Taoyuan City: Taiwan's Gateway, Home to the Most Hakka, the Most Migrant Workers — All on This Patch of Tableland

30-second overview: On the evening of November 19, 1977, the 213th polling station in Zhongli City, Taoyuan County, was accused of election fraud. Tens of thousands of people surrounded the Zhongli Substation of the Taoyuan County Police Department. The police fired from an elevated position into the crowd: "In the darkness, the police fired from an elevated position into the crowd, causing National Central University student Chiang Wen-hsiung (from Yuanli) to be shot in the head and die, and another 19-year-old Chang Chih-ping (from Zhongli) also died." Sixteen-year-old Liu Shi-rong was seriously injured. That evening, Hsu Hsin-liang won the election for Taoyuan County Magistrate with 230,000 votes against 140,000 votes, marking the first time in post-war Taiwan that people took to the streets spontaneously. Three months and three months later, on February 26, 1979, Taoyuan Chiang Kai-shek International Airport opened for operation, and Taiwan's external door moved from Keelung Port to this tableland. Another 35 years later, on December 25, 2014, Taoyuan was upgraded to a direct-controlled city, becoming the last of the six cities. Today, 2.35 million people live on this 1,221 square kilometer tableland, with over 800,000 Hakka people — the most in the country — and 132,158 migrant workers — also the most in the country. 44.92 million international travelers pass through this tableland each year. Taoyuan is Taiwan's most diverse boundary.

At 4 AM, the Third Terminal Is Still Under Construction

At 4 AM at Taoyuan Airport's First Terminal, ground crew push luggage carts past the concrete pillars built in 1979. Those gray-white pillars are from the batch that started construction in 1974, completed at the end of 1978, and officially opened at 4 AM on February 26, 1979.

Taiwan's Global Views magazine's 1979 article "Mighty Gate" recorded the description at the time: "The largest international airport in the Far East — Taoyuan Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, after four and a half years of hard work by engineering personnel, has finally borne fruit — officially opened for operation on February 26, opening another modern aerial gateway for our country"¹. The report mentioned that this airport, covering 1,200 hectares, was "larger than Narita Airport near Tokyo, Japan by 135 hectares"¹. 47 years ago, this was the largest in the Far East.

Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2 aerial view. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

47 years later, the Third Terminal is still under construction.

In 2024, Taoyuan Airport handled 44.92 million passengers (92% of the pre-pandemic 2019 figure), with 248,000 flights. It ranks 13th globally in international passenger traffic and 10th in cargo volume². Taiwanese traveling abroad, foreigners coming to Taiwan, business travelers transferring, migrant workers entering Taiwan, and overseas Taiwanese returning home — over 95% of international travelers pass through this tableland.

But this article is about the tableland beneath this airport.

📝 Curator's note: When Taiwanese people mention Taoyuan, the first reaction is usually "airport." But Taoyuan also has the most Hakka people in the country, the most migrant workers, the last direct-controlled city to be upgraded among the six cities, the site of the 1977 Zhongli Incident, 2,800 ponds on the tableland, the traditional territory of the Thao people in Xueshan, and the tombs of the Chiang family — all these identities overlap on this patch of tableland. Talking about Taoyuan as an "airport county" turns it into a transit station. Beneath the transit station is a tableland inhabited by 2.35 million people.

The Last Direct-Controlled City to Be Upgraded

On January 3, 2013, the Executive Yuan's 3,330th council meeting announced "Taoyuan County will be reorganized into a direct-controlled city on December 25, 2014"³. Eleven months later, on December 25, 2014, Christmas Day, Chen Wen-ting held a inauguration ceremony on the square in front of Taoyuan City Government, becoming the first mayor of Taoyuan City.

The order of the six direct-controlled cities is: Taipei in 1967, Kaohsiung in 1979, Xinbei/Taichung/Tainan in 2010, and Taoyuan in 2014. Taoyuan is the last of the six cities. After the upgrade, the original 14 grassroots administrative units were reorganized into 13 direct-controlled city districts: Taoyuan, Zhongli, Pingzhen, Bade, Yangmei, Daxi, Luzhu, Guishan, Longtan, Daquan, Guanyin, Xinwu, Xingfeng³. Area 1,220.9540 square kilometers, population 2,356,795 in April 2026, with the highest population growth rate in Taiwan for several consecutive years³.

The name "Taoyuan" is much older than the direct-controlled city. During the Qianlong era, Hokkien immigrants like Xue Qilong came to settle, and because of the widespread peach trees, it was called "Peach Orchard." The Taiwan Prefecture Gazetteer in 1774 already recorded "Peach Orchard Village." It wasn't until the Japanese colonial period in 1920 that it was officially renamed "Taoyuan."³ From the Qing Dynasty's "Peach Orchard" to 2014's "Taoyuan City," this name has lived for 240 years.

The Day the Zhongli Substation Caught Fire

37 years after the upgrade, this tableland once experienced an election that changed modern Taiwanese history.

November 19, 1977 was election day. The 213th polling station in Zhongli City, Taoyuan County was set up at Zhongli Elementary School. The election supervisor Fan Qiang Xinglin (then principal of Zhongli Elementary School) was accused by witnesses like Qiu Yibin of election fraud, deliberately invalidating the votes of independent candidate Hsu Hsin-liang⁴. Prosecutor Liao Hongming's handling was to transfer the witness Qiu Yibin to the police station, allowing the accused election supervisor to continue on duty.

The news spread, and hundreds of people came to the polling station to protest. By evening, over 10,000 people surrounded the Zhongli Substation of the Taoyuan County Police Department⁴. At 7 PM, the police fired tear gas at the crowd. In the darkness, they fired from an elevated position: "In the darkness, the police fired from an elevated position into the crowd, causing National Central University student Chiang Wen-hsiung (from Yuanli) to be shot in the head and die, and another 19-year-old Chang Chih-ping (from Zhongli) also died"⁴, 16-year-old Liu Shi-rong was seriously injured. The crowd burned down the Zhongli Substation.

The election results were announced that night. Hsu Hsin-liang won the election for Taoyuan County Magistrate with "230,000 votes against 140,000 votes"⁴, "defeating the Kuomintang-nominated Ou Xian-yu by nearly 100,000 votes" (reporter's words)⁵. In the same "five-in-one election," the independent camp won 4 seats for county/city mayors, 21 seats for provincial councilors, and 146 seats for county/city councilors.

Hsu Hsin-liang said these words in an interview 40 years later: "Even if there was fraud, I could still win. I'm full of confidence." "Catch the big fish first, there were many secret agents in Zhongli at the time. If I didn't leave, I would definitely be controlled immediately." "I went to shake hands with the police, they all bowed their heads when they saw me, and some even spat saliva. But they couldn't do anything to me, I had already been elected county magistrate."⁵

The Zhongli Incident was the first time in post-war Taiwan that people spontaneously took to the streets to protest election fraud. From the 228 Incident in 1947 to the Zhongli Incident in 1977, for thirty years, the Taiwanese people did not take to the streets again. After the Zhongli Substation caught fire, the Bridgehead Incident in January 1979 and the Beautiful Island Incident on December 10, 1979 followed.

📝 Curator's note: The common narrative is "the Beautiful Island Incident started Taiwan's democratization." This narrative misses the two years of the Zhongli Incident. Let's get the causality right: the moment the Zhongli Substation caught fire on November 19, 1977 was the starting point of the post-war popular movement in Taiwan, and the Beautiful Island Incident in 1979 was its downstream. Zhongli Elementary School, Zhongli Junior High School, and Zhongli Substation — these place names today on Google Maps are where Zhongli people have lunch, pick up their kids, and ride through. But on the evening of November 19, 1977, these places were the physical coordinates of the independent movement in Taiwan. Chiang Wen-hsiung was 22 years old, Chang Chih-ping was 19 years old, Liu Shi-rong was 16 years old.

Three months and three months after the Zhongli Substation caught fire, on February 26, 1979, Taoyuan Chiang Kai-shek International Airport opened for operation, and Taiwan's external door moved from Keelung Port to this tableland¹. Terminal 2 opened in 2000, and in 2006, "Chiang Kai-shek International Airport" was renamed "Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport"⁶. On March 2, 2017, the airport MRT officially opened, with a total length of 51.95 kilometers, the longest in Taiwan⁷. It takes 38 minutes from Taipei Station to Terminal 2.

Over 800,000 Hakka People, Lining Up Along the Southern Edge of the Tableland

Driving 20 minutes south from the airport brings you to Zhongli.

Zhongli District is the second most populous district in Taoyuan City, with about 50% of the Hakka population. The total Hakka population in Taoyuan City was surveyed by the Council for Cultural and Educational Promotion to be close to 800,000, and the China Times reported in 2022 that it was "over 850,000"⁸, conservatively speaking "over 800,000", making Taoyuan the county/city with the most Hakka people in the country.

Xinwu Fan Jiang Ancestral Hall. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

The Hakka line up along the southern edge of the tableland: Zhongli, Pingzhen, Longtan, Yangmei, Xinwu, Guanyin — the six districts in southern Taoyuan, forming the largest Hakka settlement belt on Taiwan's main island. Hakka immigrants from Miaoli moved northward, crossed the Fengshan River, Zhuanye River, and Hsinchu Plain, and finally settled on the southern edge of the Taoyuan tableland. In 1751 (the 16th year of Qianlong), the five Fan Jiang brothers crossed the sea from Guangdong Huiyang to Taiwan. In 1855 (the 5th year of Xianfeng), they built the ancestral hall to welcome the ancestral spirits from Guangdong. The residents call it "starting a new house", and these four words later became the origin of the name "Xinwu"⁹. The Pingzhen Baozhong Temple (Yimin Temple) is even older, built in the 56th year of Qianlong (1791), dedicated to Yimin Ye, housing the first gold statue of Yimin Ye in Taiwan⁹.

Taoyuan's Hakka people are not only in the interior. Xinwu and Guanyin districts are the only coastal areas in Taiwan dominated by Hakka villages. Yong'an Fishing Port is "the only fishing port in Taiwan dominated by Hakka villages"¹⁰. The reef groups in Xinwu District are the most numerous and complete in Taiwan's main island, with about 10 of them, of which 3 are still in use by fishermen today¹⁰. The term "Hai Hakka" describes the Hakka fishermen in Guanyin and Xinwu: on the coast dominated by Hakka villages, they developed "fishing nets, reefs, and blowing sea snails" and other marine Hakka cultures¹⁰.

📝 Curator's note: The common narrative ties "Hakka" with "mountain areas," "tea leaves," "tea tasting," and "stubbornness," like the image of Miaoli and Xie Mei in Hsinchu. Taoyuan's Hakka people went further south than the Minnan people: from the northern six townships of Miaoli moving northward to Taoyuan tableland's southern edge, and then crossing the tableland to Guanyin and Xinwu's coastlines. The physical evidence of "Hai Hakka" at Yong'an Fishing Port and Xinwu Reefs still exists today. Thinking of Hakka people as only living in the mountains misses this uniqueness of Taoyuan.

Zhongli Train Station: A Showcase of Dozens of Nations

At the east exit of Zhongli Station, in front of the station.

Looking up from the street, one sees signs in Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, and Tagalog. This area—the "Taoyuan migrant worker district"—is one of Taiwan's largest concentrations of migrant workers, featuring convenience stores, restaurants, remittance agencies, hair salons, and karaoke bars.

In the 1990s, the Taiwanese government began allowing foreign migrant workers to enter for work. Zhongli was initially a major hub for Thai migrant workers, originally called "Thai Street"¹¹. After the 2000s, the migrant worker structure changed, with Vietnamese and Indonesian restaurants outnumbering Thai ones. Today, around both ends of Zhongli Station (the area encompassing Yuanhua Road, Zhongping Road, and Xinxing Road), there are over a hundred Southeast Asian shops and vendors¹¹.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Labor in 2023: "At the end of Year 112 [2023], the number of migrant workers in Taoyuan City reached 132,158, accounting for 17.5% of the national total of 753,430, ranking first nationwide" ¹². Industrial migrants totaled 111,885 (the highest nationally), primarily Vietnamese; social welfare migrants numbered about 20,000, mainly Indonesian; and manufacturing migrants accounted for 103,513 of Taoyuan's industrial workers, making up 92.5% of the total. For every six migrant workers in Taiwan, one lives in Taoyuan.

Why Taoyuan? A reporter from Kaohsiung University interviewed an elderly resident of Zhongli who said: "Thirty years ago, front of Zhongli Train Station was a world for soldiers. When brothers from Hukou and Pingzhen military bases came to Zhongli on leave, they would travel here to shop; later, after the government downsized the military, migrant workers replaced the troops as factories hired them."¹³

This statement compresses three periods of history. After the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan in 1949, Taoyuan was a concentration point for large air force bases (Black Cat Squadron secretly established at the Taoyuan Air Base in 1961 ¹⁴) and army units (Hukou and Pingzhen military areas). In 1984, there were 888 dependent villages registered by the Ministry of National Defense; Taoyuan had 87, second only to Taipei's 175 ¹⁵. In the 1990s, as the government downsized the military and Taoyuan's tableland industrialized, industrial zones in Guanyin, Luzhu, and Zhongli were developed sequentially, requiring labor for factories. "Over a third of Taiwan's top 500 manufacturing companies established plants in Taoyuan," and its industrial output was "number one nationwide for consecutive years" ¹⁶. After the migrant worker policy opened in the 1990s, factory-hired migrants replaced the diminishing military personnel. The Southeast Asian commercial area in front of Zhongli Station is the most physical manifestation of this structure.

✦ "At the end of Year 112 [2023], the number of migrant workers in Taoyuan City reached 132,158, accounting for 17.5% of the national total of 753,430, ranking first nationwide." (Taoyuan City Government press release verbatim ¹²)

The Reservoir Rises 133.1 Meters, 2,800 Ponds Hidden Beneath the Tableland

The water on Taoyuan tableland has never been evenly distributed.

On June 14, 1964, Vice President Chen Cheng presided over the completion ceremony of Shimen Reservoir¹⁷. The dam height is 133.1 meters, the total storage capacity is 309,120,000 cubic meters, and at that time it was "the largest reservoir in the Far East"¹⁷. The construction cost was "about NT$3.2 billion, including NT$1.9 billion in aid from the United States"¹⁷. Starting from 1954, it took 8 years to prepare and construct, mobilizing over 7,500 people. Shimen Reservoir is located at the junction of Longtan District and Daxi and Xingfeng Districts in Taoyuan City. Shimen Grand Canal was completed in June 1964, irrigating 22,000 hectares of farmland.

Shimen Reservoir. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, [CC BY-SA via Wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shihmen_Reservoir(0275)._

Before the reservoir was built, Taoyuan tableland relied on ponds.

Global Views magazine's "Land of a Thousand Ponds" recorded this passage: "As the plane slowly descends at Taoyuan Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, what comes into view is a series of mirrors shining brightly. This patchwork of ponds (i.e., ponds) spread across the Taoyuan tableland is a water conservancy project that witnessed the transformation of wasteland into fertile land. Its size and density are rare in the world."¹⁸

The geographical origin of Taoyuan tableland is like this: the Dahan River originally flowed through Taoyuan tableland northward, 30,000 years ago there was a river capture: the Dahan River's water was stolen by the Tamsui River system, changing its course to flow eastward into the Taipei Basin. The tableland lost its main water source and became a dry highland¹⁸. Settlers could only dig ponds to store rainwater. "One pond represents a system of production, life, and ecology." (words from Professor Chen Qi-peng of Zhongyuan University)¹⁸

Before the great drought of 1913, Taoyuan tableland had over 10,000 ponds at its peak. In the early days of the Japanese colonial period, "Taoyuan County had 6,685 ponds, the highest density in Taiwan"¹⁸. Taoyuan Grand Canal started construction in 1916 and was completed in 1924, connecting these ponds. With 285 ponds and a storage capacity of 34 million tons, it was equivalent to 1/3 of Shimen Reservoir's storage capacity. After Shimen Reservoir was completed in 1964, some ponds' functions were replaced, and many ponds were filled in:

"In the past 30 years, due to urban and commercial development, the ponds in Taoyuan that once numbered over 10,000 have been filled in one by one, and now only 2,800 remain"¹⁸.

From over 10,000 to 2,800, but 2,800 are still there. Today, when you look down from the window of a plane landing at Taoyuan Airport, those reflective small mirrors are the remnants of over 200 years of water culture. Beneath the airport are ponds.

The Battlefield of Bingzhu, Ci Lake, and Thao Mountain

Ponds are older than wars. But Taoyuan tableland has also been a battlefield.

On May 29, 1895, the Japanese army landed at Keelung Port and occupied Taipei by the end of June. Moving south from Taipei, every kilometer encountered resistance from Hakka militia. On July 12, 1895, the Battle of Sanjiaojing (now Sanxia in New Taipei City) — the Japanese army's 35-person supply convoy was almost completely wiped out by the ambush at Long'en Burial Mound, and another 894-person unit was ambushed at Fenghuo Pass, "the fiercest battle after the Japanese army entered Taipei"¹⁹.

On the same day, July 12, the battlefield moved to Taoyuan Daxi. The Battle of Dacangkeng (1895/07/12–16) took place on the bank of the Dahan River in today's Daxi District, Taoyuan City, with about 1,000 Hakka militia led by Wu Sheng Jiang Guohui²⁰. The Japanese army's important supporting units were ambushed by the militia when crossing the Dahan River, fighting for several days, and only four people escaped by pretending to be beggars. Later, the Japanese army reinforced and captured Dacangkeng, burning the village. One of the "Three Heroes of Anti-Japanese Resistance," Jiang Shaohu (1877–1895), of Hakka descent from Lufeng County, Guangdong, and Beipu in Hsinchu, at the age of only 19, rallied hundreds of villagers to resist the Japanese. Together with Wu Tingxing and Xu Xiang, they were known as "the Three Heroes of Hakka Anti-Japanese Resistance." On July 9, 1895, after the fall of Hsinchu City, he was captured, refused to surrender and died by poisoning himself, at the age of only 19²⁰.

19 years old. The 19-year-old Jiang Shaohu in July 1895, the 19-year-old Chang Chih-ping in November 1977, and the 22-year-old Chiang Wen-hsiung. These three numbers stand side by side, representing young people from different centuries who died in this area.

Daxi was called Dacangkeng at the time. In the late Qing Dynasty, it was the uppermost port of the Tamsui River system. After the opening of Wuhe Port in 1863, Dacangkeng became the most inland trade port in Taiwan, a center for the distribution of tea leaves, camphor, and timber²¹. In 1919, the Japanese colonial government's "City Area Improvement" plan stipulated that "stores must adopt 'Baroque-style' architecture... Chen Wang-lai and Chen San-chuan, who often used clipping and Italian burning for temple decorations, applied them to the facade of arcade houses"²¹. ⚠️ Strictly speaking, this is "Taiwanese-style Western arcade houses" rather than authentic European Baroque²¹, but it has been commonly called "Baroque" by convention. It was listed as a historic site for preservation in 1985.

The other half of Taoyuan is the mountainous area. Xingfeng District is the largest and least populous of Taoyuan's 13 districts, with an area of about 351 square kilometers, accounting for 2/7 of Taoyuan City's total area²². The population is only 13,000, with "about 70% being indigenous people, mainly the Thao people"²², making it the township/district with the largest Thao population in Taiwan. Lala Mountain (Daguanshan) in the Thao language means "R'ra" meaning "beautiful, admirable, and watching over the horizon"²². In 1975, the government changed its name to Daguanshan, and from the 2000s onwards, it gradually restored the commonly used name "Lala Mountain."

Lala Mountain. Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA via Wikimedia.

Another historical trace in Xingfeng District is unrelated to the Thao people: Ci Lake. In 1955, the Lin family of Pingtung donated the land to the government for free. Chiang Kai-shek thought the scenery was similar to his hometown Fenghua in Zhejiang and stayed there. On June 13, 1959, the Jingkou Guesthouse was completed, and Chiang Kai-shek named it "Ci Lake," missing his mother Mrs. Wang²³. On April 5, 1975, Chiang Kai-shek passed away, and his coffin was moved to Ci Lake Mausoleum. On January 13, 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo passed away, and was buried at Daxi Mausoleum on January 30. In 2006, the "Chiang Family Cultural Park" was established, and the Ci Lake Memorial Sculpture Park "collected all the Chiang Kai-shek statues removed from the 'anti-Chiang' movement across the country"²³, "the only memorial park in Taiwan established with a single person's statue"²³.

📝 Curator's note: Treating Xingfeng District as "Taoyuan's scenic back garden" is a misunderstanding from the perspective of the plains. Looking down from Lala Mountain, the prosperity of the 12 districts in the plains is just another half of Taoyuan. The other half is the life of the indigenous people in the 1 district of the mountains. The Thao people have lived in this mountain range for a thousand years. In the 1930s, their tattoo culture was suppressed by the Japanese colonial government. After 1949, Chiang Kai-shek built Ci Lake in the mountains below, and in 1975, he died and was buried here. The tomb of an foreign supreme leader is right next to the traditional territory of the Thao people who have lived here for a thousand years. Today, the "Ci Lake Memorial Sculpture Park" houses all the Chiang Kai-shek statues removed from the "anti-Chiang" movement across the country. This land, in its own way, simultaneously houses symbols of authoritarianism and indigenous traditional territories.

The First Flight Is About to Take Off

Let's go back to the opening scene.

At 4 AM at Taoyuan Airport's First Terminal, the ground crew push luggage carts past the concrete pillars from 1979. 47 years ago, on the day this airport opened, it was "the largest in the Far East." 47 years later, its passenger ranking dropped to 13th globally. The Third Terminal is still under construction.

But the tableland beneath this airport has a story far richer than the airport's expansion history over these 47 years. On the evening of November 19, 1977, the Zhongli Substation caught fire, 22-year-old Chiang Wen-hsiung and 19-year-old Chang Chih-ping fell to the ground, and it was the first time in post-war Taiwan that people spontaneously took to the streets. Taoyuan was the scene. Even earlier, in July 1895, 19-year-old Jiang Shaohu refused to surrender and died by poisoning, Jiang Guohui set up an ambush with 1,000 militia at Dacangkeng, and Wu Tingxing marched north from Miaoli to resist the Japanese. Later, in the 1990s, after the government opened the door to migrant workers, the Southeast Asian commercial district in front of Zhongli Station grew up. Even deeper, 30,000 years ago, the Dahan River was stolen by the Tamsui River system, Taoyuan tableland became dry, and settlers dug over 10,000 ponds to store water. In 1964, Shimen Reservoir rose 133.1 meters.

This patch of Taoyuan tableland, 1,221 square kilometers, 2.35 million people, 13 districts: 12 districts in the plains plus Xingfeng Mountain. Over 800,000 Hakka people — the most in the country. 132,158 migrant workers — also the most in the country. 44.92 million international travelers pass through each year²³⁸¹².

Next time you take a plane and land at Taoyuan Airport, if it's a sunny day, look down from the window. You will see those reflective small mirrors on the tableland surface — the 2,800 ponds that remain from over 200 years of water culture. When landing and taxiing southward, the more densely packed buildings below are Zhongli — the core of the Hakka villages, the gathering place of migrant workers, and the historical site of 1977.

Beneath the airport are ponds. Beneath the ponds is the Bingzhu battlefield of 1895. Beneath the battlefield is the land where the Thao and Plains groups have lived for a thousand years. Taiwan's gateway, the most Hakka people, and the most migrant workers — all on this patch of tableland. Taoyuan is the busiest boundary between this island and the world, and also the most diverse geographical overlay of the island's own ethnic groups.

Next time you think of Taoyuan, don't just think of the airport. Think of the Vietnamese rice noodle shop in front of Zhongli Station, the reef groups in Xinwu, the Hakka old settlements submerged under Shimen Reservoir's water surface in Longtan, the watermelons and Thao tattoo culture in Lala Mountain in Xingfeng District, and the red brick facades of arcade houses on Daxi Old Street in 1919. All of this is on the same patch of tableland.

Extended Reading

• Keelung City — 22 Cities Series pilot: In 1979, when Taoyuan Airport opened, Taiwan's external door moved from Keelung Port to Taoyuan, and Keelung Port dropped from 7th to 113th in the world
• Hsinchu County — Neighboring county of the southern edge of Taoyuan Hakka: In 1895, Jiang Shaohu set off from Beipu in Hsinchu to participate in the Battle of Dacangkeng
• Hsinchu City — Together with Taoyuan, it forms the center of the northern Hakka distribution belt. In 1875, the Taoyuan area was placed under Hsinchu County
• Miaoli County — Sibling in the 22 Cities Series batch 1: The starting point of Hakka immigrants moving northward to Taoyuan. Wu Tingxing moved north to resist the Japanese in 1895
• Nantou County — 22 Cities Series batch 3: The only county not on the coast vs. Taoyuan's tableland gateway, a contrast of two kinds of "boundaries"
• Hakka Culture and Language — Over 800,000 Hakka people in Taoyuan, the most in the country
• Migrant Workers — 132,158 migrant workers in Taoyuan, the most in the country
• Battle of Bingzhu — Jiang Shaohu, Wu Tingxing, and Jiang Guohui in the 1895 Dacangkeng Hakka resistance against Japan
• Chiang Kai-shek — Died in 1975 and was buried at Ci Lake in Daxi, Taoyuan. Today, the Ci Lake Memorial Sculpture Park houses all the Chiang Kai-shek statues removed from across the country

Image Sources

This article uses 4 Wikimedia Commons CC-licensed images, hot-linked from the Wikimedia upload server:

• Hero (frontmatter) + Scene §At 4 AM, the Third Terminal Is Still Under Construction: Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 2 — Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 4.0. The external door of Taiwan opened in 1979, the physical site where 44.92 million passengers passed through in 2024.
• Scene §Over 800,000 Hakka People: Xinwu Fan Jiang Ancestral Hall — Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 3.0. Built by the Fan Jiang clan in 1855, "starting a new house" is where the name "Xinwu" comes from, a Taoyuan City Historic Site.
• Scene §The Reservoir Rises 133.1 Meters: Shimen Reservoir — Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 3.0. Completed in 1964, the largest reservoir in the Far East, with a dam height of 133.1 meters.
• Scene §Battlefield, Ci Lake, Thao Mountain: Lala Mountain — Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 4.0. Thao language "R'ra" means "beautiful, admirable, and watching over the horizon." Located at the junction of Xingfeng District, Taoyuan and Wulai District, New Taipei City.

License: CC BY-SA 3.0 / CC BY-SA 4.0.

⚠️ Some image links are Wikimedia Commons category page placeholders, which will be replaced with specific high-resolution files in subsequent polish sessions.

References