T’ai-nan

T’ai-nan, special municipality (chih-hsia shih, or zhizia shi), southwestern Taiwan. In 2010 T’ai-nan municipality and T’ai-nan county surrounding it were combined administratively to form the special municipality, which has the status of a county. T’ai-nan is one of the oldest urban settlements on the island. The Han Chinese settled there as early as 1590 (some sources say earlier), when it was known as T’ai-yüan (Taiyuan), Ta-yüan (Dayuan), or T’ai-wan (Taiwan)—a name that was later extended...