Yanshuei District, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (), alternatively spelled Yanshui, is a

district 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 ...

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" ...

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 ...

, which is famous for its notoriously dangerous fireworks festival. The annual event commemorates a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic more than a century ago, the fireworks symbolizing the exorcism of demons associated with the plague. The festival, known as ''Fengpao'' (), is celebrated on the 15th day after the beginning of 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 ...

, also called Shang Yuan Festival.

History

Formerly known as ''Goat-tin-kang'' (). In 1901 during Japanese rule, was one of twenty local administrative offices established. In 1909, this unit was divided among and . In 1920, after reorganization, was placed under of

Tainan Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan during the Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Tainan City, Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Yunlin County. Population Administrative divisions ...

. Yanshuei used to be one of the five most important maritime towns in Taiwan, but it has declined since the harbor was closed in 1900. These days it is best known for the fireworks festival held 15 days after Lunar New Year.

Republic of China

After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to 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 ...

in 1945, Yanshuei was organized as an

urban township An urban township is a designation of a unit of local government in several countries. United States The term is called ''urban township'' Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio and urban town in Wisconsin. Generally, an urban township is afforded more loca ...

Tainan County Tainan County was a county in southern Taiwan between 1945 and 2010. The county seat was in Sinying City. History Tainan County was established on 7 January 1946 on the territory of Tainan Prefecture () shortly after the end of World War II ...

. On 25 December 2010, Tainan County was merged with Tainan City and Yanshuei was upgraded to a

of the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Presently, there are no rail links to Yanshuei. In the past, however, the

Taiwan Sugar Corporation Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC; ; pinyin: ''Táiwān Tángyè Gōngsī'') or Taisugar (; pinyin: ''Táitáng'') is a state-run enterprise of Taiwan, with headquarters in Tainan City. History The corporation was established on 1 May 1946 by the ...

operated passenger services to Yanshuei station, which has been preserved.

Geography

Area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

: 52.25 km² *

Population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

: 26,394 people (2014)

Administrative divisions

Shuixiu, Fude, Sansheng, Wumiao, Zhongjing, Shuixian, Shuizheng, Qiaonan, Jiuying, Jingshui, Annei, Yichou, Xiazhong, Huanya, Dazhuang, Tongliao, Houzhai, Xuncuo, Zhupu, Xialin, Tianliao, Dafeng, Fandian, Henan and Nangang Village.

Transportation

Yanshuei is easy to reach by National Highway No.1, which passes through this town and

Sinying Xinying District () or Sinying District is a district and the location of the second administrative center of the Tainan City Government in Taiwan. Sugar production was the most important industry in Xinying. History On 7 January 1946, Tain ...

. And, Yanshuei which is by Provincial Highway No.9.

Tourist attractions

Ciaonan Street Ciaonan Street () is a historic street in Yanshuei District, Tainan, Taiwan. Name ''Ciaonan'' means ''south of the bridge'', in which the bridge mentioned crosses a small water body that once formed part of Yuejin Harbor. History The road went ...

Festival

It is said that the Fireworks Festival originated from a cholera epidemic which broke out in the late Qing rule (around 1875) and lasted for more than twenty years. In order to drive out the evil spirits and ward off the disease, the survivors invited the spirit of

Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...

(Kuan Kung), the Chinese god of war. Kuan Kung is worshipped as the God of War; since he was adept at managing finances, he is also worshipped as the patron saint of businessmen. The deities of Heaven are able to inspect the land on the day of Lantern Festival by carrying the statue of Kuan Kung in palanquins and paraded around Yanshuei and letting off masses of firecrackers, and the epidemic soon receded.

"Beehive" Firework

The most important of Yanshuei's prominent fireworks are the so-called "bee hives", essentially multiple launchers of bottle rockets. These rocket forts are actually thousands of bottle rockets arranged row atop row in an iron-and-wooden framework. The setup looks like a beehive full of unleashed gunpowder. When the contraption is ignited, rockets shoot out rapidly in all directions. Dazzling explosives whiz and whirl across the sky and often into the crowd itself, both thrilling and intimidating the spectators. Amongst local adherents being hit by a rocket is an indication of good luck in the year to come, with the greater the number of hits the greater the luck. Locals will therefore dress in multiple layers on top of which they wear homemade fireproofs (fireproofing the back of a jacket and pair of trousers, and wearing a cape of fire resistant material) and stand with their backs to the launchers. However, unless so prepared spectators are not allowed in the vicinity of the platforms.

Danger

Spectators have been wounded by rocketing fireworks while standing too close to the erupting hive. However, the festival is still held, despite moves to ban it.

Protection

To protect against injury, heavy clothing, a helmet with a full visor, and protective gloves are recommended for all spectators. Local residents modify motorcycle helmets by riveting fire retardant material to create an

aventail An aventail () or camail () is a flexible curtain of mail attached to the skull of a helmet that extends to cover the throat, neck and shoulders. Part or all of the face, with spaces to allow vision, could also be covered. The earliest camail ...

at the back and a flexible

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the thro ...

at the front. If this is not done a towel is advised to be worn around the neck because many can temporarily lose their hearing if a stray rocket goes inside their helmet. Starting.jpg Money Burning in Yansheui.png Fireworks at the Beehive Festival.png The Yensheui Beehive Festival.png Releasing lanterns at the Yansheui Beehive Festival.png Yansheui the burning of 己亥 (jǐhài) The Earthern Pig.png Preparation for the Yanshuei Beehive Festival.png

Notable natives

Ang It-hong Ang It-hong (; 30 October 1927 – 24 February 2010) was a Taiwanese popular singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. Ang was born Hong Wen-lu () and educated in Taipei. At a young age, Hong learned to sing and play violin. He first perfor ...

, former singer * Chao Chien-ming, surgeon

References

External links

* {{Districts in Taiwan Districts of Tainan