Houlong

24°37′N 120°47′E

Houlong Township
後龍鎮
Houlung
Urban township
Houlong Township in Miaoli County
Houlong Township in Miaoli County
LocationMiaoli County, Taiwan
Area
 • Total75.81 km2 (29.27 sq mi)
Population
 (January 2023)
 • Total34,355
Websitewww.houlong.gov.tw (in Chinese)
Houlong Township
Chinese後龍鎮
Hanyu PinyinHòulóng Zhèn
Wade–GilesHou4-lung2 Chen4
Pha̍k-fa-sṳHeu-liùng-chṳ́n
Hokkien POJĀu-lâng-tìn

Houlong Township[1] is an urban township in western Miaoli County, Taiwan. It is bordered by the Taiwan Strait on the west and Zaoqiao Township on the east.[2] It lies at the mouth of the Houlong River. Miaoli HSR station is located in Houlong.

Name

The township's name originates from that of a Taiwanese Plains Aborigines settlement. During the Kingdom of Tungning, the area was called Aulangsia (Chinese: 後壠社). Other variants of Aulang existed (e.g., Chinese: 凹浪/後壟; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Āu-lâng).[3] In 1920, during Japanese rule, the place was renamed Kōryū Village (Japanese: 後龍庄), under Chikunan District (竹南郡), Shinchiku Prefecture. This name closely matched the Japanese pronunciation of the previous names but with different kanji (Chinese characters). This written form was retained after the Kuomintang takeover of Taiwan in 1945; the characters are pronounced Hòulóng in Mandarin Chinese. The Taiwanese Hokkien pronunciation remains Āu-lâng, based on the pre-1920 name.

Geography
Map of western Houlong area (1944)
  • Area: 75.81 square kilometres (29.27 sq mi)
  • Population: 34,355 (January 2023 estimate)[4]

It lies at the mouth of the Houlong River.

Administrative divisions

The township comprises 23 villages: Beilong, Dashan, Dazhuang, Dongming, Fengfu, Funing, Fuxing, Haibao, Haipu, Jiaoyi, Longjin, Longkeng, Nangang, Nanlong, Puding, Shuiwei, Waipu, Wanbao, Xinmin, Xiushui, Xizhou, Zhonghe and Zhonglong.

Politics

The township is part of Miaoli County Constituency I electoral district for Legislative Yuan.

Education
  • Jen-Teh Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management

Tourist attractions
Chinghai Temple

Transportation
TRA Houlong Station

Houlong Township is accessible from Dashan Station, Houlong Station, Longgang Station and Fengfu Station of the Taiwan Railways. Taiwan High Speed Rail has one station in the township, which is Miaoli Station.

Notable natives

References
  1. 臺灣地區鄉鎮市區級以上行政區域名稱中英對照表 Archived 2017-08-09 at the Wayback Machine Glossary of Names for Administrative Divisions. Ministry of the Interior. 26 March Minguo 104 (2015). Retrieved 1 July 2018. (in Chinese)
  2. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140801000136&cid=1103%5B%5D
  3. "Entry #40129". 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan]. (in Chinese and Hokkien). Ministry of Education, R.O.C. 2011.
  4. 106年一月份人口統計下載區 [January 2017 Population Statistic Downloads]. mlhr.miaoli.gov.tw (in Chinese). Miaoli County Government Household Registration Service. January 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-02-26. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
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