Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung City (Chinese: 高雄市; Hanyu Pinyin: Gāoxióng; Tongyong Pinyin: Gaosyóng; Wade–Giles: Kao-hsiung; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ko-hiông; old name: Takao, Takow, Takau) is a city located in southern Taiwan. Kaohsiung City is also the most dense and the second largest city in Taiwan, with a population around 1.51 million. As one of two central municipalities under the administration of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Kaohsiung City is a second-level political division, with the same status as a province. The city is further divided into eleven districts, each with a district office that handles day-to-day businesses between the Kaohsiung City government and its citizens.

Kaohsiung is a major center for manufacturing, refining, and transportation. Kaohsiung is the major port through which most of Taiwan's oil is imported, which accounts for the large amount of heavy industry. It is an export processing zone—producing aluminium, wood and paper products, fertilizers, cement, metals, machinery, and ships. With its harbor one of the four largest in the world, Kaohsiung is the center of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry, as well as home to a large Republic of China Navy base. (Full article...)