Toucheng Township () is an urban

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 ...

in Yilan County,

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 ...

. The township includes Guishan Island and Guiluan Island in the

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a List of seas#Marginal seas by ocean, marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean east of the list of islands of the Philippines, Philippine Archipelago (hence the name) and the List of seas#Largest seas ...

. The

Senkaku Islands The Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan, are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They were historically known in the Western world as the Pinnacle ...

, known in Mandarin as the Diaoyu Islands, are claimed as part of the township.

History

Toucheng was formerly called ''Thau-ui'' (). Toucheng Township () was established on 9 September 1946. Toucheng Township was upgraded to an urban township () on 1 January 1948.

Geography

Area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

: 100.89 km² (39 sq. mi.) *

Population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

: 28,334 people (September 2023)

Administrative divisions

Toucheng includes twenty-five urban villages: *Shicheng/Shihcheng (Shih-ch'eng-tzu, Sekijōshi; ), Dali (Ta-li-chien, Dairikan; , 大里簡), Guishan (Kuei-shan, Kīzan; ), Daxi (Ta-ch'i, Taikei; ), Hexing (Ho-hsing, Gōkō; ), Gengxin (), Waiao (Wai-ao, Gaiō; ), Gangkou (Chiang-k'ou, Kōkō; ), Wuying (), Dakeng (), Chengtung (), Chengbei (), Chengxi (), Chengnan (), Zhuan (), Xinjian (), Baya (), Fucheng (), Jinmian (Hsiao-chin-mien, Shō-kimmen; , 小金面), Jinying (), Dingpu (), Xiapu (), Zhonglun (Chung-lun, Chūron; ) and Ercheng () Village.

Education

* Lan Yang Institute of Technology

Infrastructure

Submarine communication cables

Toucheng is one of the two

cable landing point A cable landing point is the location where a Submarine cable, submarine or other underwater cable makes landfall. The term is most often used for the landfall points of submarine communications cable, submarine telecommunications cables and subm ...

s of Taiwan island (the other one is Fangshan). Four submarine communication cables, including APCN, APCN2, RNAL, and SEA-ME-WE 3, connect here.

Tourist attractions

The township has several fresh seafood restaurants and also black sand beach for surfing activities. Several boat operators offer trips from the Wushi Harbour to Guishan Island and also for whale and dolphin watching. The Juh-an River Bird sanctuary is another attraction of Toucheng. Once the economic center of the area, the Ho-Ping street in Toucheng is one of the few unaltered and typical

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Taiwanese urban structures. * Beiguan Crabs Museum * Beiguan Tidal Waves * Caoling Historic Trail * Guishan Island * Hedung Hall Lions Museum * Honeymoon Bay * Lanyang Museum * Lee Rong-chun Literary Museum * Old Dali Bridge * Old Tsau Ling Tunnel * Sea Eroded Rock Formation * Shihpai Boundary Park * Taoyuan Valley * Toucheng Leisure Farm * Toucheng Old Street

Transportation

Toucheng is served by the Yilan Line of

Taiwan Railway Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) was a governmental agency in Taiwan which operated Taiwan Railway from 1948 to 2023. It managed, maintained, and operated conventional passenger and freight railway services on of track. Passenger traffic ...

on Dali Station, Daxi Station, Dingpu Station, Guishan Station, Sicheng Station, Toucheng Station and Wai-ao Station. Toucheng has more rail stations (three) than any other townships in

. There are seven stations along the route. The township has recently seen a marked increase in tourism due to the opening of the Freeway 5 linking it with western Taipei. The freeway consists of a series of

tunnels A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

dug through the Snow Mountains, the longest of which measures . The distance between western Taipei and Toucheng is now and takes roughly thirty minutes of driving, compared to several hours in the past. Wushi Harbor is located in the township.

Notable natives

Lu Kuo-hua Lu Kuo-hua (; born 22 February 1956) is a politician in the Republic of China. He was the Magistrate of Yilan County from 2005 to 2009. Education Lu graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University with a bachelor's degree in sociology then earned ...

, Magistrate of Yilan County (2005–2009)

References

External links

* {{coord, 24, 51, N, 121, 49, E, display=title, region:TW_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Townships in Yilan County, Taiwan