Taipei

This article covers the city in Taiwan. For the city surrounding the urban area, see New Taipei .

Taipei 臺北市
Skyline, Jiantan MRT Station, Grand Hotel , Chiang Kai-shek National Memorial Hall for the Lantern Festival, high-rise buildings in Xinyi District , Paifang at the National Palace Museum
emblem flag
State :	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Coordinates :	25 ° 2 ′  N , 121 ° 32 ′  E Coordinates: 25 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  N , 121 ° 32 ′ 0 ″  E
Height :	10  m
Area :	271.8  km²
Residents :	2,669,639 (September 2018)
Population density :	9,822 inhabitants per km²
Time zone :	UTC + 8 (Chungyuan time)
Telephone code :	(+886) (0) 2
Postal code :	100-116
ISO 3166-2 :	TW-TPE
Community type :	Government immediate city
Structure :	12 districts
Mayor :	Ko Wen-je (independent)
Website :	www.taipei.gov.tw
City bird:	Dickbeak kitta
City flower:	azalea
City tree:	Banyan fig

Historic Taipei

Taipei ( Chinese  臺北市  /  台北市 , Pinyin Táiběi Shì , W.-G. T'ai-pei shih , Zhuyin ㄊ ㄞ ˊ ㄅ ㄟ ˇ ㄕ ˋ , Pe̍h-ōe-jī Tâi-pak-chhī  - "North Taiwan city ", Often given in the English spelling as Taipei ) is the capital of the Republic of China (Taiwan) . The megacity in the northern part of the island is the fourth largest city in the country and forms the largest metropolitan area with New Taipei . The area of ​​the city is completely enclosed by the city of New Taipei, which emerged from the district of Taipei.

Geography and recreation

Taipei is located in a basin at the confluence of the Danshui, Xindian and Jilong (Keelung) rivers . While the Danshui and Xindian Rivers border the city to the west and south, the Jilong River separates the city center from the northern districts of Zhongshan and Neihu. In the north of the basin rise the mountains of the Yangmingshan National Park with the Qixing Shan as the highest point (1120 m). There you can experience geothermal activities (hot springs, fumaroles ) as well as marvel at the cherry blossom , butterflies and grasslands. In the south, the zoo, the Zhinan Temple and the tea houses of the Maokong Mountains attract visitors. Smaller mountains like the Xiang Shan reach into the city center. The Da'an Park is centrally located.

history

The area of ​​Taipei originally belonged to the tribal area of Taiwanese indigenous people from the Ketagalan tribe . Between 1626 and 1642, Spain set up isolated bases in northern Taiwan, but was driven out by the Dutch . In 1662 the Dutch were defeated by Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), whose heirs lost control of Taiwan to the Qing Dynasty at the end of the 17th century . Only then did the colonization of northern Taiwan by Han immigrants begin.

Step by step the Han moved north. The area on the Danshui River became the most important center in northern Taiwan and the Han settlements of Báng-kah ( Taiwanese reading; 艋舺 , měngjiǎ , today Wanhua 萬 華 , Wànhuá ), Dalongdong , Dadaocheng developed into business centers. With their development, these three settlements represented the nucleus for the developing Taipei.

Taipei's development as a city began in 1709 when Chen-Lai-Zhang, an association of immigrants from Quanzhou , Fujian , received government permission to reclaim the area.

The first settlement was a trading village on the east bank of the Danshui with a port called Báng-kah, today Wanhua, where the Longshan Temple (Dragon Mountain Temple , 龍 山寺 , Lóngshān sì ) is also located.

At the beginning of the 1870s, expansion into a major city began. In 1879 the city gates were completed in the four directions. Except for the west gate, all the others are still preserved today. In 1885 the construction of the city walls began. At the same time, the streets were paved with cobblestones and some were already electrically lit. In the same year Taipei was promoted to city by the then provincial governor Liu Mingchuan . After the defeat of the Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan became a Japanese colony . The city, pronounced Taihoku in Japanese , was redesigned three times by the Japanese during this time and finally became a major city. The design of the presidential palace is similar to the shape of the characters for Japan. Most of Taipei's road network today was created at that time.

During the Second World War , on May 31, 1945, the city experienced the heaviest of all American bombing raids on targets in Taiwan. The attack destroyed numerous buildings and claimed more than 3,000 lives, more than all other American air strikes on Taiwan during the war combined. During the period of absolute Kuomintang rule (1945 to the end of the 1980s), the event was largely hushed up, as Taiwan was interested in good relations with the USA.

After the defeat of the Japanese in 1945, Taiwan became a province of the Republic of China. Important political offices were held by mainland Chinese ( Waishengren ). Tension arose between them and the Taiwanese, who had just been Japanese citizens. These erupted in 1947 in the incident of February 28th , which started in Taipei, from there spread to the whole country and lasted until May. In 1949, the bourgeois government of China (formed by the Kuomintang ) withdrew to Taiwan to fight the Chinese communists during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War . This created an influx of capital (gold and currency reserves), art treasures and well-educated mainland Chinese, who belonged to the elite of the Republic of China, many of whom now settled in Taipei and the surrounding area. The city gradually became the political, economic and cultural center of Taiwan and is now one of the most important cities in Asia.

National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

Presidential palace

administration

The Taipei City Council (台北市 議會) was established in 1946. Since 1976 it has been a city authority under the direct supervision of the government. The first meeting took place on December 25, 1969.

The members of the council are elected by direct vote. On December 25, 1998, 52 aldermen took over their offices for the Ninth Council. There are six electoral districts and one indigenous district. The Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the Council are elected by separate elections by the Assembly. Both must each receive more than 50% of the vote.

The council has the following areas of responsibility: civil and financial administration, reconstruction, education, transport, police, health care, public relations, laws and regulations as well as budgeting.

Street and place names are, in addition to the Han characters , marked with Hanyu Pinyin in Latin letters, and not with the formerly common Wade-Giles or Tongyong Pinyin . This also extends to the MRI. However, common different names such as Taipei are still in use.

Districts

Districts of Taipei

On March 12, 1990, the number of city districts was reduced from 16 to 12.

12 districts ( 區 , qū ) of Taipei

Hanyu Pinyin	Han script	Taiwanese (POJ)	Residents	Area in km²
Beitou	北投	Pak-tâu	255.281	56.8216
Da'an	大安	Tāi-an	313.310	11.3614
Datong	大同	Tāi-tông	129,709	05.6815
Nangang	南港	Lâm-káng	119,665	21.8424
Neihu	內 湖	Lāi-ô͘	282,594	31.5787
Songshan	松山	Siông-san	210.148	09.2878
Shilin	士林	Su-lîm	289,528	62.3682
Wanhua	萬 華	Bang-kah	193.246	08.8522
Wenshan	文山	Bûn-san	271.136	31.5090
Xinyi	信義	Sìn-gī	228.355	11.2077
Zhongshan	中山	Tiong-san	228,543	13.6821
Zhongzheng	中正	Tiong-chèng	163.052	07.6071

Status: November 2013

Research institutes, colleges and universities

Academia Sinica.

National Taiwan University , clinic

Taipei 101

Taipei is a center of research and educational institutions. These include universities, colleges and Academia Sinica , the national academy of science of Taiwan.

Important state and private universities, as of 2004

Name (German / English)	Han script	Year of foundation	Full-time teachers	Students
Chengchi National University National Chengchi University	國立 政治 大學	1954	759	14,800
National Taiwan University National Taiwan University	國立 臺灣 大學	1928	2,107	29,830
Taiwan State Pedagogical University National Taiwan Normal University	國立 臺灣 師範大學	1946	858	13,432
Yang Ming University National Yang Ming University	國立 陽明 大學	1975	358	3,563
Taiwan National University of Science and Technology National Taiwan University of Science and Technology	國立 臺灣 科技 大學	1974	330	8,366
Taipei Technology University National Taipei University of Technology	國立 臺北 科技 大學	1994	458	8,242
National University of the Arts Taipei Taipei National University of the Arts	國立 臺北 藝術 大學	1982	175	1,732
Soochow University Soochow University	東吳 大學	1954	562	15,629
Chinese Culture University Chinese Culture University	中國 文化 大學	1963	744	27,615
Shih Hsin University Shih Hsin University	世 新 大學	1960	279	10,917
Ming Chuan University Ming Chuan University	銘傳 大學	1960	572	17,521
Shih Chien University Shih Chien University	實踐 大學	1958	280	14,657
Tatung University Tatung University	大同 大學	1963	207	3,874
Medical University Taipei Taipei Medical University	臺北 醫學 大學	1960	365	5,674

Important universities of applied sciences Status: 2004

Surname	Han script	Year of foundation	Full-time teachers	Students
College of Nursing Taipei Taipei College of Nursing	台北 護理 學院	1994	154	2,905
Educational college Taipei Taipei Teachers College	台北 師範 學院	1961	226	4,692
Taipei College of Commerce Taipei College of Business	台北 商業 技術 學院	1968	223	922
Taipei City Teacher Training College Taipei Municipal Teachers College	台北市 立 師範 學院	1964	226	3,591
Taipei Sports College Taipei Physical Education College	台北 體育 學院	1968	124	1,753
China Institute of Technology China Institute of Technology	中華 技術 學院	1968	264	4,745
Takming University of Applied Sciences Takming College	德明 技術 學院	1965	228	2,245

Attractions

Longshan Temple

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

The Grand Hotel Taipei

Lin An Tai House

• Taipei 101
  The world's tallest skyscraper until July 2007 is Taipei's landmark. It houses a shopping center, offices and a visitor platform that can be reached by express elevators.
• Chiang Kai-shek National Memorial Hall
  This is where the long-time President of the Republic of China is remembered. No other place in Taipei symbolizes the national sensitivities and the search for identity so strongly. In addition, the entire complex with gardens, ponds, the National Concert Hall and National Theater Hall is a place of relaxation.
• National Palace Museum
  Here you can find treasures from the Forbidden City from over three thousand years of Chinese cultural history.
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
  The monument to the first President of the Republic of China, who is alsoveneratedin the People's Republic of China .
• Grand Hotel A
  five-star hotel designed in the traditional Chinese palace style, completed in 1973.
• Mengjia Longshan Temple
  The most famous temple in the city.
• Shilin night market
  This is where food is sold and also prepared for consumption. In addition, a lot of entertainment. Big rush.
• Shida Night Market
  Longquan Street is home to Shida Night Market, which is not only a popular meeting place for local students because of its proximity to the main campus of the National Taiwan Normal University.
• Shin Kong Life Tower
  Was the tallest building in Taiwan until 1997 and is the headquarters of the Shin Kong Life Insurance Company . The Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store is located on the lower floors.
• The Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art has rotating exhibitions.
• The Taipei City Art Museum mainly shows works by Taiwanese artists from the more recent times.
• Bao An Temple
  The most important Daoist temple in Taipei. Built in 1760.
• Confucius Temple
  Confucius' teachings still play a central role in Taiwanese society today. In the immediate vicinity of the Bao An Temple.
• Lin An Tai House
  The oldest existing residential building in Taipei. The courtyard of a wealthy merchant family was built in the Fujian style from 1783 to 1823 , but dismantled in 1978 due to the expansion of Dunhua Street and completely rebuilt from the original parts in 1986 on Binjiang Street.
• Zhinan Temple
  Daoist temple in the Maokong Mountains, in southern Taipei. Built in 1890. Dedicated to the immortal Lü Dongbin . Couples in love avoid visiting the temple together because they fear its jealousy. According to legend, his love for He Xiangu was not returned.

traffic

Central Station

In addition to a bus system, Taipei's public transport system includes the Taipei Metro , often called MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) for short, which also connects the various districts of New Taipei City . In the late 1980s, the main train station in the city center was completely relocated underground. The high-speed connection Taiwan High Speed ​​Rail (HSR) to Zuoying / Kaohsiung , which went into operation at the end of 2006, has left-hand traffic.

Taipei Songshan Domestic Airport is in the city itself ; Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport , previously Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek Airport, is about an hour's drive southwest of Taipei near Taoyuan .

There is an extensive and very dense bus system through the city, especially in areas that are not served by the Taipei Metro.

Efforts have increased in recent years to expand the infrastructure for cyclists.

economy

According to a study from 2014, Greater Taipei has a gross domestic product of 327 billion US dollars (KKB). In the ranking of the economically strongest metropolitan regions worldwide, he finished 29th. Taipei is the headquarters of most of the large Taiwanese companies and generates a third of the republic's economic output. The city's economy is dominated by trade, finance, industry, and information and communication technology. Taipei is a research and development center.

Many well-known companies in the field of electrical engineering and especially computer technology have their headquarters in Taipei and support the local economy and the economy of the entire country. Examples include Foxconn , Acer , Asus , BenQ , Gigabyte Technology , Biostar , AOC International , Aaeon , Delta Electronics and Wistron . With the Formosa Plastics Group and the Fair Friend Group , large companies in the chemical and mechanical engineering sectors are also represented.

tourism

Tourism plays an important role in Taipei's economy. With 7.4 million foreign visitors, Taipei was the 15th most visited city in the world in 2016. Tourists brought in $ 9.6 billion in revenue that same year. Most of the foreign visitors came from the People's Republic of China.

Taipei skyline with Taipei 101 .

Twin cities

Taipei has partnerships with the following cities. The year of establishment in brackets.

1. Houston , USA (1961)
2. Lomé , Togo (1966)
3. Manila , Philippines (1966)
4. Cotonou , Benin (1967)
5. Seoul , South Korea (1968)
6. Quezon City , Philippines (1968)
7. San Francisco , USA (1970)
8. Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic (1970)
9. Guam , USA (1973)
10. Tegucigalpa , Honduras (1974)
11. Cleveland , USA (1975)
12. Jeddah , Saudi Arabia (1978)
13. Indianapolis , USA (1978)
14. Marshall (Texas) , USA (1978)
15. Phoenix , USA (1979)
16. Los Angeles , USA (1979)
17. Atlanta , USA (1979)
18. Oklahoma City , USA (1981)
19. Johannesburg , South Africa (1982)
20. Gold Coast , Australia (1982)
21. Pretoria , South Africa (1983)
22. San José , Costa Rica (1984)
23. Lilongwe , Malawi (1984)
24. Versailles , France (1986)
25. Asunción , Paraguay (1987)
26. Panama City , Panama (1989)
27. Managua , Nicaragua (1992)
28. San Salvador , El Salvador (1993)
29. Warsaw , Poland (1995)
30. Ulan-Ude , Russia (1996)
31. Boston , USA (1996)
32. Dallas , USA (1996)
33. Dakar , Senegal (1997)
34. Banjul , Gambia (1997)
35. Bissau , Guinea-Bissau (1997)
36. Mbabane , Swaziland (1997)
37. Ulaanbaatar , Mongolia (1997)
38. San Nicolas , Mexico (1997)
39. La Paz , Bolivia (1997)
40. Guatemala City , Guatemala (1998)
41. Monrovia , Liberia (1998)
42. Vilnius , Lithuania (1998)
43. Majuro , Marshall Islands (1998)
44. Riga , Latvia (2001)
45. Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso (2008)
46. Daegu , South Korea (2010)
47. Quito , Ecuador (2016)
48. Castries , St. Lucia (2018)
49. Belmopan , Belize (2019)
50. Prague , Czech Republic (2020)

sons and daughters of the town

• Hotsuki Ozaki (1928–1999), author and literary critic
• Loring W. Tu (* 1952), mathematician
• Brigitte Lin (* 1954), actress
• Tony Daykin (born 1955), American football player
• Rod Cory Langway (born 1957), American ice hockey player
• Cher Wang (* 1958), entrepreneur and philanthropist
• Lars Larson (* 1959), American radio host
• Alexander Rahr (* 1959), German political scientist
• Hui-Ling Wang (* 1964), Taiwanese screenwriter
• Tsem Tulku (1965-2019), Tibetan monk
• Jerry Yang (* 1968), co-founder and director of the Internet directory Yahoo!
• Christina Chang (* 1971) American actress
• Takeshi Kaneshiro (* 1973), Taiwanese-Japanese actor
• Justin Lin (* 1973), US-Taiwanese screenwriter and film director
• Faith Yang (* 1974), rock musician and model
• Shu Qi (born 1976), actress
• Joey Wong (born 1967), actress
• Kobe Tai (* 1972), porn actress and actress
• Steve Chen (* 1978), co-founder and chief technology officer of the website YouTube .
• Xu Weilun (1978–2007), singer, actress and model
• Camille Chen (* 1979), actress
• Jay Chou (* 1979), singer and actor
• Scott Lee (* 1979), American violist and music teacher
• Kaila Yu (* 1979), Taiwanese-American singer and model
• Jolin Tsai (* 1980), pop singer
• Peggy Hsu (* 1981), singer and songwriter
• Selina Ren (* 1981), singer in the girl band SHE
• James Chen (born 1983), poker player
• Maria Ho (* 1983), American-Taiwanese poker player
• Godfrey Gao (1984-2019), Taiwanese-Canadian actor and model
• Jasmine Chen (* 1989), show jumper
• Ray Chen (* 1989), Australian-Taiwanese violinist

Climate table

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Taipei Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 19.0 19.3 21.6 25.8 28.6 31.6 34.0 33.4 31.4 27.9 23.7 20.6 O 26.4 Min. Temperature (° C) 13.1 13.4 15.0 18.5 21.8 24.2 25.7 25.6 24.2 21.8 18.4 14.8 O 19.7 Precipitation ( mm ) 91 139 174 164 224 298 242 281 255 119 73 74 Σ 2.134 Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 2.8 2.5 2.9 3.4 3.2 4.4 6.2 6.3 5.5 4.4 3.0 3.1 O 4th Rainy days ( d ) 10 12 13 11 12 13 11 11 10 9 9 10 Σ 131 Water temperature (° C) 19th 19th 20th 23 25th 27 28 28 27 25th 22nd 21st O 23.7 Humidity ( % ) 80 82 81 79 81 80 75 76 77 77 77 77 O 78.5 Source: wetterkontor.de

gallery

• 

  National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

• 

  Taipei viewed from Maokong

• 

  Main entrance to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

• 

  Taipei 101

• 

  Nighttime view of Taipei 101 from a park

• 

  Government Buildings viewed from Ketagalan Boulevard

• 

  Bao-an temple

• 

  Zhinan temple

• 

  A typhoon in Taipei

• 

  Ximending in the night

• 

  Ximending by day

• 

  Da'an Park

Panoramas

and display information about the image

Taipei panorama in the morning

and display information about the image

Taipei panorama at night

and display information about the image

Taipei city center by day

Web links

Commons : Taipei  album with pictures

Wikivoyage: Taipei City  Guide

Wiktionary: Taipei  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Official website ( Mandarin , English )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ taipeitimes.com
2. ↑ Han Cheung: Taipei Air Raid: a forgotten tragedy. Taipei Times, June 7, 2015, accessed April 21, 2018 . 
3. ^ About Xinyi District Office, Taipei City. Xinyi District website, June 4, 2016, accessed December 28, 2018 . 
4. ^ Alan Berube, Jesus Leal Trujillo, Tao Ran, and Joseph Parilla: Global Metro Monitor . In: Brookings . January 22, 2015 ( brookings.edu [accessed July 19, 2018]).
5. ↑ Global Destination Cities Report 2016. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Mastercard, archived from the original on September 24, 2016 ; accessed on July 11, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ Taipei Sister Cities. Taipei City Council website, accessed December 31, 2019 . 
7. ^ Keoni Everington: Taipei-Prague sister city agreement to be signed in January. Taiwan News, December 3, 2019, accessed December 31, 2019 .