Taichung Shuinan Airport () was an airport located in

Xitun District Xitun District or Situn District (, literally "western village") is the second-most populated district of Taichung, Taiwan. It is located on the western side of the city. Once considered part of the countryside, the district has seen rapid grow ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It had an area of 250 hectares. The name originates from Shuinan, a village in nearby

Beitun District Beitun District (; lit: northern camp) is a District (Taiwan), district in Taichung, Taiwan. Located in the northern part of the city, it is a half mountainous, half urban area. Though Beitun District used to be considered part of the countrysi ...

History

Shuinan Airport was built during the

Japanese rule of Taiwan The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu, Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Province, Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki a ...

for the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, while also provided commercial flights, the only airport in

Taichū Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese Taiwan. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Taichung City, Changhua County and Nantou County. It is also the origin of the name of modern-day Taichung. The Taich ...

to do so. The airport provided scheduled flights directly to Japan. During World War II, Shuinan Airport was also used for ''

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

'' missions. After the

Surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...

, the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force ( Chinese, 中華民國空軍), or the ROCAF; known colloquially as the Taiwanese Air Force ( Chinese, 臺灣空軍) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Air Force ...

took control of the airport. The airport was the only military site in Taichung not taken by civilians during the

February 28 Incident The February 28 incident (also called the February 28 massacre, the 228 incident, or the 228 massacre) was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947 that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang–led nationalist government of the R ...

. Between 1950 and 1980, Shuinan Airport became an important hub for Taiwan's aerospace industry, being home to the

Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC; zh, c=漢翔航空工業股份有限公司, p=Hànxiáng Hángkōng Gōngyè Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī 漢翔航空工業 or 漢翔航空) is a Taiwanese aerospace company based in Taichung ...

. Between 1946 and 1970, the airport was only used for military purposes. However, commercial flights were first offered in 1971 with the construction of a passenger terminal. The airport also saw increased traffic with the Taiwan Provincial Government's move to

Zhongxing New Village Zhongxing New Village, sometimes rendered as Chunghsing New Village is an urban village located in Nantou City, Nantou County, Taiwan (ROC) and was the seat of government of Taiwan Province until the abolition of the Taiwan Provincial Governmen ...

in central Taiwan. With the rapid development of Taichung City, the airport was gradually surrounded with buildings, limiting its growth. To facilitate for international flights, all flights were moved to Ching Chuan Kang Airport on March 5, 2004. The site of Shuinan Airport and its surrounding land were developed into the

Taichung Shuinan Economic and Trade Park The Shuinan Economic and Trade Park () is an industrial park in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan. History The industrial park was built on the former Taichung Shuinan Airport site, which also included decommissioned air force base and agricul ...

. With the National Airborne Service Corps moving to Ching Chuan Kang in August 2012, Shuinan Airport officially ceased operations. The world's largest self-generating wave tank ever built for a motion picture, with a capacity of , was built on the site to film the ocean scenes of

Life of Pi ''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. After a ...

References

{{Airports in Taiwan 1911 establishments in Taiwan 2012 disestablishments in Taiwan Former buildings and structures in Taiwan Defunct airports in Taiwan Airports established in 1911 Airports disestablished in 2012