Keelung

Keelung (基隆 Pinyin: Jīlóng, Wade-Giles: Chi-lung) is a county-level city of Taiwan Province, Republic of China. Located in the northeastern of the island and bordering Taipei County, it is Taiwan's second largest seaport (after Kaohsiung). Keelung is nicknamed "The Rainy Port" (雨港).

• Area: 132 km²
• Population: 347,828 (late 1990s) (More historical data at #Population)

Table of contents

1 History 2 Administration 3 Population 4 External links

History

Keelung was first inhabited by the Ketagalan, a tribe of Taiwanese aborigine.

"Keelung" used to be written in the homophonous characters meaning "Rooster Cage" (雞籠), named after a local mountain of such a shape. Another theory suggests that the characters were transcription of a Ketagalan placename. The characters were changed in 1875 (Qing Dynasty) to mean "The Base that Prospers".

In 1863, the Qing Empire opened up Keelung as a trading port. A systematic city development started in 1895 during the Japanese Occupation. Coal mining peaked in 1968.

Administration

Keelung administers seven districts:
(Tongyong Pinyin, followed by Hanyu Pinyin in parentheses, if different)

• Anle District (安樂區)
• Cidu District (七堵區 Qidu)
• Jhongjheng District (中正區 Zhongzheng)
• Jhongshan District (中山區 Zhongshan)
• Nuannuan District (暖暖區)
• Ren-ai District (仁愛區 Ren'ai)
• Sinyi District (信義區)

Population

• 700 households (1840)
• 9,500 (1897)
• 58,000 (1924)
• 100,000 (1943)
• 92,000 (1944): decrease due to Allied air bombings
• 130,000 (1948): 28,000 Mainlander influx
• 330,000 (1971)
• 347,828 (late 1990s)

External links

• Harbor Bureau (bilingual)
• Official site (in Traditional Chinese)

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Not to be confused with the Australian Geelong, which is not a sister city of Keelung. Keelung's Australian sister city is Marrickville.