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, former President of the Republic of China
The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...
. 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 Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
in Taipei's Zhongzheng District
Zhongzheng District (also Jhongjheng District) is a District (Taiwan), district in Taipei. It is home to most of the national government buildings of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), including the Presidential Office Building, Taipei, P ...
.
The National Taiwan Museum sits nearby in what is now 228 Peace Memorial Park
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
and has worn its present name since 1999. The museum is 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 ...
's oldest, founded on 24 October 1908 by Taiwan's Japanese colonial government
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...
(1895-1945) as the Taiwan Governor's Museum. It was launched with a collection of 10,000 items to celebrate the opening of the island's North-South Railway. In 1915 a new museum building opened its doors in what is now 228 Peace Memorial Park
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
. This structure and the adjacent governor's office (now Presidential Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
), served as the two most recognizable public buildings in Taiwan during its period of Japanese rule.
The National Palace Museum
The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...
is a vast art gallery
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
and museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
built around a permanent collection centered on ancient Chinese artifacts. It should not be confused with the Palace Museum
The Palace Museum () is a huge national museum complex housed in the Forbidden City at the core of Beijing, China. With , the museum inherited the imperial royal palaces from the Ming and Qing dynasties of China and opened to the public in 192 ...
in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
(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
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
. 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.
The Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines
The Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines () is a museum located just 200 meters diagonally across from the National Palace Museum in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan. It houses exhibits relating to the cultures and histories of the Taiwanese a ...
stands just across the road from the National Palace Museum. The museum offers displays of art and historical items by Taiwanese aborigines
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
along with a range of multimedia displays.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum was established in 1983 as the first museum in Taiwan dedicated to modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
. The museum is housed in a building designed for the purpose that takes inspiration from Japanese designs. Most art in the collection is by Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
artists since 1940. Over 3,000 art works are organized into 13 groups.
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall near Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
in Xinyi District is named in honor of a founding father of the Republic of China
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 northeast ...
, Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...
. The hall, completed on 16 May 1972, originally featured exhibits that depicted revolutionary events in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
at the end of the Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. Today it functions as multi-purpose social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
, educational
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
, concert
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...
and cultural
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
center for Taiwan's citizens.
In 2001 a new museum opened as Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei. The museum is housed in a building that formerly housed Taipei City government offices.
Taipei 101
Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
is a 101-floor landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
that claimed the title of world's tallest building when it opened in 2004, a title it held for six years before the Burj Khalifa
The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...
in Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
was completed. Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and constructed by KTRT Joint Venture
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
, Taipei 101 measures from ground to top, making it the first skyscraper in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height. Built to withstand typhoon winds and earthquake tremors, its design incorporates many engineering innovations and has won numerous international awards. Today, the Taipei 101 remains one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world and holds LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
's certification as the world's largest "green" building. Its shopping mall and its indoor and outdoor observatories draws visitors from all over the world. Taipei 101's New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
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 events by foreign and domestic performers. Other leading concert venues include Zhongshan Hall at Ximending and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall () is located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is a memorial to the Republic of China's National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was completed in 1972. The total building area covers in an open space ...
near Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
.
A new venue, the Taipei Performing Arts Center
The Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC; ) is a performance center in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan.
History
The construction of the center began on 28 February 2012. The center construction topped out on 27 August 2014. On 31 August 2016, th ...
, is under construction and slated to open in 2015. The venue will stand near the Shilin Night Market and will house three theaters for events with multi-week runs. The architectural design, by Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...
and OMA, was determined in 2009 in an international competition. The same design process is also in place for a new Taipei Center for Popular Music
The Taipei Music Center (TMC; ) is a performing arts and cultural venue in Nangang District, Taipei, Taiwan.
Overview
City officials announced plans on July 24, 2008 to conduct an international design competition for the facility in tandem with ...
and Taipei City Museum The Taipei City Museum is a new exhibit hall being planned for construction in Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan. City officials on July 24, 2008, announced plans to conduct an international design competition for the facility in tandem with plans for the ...
.
Shopping and recreation
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.
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
The Red House Theater (), often called Hong Lo Red Play House, Red Theater, Ximen Honglou or Ximen Red House in English, is a historic theater in Ximending, Wanhua District, Taipei, Taiwan. The theater is located at 10 Chengdu Road.
History
Bu ...
. Modern structures house karaoke businesses, art film cinemas, wide-release movie cinemas, electronic stores, and a wide variety of restaurants and fashion clothing stores. The pedestrian area is especially popular with teens and has been called the " Harajuku" of Taipei.
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
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
, a prime tourist attraction. Malls in the area include the sprawling Shin Kong Mitsukoshi
is an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, which also owns the Isetan department store chain.
History
It was founded in 1673 with the (shop name) , selli ...
complex, Breeze Center, Bellavita, Taipei 101 mall, Eslite Bookstore's flagship store (which includes a boutique mall), The Living Mall, ATT 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 lounge bars and nightclubs concentrated in a relatively small area around the Neo19, ATT 4 FUN and Taipei 101 buildings. Lounge bars such as Barcode and nightclubs such as Spark and Myst are among the most-visited places here.
The thriving shopping area around Taipei Main Station includes the Taipei Underground Market
Taipei City Mall () is a shopping center located at the intersection of the Datong and Zhongzheng districts in Taipei, Taiwan. It is the first underground market in Taipei City. It is located under Civic Boulevard (市民大道 ''Shìmín Dàdào' ...
and the original Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Shin Kong Life Tower. Other popular shopping destinations include the Zhongshan Metro Mall
The Zhongshan Metro Shopping Mall () is an extensive underground shopping mall in Zhongshan District and Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is located at Changan West Rd., No. 52-1. The mall stretches from Taipei Main Station in the south to S ...
, Dihua Street
Dihua Street () is a street located in Twatutia, Dadaocheng, Datong District, Taipei, Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan, winding from the south of the district to the north near Dalongdong. The street, then known as ''Centre Street'' (中街), was ...
and the Guang Hua Digital Plaza
The Guang Hua Digital Plaza () is a six-story, indoor technological and electronics market located in Taipei, Taiwan. It is located at the intersection of the Zhongzheng and Daan Districts.
History
Guang Hua Market was established by the Taip ...
. The Miramar Entertainment Park
Miramar Entertainment Park () is a shopping mall located in the Dazhi area in Zhongshan District of Taipei, Taiwan.
The shopping mall contains an IMAX theater. With 28m × 21m dimensions, its movie screen is the largest in Asia for screening co ...
is known for its large Ferris wheel and IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
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. Located north of the city center, Yangmingshan National Park is famous for its cherry blossoms, hot springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
, and sulfur deposits. It is the home of famous writer Lin Yutang, the summer residence of Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, residences of foreign diplomats, the Chinese Culture University, the meeting place of the now defunct National Assembly of the Republic of China
The National Assembly was the authoritative legislative body of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as Taiwan after 1949, from 1947 to 2005. Along with the Control Yuan (upper house) and the Legislative Yuan (lower house), the National ...
, and the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
Party Archives. The Taipei Zoo was founded in 1914 and covers an area of 165 hectares for animal sanctuary.
Bitan
Bitan (), historically called Shi-Bitan (), is a tourist spot in Xindian District, New Taipei, Taiwan. "Bitan" literally means "green lake", referring to where the Xindian River widens to form the lake. There is a well-known suspension bridge th ...
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
Taipei has a variety of temples dedicating to Deities from Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
, Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...
and Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...
. The Bangka Lungshan Temple
Bangka Lungshan Temple (also Lungshan Temple of Manka, Mengjia Longshan Temple) is a Chinese folk religious temple in Wanhua District (alternately known as Bangka/Mengjia), Taipei, Taiwan. The temple was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers from ...
(), built in 1738 and located in the Wanhua District
Wanhua District, known in Taiwanese Hokkien as Báng-kah khu and historically as "Monga" or "Monka", is a district in Taipei, Taiwan. It is Taipei's oldest district. The district is home to historic buildings such as the Bangka Lungshan Temple, ...
, demonstrates an example of architecture with southern Chinese influences commonly seen on older buildings in Taiwan. Qingshui Temple () built in 1787 and Qingshan Temple ()together with Lungshan Temple are the three most prominent landmark temples in Bangka or Wanhua District.
There are other famous temples include Baoan Temple () located in historic Dalongdong
Dalongdong (), or Toalongpong (; and variants 大浪泵/大隆同), is an old village in historical Taipei located near the narrows of the confluence of the Keelung and Tamsui Rivers. The district has since been merged with the newer Twatutia dis ...
, a national historical site, and Xia Hai City God Temple (), located in the old Dadaocheng community, constructed with architecture similar to temples in southern Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
. The Taipei Confucius Temple
The Taipei Confucius Temple () is a Confucian temple in Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan.
History
Qing Dynasty
The Taipei Confucius Temple was built in 1879 during the Qing era, after Taipeh Prefecture was established in 1875.
Empire of Japa ...
() traces its history back to 1879 during the Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
and also incorporates southern Fujian-style architecture. Ciyou Temple
Ciyou Temple () is a prominent Chinese temple in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. The temple is dedicated to the Goddess Matsu. Raohe Street Night Market was located next to this temple as the temple has been a prominent landmark in the are ...
() in Songshan District, Guandu Temple
The Guandu Temple () is a prominent Chinese temple in Beitou District of Taipei, Taiwan, dedicated the Goddess Mazu.
History
The temple was originally constructed in 1712. It was also known as Lingshan Temple due to its location at Mount Ling.. ...
() in Beitou District, Hsing Tian Kong
Xingtian Temple (; also Xingtian Gong or Hsing Tian Kong) is a popular temple in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. This temple is devoted to Lord Guan, the Patron Deity of businessmen, military personnel and policeman. This temple is situated ...
() in Zhongshan District and Zhinan Temple
Zhinan Temple (; also called , Xiāngōng Miào; also unofficially anglicized as "Chihnan" or "Jhihnan") is a Taoist temple on the slopes of Houshan (猴山, "Monkey Mountain") in Muzha, a suburb of Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded in 1882. The t ...
() in Wenshan District are also popular temples for locals and tourists. Xinsheng South Road is known as the "Road to Heaven" due to its high concentration of temples, churches, and other houses of worship.
The Shandao Temple () built in 1929 and located in Zhongzheng District, is the largest Buddhist temple in Taipei. Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan (FGS) () is an international Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhist organization and monastic order based in Taiwan that practices Humanistic Buddhism. The headquarters, Fo Guang Shan Monastery is located in Dashu District, Kaohsiung, and is ...
has a modern temple known as Fo Guang Shan Taipei Vihara () in Xinyi District, while Dharma Drum Mountain owns the Degui Academy (), an education center in Zhongzheng District and the Nung Chan Monastery () in Beitou District. Linji Huguo Chan Temple () in Zhongshan District was commenced in 1900 and completed in 1911, it is one of the very few Japanese style Buddhist Temples that was well-preserved in Taiwan.
Besides large temples, small outdoor shrines to local deities are very common and are commonly found next to roads as well as in 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.
Festivals and events
Many yearly festivals are held in Taipei. In recent years some festivals, such as the Double Ten Day fireworks and concerts, are increasingly hosted on a rotating basis by a number of cities around Taiwan.
When New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
arrives on the solar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar.
T ...
, thousands of people converge on Taipei's Xinyi District for parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
s, outdoor concerts
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or musical band, band. Concerts are held in a w ...
by popular artists, street shows, round-the clock nightlife. The high point is the countdown to midnight, when Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
assumes the role of the world's largest fireworks
Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...
platform.
The Taipei Lantern Festival concludes the Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are moon cycles, based on the lunar calendar or lunisolar calendar.
The Lunar New Year as a celebration is observed by numerous cultures. It is also named " Chinese New Year" becau ...
holiday. The timing of the city's lantern exhibit coincides with the national festival in Pingxi, when thousands of fire lanterns are released into the sky. The city's lantern exhibit rotates among different downtown locales from year to year, including Liberty Square, Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
, and Zhongshan Hall in Ximending.
On Double Ten Day, patriotic celebrations are held in front of the Presidential Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
. Other annual festivals include Ancestors Day (Tomb-Sweeping Day), the Dragon Boat Festival, the Zhong Yuan Festival
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival (traditional Chinese: 中元節; simplified Chinese: ) in Taoism and Yulanpen Festival () in Buddhism, is a traditional Taoist and Buddhist festival held in certain East Asian countrie ...
, and the Mid-Autumn Festival (Mooncake Festival). Qing Shan King Sacrificial Ceremony The Qing Shan King Sacrificial Ceremony (青山王祭) is a centuries-old festival that is held annually in Wanhua, Taipei, Taiwan. It is held between the 20th and 22nd of October (based on Lunar Calendar) and is meant to celebrate the birthday of ...
() is a century-old grand festival that is held annually in Wanhua District
Wanhua District, known in Taiwanese Hokkien as Báng-kah khu and historically as "Monga" or "Monka", is a district in Taipei, Taiwan. It is Taipei's oldest district. The district is home to historic buildings such as the Bangka Lungshan Temple, ...
.
Taipei regularly hosts its share of international events. The city recently hosted the 2009 Summer Deaflympics
The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athlet ...
. This event was followed by the Taipei International Flora Exposition
The 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition (2010 Flora Expo) opened on 6 November 2010 and ran until 25 April 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. It was a garden festival recognized by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH / IAHP ...
, a garden festival
A garden festival is a festival and exposition held to celebrate the arts of gardening, garden design, landscaping and landscape architecture. There are local garden festivals, regional garden festivals, national garden festivals and internat ...
hosted from November 2010 to April 2011. The Floral Expo was the first of its kind to take place in Taiwan and only the seventh hosted in Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
; the expo admitted 110,000 visitors on 27 February 2011.
Taipei in films
Note: The list below is not a complete list, they are examples of more notable movies filmed in the city.
* Luc Besson's '' Lucy'' (action/scifi/drama)
*Arvin Chen
Arvin Chen (born 26 November 1978) is a Taiwanese-American director and screenwriter. He is best known for his film ''Au Revoir Taipei.''
Early life
Chen was born and raised in the United States. His parents were immigrants from Taiwan. He was ...
's '' Au Revoir Taipei'' (comedy)
* Chen Kuo-fu's '' Double Vision'' (horror/suspense)
* Chen Kuo-fu's '' The Personals'' (drama/romance)
*Jay Chou
Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...
's ''Secret
Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy is often controvers ...
'' (romance)
*Leon Dai
Leon Dai (, born 27 July 1966) is a Taiwanese actor and film director. His film ''Cannot Live Without You'' was Taiwan's submission to the 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
The film also won two awards at the 46th Golden Hor ...
's ''No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti
''Cannot Live Without You'' () is a 2009 Taiwanese film directed by Leon Dai, a professional Taiwanese actor. It was his second film as a director. This film was also selected as the official entry for 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language ...
'' (drama)
*Hou Hsiao-hsien
Hou Hsiao-hsien (; born 8 April 1947) is a Mainland Chinese-born Taiwanese film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a leading figure in world cinema and in Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice ...
's ''Dust in the Wind
"Dust in the Wind" is a song recorded by American progressive rock band Kansas and written by band member Kerry Livgren, first released on their 1977 album ''Point of Know Return''.
The song peaked at No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 the wee ...
'' (drama)
* Adam Kane and Will Tiao
Will Tiao (born October 31, 1973) is a Taiwanese-American actor, producer, and real estate broker and investor.
Early life
Tiao was born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas. Tiao graduated from Manhattan High School.
Education
Tiao majored in ...
's '' Formosa Betrayed'' (political thriller)
*Andrew Lau
Andrew Lau Wai-keung ( zh, t=劉偉強, born 4 April 1960) is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and cinematographer. Lau began his career in the 1980s and 1990s, serving as a cinematographer to filmmakers such as Ringo Lam, Wong Jing and Wong ...
's '' Young and Dangerous 2'' (Hong Kong studio, filmed on location in Taipei)
* Lau Kar-wing's ''The Dragon Family
''The Dragon Family'' () is a 1988 Hong Kong action film directed by Lau Kar-wing starring Andy Lau, Alan Tam and Max Mok.
Plot
Lung Ying (Ko Chun-hsiung), patriarch of the Lung family and leader of the four triad families have decided to stop ...
'' (Hong Kong studio, filmed in Hong Kong and Taipei) (Action)
* Ang Lee's '' Eat Drink Man Woman'' (drama)
*Lin Cheng-sheng
Lin Cheng-sheng (; born 31 March 1959) is a Taiwanese film director. His 1997 film '' Sweet Degeneration'' was entered into the 48th Berlin International Film Festival. He won the Silver Bear for Best Director for '' Betelnut Beauty'' in 2001.
F ...
's ''Betelnut beauty
In Taiwan, a betel nut beauty or binlang girl () is a young woman selling betel nuts and cigarettes from a brightly lit glass enclosure while wearing revealing clothing. The term in Chinese comes from Xi Shi, the legendary beauty of imperial ...
'' (drama/romance)
*Morgan Matthews Morgan Matthews may refer to:
* Morgan Matthews (figure skater), American ice dancer
*Morgan Matthews (filmmaker)
Morgan Matthews is an English, BAFTA award-winning documentary director. He is the founder of Minnow Films.
Matthews' early work ...
's '' X+Y'' (drama)
*Doze Niu
Doze Niu (, also known as Niu Chen-zer; born June 22, 1966) is a Taiwanese actor, film director, show host, screenwriter, and producer. As a film director, he is best known for the Taiwanese film '' Monga''.
Early life
Niu was born in Taipei, T ...
's '' Monga'' (drama/action)
*Shimoyama Ten, Yee Chin-yen
Yee Chih-yen (; born 21 November 1959) is a Taiwanese film director.
Biography
Yee Chih-yen attended UCLA between 1983 and 1988.http://www.taiwancinema.com/ct.asp?xItem=12445&ctNode=39
Filmography
* '' Lonely Hearts Club'' (1994)
* ''Blue Gate ...
& Zhang Yibai's '' About Love'' (Japanese studio, filmed on three cities in Asia: Taipei, Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, and Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
)
*Takahisa Zeze
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Satō, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the . In recent years, he h ...
's ''Moon Child
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the List of natural satellites, fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth ( ...
'' (Japanese studio, filmed in Taipei, as the futuristic city of Mallepa) (drama)
*Johnnie To
Johnnie To Kei-fung (born 22 April 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and film producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas. Intensely prolific, To has made films in a variety of genres, though in ...
& Wai Ka-Fai's '' Turn Left, Turn Right'' (Hong Kong studio, filmed on location in Taipei)
* Tsai Ming-liang's ''Rebels of the Neon God
''Rebels of the Neon God'' () is a 1992 Taiwanese drama film written and directed by Tsai Ming-liang in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Lee Kang-sheng, Chen Chao-jung, and Jen Chang-bin.
Plot
A young man, Hsiao-Kang, attends a cram s ...
'' (drama)
*Renpei Tsukamoto's ''One Missed Call 2
is a 2005 Japanese horror film that is the sequel to the 2004 J-Horror film ''One Missed Call''.
Plot
Kindergarten teacher Kyoko Okudera's friend Madoka Uchiyama invites her to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where Kyoko's boyfriend, Naoto Sakur ...
'' (Japanese studio, filmed in Taipei and Jinguashi
Jinguashi (Chinkuashih; ) is a town in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, notable for its historic gold and copper mines. It was also known as Kinkaseki in Japanese and was under Taihoku Prefecture during Japanese rule.
From 1942 to ...
)
*Wei Te-sheng
Wei Te-sheng (born 16 August 1969) is a Taiwanese film director and screenwriter. He directed ''Cape No. 7'', currently the highest grossing domestic Taiwanese film and the second highest-grossing film in Taiwanese film history.
Early life
We ...
's ''Cape No. 7
''Cape No. 7'' (; ) is a 2008 Taiwanese romantic musical drama film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop ...
'' (drama/comedy)
* Robert Wise's ''The Sand Pebbles
''The Sand Pebbles'' is a 1962 novel by American author Richard McKenna about a Yangtze River gunboat and its crew in 1926. It was the winner of the 1963 Harper Prize for fiction. The book was initially serialized in the ''Saturday Evening Po ...
'' (Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
studio, filmed in Taipei, Keelung
Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New Taipe ...
, Tamsui and Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
) (drama)
* John Woo's '' A Better Tomorrow'' (Hong Kong studio, filmed in Hong Kong and Taipei) (action)
* Wong Kar-wai's '' Happy Together'' (Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
studio, filmed in three cities : Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, Hong Kong, and Taipei)
* Kirk Wong's '' Crime Story'' (Hong Kong studio, filmed in Hong Kong, Taipei) (action)
*Edward Yang
Edward Yang (; November 6, 1947 – June 29, 2007) was a Taiwanese filmmaker. Yang, along with fellow auteurs Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, was one of the leading film-makers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese cinema. He won the Be ...
's ''Yi Yi
''Yi Yi'' () is a 2000 Taiwanese drama film written and directed by Edward Yang centering around the struggles of an engineer named NJ (played by Wu Nien-jen) and three generations of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei.
The title in C ...
'' (drama)
*Yee Chin-yen
Yee Chih-yen (; born 21 November 1959) is a Taiwanese film director.
Biography
Yee Chih-yen attended UCLA between 1983 and 1988.http://www.taiwancinema.com/ct.asp?xItem=12445&ctNode=39
Filmography
* '' Lonely Hearts Club'' (1994)
* ''Blue Gate ...
's '' Blue Gate Crossing'' (romance)
Government
Taipei City is a special municipality Special municipality may refer to:
* Special municipality (Netherlands)
There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility fo ...
which is directly under the Executive Yuan
The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan.
...
(Central Government
A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
). The mayor of Taipei City
The Mayor of Taipei is the head of the Taipei City Government and is elected to a four-year term. Until the election of Tsai Ing-wen, the office was seen as a stepping stone to the President of the Republic of China, presidency: presidents Lee Teng ...
was an appointed position since Taipei's conversion to a centrally administered municipality in 1967 until the first public election was held in 1994. The position has a four-year term and is elected by direct popular vote. The first elected mayor was Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...
. Ma Ying-jeou took office in 1998 for two terms, before handing it over to Hau Lung-pin who won the 2006 mayoral election on 9 December 2006. Both Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-Jeou went on to become President of the Republic of China
The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...
.
The incumbent mayor, Ko Wen-je, was elected on 29 November 2014 and took office on 25 December 2014.
Based on the outcomes of previous elections in the past decade, the vote of the overall constituency of Taipei City shows a slight inclination towards the pro-KMT camp (the Pan-Blue Coalition
The pan-Blue coalition, pan-Blue force or pan-Blue groups is a political coalition in the Republic of China (Taiwan) consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP), Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), and Young ...
); however, the pro-DPP camp (the Pan-Green Coalition) also has considerable support.
Ketagalan Boulevard
Ketagalan Boulevard () is an arterial road in Zhongzheng District in Taipei, Taiwan, between the Presidential Office Building and the . It is long and has a total of ten lanes in each direction with no median.
History
The former name of this ...
, where the Presidential Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
and other government structures are situated, is often the site of mass gatherings such as inauguration and national holiday parades, receptions for visiting dignitaries, political demonstrations, and public festivals.
Garbage recycling
Taipei City is also famous for its effort in garbage recycling, which has become such a good international precedent that other countries have sent teams to study the recycling system. After the Environmental Protection Administration
The Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan (EPA, ) is a cabinet-level executive agency responsible for protecting and conserving the environment in the Republic of China (Taiwan). This also includes, air quality, noise control, m ...
(EPA) established a program in 1998 combining the efforts of communities, a financial resource named the Recycling Fund was made available to recycling companies and waste collectors. The EPA also introduced garbage recycling trucks, in effort to raise community recycling awareness, that broadcast classical music (specifically Beethoven's "Für Elise" and Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska's "A Maiden's Prayer") to announce its arrival to the community. Manufacturers, vendors and importers of recyclable waste pay fees to the Fund, which uses the money to set firm prices for recyclables and subsidize local recycling efforts. Between 1998 and 2008, the recycling rate increased from 6 percent to 32 percent. This improvement enabled the government of Taipei to demonstrate its recycling system to the world at the Shanghai World Expo 2010
Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World's fair, World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (B ...
.
Administrative divisions
Taipei City is divided up into 12 administrative districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(). Each district is further divided up into urban villages (), which are further sub-divided up into neighborhoods (). Xinyi District is the seat of the municipality where the Taipei City Government
The Taipei City Government (TCG) is the municipal government of Taipei.
History
The Taihoku City Government was founded on 10 October 1920 in Taihoku Prefecture during Japanese colonial rule. The original city hall was located at the site of ...
headquarters is located.
City planning
The city is characterized by straight roads and public buildings of grand Western architectural styles. The city is built on a square grid configuration; however, these blocks are huge by international standards with sides. The area in between these blocks is infilled with lanes and alleys, which provide access to quieter residential or mixed-use development. Other than a citywide speed limit, there is little uniform planning within this "hidden" area; therefore, lanes (perpendicular to streets) and alleys (parallel with streets, or, conceptually, perpendicular to lanes) spill out from the main controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
s. These minor roads are not always perpendicular and sometimes cut through the block diagonally.
Although development began in the western districts of the city (still considered the cultural heart of Taipei) due to trade, the eastern districts have become the focus of recent development projects. Many of the western districts have become targets of urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
initiatives.
Transportation
Public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
accounts for a substantial portion of different modes of transport in Taiwan, with Taipei residents having the highest utilization rate at 34.1%. Private transport
Private transport (as opposed to public transport) is the personal or individual use of transportation which are not available for use by the general public, where in theory the user can decide freely on the time and route of transit ('choice ...
consists of motor scooters
A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles ...
, private cars, taxi cabs, and bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
s. Motor-scooters often weave between cars and occasionally through oncoming traffic. Respect for traffic laws, once scant, has improved with deployment of traffic cameras and increasing numbers of police roadblocks checking riders for alcohol consumption and other offenses.
Taipei Main Station serves as the comprehensive hub for the subway, bus, conventional rail, and high-speed rail. A contactless smartcard, known as EasyCard
The EasyCard is a contactless smartcard system operated by the EasyCard Corporation, which was previously named the "Taipei Smart Card Corporation", for payment on the Taipei Metro (also known as "''Taipei MRT''", or "Taipei Rapid Transit Syst ...
, can be used for all modes of public transit as well as several retail outlets. It contains credits that are deducted each time a ride is taken. The EasyCard is read via MIFARE panels on buses and in MRT stations, and it does not need to be removed from one's wallet or purse.
Metro
Taipei's public transport system, the Taipei Metro (commonly referred to as the MRT), incorporates a metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
and light rail system based on advanced VAL
Val may refer to: Val-a
Film
* ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo
Military equipment
* Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies
* AS Val, a Sov ...
and Bombardier technology. There are currently six metro lines that are organized and labeled in three ways: by color, line number and depot station name. In addition to the rapid transit system itself, the Taipei Metro also includes several public facilities such as the Maokong Gondola, underground shopping malls, parks, and public squares. Modifications to existing railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
lines to integrate them into the metro system are underway.
In 2017 a rapid transit line was opened to connect Taipei with Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Zhongli District
Zhongli District () is a District (Taiwan), district in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Zhongli is spelled variously as ''Jungli'', ''Jongli'', ''Jhongli'' or ''Chungli'' on railway stations, bus stops and road signs. Historically, the city is the site of t ...
. The new line is part of the new Taoyuan Metro
The Taoyuan Metro (formerly Taoyuan Rail Transit and officially Taoyuan Mass Rapid Transit System) is a rapid transit system serving Taoyuan City in Taiwan. The most recently proposed network includes 11 lines and extensions, of which 2 are now ...
system.
On 31 January 2020, Hitachi Rail Corporation officially commissioned Phase 1 of the Circular Line which took place at Shisizhang Station. The Circular Line is a 15.4 km driverless rail system. The Circular line offered free rides beginning in February 2020 for passengers to test the route.
Rail
Beginning in 1983, surface rail lines in the city were moved underground as part of the Taipei Railway Underground Project Since the 1980s, ground level railway facilities in urban areas have been seen as obstacles to road traffic and local development. In 1983, the Executive Yuan tasked the Taipei Railway Underground Project Organisation (TRUPO) with the project to re ...
. The Taiwan High Speed Rail system opened in 2007. The bullet trains connect Taipei with the west coast cities of New Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung
Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...
, Chiayi, and Tainan
Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...
before terminating at Zuoying (Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...
) at speeds that cut travel times by 60% or more from what they normally are on a bus or conventional train. The Taiwan Railways Administration
Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is a railway operator in Taiwan. It is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, responsible for managing, maintaining, and running conventional passenger and freight railway services ...
also runs passenger and freight services throughout the entire island.
Bus
An extensive city bus system serves metropolitan areas not covered by the metro, with exclusive bus lanes to facilitate transportation. Riders of the city metro system are able to use the EasyCard for discounted fares on buses, and vice versa. A unique feature of the Taipei bus system is the joint venture of private transportation companies that operate the system's routes while sharing the fare system. This route is in sharp contrast to bus systems in the U.S. which are mostly public entities. Several major intercity bus terminals are located throughout the city, including the Taipei Bus Station
The Taipei Bus Station () is a multi-use complex located next to Taipei Station in Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan. The complex houses the Taipei bus terminal station provided a number of intercity express bus routes which was inaugurated on 19 ...
and Taipei City Hall Bus Station
The Taipei City Hall Bus Station () is a mixed-used skyscraper complex located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The architectural height of the building is and it comprises 30 floors above ground.
The lower floors of the building serves as a ...
.
Airports
Most scheduled international flights are served by Taoyuan International Airport
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is an international airport serving Taipei and northern Taiwan. Located about west of Taipei in Dayuan District, Taoyuan, the airport is Taiwan's largest. It was also the busiest airport in Taiwan before t ...
in nearby Taoyuan City
Taoyuan () is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County, Taiwan, Yilan County to the south-e ...
. Taipei Songshan Airport, at the heart of the city in the Songshan District, serves domestic flights and scheduled flights to Haneda Airport in Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, Gimpo International Airport
Gimpo International Airport (), commonly known as Gimpo Airport , formerly rendered in English as Kimpo International Airport, is located in the far western end of Seoul, some west of the Central District of Seoul. Gimpo was the main interna ...
in Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, and about 15 destinations in the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Songshan Airport is accessible by the Taipei Metro Neihu Line
The Wenhu or Brown line (code BR) is a metro line in Taipei operated by Taipei Metro, named after the districts it connects: Wenshan and Neihu. It is an automated medium-capacity rubber-tyred metro line and is long, serving a total of 24 st ...
; Taoyuan International Airport is accessible by the Taoyuan Airport MRT.
Ticketing
In 1994, following the rapid development of Taipei, a white paper for transport policies expressed the strong objective of creating a transport system for the people of Taipei to accommodate the burgeoning city's needs. In 1999, they chose Mitac consortium, which Thales-Transportation Systems is part of. Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...
was then selected again in 2005 to deploy an upgrade of Taipei's public transport network with an end-to-end and fully contactless automatic fare collection solution that integrates 116 metro stations, 5,000 buses and 92 car parks.
Education
Taipei is home to the campuses of 24 universities and Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
, Taiwan's national academy which supports the Taiwan International Graduate Program:
National Taiwan University (NTU or ''Tai-Da'') was established in 1928 during the period of Japanese colonial rule. NTU has produced many political and social leaders in Taiwan. Both pan-blue and pan-green
The pan-Green coalition, pan-Green force or pan-Green groups is a nationalist political coalition in Taiwan (Republic of China), consisting of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP), Taiwan Solidarity Union (T ...
movements in Taiwan are rooted on the NTU campus. The university has six campuses in the greater Taipei region (including New Taipei) and two additional campuses in Nantou County
Nantou County (; Hokkien POJ: ''Lâm-tâu-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Nàm-thèu-yen'') is the second largest county of Taiwan by area, located in the central part of the country. It is also the only non-coastal county in Taiwan. Its name derives fro ...
. The university governs farms, forests, and hospitals for educational and research purposes. The main campus is in Taipei's Da-An district, where most department buildings and all the administrative buildings are located. The College of Law and the College of Medicine are located near the Presidential Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to:
* Presidential Office Building (Kyiv)
*Presidential Office Building (Republic of China)
* Presidential Office Building, Tirana
*Presidential Palace (Nanjing)
The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...
. The National Taiwan University Hospital
The National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH; ) is a medical facility located in the Zhongzheng District of Taipei, Taiwan. It started operations under Japanese rule in Daitōtei (today's Dadaocheng) on 18 June 1895, and moved to its present ...
is a leading international center of medical research.
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU or ''Shi-Da'') likewise traces its origins to the Japanese colonial period. Founded as Taihoku College in 1922 and organized as a teacher training institution by the Kuomintang in 1946, NTNU has since developed into a comprehensive international university. The university boasts especially strong programs in the humanities and international education. Worldwide it is perhaps best known as home of the Mandarin Training Center
Mandarin Training Center (MTC; ) is one of the world's oldest and most distinguished programs for Chinese as a second language study. It is run by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei, Taiwan and located at NTNU Daan Campus.
...
, a program that offers Mandarin language training each year to over a thousand students from scores of countries throughout the world. The main campus, in Taipei's Daan district near MRT Guting Station, is known for its historic architecture. The Shida market area surrounding this campus takes its name from the school's acronym.
Sports
Due to Taiwan being under American and Japanese influence over the years, the sports of baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
in particular and basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
have become popular in the city. Taipei, like the rest of the country, has featured most prominently in baseball and has often been the venue for the Asian Baseball Championship since the 1960s. Latisha Chan, the successful doubles (tennis), doubles tennis player, is from Taipei too.
Major sporting events
Below is a selected list of recent sporting events hosted by the city:
*2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship
*2006 Women's Baseball World Cup
*2007 Baseball World Cup
*2009 Asian Judo Championships
*2009 Summer Deaflympics
*2013 Badminton Asia Championships
*2015 WBSC Premier12
*2016 IIHF Women's Challenge Cup of Asia Division I
*2017 Summer Universiade
*2019 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship
*2022 U-23 Baseball World Cup (co-hosted with Taichung and Yunlin County, Yunlin)
*2025 Summer World Masters Games (co-host with New Taipei City)
*Taipei Marathon (annual): The marathon is one of the two World Athletics Label Road Races in Taiwan, being categorized as a Bronze Label Road Race. The other race is the New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon, categorized as a Silver Label Road Race.
The Taipei Arena is located at the site of the former Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium (demolished in 2000), with a capacity of over 15,000. It was opened on 1 December 2005 and has since held more art and cultural activities (such as live concerts) than sporting events, which it was originally designed for. The Chinese Taipei
"Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan.
Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...
Ice Hockey League (CIHL) plays out of the auxiliary arena.
Tianmu Baseball Stadium is the major baseball venue in Taipei.
Taipei Municipal Stadium is a multipurpose stadium that hosts football and track and field events, as well as concerts, both live and prerecorded. Originally built in 1956, it was demolished and reconstructed in 2009. The Taipei Dome, which has the capacity to house
40,071 seats, is estimated to finish construction by the end of 2021.
Youth baseball
In 2010, a Taipei baseball team—Chung-Ching Junior Little League—won the Junior League World Series#List of champions, Junior League World Series. The achievement came after winning the Asia-Pacific Region, then defeating the Mexico Region and Latin America Region champions to become the International champion, and finally defeating the U.S. champion (Southwest Region), Rose Capital East LL (Tyler, Texas), 9–1. Taiwan's Little League World Series international team has won 17 championships, the most wins in the league.
Media
As the capital, Taipei City is the headquarters for many television and radio stations in Taiwan and the center of some of the country's largest newspapers.
Television
Television stations located in Taipei include the CTS Education and Culture, CTS Recreation, CTV MyLife, CTV News Channel (Taiwan), CTV News Channel, China Television, Chinese Television System, Chung T'ien Television, Dimo TV, Eastern Television, Era Television, FTV News, Follow Me TV (Taiwan), Follow Me TV, Formosa TV, Gala Television, Public Television Service, SET Metro, SET News, SET Taiwan, Sanlih E-Television, Shuang Xing, TTV Family, TTV Finance, TTV World, TVBS, TVBS-G, TVBS-NEWS, Taiwan Broadcasting System, Videoland Television Network and Taiwan Television.
Newspapers
Newspapers include ''Apple Daily (Taiwan), Apple Daily'', ''Central Daily News'', ''The China Post'', ''China Times'', ''DigiTimes'', ''Kinmen Daily News'', ''Liberty Times'', ''Mandarin Daily News'', ''Matsu Daily'', ''Min Sheng Bao'', ''Sharp Daily'', ''Taipei Times'', ''Taiwan Daily'', ''Taiwan News'', ''Taiwan Times'' and ''United Daily News''.
International relations
Taipei is a member of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21.
Twin towns and sister cities
Taipei is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with:[Taipei Sister city list](_blank)
Taipei City Council
United States
* Houston, Texas, TX, United States (1961)
* San Francisco, California, CA, United States (1970)
* Guam, United States (1973)
* Cleveland, Ohio, OH, United States (1975)
* Indianapolis, Indiana, IN, United States (1978)
* Marshall, Texas, Marshall, Texas, TX, United States (1978)
* Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), GA, United States (1979)
* Los Angeles, California, CA, United States (1979)
* Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, AZ, United States (1979)
* Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, OK, United States (1981)
* Boston, Massachusetts, MA, United States (1996)
* Dallas, Texas, TX, United States (1996)
Outside United States
* Lomé, Togo (1966)
* Manila, Philippines (1966)
* Cotonou, Benin (1967)
* Quezon City, Philippines (1968)
* Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea (1968)
* Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (1970)
* Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1978)
* Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (1982)
* Johannesburg, South Africa (1982)
* Pretoria, South Africa (1983)
* Lilongwe, Malawi (1984)
* San José, Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica (1984)
* Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, France (1986)
* Asunción, Paraguay (1987)
* Panama City, Panama (1989)
* Managua, Nicaragua (1992)
* San Salvador, El Salvador (1993)
* Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (1995)
* Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, Russia (1996)
* Dakar, Senegal (1997)
* Banjul, Gambia (1997)
* Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (1997)
* Mbabane, Eswatini (1997)
* Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (1997)
* San Nicolás de los Garza, San Nicolás, Nuevo León, Mexico (1997)
* La Paz, Bolivia (1997)
* Guatemala City, Guatemala (1998)
* Monrovia, Liberia (1998)
* Vilnius, Lithuania (1998)
* Majuro, Marshall Islands (1999)
* Riga, Latvia (2001)
* Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (2008)
* Daegu, South Korea (2010)
* Quito, Ecuador (2015/2016)
* Castries, St. Lucia (2015/2016)
* Belmopan, Belize (2019)
* Prague, Czech Republic (2020)
* Lima, Peru (2020)
Partner cities
* Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, AK, United States (1997)
* Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa, Japan (2006)
* Wellington, New Zealand (2015)
Friendship cities
* Perth, Western Australia, Australia (1999)
* Gyeonggi Province, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (2000)
* Orange County, California, Orange County, California, CA, United States (2000)
* George Town, Penang, George Town, Penang, Malaysia (2009)
* Helsinki, Finland (2012)
In popular culture
*Taipei's name is used in a professional wrestling match named the "Taipei Deathmatch" in which the wrestlers' fists are taped and dipped into glue and in broken and crushed glass, allowing shards to stick to their fists. This match can be won by pinfall, submission or escape.
*Writer Tao Lin's 2013 novel is titled Taipei (novel), ''Taipei'' and takes place in both New York City and Taipei, where the protagonist Paul's parents were born and live. In the novel, the character named Paul gets married and then visits Taipei with his new wife. They take MDMA and LSD and film a mock documentary on "Taiwan's first McDonald's." The novel was made into a movie titled ''High Resolution'', starring Justin Chon and Ellie Bamber.
Gallery
File:Minquan_Bridge2017_TAIWAN.jpg, Taipei panoramic view
File:A03-28.jpg, Twatutia
File:EntranceChiangKaiShek.JPG, the main entrance of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
File:Taipei_101_2008_NewYear_Firework.jpg, New year fireworks at Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
File:Taiwan 2009 Taipei Presidential Palace FRD 7172.jpg, Presidential Office Building from Ketagalan Boulevard
File:西門紅樓01.jpg, Red House Theater
The Red House Theater (), often called Hong Lo Red Play House, Red Theater, Ximen Honglou or Ximen Red House in English, is a historic theater in Ximending, Wanhua District, Taipei, Taiwan. The theater is located at 10 Chengdu Road.
History
Bu ...
File:北投文物館(原佳山旅館).jpg, Beitou Museum
File:Grand Hotel Taipei View from Minsheng Community Center 20140930.jpg, Grand Hotel (Taipei City), Grand Hotel Taipei
File:DaZhiBridge2_byJaojao.JPG, Dazhi Bridge
File:dansui.jpg, Dadaocheng Wharf, Taipei
File:Taipei_Baoan_Temple.jpg, Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Bao-an Temple
File:指南宮凌霄寶殿.jpg, Zhinan Temple
Zhinan Temple (; also called , Xiāngōng Miào; also unofficially anglicized as "Chihnan" or "Jhihnan") is a Taoist temple on the slopes of Houshan (猴山, "Monkey Mountain") in Muzha, a suburb of Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded in 1882. The t ...
File:101.typhoon.altonthompson.jpg, A typhoon makes landfall in Taipei City
File:ZhiShanGardenTaipei.jpg, National Palace Museum, Zhishan Garden at the National Palace Museum
File:Ximending Side Alley at Night.jpg, Ximending at night
File:Taipei_Story_House_20100718a.jpg, Taipei Story House (Yuanshan Mansion)
File:2010 07 21240 6773 Da'an District, Taipei, Daan Park, Washingtonia filifera, Taiwan.JPG, Daan Park
File:2010 07 20770 6691 Da'an District, Taipei, Daan Park, Taiwan.jpg, Daan Park
See also
*Taipei-Keelung Metropolitan Area
*List of districts of Taipei by area
*List of districts of Taipei by population
*List of districts of Taipei by population density
*List of schools in Taipei
*Taipei Community Services Center (offers support services to the international community)
Notes
Words in native languages
Other
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Taipei City Council
*
{{Authority control
Taipei,
Capitals in Asia
Populated places established in 1884
Municipalities of Taiwan
1884 establishments in China