Houlong Township is 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 ...

in western

Miaoli County Miaoli County ( Mandarin Pinyin: ''miáo lì xiàn''; Hakka PFS: ''Mèu-li̍t-yen''; Hokkien POJ: ''Biâu-le̍k-koān'' or ''Miâu-le̍k-koān'') is a county in western Taiwan. Miaoli is adjacent with Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the n ...

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 no ...

. It is bordered by the

Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. The Taiwan Strait is itself a ...

on the west and Zaoqiao Township on the east. It lies at the mouth of the Houlong River. Miaoli HSR station is located in Houlong.

Name

The township's name originates from that of a Taiwanese Plains Aborigines settlement. During the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning (), also known as Tywan by the British at the time, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly Han Chinese state in ...

, the area was called ''Aulangsia'' (). Other variants of ''Aulang'' existed (e.g., ). In 1920, during Japanese rule, the place was renamed , under ,

Shinchiku Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan during the Japanese era. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Taoyuan City, and Miaoli County. Population 1941 ( Showa 16) census *Total population: 838,011 **Jap ...

. This name closely matched the Japanese pronunciation of the previous names but with different ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

'' (

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

). This written form was retained after 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 Ta ...

takeover of Taiwan in 1945; the characters are pronounced ''Hòulóng'' in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

. The

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 ...

pronunciation remains ''Āu-lâng'', based on the pre-1920 name.

Geography

Txu-pclmaps-oclc-6550512-hakushaton-2220-iv

* Area: * Population: 37,228 (January 2017 estimate) It lies at the mouth of the Houlong River.

Administrative divisions

The township comprises 23 villages: Beilong, Dashan, Dazhuang, Dongming, Fengfu, Funing, Fuxing, Haibao, Haipu, Jiaoyi, Longjin, Longkeng, Nangang, Nanlong, Puding, Shuiwei, Waipu, Wanbao, Xinmin, Xiushui, Xizhou, Zhonghe and Zhonglong.

Politics

The township is part of Miaoli County Constituency I

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

for

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

Education

* Jen-Teh Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management

Tourist attractions

* Ciyun Temple * Chinghai Temple *

Guogang Shell Fossils The Guogang Shell Fossils ( zh, t=過港貝化石層 , p=Guògǎng Bèihuàshí Céng) refer to a bed (geology), bed that contains many fossils, mostly shellfish, that are located in Houlong, Miaoli County, Taiwan. Geology The bed is part of ...

Hakka Round House The Hakka Round House () is a Hakka building in Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. History The house was built by Miaoli County Government and was opened on 25 October 2014 with a cost of NT$130 million. In 2015, the county government ...

* Haowangjiao *

Houlong Art House Houlong Township is an urban township in western Miaoli County, Taiwan. It is bordered by the Taiwan Strait on the west and Zaoqiao Township on the east. It lies at the mouth of the Houlong River. Miaoli HSR station is located in Houlong. Na ...

Maling Temple Maling Temple ( zh, t=媽靈宮, p=Mālíng Gōng) is a temple located in the village of Chituqi, Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. Origin Chituqi is located on top of a plateau near the coast along the Taiwan Strait. Historically, t ...

Waipu Fishing Port The Waipu Fishing Port () is a fishing port in Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. Events * 2012 Miaoli Marine Tour Festival Transportation The port is accessible west from Dashan Station of Taiwan Railways. See also * Fisheries Agenc ...

Xihu Wetland Xihu Wetland () is a wetland in Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. History In 2009, bicycle path and a windmill was constructed at the wetland area. Geology The wetland spans over an area of 142 hectares. It is managed by Miaoli County ...

* Yingtsai Academy

Transportation

Houlong Township is accessible from Dashan Station, Houlong Station, Longgang Station and Fengfu Station of the Taiwan Railways.

Taiwan High Speed Rail Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is the high-speed railway of Taiwan consisting of one line that runs approximately along the west coast, from the capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction and operations managed by a pri ...

has one station in the township, which is Miaoli Station.

Notable natives

Liu Cheng-hung Liu Cheng-hung (; born 12 November 1947) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Magistrate of Miaoli County from 20 December 2005 until 25 December 2014. Controversies Shoe throwing incident On 18 September 2013, a shoe was thrown at him by st ...

, Magistrate of

(2005-2014)

References

External links

* {{Townships in Taiwan Townships in Miaoli County Taiwan placenames originating from Formosan languages