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Checheng
Taiwanese rural township From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Checheng Township[1] is a rural township in Pingtung County, Taiwan.[2]
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Names and etymology
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The name of the town. Checheng (Chinese: 車城; pinyin: Chēchéng) combines the Chinese character for "cart", 車 today used to refer to cars and other motorized transport, and 城 which is used in words for walled fortresses and cities, but which in the Taiwanese historical context refers to a town with an earthen security berm.
With the arrival of ethnic Chinese on Taiwan, the native Paiwan name of Kabeyawan was transliterated as Ku-piah-oan (龜壁灣) in the Taiwanese Hokkien language of these new settlers.[3] Following the period of Dutch rule in the 17th century, the name Thóng-léng-po͘ (統領埔; Hakka: Thúng-liâng-phû) was used after Koxinga's son and successor Zheng Jing stationed troops there under a tongling (統領),[3] a military officer with rank roughly equal to a battalion commander; The suffix po͘ (埔) is often used for place names in Taiwan. A village gradually grew up in the area.[3]
After the Manchu Qing Dynasty assumed control of the lowlands of western Taiwan, ethnic Chinese settlers wanted protection from aboriginal attacks.[3] A wooden palisade was built around the town giving rise to a new name, Chhâ-siâⁿ (柴城; Hakka: Tshài-sàng),[3] using the character 柴 (chhâ) which is the Hokkien word for "wood". Thus Chhâ-siâⁿ has roughly the meaning of "stockade".
In 1788, the fifty-third year of the Qianlong Emperor's rule, Manchu general Fuk'anggan landed his army in the area to suppress the Lin Shuangwen rebellion.[3] In commemoration, the town received yet another name Hok-an-chng (福安庄; also Hok-an-siâⁿ [福安城]),[3] with 福 from Fuk'anggan's Chinese name and 安 for "pacified", plus 庄, meaning "hamlet".
The origin of the town's current name Checheng is disputed.[3] Some such as Japanese anthropologist Inō Kanori believe that it arose as a mispronunciation of Chhâ-siâⁿ (柴城);[3] the pronunciations of 柴 and 車 are similar in both Hokkien and Hakka, chhâ/chhia and tshài/tshâ respectively. Another theory is that as an aboriginal army approached the town, the inhabitants used dozens of oxcarts carrying charcoal to lined up as a defense.[3]
Today, Hokkien-speaking inhabitants continue to pronounce the name of the town with the older Chhâ-siâⁿ, though the written form is almost inevitably 車城. English-language maps and sources have historically used spellings such as Chasiang that reflect this pronunciation.
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Geography
Area: 49.85 square kilometres (19.25 sq mi)
Population: 8,002 (February 2024)
Administrative divisions
The township comprises 11 villages: Baoli, Fuan, Fuxing, Haikou, Houwan, Puqi, Sheliao, Tianzhong, Tongpu, Wenquan and Xinjie.
Education
Tourist attractions
- Checheng Fu'an Temple
- Kenting National Park
- National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
- Sichongxi Hot Spring
- Dongyuan Forest Recreation Area and Dongyuan Wet Grassland
- Shihmen Ancient battle Field and Mudan Incident Memorial Park
- Syuhai Grassland Recreation Area
- Hsi Chung River Hot Spring
- HaiKou
- Gourmet: Huang's peeled mung bean desert[permanent dead link]
Notable natives
- Pan Men-an, Magistrate of Pingtung County
References
External links
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