Top: skyline of downtown Keelung Second left: Dawulun Fort Second right: night view of downtown Keelung Third left: Zhengbin Fishing Port Colorful House Third right: Keelung Maritime Plaza and Keelung Main Station Bottom left: Keelung Outer Harbor and Keelung Islet Bottom right: Heping Island Park
Above: Panoramic view of central Keelung and Keelung Port Second left: Main gate of Chung Cheng Park Second right: Start of Sun Yat-sen Freeway Third left: North coast of Keelung Third right: Keelung Port Bottom left: A windmill wind squid (Loliginidae) in the center Right: Keelung Island
After World War II in 1945, the Republic of China, which overthrew the Qing empire, reestablished Keelung as a provincial city of Taiwan Province, which would later become streamlined from 1998. Nicknamed the Rainy Port for its frequent rain and maritime role, the city is Taiwan's second largest seaport (after Kaohsiung) and the 7th largest in the world by 1984.
Name
According to early Chinese accounts, this northern coastal area was originally called Pak-kang (Chinese: 北港; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pak-káng).[5] By the early 20th century, the city was known to the Western world as Kelung,[6] as well as the variants Kiloung, Kilang and Keelung.[7] In his 1903 general history of Taiwan, US Consul to Formosa (1898–1904) James W. Davidson related that "Kelung" was among the few well-known names, thus warranting no alternate Japanese romanization.[8]
However, the Taiwanese people have long called the city Kelang (Chinese: 雞籠; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ke-lâng/Koe-lâng; lit. '“rooster cage"', 'hencoop” or “chicken coop”'[9]). While it has been proposed that this name was derived from the local mountain that took the shape of a rooster cage, it is more likely that the name was derived from the first inhabitants of the region, as are the names of many other Taiwanese cities. In this case, the Ketagalan people were the first inhabitants, and early Han settlers probably approximated "Ketagalan" with Ke-lâng (Ketagalan: ke-, "domain marker prefix" + TaiwaneseHokkienChinese: 儂 / 人; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lâng; lit. 'person'), the noun root being replaced with the common Taiwanese Hokkien term for people, while the domain marker circumfix "ke- -an" being reduced to just the prefix.
In 1875, during the late Qing era, a new official name was given (Chinese: 基隆; pinyin: Jīlóng; lit. 'base prosperous').[10] In Mandarin, probably the working language of Chinese government at the time, both the old and new names were likely pronounced Gīlóng (hence "Keelung").
Under Japanese rule (1895–1945), the city was also known to the west by the Japanese romanization Kīrun (also written as Kiirun[11]).
When Ming dynasty loyalist Koxinga successfully attacked the Dutch in southern Taiwan
(Siege of Fort Zeelandia), the crew of the Keelung forts fled to the Dutch trading post in Japan. The Dutch came back in 1663 and re-occupied and strengthened their earlier forts. However, trade with Qing China through Keelung was not what they hoped it would be and, in 1668, they left after getting harassed by aboriginals.[18]
Given the strategic and commercial value of Taiwan, there were British suggestions in 1840 and 1841 to seize the island.[19][20] In September 1841, during the First Opium War, the British transport ship Nerbudda became shipwrecked near Keelung Harbour due to a typhoon. The brig Ann also became shipwrecked in March 1842. Most of the crew were Indian lascars. Survivors from both ships were transferred by authorities to the capital Tainan. The Taiwan Qing commanders, Ta-hung-ah and Yao Ying, filed a disingenuous report to the emperor, claiming to have defended against an attack from the Keelung fort. In October 1841, HMS Nimrod sailed to Keelung to search for the Nerbudda survivors, but after Captain Joseph Pearse found out that they were sent south for imprisonment, he ordered the bombardment of the harbour and destroyed 27 sets of cannon before returning to Hong Kong. Most of the survivors—over 130 from the Nerbudda and 54 from the Ann—were executed in Tainan in August 1842.[19]
In 1863, the Qing Empire opened up Keelung as a trading port and the city enjoyed rapid development due to the abundant commodities such as placer gold and high quality coal found in the drainage area of Keelung River. In 1875, Taipeh Prefecture was created and included Keelung. In 1878, Keelung was formed into a ting or sub-prefecture.[21] Around the same time, the name was changed from Ke-lang (雞籠廳) to Kilong (基隆廳), which means "rich and prosperous land".[10]
The city suffered serious damage and lost hundreds of inhabitants during an earthquake and tsunami in 1867. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.0 and was caused by movement on a nearby fault.[22]
French forces landed at Keelung on 1 October 1884.
During the Sino-French War (1884–85), the French attempted an invasion of Taiwan during the Keelung Campaign. Liu Mingchuan, who led the defence of Taiwan, recruited Aboriginals to serve alongside the Chinese soldiers in fighting against the French of ColonelJacques Duchesne's Formosa Expeditionary Corps. The French were defeated at the Battle of Tamsui and the Qing forces pinned the French down at Keelung in an eight-month-long campaign before the French withdrew.
Empire of Japan
A systematic city development started during the Japanese Era, after the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, which handed all Taiwan over to Japan. A five-phase construction of Keelung Harbor was initiated, and in by 1916 trade volume had exceeded even those of Tamsui and Kaohsiung Harbors to become one of the major commercial harbors of Taiwan.[23]
Keelung was governed as Kīrun town (基隆街), Kīrun District, Taihoku Prefecture in 1920 and was upgraded to a city in 1924.[23] The Pacific War broke out in 1941, and Keelung became one of the first targets of Allied bombers and was nearly destroyed as a result.[23]
Map of Keelung (labeled as CHI-LUNG-SHIH (KIIRUN-SHI) 基隆市) area (1950)Map of Keelung (labeled as CHI-LUNG SHIH (KIIRUN SHI) 基隆市) and vicinity (1950s)
Keelung City is located in the northern part of Taiwan Island. It occupies an area of 132.76 km2 (51.26 sq mi) and is separated from its neighboring county by mountains in the east, west and south. The northern part of the city faces the ocean and is a great deep water harbor since early times.[25] Keelung also administers the nearby Keelung Islet as well as the more distant and strategically important Pengjia Islet, Mianhua Islet and Huaping Islet.[26][27]
Climate
Keelung has a humid subtropical climate (KöppenCfa) with a yearly rainfall average upwards of 3,700 millimetres (146 in). It has long been noted as one of the wettest and gloomiest cities in the world; the effect is related to the Kuroshio Current.[28] Although it is one of the coolest cities of Taiwan, winters are still short and warm, whilst summers are long, relatively dry and hot, temperatures can peek above 26 °C during a warm winter day, while it can dip below 27 °C during a rainy summer day, much like the rest of northern Taiwan. However its location on northern mountain slopes means that due to orographic lift, rainfall is heavier during fall and winter, the latter during which a northeasterly flow prevails. During summer, southwesterly winds dominate and thus there is a slight rain shadow effect. Fog is most serious during winter and spring, when relative humidity levels are also highest.
Climate data for Keelung (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1946–present）
One of the most popular festivals in Taiwan is the mid-summer Ghost Festival. The Keelung Ghost Festival is among the oldest in Taiwan, dating back to 1851 after bitter clashes between rival clans, which claimed many lives before mediators stepped in.[38]
Regional origins
By 2021, there was a group of people who originated from the Matsu Islands.[39]
Economy
Coal mining peaked in 1968. The city developed quickly and by 1984, the harbor was the 7th largest container harbor in the world.[24]
Keelung City houses the only fully oil-fired power plant in Taiwan, the Hsieh-ho Power Plant, which is located in Zhongshan District. The installed capacity of the power plant is 2,000 MW.
^ abc"Geography". Keelung City Government. Retrieved 3 April 2019. Keelung City is divided into seven districts, which are Zhongzheng District, Xinyi District, Ren-ai District, Zhongshan District, Anle District, Nuannuan District and Qidu District.{...}Ren-ai District is the smallest one.{...}Ren-ai District{...}
^人口統計. www.klcg.gov.tw (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
^Naoyoshi Ogawa, ed. (1931–1932). "koe-lâng (基隆)". 臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary] (in Japanese and Taiwanese Hokkien). Vol. 1. Taihoku: Governor-General of Taiwan. p. 466. OCLC25747241.
^Twitchett, Denis Crispin (1978). The Cambridge history of China, Volume 2; Volume 8. Cambridge University Press. p. 46. ISBN9780521243339. OCLC613665518.
^"Introduction". Keelung City Government. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^"Beautiful Scenery". Keelung City Government. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2019. Keelung Islet {...} Pinnacle (Huaping Islet) {...} Pengjia Islet (Agincourt) {...} Mianhua Islet (Crag){...}
^"Pengjia Islet gets rare attention from Ma's visit". GlobalSecurity.org. 7 September 2012. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019. The normally obscure outcrop, which falls administratively under Keelung City, is one of three islets off of Taiwan's northern coast – the others are Mianhua Islet and Huaping Islet – considered to be of strategic importance to the country.
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.
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Taiwan Province (streamlined)
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