This article is about Hsinchu City. For the neighboring county with the same name, see Hsinchu County.
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (September 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:新竹市]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|zh|新竹市}} to the talk page.
Hsinchu ([I]Chinese: 新竹; pinyin: Xīnzhú) is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan that is not a special municipality, with estimated 450,655 inhabitants.[3] Hsinchu is a coastal city bordering the Taiwan Strait to the west, Hsinchu County to the north and east, and Miaoli County to the south. Hsinchu is nicknamed the Windy City for its strong northeastern monsoon during the autumn and winter seasons.[4]
The area was originally settled by the AustronesianTaiwanese indigenous peoples, with the settlement being named "Tek-kham" by the Hoklo immigrants. The city was founded by Han Chinese settlers in 1711, and renamed "Hsinchu" in 1878. During Japanese rule, the city was named "Shinchiku" and was the seat of Shinchiku Prefecture. The prefecture encompassed present-day Hsinchu City and County, as well as entire Taoyuan and Miaoli. After the ROC rule in 1945, the urban area of Hsinchu was organized as a provincial city.
This name refers to the settlement's original Hokkien name Tek-chhàm (竹塹),[9] meaning "bamboo barrier".[10] The name may transcribe an aboriginal[which?] name meaning "Seashore".[citation needed] The same name is variously recorded as Teukcham,[11] Teuxham,[11] Tekcham,[12] and Teckcham;[13] its Mandarin pronunciation appears as Chuchien.[10]
Hsinchu is popularly nicknamed "The Windy City" for its windy climate[14] and "The Garden City of Culture and Technology" by its tourism department.[10]
During the Japanese occupation following the First Sino-Japanese War, the city—known at the time as Shinchiku—was among the province's most populous. In 1904, its 16,371 residents ranked it in 7th place, behind Keelung and ahead of Changhua ("Shoka"). Shinchiku was raised to town status in 1920 and city status in 1930. At the same time, it became the seat of Shinchiku Prefecture. In 1941, its prefecture was expanded, annexing Xiangshan ("Kōzan"). Jiugang ("Kyūminato") and Liujia ("Rokka") merged to become Zhubei ("Chikuhoku").
In 1946, the Take-Over Committee dissolved and replaced by the Hsinchu County Government, located in Taoyuan. As the administrative districts were readjusted, Hsinchu was granted provincial city status. It used the old prefecture office as its city hall at 120 Chung Cheng Road. In February 1946, representative congresses were formed for seven district offices. On 15 April, the city congress was formed. Provincial representatives were elected from among the city legislators.
In June 1982, under presidential order, the Xiangshan Township of Hsinchu County merged into Hsinchu City. A new municipal government was formally established on 1 July 1982, comprising 103 villages and 1,635 neighborhoods. These were organized into the East, North, and Xiangshan districts by 1November.[18] By June 1983, the new government consisted of three bureaus (Civil Service, Public Works, and Education), four departments (Finance, Social Welfare, Compulsory Military Service, and Land Affairs), four offices (Secretary, Planning, Personnel, and Auditing), and 49 various sections. The Police Department, Tax Department, and Medicine and Hygiene Department were considered affiliate institutions.
From 1994 to 1999, as Taiwan made its transition from authoritarian rule to a representative democracy and the mostly pro formaprovincial level of government began to be dissolved, regulations were established for the self-government of Hsinchu. A deputy mayor, consumer officer, and three consultants were added to the city government. In 2002, the city added a Bureau of Labor and transferred Compulsory Military Service to the Department of Civil Service.
Hsinchu's climate is humid subtropical (Koppen: Cfa). The city is located in a part of the island that has a rainy season that lasts from February to September, with the heaviest time coming late April through August during the southwest monsoon, and also experiences heavy "plum rains" in May and early June.[20] The city succumbs to hot humid weather from June until September, while October to December are arguably the most pleasant times of year. Hsinchu is affected by easterly winds off of the East China Sea. Natural hazards such as typhoons and earthquakes are common in the region.[21][22][23]
Climate data for Hsinchu City (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1938–present)
The city was historically pan-Blue[citation needed] but in recent years, the pan-Green coalition has started to rise in popularity. As a result, local factions have decreased in power, and political parties have greater importance in local elections.[31]
Economy
The Hsinchu Science Park has around 360 companies.[32] The purpose of the park is to attract high-tech investment to Taiwan. Since its establishment in 1978, the government has invested over NT$30 billion in software and hardware ventures. In 2001, it developed 2.5 km2 (0.97 sq mi) of land in the park and 0.5 km2 (0.19 sq mi) in southern Hsinchu.[citation needed]
The semiconductor and related electronic businesses have faced competition from South Korea and the United States. This has resulted in lower profits and an oversupply of some electronic products, such as memory and semiconductors.[citation needed]
Hsinchu City is one of the most focused educational centers in northern Taiwan. It has six universities in this concentrated area, and among these universities, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University are focused on by the government of Taiwan. Other public and private educational institutions in the city included 33 elementary schools, 19 middle schools, 12 high schools and a complete secondary school.[citation needed]
International schools (grade school and secondary school)
Chenghuang Temple Night Market – Most of the old stands in Cheng-huang Temple are of 50-year-old history, known snacks here include Hsin-chu meatballs, pork balls, spring rolls, braised pork rice, cuttlefish thick soup, rice noodles, and cow tongue-shaped cakes.[38]
Neiwan Old Street – Traditional Hakka restaurants that serve ginger-lily-flavored glutinous rice dumplings, Hakka tea, and Hakka rice cakes.[39]
1 The provinces are merely retained as nominal entities within the constitutional structure, as they have no governing power following the formal dissolution of the provincial administrative organs in 2018. Cities and counties are de facto regarded as the principal constituent divisions of the ROC.
Sarah Shair-Rosenfield (November 2020). "Taiwan Combined"(PDF). The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 29 May 2021.