Keelung (基隆 Pinyin: Jīlóng, Wade-Giles: Chi-lung) is a county-level city of Taiwan Province, Republic of China. Located in the northeastern of the island and bordering Taipei County, it is Taiwan's second largest seaport (after Kaohsiung). Keelung is nicknamed "The Rainy Port" (雨港).

Contents

1 History 2 Administration 3 Population 4 External links

History

Keelung was first inhabited by the Ketagalan, a tribe of Taiwanese aborigine.

"Keelung" used to be written in the homophonous characters meaning "Rooster Cage" (雞籠), named after a local mountain of such a shape. Another theory suggests that the characters were transcription of a Ketagalan placename. The characters were changed in 1875 (Qing Dynasty) to mean "The Base that Prospers".

In 1863, the Qing Empire opened up Keelung as a trading port. A systematic city development started in 1895 during the Japanese Occupation. Keelung became a town in Keelung District, Taipei Prefecture in 1920 and was upgraded to a city of Taipei Prefecture in 1924. Coal mining peaked in 1968.

Administration

Keelung administers seven districts:

Hanzi	Tongyong	Wade-Giles	Pinyin
中正區	Jhongjhen	Chung-chen	Zhongzhen
中山區	Jhongshan	Chung-shan	Zhongshan
仁愛區	Ren-ai	Jen-ai	Ren’ai
信義區	Sinyi	Hsin-yi	Xinyi
安樂區	Anle	An-le	Anle
暖暖區	Nuannuan	Nuan-nuan	Nuannuan
七堵區	Cidu	Ch'i-tu	Qidu

Population

• 700 households (1840)
• 9,500 (1897)
• 58,000 (1924)
• 100,000 (1943)
• 92,000 (1944): decrease due to Allied air bombings
• 130,000 (1948): 28,000 Mainlander influx
• 330,000 (1971)
• 347,828 (late 1990s)

External links

• Harbor Bureau (bilingual)
• Official site (in Traditional Chinese)

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