Kaohsiung: The Year It Became a Direct-Administered City, When Eight People from Kaohsiung Were Locked in Taipei's Prisons

30-Second Overview: On July 1, 1979, Kaohsiung was upgraded to Taiwan's second direct-administered city, following Taipei's upgrade in 1967. On the same year's December 10, World Human Rights Day, a speech at the Dagangpu Roundabout by the Formosa Magazine Publishing House turned into a conflict under tear gas. On April 18, 1980, the military court handed down its verdict: Shi Ming-de received life imprisonment, Huang Hsin-chieh was sentenced to 14 years, and Yao Chia-wen, Chang Chun-hung, Lin Yi-hsiung, Lu Hsiu-lien, Chen Chu, and Lin Hung-hsuan each received 12 years in prison. On the morning of February 28, 1980, at No. 16, Lane 31, Section 3, Xinyi Road in Taipei, Lin Yi-hsiung's mother and twin daughters were murdered. Three wounds, all connected to this newly upgraded direct-administered city of Kaohsiung. With 2.71 million people scattered across 38 districts, the sandbar, the Bunun tribe, the steel-smelting smokestacks, and the aluminum alloy roof all share the administrative coordinates of one direct-administered city. This article argues: Kaohsiung is the wound of Taiwan's democracy, and also the physical volume of the island's industrialization.

4:30 AM, Qianzhen Fishing Port

If you ask a person from Kaohsiung, "When is Kaohsiung most charming," they won't tell you about Liuhe Night Market (Liuhe is for tourists). They might tell you about the Qianzhen Fishing Port at 4:30 AM, or the Gushan Ferry at 5:00 AM.

Qianzhen Fishing Port is in Qianzhen District, the largest deep-sea fishing base in Taiwan. Tuna longline vessels depart from here, heading to the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and the South Pacific, returning only after six months to a year. The fishers are mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, their speech mixing Hokkien, English, and their mother tongues. During the unloading days, the port is piled with frozen tuna, fish bodies larger than humans, carried one by one onto the auction hall floor. The tuna that a Taipei sushi shop will hand-roll tonight might have been caught two weeks ago off the coast of Madagascar.

The Gushan Ferry runs every three minutes, from Gushan to Qijin, a five-minute journey for a ticket price of 40 NTD. The early service starts at 6:00 AM, but commuters are already queuing before dawn. Qijin has a population of 28,000. There is no bridge connecting it to the main island (the Guogang Tunnel carries vehicle traffic); the ferry is the only link between this sandbar and the Kaohsiung urban area.

This is the most contemporary evidence of Kaohsiung as a port city. The historical glory of upgrading to a direct-administered city in 1979, the industrial glory of China Steel's factory construction in 1971, and the shipping glory of being the world's third-largest container port for seven consecutive years from 1993 to 1999—all are in the past. But while the capital is still sleeping, Kaohsiung has already started moving things for the whole world.

Aerial view of the commercial area in the First Harbor District of the Port of Kaohsiung, 2021. From the planning of the port in 1899, the进驻 of the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone in 1968, to being the world's third-largest container port for seven consecutive years from 1993-1999, it remains Taiwan's largest commercial port in 2021.
The commercial area of the First Harbor District, Port of Kaohsiung, 2021. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

Dogu, Takau, Kaohsiung: The 1920 Renaming

Four hundred years ago, at the foot of Dogu Mountain (now Shoushan), there was a Makatao tribe village, surrounded by bamboo forests. The tribe members called it "Dogu" (Takau) in a Hokkien-sounding pronunciation, meaning "bamboo forest" ¹. Han Chinese immigrants arrived successively after the Qing government established Fengshan County in 1684, starting as a fishing village and later becoming a port.

After the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858, Dogu was opened as a port in 1863. The British Consulate was established in Saochuantou (now Gushan), becoming a treaty port opened by the Qing government to the great powers, alongside Xiamen and Fuzhou. In 1899 (Meiji 32), Goto Shinpei, the fourth Japanese colonial civil governor, inspected southern Taiwan and decided to develop the Dogu Port. Due to insufficient funding, the project was delayed and the first phase of port construction officially started in 1908 ².

In October 1920, the eighth Japanese colonial Governor-General, Taneda Akitake, abolished the prefectures and established the provinces, renaming "Dogu Street" to "Kaohsiung Street." The characters "Kaohsiung" are derived from the Japanese pronunciation takao. Whether it is related to the Takao Mountain in Kyoto remains controversial among scholars ¹. But from that moment on, the city was no longer called Dogu.

In 1924 (Taisho 13), Kaohsiung Street was upgraded to "Kaohsiung City," with the city hall located at the site of the Daitian Temple on present-day Dubo Street (Cianjhen District). At the time of its establishment, the population exceeded 35,000. By 1940, it had grown to 160,000, making it Taiwan's second-largest city, second only to Taipei ¹. The modernization of Kaohsiung during the Japanese colonial period was concentrated in Hamaxing (the Hokkien transliteration of the Japanese "hama-sen" meaning "beach line"). Cianjhen, Gushan, Zuoying, and Lingya were developed successively. The city hall, banks, and trading companies gathered in Hamaxing and Cianjhen.

📝 Curator's Note: The name "Dogu" is no longer used by most people in Kaohsiung today, but it is buried in the texture of place names and food. The "Shoushan" (Longevity Mountain) of Dogu Mountain was renamed in 1923 after the visit of Crown Prince Hirohito. The "Chaishan" (Firewood Mountain) of today's macaque habitat is another folk name for Shoushan. The sound "Dogu" remains in early literature between Tainan and Kaohsiung, in the oral memory of the Makatao tribe before its Sinicization, and in the wave of resistance by cultural workers in the 2000s who used "Dogu" as a brand (Dogu Historical and Cultural Association, Dogu Kaohsiung History and Culture Network) to resist the Taisho-era renaming. It takes a city a century to change its name; to change it back, it might take another century.

The Army Came Down from Shoushan, in March 1947

Twenty years passed, and by the late 1960s, Kaohsiung had become another city.

"In December 1966, Taiwan passed the 'Regulations for the Establishment of Export Processing Zones,' selecting the Qianzhen area of the Kaohsiung Port to establish the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone" ³. This was Taiwan's first and one of the world's earliest export processing zones, combining the functions of a free trade zone and an industrial zone with tax incentives, a single-window service, and fast customs clearance. The first factory moved in in 1968, employing mostly young female workers from Tainan, Pingtung, and Chiayi, with monthly salaries of over 1,000 NTD, living in four or eight-person dormitories. This group was later called the "Aunties of the Processing Zone"; today, their grandchildren work at TSMC.

The oil refinery came even earlier. The CPC Kaohsiung Refinery is located at the foot of Banping Mountain in Nanzhi District, covering 262 hectares. Its predecessor was the "Kaohsiung Plant of the Sixth Fuel Factory of the Imperial Japanese Navy" during World War II, taken over and repaired by CPC in 1947. "The first light oil cracking plant (First Light) was commissioned in 1968 and closed in 1990; the second light oil cracking plant (Second Light) was commissioned in 1975 and closed in 1994; the fifth light oil cracking plant (Fifth Light) was commissioned in 1994 and the plant closed in 2015" ⁴. The refinery "successively housed over 40 large-scale plants including First Light, Second Light, and Fifth Light, becoming the officially recognized largest pollution zone" ⁴.

On December 3, 1971, China Steel Corporation was officially established ⁵. The first oil crisis in 1973 caused a global economic slump. Chiang Ching-kuo proposed the "Ten Major Construction Projects," incorporating China Steel into the plan. The first phase of engineering was completed in 1977, and steel production began. China Steel is still in Xiaogang today, with an annual crude steel output of about 10 million metric tons, mainly producing steel plates, bars and wires, hot-rolled, and cold-rolled products ⁵. The supporting Linyuan Petrochemical Zone was established in 1973. Together with the Nanzhi Refinery and Xiaogang China Steel, these three form the heaviest gears of Taiwan's post-war heavy industry.

In 1965, the government established the "Incentive Measures for Importing Old Ships for Processing," and the Qianzhen and Caoya areas began shipbreaking. "About 20,000 workers were dismantling ships at the dock every day, able to dismantle up to 10,000 metric tons of steel plates on average per day, earning Taiwan the reputation of the world's 'King of Shipbreaking'" ⁶. In 1973, Kaohsiung set a world record for the highest volume of shipbreaking. In 1986, a Kanari oil tanker at the Daren Palace Shipbreaking Industrial Zone exploded due to residual oil in the hold, causing 16 deaths and hundreds of injuries. "In 1989, the Kaohsiung Port Bureau took back the Daren Shipbreaking Professional Zone, converting it into the Fifth Container Terminal. In 1990, the shipbreaking industry was forced to exit midway" ⁶. A world-leading industry disappeared in 20 years.

✦ "Successively housing over 40 large-scale plants including First Light, Second Light, and Fifth Light, it became the officially recognized largest pollution zone." (The Reporter, The Indestructible Petrochemical Zombie ⁴)

The memory of this history among Kaohsiung people is deeply split. From 1971 to the 1980s, heavy industry was Kaohsiung's pride and its paycheck. But during the same period, residents of Houjing began to notice that the ash falling on their roofs was particularly thick, and fishermen of Dalinpu began to notice that the fish in their nets were fewer. Then came 1987.

The Vote in Houjing: 61% vs. 39%

"In June 1987, the CPC's 'Fifth Light Oil Cracking Plant' project was officially announced in the media" ⁷. Residents of Houjing learned that the government intended to build a Fifth Light plant on top of the existing First and Second Light plants, and immediately organized themselves.

"On August 5, 1987, a village meeting was held, establishing the 'Self-Relief Committee for Opposing Fifth Light'" ⁷. Starting in August, residents engaged in a long-term factory blockade, taking turns guarding the CPC gates to block construction vehicles. This movement occurred alongside the lifting of Martial Law in the same year, marking Taiwan's first large-scale post-war environmental protest.

"On May 6, 1990, Taiwan held its first citizen referendum on the Fifth Light plant. The result: a 66% turnout, with those firmly opposing Fifth Light winning with 4,499 votes (61%) against 2,900 votes from those agreeing to negotiate" ⁷.

The referendum result did not stop the Fifth Light plant.

"On September 14, 1990, Premier Hao Po-utsch promised to move the CPC plant in 25 years and provided Houjing residents with a 1.5 billion NTD feedback fund, setting the highest record for anti-pollution feedback funds in Taiwan" ⁷. Eight days later, "on September 22, 1990, Minister of Economic Affairs Hsiao Wan-chang announced the construction of the Fifth Light plant had begun" ⁷.

The 25 years promised by Hao Po-utsch coincided with 2015. The Fifth Light plant indeed stopped operations on November 1, 2015. The promise was fulfilled, but an entire generation of Houjing residents had grown up breathing Fifth Light's air. From the 1987 factory blockade to the 2015 shutdown, this movement is called the "28-Year Anti-Fifth Light Movement" ⁷.

📝 Curator's Note: The mainstream environmental movement narrative focuses on political sideshows like "green governance." But the story of the Houjing Anti-Fifth Light movement is more like another structure: this 28-year story is about a small village trading 25 years of patience for the closure of a factory. There was no moment of victory in between; every year was a loss—the Fifth Light was still built, the exhaust gas was still emitted, residents' health was still affected. It wasn't until the 25th year that the factory closed. The biggest difference between Taiwan's environmental movement and other social movements lies in its timescale, calculated in "generations," not in "terms." After the Houjing case, Dalinpu spent over 30 more years protesting and waiting for relocation ⁸, and only in 2016 did Premier Lin Chuan publicly apologize there. Winning is not about winning a movement once; it is about the next generation not having to breathe the same air.

The Tear Gas at Dagangpu Roundabout on World Human Rights Day

Back to 1979.

On July 1, "Kaohsiung City, originally a provincial city, merged with Xiaogang Township of Kaohsiung County and was upgraded to a direct-administered city, becoming Taiwan's 2nd direct-administered city" ⁹. The first direct-administered city was Taipei, upgraded in 1967. Kaohsiung was the second, a gap of 12 years. At the time of the upgrade, it had 11 districts (including the newly established Xiaogang District) and a population of about 1.3 million, making it the largest industrial hub in southern Taiwan at the time.

In that same year of 1979, in January, the US broke diplomatic ties with the Republic of China. On July 1, Kaohsiung was upgraded; in August, Formosa Magazine was founded, with Huang Hsin-chieh as publisher, Hsu Hsin-liang as president, and Shi Ming-de as general manager. The magazine became the flagship of the Dangwai (outside-the-party) movement. In early December, Dangwai figures applied to hold a rally and march on December 10 (United Nations World Human Rights Day) in Kaohsiung under the name of the "Human Rights Memorial Committee," demanding the lifting of Martial Law and the release of political prisoners. The authorities did not approve.

On the evening of December 10, "since the originally planned venue, Rotary Park, had been blocked, Dangwai figures decided to move to the large roundabout at the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Zhongzheng Road" ¹⁰. The rally location was initially near the Xinxing Roundabout on Section 1 of Zhongshan Road in Xinxing District, later moving to the Dagangpu Roundabout, one of the most important roundabouts in the center of Kaohsiung at the time.

"Participants in the march were surrounded by thousands of riot police near the Dagangpu Roundabout. After intense searchlight illumination, tear gas, and the advance of shields, a conflict between the two sides was finally ignited" ¹¹.

The conflict lasted until late at night. Three days later, at 6:00 AM on December 13, the General Headquarters of Military Police launched a island-wide mass arrest. Chen Chu, Lin Yi-hsiung, Lu Hsiu-lien, and Chang Chun-hung were arrested successively in the early morning. Huang Hsin-chieh was arrested at the Legislative Yuan on the morning of December 14. Shi Ming-de fled for 26 days before being arrested in a private residence on January 8, 1980. A total of 152 people were involved.

✦ "On April 18, the military court issued its final verdict: all 8 defendants were found guilty. Shi Ming-de was sentenced to life imprisonment, Huang Hsin-chieh to 14 years, and Yao Chia-wen, Chang Chun-hung, Lin Yi-hsiung, Lu Hsiu-lien, Chen Chu, and Lin Hung-hsuan each received 12 years in prison." (Wikipedia, Formosa Incident ¹¹)

The military trial lasted 9 days starting from March 18, 1980. The defendants hired 15 defense lawyers, including Jiang Peng-jian, Hsieh Chang-ting, You Ching, Chen Shui-bian, Su Tseng-chang, and Chang Chun-hsiung. Chen Shui-bian was responsible for defending Huang Hsin-chieh. After this, all these lawyers became key figures in the Dangwai movement: Chen Shui-bian was later elected President, Hsieh Chang-ting, Su Tseng-chang, and Chang Chun-hsiung served as Premiers, You Ching served as County Magistrate of Taipei, and Jiang Peng-jian was the first chairman of the DPP.

"The voices demanding the lifting of Martial Law, the opening of the ban on political parties, and the comprehensive election of central people's representatives were instead amplified through the military trial" ¹². On September 28, 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party was founded. On July 15, 1987, Martial Law was lifted. From the tear gas at the Dagangpu Roundabout in 1979 to the lifting of Martial Law in 1987, a full seven and a half years, this was the most critical period of Taiwan's democratic transition. The starting point of this transition was not in Taipei, but in Kaohsiung.

February 28, 1980, Xinyi Road, Taipei

Before the military trial even began, things had already fallen deeper.

On February 28, 1980 (the day of the 228 Incident), a blood case occurred at the home of Lin Yi-hsiung, who was detained in the Jingmei Military Police Detention Center awaiting trial. The location was Lin Yi-hsiung's Taipei residence at No. 16, Lane 31, Section 3, Xinyi Road. "Lin Yi-hsiung's mother, You A-mei, in her sixties, and his seven-year-old twin daughters, Lin Liang-chun and Lin Ting-chun, were stabbed to death" ¹³. The 9-year-old eldest daughter, Lin Huan-chun, was stabbed six times but survived because her backpack protected her back.

The Lin Residence Blood Case occurred in Taipei, not in Kaohsiung, nor in Yilan. Lin Yi-hsiung was from Wujie, Yilan. After being arrested for the Formosa Incident in 1979, he was locked up in the Taipei Jingmei Military Police Detention Center. On the day of the incident, he was in Jingmei, far from the scene. "This case remains unsolved. Since the maximum 25-year criminal prosecution period has now passed, even if the true culprit is found, they cannot be convicted" ¹³.

The connection between this case and the Kaohsiung Formosa Incident lies on the timeline. The location is 350 kilometers away from Kaohsiung. The Lin Residence Blood Case occurred 19 days before the start of the military trial, representing the most brutal page of the White Terror, and a shared wound memory for all in Taiwan's democratic movement. The tear gas at the Dagangpu Roundabout in December 1979, the blood on Xinyi Road in Taipei on February 28, 1980, the verdict of the military court on April 18, 1980—three wounds, all connected to this newly upgraded direct-administered city of Kaohsiung.

The red ribbons of the upgrade celebration had not yet been removed when this city's political history was already carved with a knife.

Formosa Boulevard Station, The Dome of Light

Twenty-nine years passed.

On September 14, 2008, the Kaohsiung Metro Orange Line opened, and "Formosa Boulevard Station" was activated on the same day ¹⁴. This station name was deliberately chosen by the Kaohsiung City Government to turn the location of the Dagangpu Roundabout from back then into the name of a metro station. Turn the corner, and "The Dome of Light" is on the R10/O5 platform level.

The Dome of Light at Formosa Boulevard Station, 2024-09-19. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

The Dome of Light was "hand-painted by the internationally renowned artist Narcissus Quagliata (born in Rome in 1942), taking four and a half years, with a diameter of 30 meters and an area of 660 square meters" ¹⁴. Quagliata is an authority in contemporary glass art. The dome consists of 4,500 pieces of colored glass, divided into four zones: Water (Nurturing), Earth (Growth), Light (Glory), and Fire (Destruction and Rebirth). The US travel website BootsnAll ranked Formosa Boulevard Station as the second most beautiful metro station in the world in 2012.

From the Dagangpu Roundabout to Formosa Boulevard Station, this turnaround took 29 years. On December 10, 1979, people were prosecuted here for a rally; on September 14, 2008, this place became the location of a world-class art installation. The physical location of the roundabout remained unchanged, but its meaning was rewritten twice by Kaohsiung people.

📝 Curator's Note: Turning the site of the conflict back then into an art station is Kaohsiung's answer to 1979. It is a form of remembering through rewriting. Taipei's 228 Park and the Taipei Human Rights Memorial Park remember through commemoration: monuments, statues, and exhibitions, telling the reader "something happened here." Formosa Boulevard Station does something else: it is daily life. Every day, over 30,000 people get on and off at this station. It doesn't matter if they look up at the Dome of Light; what matters is that this name is embedded in the skeletal structure of the city's metro network. How a city handles its historical wounds is seen in whether it turns that location into a place people pass through every day.

38 Districts: From Qijin Sandbar to Namaxia Bunun Tribe

On December 25, 2010, another upgrade occurred.

"On December 25, 2010, the original land area of Kaohsiung City, 153 square kilometers, merged with Kaohsiung County, and the land area surged to 2,951 square kilometers. The population of the original Kaohsiung City, 1.52 million, was added to Kaohsiung County, bringing the total population to 2,774,470" ¹⁵.

"The original 11 districts of Kaohsiung City and the original 27 townships and cities of Kaohsiung County merged into 38 districts (including 3 mountain indigenous districts of direct-administered cities)" ¹⁶.

From this day on, "Kaohsiung City" is a city stretching from the Qijin sandbar to the foot of Jade Mountain. The 11 districts of the original Kaohsiung City are the urban core: Cianjhen, Gushan, Lingya, Xinxing, Qianjin, Qianzhen, Sanmin, Nanzhi, Zuoying, Qijin, and Xiaogang. The 27 townships and districts of the original Kaohsiung County are scattered on the periphery: Fengshan, Daliao, Niaosung, Jenwu, Dashe, Gangshan, Luzhu, Huneih, Yongan, Qigan, further north Qiaotou, Yanchao, Dashu, Dashe, Tianliao, Alian, Mituo, Zihguan, further east Meiaon, Qishan, Neimen, Shanlin, Liugui, Jiaxian, and deepest inside Maolin, Taoyuan, and Namaxia—the three mountain indigenous districts.

Every district has its own story. Qijin District has 28,000 people; it is an 11.3-kilometer-long sandbar, with the ferry being the main mode of transportation. Maolin District has 1,867 people, the district with the smallest population in Kaohsiung. The main residents are the Rukai tribe, with altitudes rising from 200 meters to over 1,000 meters. Fengshan District has 355,183 people, the district with the largest population in Kaohsiung. It was originally the county seat of Kaohsiung County. After the 2010 merger, it became the second most populous single district in the country ¹⁷. The population difference between these three districts is 190 times, but administratively they are all called "Kaohsiung City [Name] District."

Aerial view of Qijin Island from Qihou Mountain. An 11.3-kilometer-long sandbar, inhabited by 28,000 people, with no bridge connecting to the main island (the Guogang Tunnel is for vehicles), the Gushan Ferry is the main transportation.
_Aerial view of Qijin District. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia._

The Three Mountain Districts: Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Laaluwa

Maolin District is located in the southeastern mountains of Kaohsiung. The main residents are the Lower Three Tribes of the Rukai tribe, divided into the Maolin, Douna, and Wanshan villages. The Rukai language varies by dialect in each village, with the stone house clusters in Douna Village being the most complete ¹⁸.

Taoyuan District is distributed along the upper reaches of the Lanyong Stream. The main ethnic group is the Bunun tribe, and it is also the traditional territory of the Laaluwa tribe. The Laaluwa (Hla'alua) tribe was long mistakenly considered a branch of the Tsou tribe, until "the ROC government recognized the Laaluwa tribe as the 15th indigenous tribe of Taiwan and the Kanakanavu tribe as the 16th on June 26, 2014" ¹⁹. The Laaluwa tribe today has about 400 people, mainly distributed in Gaosongli and Taoyuanli of Taoyuan District.

Namaxia District lies along both banks of the Zixian Stream. The Bunun tribe and the Kanakanavu (Kanakanavu) tribe coexist. The Kanakanavu tribe today has about 350 people, mainly residing in Dakanuwali and Mayali of Namaxia District. The name "Namaxia" comes from a legend: "Hundreds of years ago, a young man named 'Namaxia' discovered a giant catfish blocking the stream, endangering the tribe. The tribe named the Zixian Stream after him to commemorate him" ²⁰. In 2008, Sanmin Township was renamed Namaxia Township, and in 2010, it was upgraded to Namaxia District.

The names "Laaluwa" and "Kanakanavu" only returned to official ethnic categories on June 26, 2014. Before this, their ancestors were recorded as branches of the "Tsou tribe" for over a hundred years, referred to by scholars as "Southern Tsou." Before the name correction, they were represented by others; after the correction, they speak for themselves.

Meiaon: The Right Pui of Liu Pui

Flowing down the Zixian Stream from Namaxia, you will encounter Meiaon. Meiaon District is the only typical Hakka village in Kaohsiung. Administratively it belongs to Kaohsiung City, but culturally it belongs to the "Right Pui" of "Liu Pui" (Six Pui).

Liu Pui is the collective name for Hakka righteous people settlements in southern Taiwan, divided into Vanguard Pui, Front Pui, Middle Pui, Rear Pui, Left Pui, and Right Pui. The "Right Pui" covers the entirety or most of Meiaon District, Liugui District, and Shanlin District, part of Jiaxian District, and part of Qishan District. In 1721, during the Zhu Yigui Incident, Hakka settlements in the Xiashui Stream basin united to organize self-defense righteous armies. "They jointly elected Li Zhisan as Grand General, dividing into six groups (Liu Pui) to defend their hometown" ²¹. This organization later became the cultural identity of Hakka villages.

But this story is not just about the righteous army of 1721. Meiaon has another, closer history.

"In late 1992, the first 'Public Hearing on the Construction of Meiaon Reservoir' convened by the Meiaon Township Office and local associations sparked a movement known as 'Small Town vs. Enemy State': the Meiaon Anti-Reservoir Movement" ²². The government prepared to build a reservoir upstream of the Meiaon Stream to provide water for the Kaohsiung area, but the dam site was on a fault line and would destroy the tropical mother forest ecosystem of Huangdie Valley, impacting Meiaon's traditional Hakka culture.

The movement lasted for eight years. "On March 18, 2000, Chen Shui-bian was elected President and subsequently announced that no Meiaon Reservoir would be built during his term" ²². The Meiaon Hometown Association became a model for the sustainable development of Hakka communities in Taiwan, driving a generation of Hakka youth to return home. Today's Meiaon paper umbrellas, ban-tiao (rice noodles), Hakka cuisine, and tobacco towers under Moonlight Mountain are the result of this township's own choices, not decisions made for them by others.

The August When Namaxia and Taoyuan Were Buried

From the name correction and the anti-reservoir movement, back to a more recent wound.

On August 8, 2009, Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan. On that day, "Jiaxian Township recorded a 72-hour cumulative rainfall of 1,856 millimeters" ²³, a figure almost 70% of Taiwan's average annual rainfall. Early on the 8th, warnings of debris flows began to come from the mountains, but communications were cut off, and the outside world could not grasp the actual disaster situation.

The heaviest impact was on Xiaolin Village. "The village annihilation event of Xiaolin Village in Jiaxian Township, Kaohsiung County, was the most severe, burying 474 people alive" ²⁴. The village structure of Xiaolin Village, built along the mountain, was completely covered by a landslide. "During the 2009 88 Flood, as Typhoon Morakot struck, over 600 households in Xiaolin Village, Jiaxian Township, Kaohsiung County, were wiped out by debris flows." The survivors of Xiaolin Village later relocated in three batches to the Da'ai Park in Shanlin, Xiaolin Village One in Wulipu, and Xiaolin Village Two, but the original geographical context of the village could not be recovered.

The three mountain indigenous districts of Namaxia, Taoyuan, and Maolin were also heavily hit. Access roads were cut off, bridges were broken, and villages were isolated from the outside world for days. The new permanent houses for Namaxia are in Shanlin District. Some original villagers chose to return to the mountains to rebuild, while others stayed down the mountain. From that year on, the village became two villages: one in the original homeland, one in the permanent houses.

📝 Curator's Note: The mainstream disaster narrative focuses on "death tolls," "reconstruction progress," and "government efficiency." But the deeper impact of the 88 Flood on the mountain indigenous groups of Kaohsiung is that the geographical connection of the villages was cut. The rituals, land knowledge, and language transmission of the Bunun, Kanakanavu, Laaluwa, and Rukai tribes are all bound to specific geographical locations: which upstream stream has the ancestral spirits, which mountain has taboos, which hunting ground belongs to which family. Once relocated, the foundation for carrying this geographical knowledge is broken. 17 years after Morakot, the population of Kaohsiung's three mountain districts continues to drift down the mountain. The new generation of village children attend school in Shanlin and Qishan, no longer waking up from the morning of stone houses. The reconstruction of the disaster zone is physical; how long will it take for the cultural loss to be recognized?

Two Lines of the Love River

Back from the mountains to the urban area, let's talk about a river.

The Love River originates from the Bagualiao Pond in Renwu District, flows through the Kaohsiung urban area, and exits into the sea in Qianzhen District, with a total length of 16.4 kilometers ²⁵. During the Japanese colonial period, it was called "Dogu River" or "Kaohsiung River," and was renamed "Love River" after the war. After the 1960s, with the rapid industrialization of Kaohsiung, the sewer system was not widespread. Industrial, agricultural wastewater, and domestic sewage were discharged directly into the Love River. The Love River became one of the most polluted urban rivers in Taiwan, with dark gray water floating with oil slicks and a pungent chemical smell when approached.

But around the time of the lifting of Martial Law in 1987, Taiwan's attitude toward urban rivers began to change. Media reports appeared comparing the "successful renovation of the Love River" with the "still dirty and smelly Tamsui River" ²⁶, although the success at the time was only preliminary. The real renovation accelerated after Sie Chang-ting was elected Mayor of Kaohsiung in 1998: "The sewage connection rate rose from 6% at the time of his taking office to 25%," and landscape reconstruction was carried out around the Love River, building waterfront embankments, renovating the Film Library, and introducing the Love Boat.

In 2001, the Taiwan Lantern Festival chose to be held in Kaohsiung (the first time it was not in Taipei), and the Love River Lantern Festival became an annual event. "After the 2000s, the Love River successfully transformed into an important tourist attraction in Kaohsiung, gradually breaking free from the stereotype of 'Industrial Hub, Cultural Desert'" ²⁷.

But the industry did not leave. China Steel is still in Xiaogang, the refinery in Nanzhi, the petrochemical plants in Linyuan, and the thermal power plants in Dalinpu. The successful renovation of the Love River is only one aspect of this city's transformation; the other aspect is that Dalinpu is still waiting for relocation.

"The coastal industrial zone has China Steel, CPC, and Taiwan Power, along with many related downstream industries, with hundreds of manufacturers. Smokestacks stand in rows, surrounding the Dalinpu settlement on three sides" ⁸. Residents "protested for over 30 years," and in 2016, Premier Lin Chuan publicly apologized in Dalinpu, admitting environmental pollution and launching a relocation investigation. But the environmental impact assessment controversy of the relocation plan was not concluded until 2026.

The tourist riverbank after the renovation of the Love River. Once the most polluted urban river in Taiwan in the 1960s, during Mayor Sie Chang-ting's term in 1998, the sewage connection rate rose from 6% to 25%. Since 2001, the Love River Lantern Festival has become a tradition.
The Love River (Kaohsiung River), the tourist riverbank after renovation. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

Two lines of the Love River: one side is the story of commercialization, lantern festivals, the Love Boat, and successful renovation; the other side is the story of Dalinpu, Houjing in Nanzhi, Linyuan Petrochemical, and 30 years of protesting for relocation. The same city is doing two things at once: one becomes a tourist photo, the other only exists in environmental impact assessment reports.

Weiwuying: 4,500 Pieces Under the Aluminum Alloy Roof

On October 13, 2018, the Weiwuying National Center for the Arts opened ²⁸. The site is in Fengshan District, originally the "Army New Soldier Training Center" (which successively moved out starting in 1979). During the Martial Law period, Kaohsiung people's memory of the three characters "Weiwuying" was "the place where my son went to serve in the army." Dutch architect Francine Houben drew inspiration from the old banyan tree cluster of Weiwuying, connecting the four performance halls with a flowing aluminum alloy roof.

The exterior of the Weiwuying National Center for the Arts. Dutch architect Francine Houben drew inspiration from the old banyan tree cluster of Weiwuying to design the flowing aluminum alloy roof. Covering 35,000 square meters with 4,500 aluminum alloy panels, it is the largest comprehensive performance venue under a single roof in the world.
Weiwuying National Center for the Arts. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

"The site area is 9.9 hectares, the building area is 3.3 hectares, and the roof has a curved surface of 35,000 square meters, assembled with 4,500 aluminum alloy panels, making it the largest comprehensive performance venue under a single roof in the world" ²⁸. The Opera House has 2,236 seats, the Concert Hall 1,981 seats, the Drama Theater 1,209 seats, and the Performance Hall 434 seats. The US Time magazine selected Weiwuying for its "World's Best Places" list in 2019.

From the New Soldier Training Center to a world-class performing arts center, the story of this land is the same as that of Formosa Boulevard Station: Kaohsiung people rewrote the military memory of the Martial Law period into the memory of art. A city's history of Martial Law does not disappear, but it can be repurposed.

The year Weiwuying opened coincided with the 39th anniversary of Kaohsiung's upgrade to a direct-administered city in 1979 and the 39th anniversary of the Formosa Incident. From the Dagangpu Roundabout to Formosa Boulevard Station, from the Weiwuying military camp to the Weiwuying theater, this city took nearly 40 years to stitch its wounds into its own shape.

2.71 Million People, in 38 Districts

In April 2026, the population of Kaohsiung City was 2.71 million, the third-largest direct-administered city in Taiwan (after New Taipei and Taipei) ²⁹. Fengshan District has the most with 355,000 people, and Maolin District has the least with 1,867. 2.71 million people are scattered across 38 districts in 2,951 square kilometers, from the Qijin sandbar to the Namaxia Bunun tribe, with altitudes ranging from 0 meters to over 3,000 meters.

Population structure: Hoklo people are the mainstream (Han Chinese immigrants after the Qing government established Fengshan County in 1684); Hakka people are the core in Meiaon (Right Pui of Liu Pui); the Makatao tribe was originally a Pingpu tribe, the "Eight Societies of Fengshan," living on the plains for a millennium, and integrated into the Hoklo group after Sinicization in the Qing Dynasty;外省人 (Mainlanders) are concentrated in Zuoying military villages (the largest post-war naval base, the largest cluster of military villages in Taiwan) and Guomao Community (the largest cluster of military village-reconstructed public housing in southern Taiwan); mountain indigenous people are concentrated in Maolin (Rukai), Taoyuan (Bunun, Laaluwa), and Namaxia (Bunun, Kanakanavu).

Compared to Keelung's 360,000 people, Kaohsiung is more than seven times larger; compared to Taipei's 2.4 million, Kaohsiung is slightly larger. But this city's uniqueness lies not in population numbers, but in scope: the seaside of Siziwan, the Namaxia tribe, the Qijin ferry, and the Meiaon paper umbrellas coexist in the same administrative coordinate. It is the only direct-administered city in Taiwan that simultaneously contains an urban core area, a heavy industry belt, a Hakka enclave, and three mountain indigenous groups.

✦ "The original 11 districts of Kaohsiung City and the original 27 townships and cities of Kaohsiung County merged into 38 districts (including 3 mountain indigenous districts of direct-administered cities)." (Wikipedia, Administrative Divisions of Kaohsiung City ¹⁶)

2018 Han Wave, 2020 Recall

39 years after the administrative upgrade, this city's political history added another page.

"On November 24, 2018, Han Kuo-yu defeated Chen Chi-mai with 892,545 votes (53.87% of the vote) in the Nine-合一 Election to be elected the third Mayor of Kaohsiung City, and took office on December 25 of the same year" ³⁰. Han Kuo-yu's election overturned the DPP's 20 years of governance in Kaohsiung. The term "Han Wave" swept from south to north that year. His speaking style, slogans ("Goods go out, people come in, Kaohsiung gets rich"), and image were completely different from previous Kaohsiung mayors.

But the overturn was short-lived. In May 2019, Han Kuo-yu expressed his intention to run for the 2020 Presidential Election, criticized for being "indifferent to municipal affairs." After losing the 2020 Presidential Election to Tsai Ing-wen in January, Kaohsiung people began to sign petitions for his recall.

"The recall vote was held on June 6, 2020. The final result: 939,090 votes in favor, 25,051 votes against, with a turnout of 42.14%" ³¹.

"Han Kuo-yu became the first direct-administered city mayor in the Republic of China to be recalled" ³¹.

The 939,090 votes in favor were nearly 50,000 more than the 892,545 votes he received when he was elected in 2018. The same group of Kaohsiung people used their votes to elect the same person up and then recall him down within two years. The Reporter's headline wrote it plainly: "The first local chief in Taiwan's history to be recalled" ³².

The recall is not the focus of this article. The focus is that this recall on June 6, 2020, and the Dagangpu Roundabout on December 10, 1979, and Formosa Boulevard Station on September 14, 2008, are the same political context of the same city. Kaohsiung people do not trust "gods" much. In 1979, they stood out against Martial Law; in 2020, they stood out again to recall the incumbent mayor. This city's physicalization of public opinion is more direct than any other city in Taiwan.

4:30 AM, The Black Kite Behind the China Steel Smokestack

Back to the opening scene.

At 4:30 AM, the Qianzhen Fishing Port, tuna longline vessels are unloading; at 5:00 AM, the Gushan Ferry carries the first batch of Qijin commuters across the harbor; at 6:00 AM, Formosa Boulevard Station under the Dome of Light is still clean before the commuter crowd surges in; at 7:00 AM, the early train at Zuoying High-Speed Rail Station sends a batch of people north to Taipei for work.

Two kilometers away, the smokestacks of the China Steel Xiaogang Plant are emitting white smoke. A bit further, the water of Houjing Stream flows slowly toward the Port of Kaohsiung. The smell of this water has changed since the Houjing residents blockaded the factory in 1987 until the Fifth Light stopped in 2015. A bit further, Dalinpu has not yet been relocated.

Further away, in Maolin, Taoyuan, and Namaxia at altitudes over 1,000 meters, the mornings of the Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, and Laaluwa tribes are just beginning. Residents of the permanent houses after the 88 Flood wake up in Shanlin District; the留守 (staying-behind) villagers of the original villages wake up in the mountains.

So many things happen simultaneously in this city's morning because the 2010 county-city merger put places originally belonging to different geographical units into the same administrative box. The 38 districts from the Qijin sandbar to the Namaxia tribe are the most concrete physical manifestation of Taiwan's administrative upgrade.

From Taipei's perspective, Kaohsiung is a heavy industrial port city plus a democratic event plus a Weiwuying. From the ocean's perspective, Kaohsiung is the grandchildren of the female workers of the 1968 Export Processing Zone working at TSMC, the sons of the people of the 1990 Houjing referendum becoming professors, and one of the lawyers from the tear gas of the 1979 Dagangpu Roundabout later becoming President. From the perspective of the 4:30 AM Qianzhen Fishing Port, Kaohsiung is a port city where the whole world is sleeping, but this city has already started working.

Next time you go to Kaohsiung, don't just visit Liuhe Night Market and the 85 Skytower. Try taking the Gushan Ferry at 5:00 AM to Qijin to watch the fishing boats enter the port. Or take the Kaohsiung Metro Red Line to R8 San Duo Commercial District, then transfer to the Orange Line to R10/O5 Formosa Boulevard Station, and look up at the Dome of Light. Or go a bit further, rent a car and drive from Meiaon to Namaxia, following the Zixian Stream into the mountains. Then you will remember one thing: the wound this city left on December 10, 1979, is still circulating in this city of 2.71 million people, reflected in the 2018 Weiwuying aluminum alloy roof, the 2014 name correction of the 15th and 16th tribes, and the 930,000 votes of the 2020 recall.

Kaohsiung is not Taiwan's lower half. Kaohsiung is the city where Taiwan's post-war industrialization, democratization, and cultural transformation physically coexist in three layers.

Image Sources

This article uses 6 Wikimedia Commons CC-licensed images.

Hero (frontmatter): Night skyline of Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2014, Kaohsiung night view, overlooking the Love River and the urban area from the direction of the 85 Skytower. Photo: peellden, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scene § Qianzhen Fishing Port: Port of Kaohsiung first harbor commercial area 2021, Aerial view of the commercial area in the First Harbor District of the Port of Kaohsiung. CC BY-SA.

Scene § Formosa Boulevard Station: Dome of Light at Formosa Boulevard Station 2024, The Dome of Light at Formosa Boulevard Station. CC BY-SA.

Scene § 38 Districts: Cijin Island, Kaohsiung, Aerial view of the Qijin sandbar. CC BY-SA.

Scene § Love River: Kaohsiung Love River, The tourist riverbank after the renovation of the Love River. CC BY-SA.

Scene § Weiwuying: Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Arts 01, The exterior of the Weiwuying National Center for the Arts. CC BY-SA.

License Terms: CC BY-SA 3.0 and CC BY-SA 4.0.

References

History of Kaohsiung City — Wikipedia — The origin of the Makatao tribe's "Dogu" (Takau) place name, the renaming to Kaohsiung Street in 1920 (Taisho 9), the upgrade to Kaohsiung City in 1924 (Taisho 13), and the complete place name history of becoming Taiwan's second-largest city with a population of 160,000 in 1940.↩
History of the Port of Kaohsiung — Taiwan Port Corporation Kaohsiung Port Bureau — Official primary data on the planning of the Dogu Port by Goto Shinpei in 1899, the start of the first phase of port construction in 1908, and the complete schedule of subsequent expansion projects.↩
Completion of the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone — Precious Historical Materials Exhibition of the Executive Yuan — Official primary historical data on the passage of the "Regulations for the Establishment of Export Processing Zones" in December 1966 and the selection of the Qianzhen area of the Kaohsiung Port to establish the first export processing zone.↩
The Indestructible Petrochemical Zombie — The Reporter — The Reporter's in-depth report on the Kaohsiung Refinery, including the complete timeline of First Light (1968-1990), Second Light (1975-1994), and Fifth Light (1994-2015) and the core quote that "over 40 large-scale plants became the officially recognized largest pollution zone."↩
China Steel Corporation Company Profile — China Steel Official Website — Official complete company history: established on December 3, 1971, the first phase of engineering was completed and steel was produced in 1977, and the current crude steel annual capacity in Xiaogang is about 10 million metric tons (steel plates, bars and wires, hot-rolled, cold-rolled).↩
History of the Kaohsiung Shipbreaking Industry — Story Studio — The complete rise and fall history: the 1965 Incentive Measures for Importing Old Ships, the Qianzhen Caoya Shipbreaking Center, 20,000 workers dismantling 10,000 metric tons of steel plates per day on average, ranking first in the world in 1973, the 1986 explosion of the Kanari oil tanker at Daren Palace causing 16 deaths, the Port Bureau taking back the professional zone in 1989, and the exit of the shipbreaking industry in 1990.↩
Anti-Fifth Light Movement — Wikipedia — The complete 28-year protest timeline: the project announcement in June 1987, the village meeting of Houjing on August 5 establishing the relief committee, the May 6, 1990 referendum with 61% against and 39% in favor, Hao Po-utsch's September 14 promise of a 25-year plant relocation (1.5 billion feedback), Hsiao Wan-chang's September 22 announcement of construction, and the November 1, 2015 shutdown.↩
Dalinpu Environmental Refugees — The Reporter — The Reporter's in-depth report on Dalinpu, including the three-sided enclosure of the coastal industrial zone by China Steel, CPC, and Taiwan Power, the 30-year resident protests, and the 2016 public apology by Lin Chuan launching the relocation investigation.↩
History of Kaohsiung City's Upgrade to a Direct-Administered City — Archives Administration, Executive Yuan — Official archival records of the July 1, 1979 event where the provincial city of Kaohsiung merged with Xiaogang Township of Kaohsiung County and was upgraded to the Republic of China's second direct-administered city.↩
Formosa Incident — National Human Rights Museum — Official digital exhibition of the National Human Rights Museum, including the original text "since the originally planned venue, Rotary Park, had been blocked, Dangwai figures decided to move to the large roundabout at the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Zhongzheng Road" and "the voices demanding the lifting of Martial Law, the opening of the ban on political parties, and the comprehensive election of central people's representatives were instead amplified through the military trial."↩
Formosa Incident — Wikipedia — Complete event records: the conflict at the Dagangpu Roundabout on December 10, 1979, the mass arrest on December 13, the military trial starting March 18, 1980, the April 18 verdict (Shi Ming-de life, Huang Hsin-chieh 14 years, Yao Chang Lin Lu Chen Lin 12 years), and the 15 defense lawyers (including Chen Shui-bian, Hsieh Chang-ting, Su Tseng-chang, Chang Chun-hsiung, You Ching, Jiang Peng-jian).↩
Same as [^11], verbatim from the National Human Rights Museum's Formosa Incident entry.↩
Lin Residence Blood Case — Wikipedia — Complete event records of the blood case at Lin Yi-hsiung's residence at No. 16, Lane 31, Section 3, Xinyi Road, Taipei, on February 28, 1980: mother You A-mei and twin daughters Lin Liang-chun and Lin Ting-chun were stabbed to death, eldest daughter Lin Huan-chun was stabbed 6 times but survived due to her backpack protecting her back, Lin Yi-hsiung was then detained in the Jingmei Military Police Detention Center awaiting trial, the case remains unsolved and has passed the 25-year prosecution period. Location confirmed in Taipei, not in Kaohsiung, not in Yilan.↩
Dome of Light at Formosa Boulevard Station — Kaohsiung Metro Corporation — Official architectural data: the Orange Line opened and Formosa Boulevard Station was activated on September 14, 2008; the Dome of Light was hand-painted by Narcissus Quagliata, taking 4.5 years, with a diameter of 30 meters, an area of 660 square meters, and 4,500 pieces of colored glass divided into four zones: earth, water, light, and fire.↩
2010 Kaohsiung City-County Merger — Kaohsiung City Civil Affairs Bureau — Official statistics on the December 25, 2010 city-county merger: the original city's 153 square kilometers plus the county's land area surged to 2,951 square kilometers; the original city's population of 1.52 million was added to the county's total population, reaching 2,774,470.↩
Administrative Divisions of Kaohsiung City — Wikipedia — The complete administrative history of the merger of the original 11 districts of Kaohsiung City and the original 27 townships and cities of Kaohsiung County into 38 districts (including 3 mountain indigenous districts of direct-administered cities: Maolin, Taoyuan, Namaxia).↩
Population Statistics of Fengshan District, Kaohsiung City — Kaohsiung City Civil Affairs Bureau — Official data for 2026 population statistics: Fengshan District has 355,183 people (most), Maolin District has 1,867 people (least).↩
Lower Three Tribes of the Rukai Tribe — Council of Indigenous Peoples — Official ethnic data on the dialect differences of the Lower Three Tribes of the Rukai tribe in the three villages of Maolin, Douna, and Wanshan, and the stone house clusters (most complete in Douna Village).↩
Name Correction of the Laaluwa Tribe and Kanakanavu Tribe — Executive Yuan — Official announcement on June 26, 2014, when the ROC government recognized the Laaluwa Tribe as the 15th indigenous tribe of Taiwan and the Kanakanavu Tribe as the 16th.↩
Origin of the Name of Namaxia District — Namaxia District Office, Kaohsiung City — Official data on the oral history of the legend that the name "Namaxia" comes from a young man named Namaxia who discovered a giant catfish blocking the stream, endangering the tribe, and the tribe named the Zixian Stream after him to commemorate him; the renaming of Sanmin Township to Namaxia Township in 2008; and the upgrade to Namaxia District in 2010.↩
Liu Pui — Hakka Affairs Council — Complete Hakka righteous people history: in 1721, during the Zhu Yigui Incident, Hakka settlers in the Xiashui Stream basin organized self-defense righteous armies, jointly elected Li Zhisan as Grand General, divided into six groups (Liu Pui) to defend their hometown; the correspondence of the Liu Pui divisions (Vanguard, Front, Middle, Rear, Left, Right) to today's administrative districts.↩
Meiaon Anti-Reservoir Movement — Wikipedia — Complete environmental movement history: the first public hearing on the construction of the Meiaon Reservoir by the Meiaon Township Office in late 1992, the 8-year "Small Town vs. Enemy State" movement, the dam site on a fault line destroying the Huangdie Valley ecosystem, and the announcement by Chen Shui-bian after his election on March 18, 2000, that no Meiaon Reservoir would be built during his term.↩
88 Flood — Wikipedia — Detailed records of Typhoon Morakot striking Taiwan on August 8, 2009, and the heavy disaster in the mountains of Kaohsiung County, with Jiaxian Township recording 1,856 millimeters of cumulative rainfall in 72 hours.↩
Xiaolin Village Annihilation — SETN News — Complete review of the disaster: the village annihilation event of Xiaolin Village in Jiaxian Township, Kaohsiung County, during the 2009 88 Flood; over 600 households were wiped out by debris flows, and 474 people were buried alive (including some missing).↩
Love River System — Kaohsiung City Water Resources Bureau — Official water system data: the Love River originates from the Bagualiao Pond in Renwu District, flows through the Kaohsiung urban area, and exits into the sea in Qianzhen District, with a total length of 16.4 kilometers; it was called Dogu River/Kaohsiung River during the Japanese colonial period.↩
History of the Renovation of the Love River — Kaohsiung City Public Works Bureau — Complete renovation timeline: direct discharge of sewage due to the lack of a sewer system during industrialization in the 1960s; preliminary renovation results in 1987 (compared with the Tamsui River); during Mayor Sie Chang-ting's term in 1998, the sewage connection rate rose from 6% to 25%; building waterfront embankments, renovating the Film Library, and introducing the Love Boat.↩
Love River Tourism Transformation — Kaohsiung Picture — Official picture record: the Taiwan Lantern Festival was first held in Kaohsiung in 2001; after the 2000s, the Love River successfully transformed into an important tourist attraction in Kaohsiung, "gradually breaking free from the stereotype of 'Industrial Hub, Cultural Desert'."↩
Weiwuying National Center for the Arts — Wikipedia — Complete data: opened on October 13, 2018; originally the Army New Soldier Training Center (moved out starting in 1979); architect Francine Houben; site area 9.9 hectares, building area 3.3 hectares; 35,000 square meter curved roof assembled with 4,500 aluminum alloy panels, making it the largest comprehensive performance venue under a single roof in the world; Opera House 2,236 seats, Concert Hall 1,981 seats, Drama Theater 1,209 seats, Performance Hall 434 seats; selected for Time magazine's World's Best Places in 2019.↩
Population Statistics of Kaohsiung City — Kaohsiung City Civil Affairs Bureau — Official population statistics for April 2026: population of 2.71 million, third-largest direct-administered city in Taiwan (after New Taipei and Taipei), Fengshan District has the most with 355,000, Maolin District has the least with 1,867.↩
Han Kuo-yu — Wikipedia — Political figure record: defeated Chen Chi-mai with 892,545 votes (53.87% of the vote) in the Nine-合一 Election on November 24, 2018, to be elected the third Mayor of Kaohsiung City; took office on December 25; expressed intention to run for the 2020 Presidential Election in May 2019, sparking criticism of being "indifferent to municipal affairs."↩
2020 Recall of Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu — Wikipedia — Election data: the complete result of the recall vote on June 6, 2020: 939,090 votes in favor, 25,051 votes against, turnout 42.14%; Han Kuo-yu became the first direct-administered city mayor in the Republic of China to be recalled.↩
Records of the Han Recall — The Reporter — The Reporter's in-depth report on the recall, including the headline "The first local chief in Taiwan's history to be recalled" and analysis of the subsequent impact of the recall on Taiwan's democratic system.↩