Shitan Township / Shihtan Township () is a rural

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

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 located in a mountainous area with a mild, sub-tropical climate. Its rainy season is from May to September. Shitan's population was estimated to be 4,141 in January 2023.

History

The area was occupied by native Taiwanese through the 19th Century with an economy strongly dependent upon hunting. In 1876 under Qing rule, the Chinese began to build bullock roads into the area. However it was not until the 1930s, during Japanese rule, that standardized roads began to be constructed. The first motor vehicle road was completed into Shitan in 1939, and regular bus service was started. However, by 1942 the bus service had ended because of fuel rationing.

Administrative divisions

The township comprises seven villages: Boshou, Fenglin, Hexing, Xindian, Xinfeng, Yongxing and Zhumu.

Politics

The township is part of Miaoli County Constituency II

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 ...

Culture

The Shitan Village Historic Museum preserves a

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

dwelling from the

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen () and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (, from Taiwanese: ''kok sèⁿ iâ''), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of Chin ...

period."Shitan Village Historic Museum" Cultural Affairs Bureau of Miaoli County website
Other landmarks include Lingdong Temple, Shitan Presbyterian Church and Wenshui Old Street. Local food specialities include

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 south-western China and nor ...

and Mesona chinensis (仙草), which is served as a hot, viscous drink, or curded and served over ice as a type of

grass jelly Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herbal jelly, is a Gelatin, jelly-like dessert originating in China. It is commonly consumed in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Platostoma palustre, Chinese mesona (a member of the ...

Education

Among the schools in Shitan are:
苗栗縣立獅潭國中苗栗縣獅潭鄉獅潭國民小學 Shitan Elementary School
in Chinese
苗栗縣獅潭鄉永興國民小學苗栗縣獅潭鄉豐林國民小學

Transportation

Shitan is served by provincial highways No. 3 and No. 72.

Notable natives

* Yiong Con-ziin, Minister of the Hakka Affairs Council

References

External links

* {{Taiwanese aboriginal areas Townships in Miaoli County