History of Taipei
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Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1875 | 38,000 | — |
1905 | 74,415 | +95.8% |
1920 | 162,782 | +118.7% |
1935 | 274,157 | +68.4% |
1958 | 715,000 | +160.8% |
1972 | 1,890,760 | +164.4% |
1980 | 2,220,427 | +17.4% |
1990 | 2,719,659 | +22.5% |
2000 | 2,646,474 | −2.7% |
2010 | 2,618,772 | −1.0% |
2020 | 2,602,418 | −0.6% |
Sources: 1875[1] 1905-1935 [2] 1958 [3] 1972 [4] 1980 [5] 1985-2020 "Populations by city and country in Taiwan". Ministry of the Interior. |
The recorded history of Taipei began with the
First settlement
The region known as the Taipei basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the 18th century. Han Chinese began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709.
By the late 19th century, the area of present-day Taipei was home to northern Taiwan's major Han settlements, in addition to the government-designated foreign trade port of
First Chinese official development
In 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from
In 1885, work started to create an independent Fokien-Taiwan Province, which was officially declared in 1887. The capital of the island, or Taiwan-fu, was intended to be moved from the south to the center of the island, but was temporarily moved north to Taipeh.[8]
The temporary capital of the new province was placed at Taipehfu. No sooner had this been decided upon than the city began to assume a new appearance, reflecting the energetic spirit of the governor. In 1885, the work of reconstruction commenced. A substantial wall was built to surround the city, streets were rearranged and paved with stone. A capacious yamen was constructed and the streets lit with electricity; this, we believe, being the first instance of the official adoption of electricity in any part of the empire. It was later found, however, that the system was too expensive, and, with the exception of the yamen, which continued to be thus illuminated, the lights were withdrawn.
— J. W. Davidson, [9]
A new railway connecting the cities of Keelung and Taipeh (see Taiwan Railways Administration) became the earliest railroad system in China. However it did not achieve the original intent of connecting the new provincial capital in central Taiwan to a coastal port such as Keelung in the north due to construction delays. The authorities also had difficulty subduing the aboriginal population in central Taiwan. Taipeh remained the provincial capital until the Japanese takeover in 1895.
Japanese rule and leadership
As settlement for losing the Sino-Japanese War, China ceded the entire island of Taiwan to Japan in 1895. During the Japanese era, Taipei, called Taihoku in Japanese, emerged as the political center of the Japanese Colonial Government. In less than a decade after the cession, Taihoku was one of the few places in the island that had already gone from a thoroughly Chinese appearance to "a thoroughly Japanese city in every respect."[10] Much of the architecture of Taipei dates from the Japanese era, including the Presidential Building which was the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan.
In the early 20th century, a multitude of names were used to refer to the city and its suburbs. Taihoku proper was the part of the city within the city walls; the population was about 9,000,
In 1901, Taihoku Chō (臺北廳) was one of twenty districts established, and with a population of over 294,000, was the most populous district in the 1904 census.[14] Taihoku was incorporated in 1920 as part of Taihoku Prefecture. It included Bangkah (now Wanhua), Twatutia, and Jōnai (城內) among other small settlements. The eastern village Matsuyama (松山庄, now Songshan and Xinyi District) was annexed into Taihoku City in 1938.
Nationalist rule
Upon the Japanese defeat in the
On December 7, 1949, the Kuomintang (KMT) government under Chiang Kai-shek established Taipei as the provisional capital of the ROC after the Communists forced them to flee mainland China. Taipei was also the capital of Taiwan Province until the 1956 when the provincial administration was moved to Chunghsing Village in central Taiwan. However, the PRC does not recognize this move and still regards Taipei as the provincial capital of Taiwan.
As approved on December 30, 1966 by Executive Yuan, Taipei became a centrally administered municipality on July 1, 1967. In the following year, Taipei City expanded again by annexing Shilin, Beitou, Neihu, Nangang, Jingmei and Muzha. In 1990, 16 districts in Taipei City were consolidated into the current 12 districts.
New Taipei residents
After the 1990s, after two decades of building urban underground railway transit, highways, and the early Taipei Metro network, infrastructure such as bus lanes had to be completed to relieve pressure on traffic. In addition, Taipei has continued to construct a more convenient environment for humanities and education, and gradually establish develop towards a diverse, service-based economy. The security crisis of Pai Hsiao-yen's 1997 murder, the collapse of the East Star Building in the 921 earthquake events of 1999, 2001 loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in Typhoon Nari, 2002 drought, and water crisis of the 2003 SARS crisis and other major events have not affected Taipei's international process.
With Taipei 101 as its main landmark, Xinyi District has become the premier central business district of Taipei. On the other hand, while actively internationalizing, Taipei began to have traditional architecture. After 2000, paying attention to the content and quality of culture of Taiwan, Taipei began to promote a culture of equality and rights to reproduce historical memory, emphasizing traditional common people, promoting cultural industries and learning, releasing Taipei government resources, and creating a new culture for the Taipei metropolis.
See also
References
- ^ 李瑞麟 (1973). 臺灣都市之形成與發展. 《臺灣銀行季刊》.24(3):1-29, 表2, 頁7.
- ^ 章英華 (1997). 〈臺灣的都市體系——從清到日治〉. 《臺灣的都市社會》. 臺北: 巨流出版社.
- ^ 陳天祥 (1959). 臺灣地誌. 臺北: 敷明產業地理研究所.
- ^ 蔡青龍 (1982). 臺灣地區都市人口之成長與分佈. 社會科學整合論文集. 臺北: 中央研究院三民主義研究所.
- ^ 行政院經濟建設委員會都市及住宅發展處 (1980). 都市及區域發展統計彙編. 臺北.
- ^ Davidson (1903), p. 211.
- ^ Davidson (1903), p. 281. identified as "Liu [sic] Wei yuan", see 林維源
- ^ Davidson (1903), pp. 244–5: "As a result of these changes and additions, the seat of government (which had been formerly at the old town of Taiwan-fu in the south, which city had been in turn the capital of the Dutch, Koxinga, and the Chinese,) was now removed temporarily to the new city of Taipeh, which had been lately in course of construction...In connection with this, it is necessary to go further and explain that it was the intention of the government to build a new capital city in the centre of the island near Changwha."
- ^ Davidson (1903), pp. 246–7.
- ^ Davidson (1903), p. 593-4.
- ^ Takekoshi (1907), p. 200.
- OL 25302448M.
- ^ Goto, Y. (2018, July). Comparative Study about the City Planning Systems in Taiwan (for the Years 1895–1945) and Korea (for the Years 1912–1945) under Japanese Rule. The 18th International Planning History Society Conference, Yokohama.
- ^ Takekoshi (1907), p. 199.