Hualien 花蓮市 |
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County-controlled city | |
Hualien City | |
Hualien City
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Nickname(s): Huashi (花市) | |
Hualien City |
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Location in Taiwan | |
Coordinates: 23°58′20″N 121°36′23″E / 23.97222°N 121.60639°ECoordinates: 23°58′20″N 121°36′23″E / 23.97222°N 121.60639°E | |
Country | Taiwan |
County | Hualien County |
Government | |
• Type | County-controlled city |
• Mayor | Wei Chia-hsien (KMT) |
Area | |
• Total | 29.41 km2 (11.36 sq mi) |
Population (December 2014) | |
• Total | 106,368 |
Time zone | CST (UTC+8) |
Post code | 970 |
Subdivision | 45 Boroughs |
Website | www |
Hualien City | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 花蓮市 | ||||||||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 花莲市 | ||||||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Huālián Shì |
Wade–Giles | Hua¹-lien² Shih⁴ |
Southern Min | |
Hokkien POJ | Hoa-liân-chhī |
Hualien City (Chinese: 花蓮市; pinyin: Huālián Shì), is a county-controlled city and the county seat of Hualien County, Taiwan. It is located on the east coast of Taiwan on the Pacific Ocean, and has a population of 106,368 inhabitants.
Hualien County annals (花蓮縣志) record that the city was called "Kiray" (Chinese: 奇萊; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kî-lâi) until the early twentieth century. This name refers to the Sakiraya Taiwanese aborigines and their settlement.
After Taiwan came under Japanese rule in 1895 its governors sought to change the name because "Kiray" is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for "dislike" (?). The name was eventually changed to Karen Harbour kirai(Japanese: 花蓮港 Hepburn: Karenkō?). After World War II the incoming Kuomintang-led Republic of China retained the Kanji spelling but shortened the name to just Karen (花蓮), or Hualien via Chinese romanization.