The Zengwen River is the fourth longest river in

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 ...

after the

Zhuoshui River The Zhuoshui River, also spelled Choshui or Jhuoshuei River, () is the longest river in Taiwan. It flows from its source in Nantou County up to the western border of the county, subsequently forming the border between Yunlin County and Changhua ...

Gaoping Gaoping () is a county-level city in the southeast of Shanxi Province, China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Jincheng. It has a history stretching back to the Warring States period (403–221 BCE). Part of the city wa ...

, and

Tamsui Tamsui District (Hokkien POJ: ''Tām-chúi''; Hokkien Tâi-lô: ''Tām-tsuí''; Mandarin Pinyin: ''Dànshuǐ'') is a seaside district in New Taipei, Taiwan. It is named after the Tamsui River; the name means "fresh water". The town is popul ...

, with a total length of about . It flows through

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a 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" for its over 200 years of his ...

and

Chiayi County Chiayi County ( Mandarin pinyin: ''jiā yì xiàn''; Hokkien POJ: ''Ka-gī-koān'') is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. It is the sixth largest county in Taiwan. Name The former Chinese placename wa ...

.It is located in the southwestern part of the island.

Names

''Zéngwén'' is the

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 fo ...

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

of the Mandarin pronunciation of the river's Chinese name The river was formerly known as the from the

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...

pronunciation of the same name. It was formerly known as the Taiwanfu from a former name of

, when it was the headquarters of Qing administration on the island as a district of

Fujian Province 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 ...

Reservoir

The largest

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

in Taiwan,

Zengwen Reservoir Zengwen Dam, also spelled Tsengwen Dam, () is a major earthen dam in Dapu Township, Chiayi County, Taiwan on the Zengwen River. It is the third tallest dam in Taiwan, and forms Zengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫), the biggest reservoir in Taiwan b ...

, formed by Zengwen Dam, is located Located upstream of Zengwen River.

National Park

Taijiang National Park Taijiang National Park () is a national park in Tainan, Taiwan. History Taijiang National Park was established in October 15, 2009. Geology The majority of the park is within the city of Tainan. In total, the park's planned area stretches from t ...

encompasses parts of the Zengwen estuary as well as nearby coastal areas. The endangered black-faced spoonbills come every winter as migrants and inhabit downstream near the estuary, where many other

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which ...

s are also found. A

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

has been set up to protect the spoonbills.

References

Citations

Bibliography