Taitung City

Taitung City
Taitung City
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	臺東市 or 台東市
Simplified Chinese	台东市
Literal meaning	Eastern Taiwan
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Táidōng Shì
Bopomofo	[ㄊㄞˊ ㄉㄨㄥㄕˋ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (help)
Gwoyeu Romatzyh	Tairdong Shyh
Wade–Giles	Tʻai²-tung¹ Shih⁴
Tongyong Pinyin	Táidong Shìh
Yale Romanization	Táidūng Shr̀
MPS2	Táidūng Shr̀
IPA	[tʰǎɪ.tʊ́ŋ ʂɻ̩̂]
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	Thòi-tûng-sṳ
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Tòihdùng Síh or; Tòihdūng Síh
Jyutping	Toi4dung1 Si5
IPA	[tʰɔj˩.tʊŋ˥˧ si˩˧] or; [tʰɔj˩.tʊŋ˥ si˩˧]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	Tâi-tang-chhī
Tâi-lô	Tâi-tang-tshī
Japanese name
Kanji	台東市
Kana	たいとうし
Kyūjitai	臺東市
Romanization
Transcriptions
Romanization	Taitō-shi

Taitung

臺東市
Taitō
Taitung 臺東市 Taitō
County-administered city
	Taitung City
	View of Taitung City
	Etymology: Taitō (Japanese: 臺東, Taiwan east)
	Nickname: 東市 (Eastern City)
	Taitung Location in the Republic of China
	Coordinates: 22°45′30″N 121°08′40″E / 22.75833°N 121.14444°E
Country	Republic of China (Taiwan)
County	Taitung
Government
• Mayor	Chang Kuo-chou (張國洲)
Area
• Total	109.7691 km2 (42.3821 sq mi)
Population (February 2023)
• Total	103,260
• Density	940/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
Website	www.taitungcity.gov.tw (in Chinese)

Taitung City (Chinese: 臺東市; pinyin: Táidōng Shì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-tang-chhī) is a county-administered city and the county seat of Taitung County, Taiwan. It lies on the southeast coast of Taiwan facing the Pacific Ocean. Taitung City is the most populous subdivision of Taitung County and it is one of the major cities on the east coast of the island.

Taitung City is served by Taitung Airport. Taitung is a gateway to Green Island and Orchid Island, both of which are popular tourist destinations.

History

Before the 16th century the Taitung plain was settled by agriculturalist Puyuma and Amis aboriginal tribes. Under Dutch rule and during Qing rule, a large part of eastern Taiwan, including today's Taitung, was called "Pi-lam" (Chinese: 卑南; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pi-lâm). Many artifacts of the prehistory sites of the city are located at Beinan Cultural Park, which was discovered in 1980 during the construction of Taitung Station.

In the late 19th century, when Liu Mingchuan was the Qing Governor of Taiwan, Han Chinese settlers moved into the Taitung region. Pi-lam Subprefecture (卑南廳) was established in 1875, and was upgraded and renamed to Taitung Prefecture in 1888, after the island was made Fujian-Taiwan Province.^[2]

Japanese rule

Map of Taitung (labeled as TAITŌ) and surrounding area (1944)

During Japanese rule, the central settlement was called Nankyō Village (南鄉新街). Taitō Chō (臺東廳) was one of twenty local administrative offices established in 1901. English-language works from the era refer to the place as Pinan (from Japanese) and Pilam (from Hokkien).^[3] Taitō Town was established in 1920 under Taitō Prefecture, and included modern Taitung City and eastern Beinan Township. There were no Americans living here during the Japanese rule.^{[citation needed]}

Post-war

Map of the region including Taitung (labeled as T'ai-tung (Taitō) 臺東) (1951)

After handover of Taiwan from Japan to the ROC in 1945, it became Taitung Township and in 1948 it was promoted to Taitung City.

City government

Taitung City government is headquartered at Taitung City Hall which takes the responsibility for the city general administration and all of its other affairs, from folk, education, cultural popularization, negotiation, emergency help, disaster prevention, environmental taxation, cleaning control, finance, public property control, tellership, taxing help, farming and fishing control, wholesale products, marketing and business administration, urban planning, public establishment, tourism, community development, army service administration, welfare, national health insurance program and indigenous administration affairs.

Departments

Civil Affair Section
Financial Section
Construction Section
Labor Affair Section
Social and Army Service Section
Aboriginal Administration Section
Administration Section
Personnel Office
Budget, Accounting and Statistics Office
Ethics Section^[4]

Climate

Taitung has a tropical monsoon climate, with a wet season from May to October, a dry season from November to April, and consistently very warm to hot temperatures with high humidity. Unlike most tropical climates, however, the dry season is foggy rather than sunny, so that moisture availability during this period is greater than the low rainfall and warm temperatures would suggest. The highest record of temperature of Taiwan was recorded in Taitung on May 9, 2004, with temperatures peaking above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in Taiwan's recorded history.

Climate data for Taitung City (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1901–present）
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	32.7 (90.9)	34.0 (93.2)	37.4 (99.3)	38.2 (100.8)	40.2 (104.4)	39.5 (103.1)	39.0 (102.2)	39.3 (102.7)	37.8 (100.0)	38.5 (101.3)	33.3 (91.9)	30.8 (87.4)	40.2 (104.4)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	23.2 (73.8)	23.8 (74.8)	25.4 (77.7)	27.8 (82.0)	30.0 (86.0)	31.8 (89.2)	32.6 (90.7)	32.2 (90.0)	31.3 (88.3)	29.4 (84.9)	27.1 (80.8)	24.3 (75.7)	28.2 (82.8)
Daily mean °C (°F)	19.7 (67.5)	20.2 (68.4)	21.8 (71.2)	24.1 (75.4)	26.4 (79.5)	28.3 (82.9)	29.1 (84.4)	28.8 (83.8)	27.7 (81.9)	25.8 (78.4)	23.6 (74.5)	20.8 (69.4)	24.7 (76.4)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	17.1 (62.8)	17.5 (63.5)	19.0 (66.2)	21.3 (70.3)	23.7 (74.7)	25.5 (77.9)	26.2 (79.2)	26.1 (79.0)	25.0 (77.0)	23.2 (73.8)	21.1 (70.0)	18.3 (64.9)	22.0 (71.6)
Record low °C (°F)	7.2 (45.0)	7.5 (45.5)	9.7 (49.5)	11.6 (52.9)	15.9 (60.6)	17.1 (62.8)	20.5 (68.9)	20.9 (69.6)	18.3 (64.9)	15.2 (59.4)	9.3 (48.7)	8.9 (48.0)	7.2 (45.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	33.1 (1.30)	40.7 (1.60)	36.5 (1.44)	64.8 (2.55)	138.3 (5.44)	201.9 (7.95)	250.2 (9.85)	316.4 (12.46)	295.6 (11.64)	215.0 (8.46)	99.3 (3.91)	45.8 (1.80)	1,737.6 (68.4)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	8.4	9.1	9.3	10.9	14.4	11.5	10.1	11.7	12.8	9.9	8.6	8.4	125.1
Average relative humidity (%)	71.5	72.9	73.3	75.2	77.3	77.3	76.0	76.6	76.3	72.6	72.1	70.7	74.3
Mean monthly sunshine hours	93.7	85.1	102.1	116.8	148.0	210.2	253.2	223.5	173.1	157.3	122.2	98.6	1,783.8
Source: Central Weather Bureau^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Administrative divisions

Wenhua, Minzu, Zijiang, Minsheng, Baosang, Minquan, Siwei, Zhonghua, Renai, Jiangguo, Datong, Chenggong, Jianguo, Zhongzheng, Zhongshan, Xingguo, Tiehua, Tunghai, Fuguo, Fuxing, Xinxing, Xinsheng, Zhongxin, Malan, Guangming, Fengnian, Fengle, Yongle, Kangle, Fengrong, Fenggu, Fengli, Fengyuan, Fugang, Fufeng, Nanrong, Yanwan, Beinan, Nanwang, Fengtian, Xinyuan, Jianhe, Jianxing, Jianye, Zhiben and Jiannong Village.