Zuoying District () is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Kaohsiung City Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of ...

in southern

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 ...

. Zuoying District has the most populous

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Taiwan: Fushan Village.

History

Zuoying was established in the mid-seventeenth century as a military fortress, known as Old Fengshan (鳳山, also Old Fongshan). It is now the site of Tsoying Harbour, known formerly as . 'Sa-ei' is the Japanese

on'yomi , or the Sino-Japanese vocabulary, Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple ''on'yomi'' pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronuncia ...

(Chinese reading) of the city's name in

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s, but was romanized as 'Tsoying' after World War II by American Naval Consultants. In May 1960 a

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 ...

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

crashed into a neighborhood in Zuoying killing 11 and injuring 45.

Geography

Zuoying's Lotus Lake is one of the major tourist attractions of southern Taiwan. This beautiful man-made lake is situated between Gueishan (Turtle Mountain) and Panpingshan (Half-screen Mountain). The Spring and Autumn Pavilions, Dragon and Tiger Pagodas and Confucius Temple dot its shoreline. The Confucius Temple is the largest Confucius temple in Taiwan. The historic gates of the Old Fengshan city wall are also nearby. There is a mountain called Shoushan or Chaishan (referred to as Monkey Mountain by many English-speakers), with a large population of Formosan macaques and many tropical plants, and part of which lies within the restricted area of the naval base. * Area: * Population: 197,026 (October 2023)

Administrative divisions

The district consists of Jinxue, Weixi, Dingbei, Zhongbei, Zhongnan, Miaotung, Miaobei, Weinan, Weibei, Bingshan, Xianghe, Yongqing, Juguang, Guanghui, Gequn, Mingjian, Dingxi, Shenghou, Shengxi, Shengnan, Chengnan, Lutung, Bubei, Bunan, Beixi, Beibei, Beitung, Haisheng, Chongshi, Zizhu, Guomao, Guohui, Guofeng, Xinxia, Xinshang, Xinzhong, Xinguang, Caigong and Fushan Village.

Naval Base

Zuoying hosts the Zuoying Naval Airfield (22°42′16″N, 120°16′48″E) and the Republic of China Navy's Zuoying Naval Yard (海軍左營基地), Taiwan's largest

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that usu ...

. The

Republic of China Marine Corps , image = File:Republic of China Marine Corp (ROCMC) Logo.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Emblem of the Republic of China Marine Corps with the map of ROC claimed lands of m ...

host their training program for their Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit (ARP) at that location. A few miles south at the naval camp in Shoushan (壽山營區) is the garrison the ARP's secretive

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...

branch; the ''Chinese Marine Corps Special Service Company (CMC.SSC)'' () or more colloquially; ''The Black (Clothed) Unit'' ().

Villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

near the naval base are composed of single-story houses, uncommon in most Taiwanese cities. The villages were first populated by soldiers of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

who came from different provinces of

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

and gathered here after losing the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

in 1949. The ROC National Government provided these veteran serviceman with these single-story houses. These residential areas belonged to the navy and were under military control at that time. Therefore, people outside could not enter villages without martial permission. Without interference from outside, the culture of villages embodies that of different provinces of mainland China. In 2017 the government embarked on a major expansion of the naval base. Under the name Weihai Project (威海) the expansion was given a budget of more than a billion US dollars.

Education

Military academies

* Republic of China Naval Academy

Schools

* Kaohsiung American School * Kaohsiung Municipal Tsoying Senior High School

Tourist attractions

* Banping Lake Wetland Park * Chi Ming Palace * Cide Palace * Cih Ji Palace * Dragon and Tiger Pagodas * Guomao Community * Kaohsiung Arena * Kaohsiung Confucius Temple * Lotus Pond * National Sports Training Center * Old City of Zuoying * Qing Shui Temple * Ruifeng Night Market * Spring and Autumn Pavilions * Zhouzai Wetland Park

Transportation

There are two stops on the West Coast Line of the

Taiwan Railways Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) was a governmental agency in Taiwan which operated Taiwan Railway from 1948 to 2023. It managed, maintained, and operated conventional passenger and freight Rail transport, railway services on of track. Pa ...

that serve Zuoying District: Zuoying–Jiucheng Station and

Xinzuoying Station Zuoying () is a metro and railway station in Kaohsiung, Taiwan served by Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit, Kaohsiung MRT, Taiwan High Speed Rail, and Taiwan Railway (formerly Taiwan Railways Administration), where it is known as Xinzuoying () ...

. The

Taiwan High Speed Rail Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is a high-speed railway network in Taiwan, which consists of a single line that runs approximately along the western coast of the island, from the capital Taipei in the north to the southern city of Kaohsiung. Its c ...

(THSR) serves the Kaohsiung metropolitan area with

Zuoying HSR station Zuoying () is a metro and railway station in Kaohsiung, Taiwan served by Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit, Kaohsiung MRT, Taiwan High Speed Rail, and Taiwan Railway (formerly Taiwan Railways Administration), where it is known as Xinzuoying () ...

, currently the terminal and a joint station with TRA's Xinzuoying Station and KMRT's Zuoying Station.

Notable natives

* Chu Ke-liang former comedian * Jeannie Hsieh, singer-songwriter, dancer, actress and model *

Lin Chuan Lin Chuan (; born 13 December 1951) is a Taiwanese economist, lawyer, and politician who served as the Premier of the Republic of China from 2016 to 2017. He was the first cabinet head under the Tsai Ing-wen government. Before his premiership ...

, Premier of the Republic of China (2016–2017)

References

External links

*
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (HSR Zuoying Station)

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