Taisi Township
臺西鄕
Taixi, Taihsi
Fishing harbor in Taisi Township
Fishing harbor in Taisi Township
Taisi Township in Yunlin County
Taisi Township in Yunlin County
LocationYunlin County, Taiwan
Area
  Total54 km2 (21 sq mi)
Population
 (February 2023)
  Total22,077
  Density410/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Websitewww.taihsi.gov.tw

Taisi Township[1][2][3] (Chinese: 臺西; Hanyu Pinyin: Táixī Xiāng; Tongyong Pinyin: Táisi Siang; Wade–Giles: T'ai-hsi Hsiang), is a rural township in Yunlin County, Taiwan, lying to the west of Dongshi, south of Mailiao and north of Sihu, and including a section of coastline on the Taiwan Strait.

History

The town was formerly called Haikou (Chinese: 海口, meaning "seaport" or "river mouth"), a direct toponym describing the town's location at the end of the Huwei River where the river empties into the ocean. In 1941, the town was renamed Taisi. The reason for this name change was due to a perceived national shortcoming: in Taiwan, there existed four cities called Taipei (Chinese: 臺北, literally "Taiwan-North"), Taichung (Chinese: 臺中, "Taiwan-Middle"), Taitung (Chinese: 臺東, "Taiwan-East"), and Tainan (Chinese: 臺南, "Taiwan-South"), but there was no place called Taisi (Chinese: 臺西, "Taiwan-West"). To fill this gap in Taiwan's place naming system, the town, which is located at the approximate middle of Taiwan's west coast, was renamed Taisi.[4]

Taisi was first settled by Han Chinese in the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty and gradually flourished through the reigns of the Yongzheng Emperor and the Qianlong Emperor. Families from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou with the typical Fukienese surnames Chen (Chinese: ), Chang (Chinese: ), Wu (Chinese: ), Lin (Chinese: ), and Ting (Chinese: ) cultivated the land and built a port. The port brought great prosperity to the town, and by the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, the town was thriving. Unfortunately, in 1898 a powerful storm hit the area, bringing floods and torrential rain which washed debris and silt from the nearby mountains down to the mouth of the river and the port. Almost overnight, the port was silted up, and Taisi was reduced to the small and relatively impoverished town that it is today.[5]

Taisi's coastal waters were traditionally used in oyster farming, but in 1991 they were zoned for offshore industrial use.[6]

Geography

As of February 2023, Taisi had 8,420 households and a total population of 22,077, including 10,267 females and 11,810 males.[7]

Administrative divisions

The township comprises 15 villages: Fuci, Gwanghua, Haibei, Haikou, Hainan, Hefong, Niusi, Cyuanjhou, Shanliao, Taisi, Wengang, Wugang, Wusiang, Siding and Yongfong.[7]

Economy

The township produces radishes.[8]

Transport

  • Freeway 17 (Binghai Freeway)
  • Freeway 61
  • Freeway 78
  • Highway 154, 155, 158

Places of interest

Gateway to Jin-an Temple in Taisi

Representation of Taisi in the media

In 1982, a novel was published telling the story of a young Taisi man who escaped prison and went on a killing spree in Taiwan. Although this was fiction, it had a large impact on the way other Taiwanese people perceive its villagers to this day.

References

  1. "Village, Township and City offices". 雲林縣政府 YUNLIN COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020. Title PostDate {...} Taisi Township 2019-09-24
  2. Lin Chia-nan (17 January 2018). "Water to be tested for microplastics". Taipei Times. Retrieved 27 March 2020. To test the level of plastic pollution in seafood, samples of water, sand and certain farmed fish are to be taken from Changhua County's Wanggong Village (王功), Yunlin County's Taisi Township (台西), Chiayi County's Dongshih Township (東石), Tainan's Anping District (安平), Penghu County and Matsu (馬祖), he said, adding that they would submit the reports to the EPA at the end of the year.
  3. Chi-Fang Wang; Ming-Che Hu; Chieh-Han Lee; Hwa-Lung Yu (4 October 2019). "Optimization of air quality monitoring network based on a spatiotemporal-spectrum manifold analysis". Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. 33 (10): 1835–1849. doi:10.1007/s00477-019-01730-x. S2CID 203654452. Locations of the petrochemical complex and the three nearby townships, Mailiao, Taisi, and Dongshi, in Yunlin County, Taiwan.
  4. "台西鄉的歷史沿革". Yunlin County Government. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  5. "台西鄉的歷史沿革". Yunlin County Government. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  6. "Yunlin commissioner pleads oyster farmers' case". taipeitimes.com. 19 August 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  7. 1 2 雲林縣麥寮戶政事務所-人口統計-村里鄰人口數 [Population statistics]. taisi.household.yunlin.gov.tw (in Chinese). Taisi Township Household Registration Office, Yunlin County. February 2023.
  8. Tu, Yu-an (27 April 2016). "Farmers suffer despite white radish price hikes". Taipei Times. Retrieved 26 April 2017.

23°42′N 120°12′E / 23.700°N 120.200°E / 23.700; 120.200

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