Taishan (台山 local: Toisan; pinyin: Táishān) is a coastal city in Guangdong Province, China. The city is located southwest of Jiangmen, 140 kilometers west of Hong Kong, in the Pearl River delta, and it is home to 1 million people. It also contains 95 islands and islets, including the largest island in Guangdong, the 98-kmē Xiachuan Island (下川岛).
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2 Administration 3 Demographics 4 External Links |
Taishan was founded as Xinning District (新寧縣) in the 12th year of the Hongzhi reign during the Ming Dynasty. In 1914, Xinning was renamed Taishan to avoid confusion with the Xinnings of Hunan and Sichuan. In 1992, it gained city status. In April 17, 1992, Taishan's status was changed from county to city.
Taishan is under the juridiction of Jiangmen. In a jurisdiction of 3,286 kmē, Taishan contains twenty townships (镇), which are subdivided into 503 village residential committees (村居委会) and 3655 natural villages (自然村).
History
Administration
Demographics
Since 1774, 1.3 million people living overseas trace their ancestry to Taishan, outnumbering those who live in Taishan. Among these are:
In addition, many people from Taishan moved to the nearby Hong Kong.
The locals natively speak Taishanese, usually considered to be similar to Cantonese Chinese. Most locals can speak the nearby Hong Kong Cantonese as well. For many years, Taishanese was the dialect spoken North America's Chinatowns.
External Links