Houlong Township is an urban township in western

Miaoli County Miaoli is a county (Taiwan), county in western Taiwan. Miaoli is bordered by Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the north, Taichung to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Miaoli is Regions of Taiwan, classified as "central Taiwan" by t ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It is bordered by the

Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait is a strait separating the island of Taiwan and the Asian continent. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. Names Former names of the Tai ...

on the west and Zaoqiao Township on the east. It lies at the mouth of the

Houlong River The Houlong River () is a river in northwestern Taiwan. It flows through Miaoli County for 58 kilometers. Bridges * Xindong Bridge See also *List of rivers in Taiwan This is a list of rivers ( or ) on Taiwan Island in the Republic of Chin ...

Miaoli HSR station Miaoli () is a railway station in Miaoli County, Taiwan served by Taiwan High Speed Rail. Transfers to Fengfu railway station can be made at this station, which links to Miaoli railway station located in Miaoli City. Overview Due to funding ...

is located in Houlong.

Name

The township's name originates from that of a

Taiwanese Plains Aborigines Plains indigenous peoples, also known as Pingpu people ( zh, c=平埔族群, p=Píngpu zúqún, poj=Pêⁿ-po͘-cho̍k-kûn) and previously as plain aborigines, are Taiwanese indigenous peoples originally residing in lowland regions, as opposed ...

settlement. During the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning, also known as Tywan, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly ethnic Han state in Taiwanese history. At its z ...

, 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 Administrative divisions Cities and districts In ...

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

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

'' (

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

). This written form was retained after the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

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

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

. The

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...

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

Geography

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* Area: * Population: 34,355 (January 2023 estimate) It lies at the mouth of the

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 Miaoli County Constituency I () includes townships along the coast of Miaoli. The district was created in 2008, when all local constituencies of the Legislative Yuan were reorganized to become single-member districts. Current district * Zhunan ...

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

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 four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

Education

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

Tourist attractions

* Ciyun Temple * Chinghai Temple * Guogang Shell Fossils *

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 * Maling Temple * Waipu Fishing Port * Xihu Wetland *

Yingtsai Academy The Yingtsai Academy () is a former Academies of Classical Learning, tutorial academy in Houlong, Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. Architecture The academy was designed with Southern Min architectural style with a cost of NT$91 million. ...

Transportation

Houlong Township is accessible from Dashan Station, Houlong Station, Longgang Station and

Fengfu Station Fengfu () is a railway station of Taiwan Railways Administration Taichung line located in Houlong, Miaoli, Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. Transfers to THSR Miaoli Station can be made at this station. History *25 May 1903: The stati ...

of the Taiwan Railways.

Taiwan High Speed Rail Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is a high-speed railway network in Taiwan, which consists of a single line that runs approximately along the western coast of the island, from the capital Taipei in the north to the southern city of Kaohsiung. Its c ...

has one station in the township, which is

Miaoli Station Miaoli () is a railway station in Miaoli County, Taiwan served by Taiwan Railways Administration, Taiwan Railways. Overview The station has one side platform and one island platform. It also has a tourist information center. Miaoli Station i ...

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