Cihtong

This article is about the town in Taiwan. For the Chinese city once nicknamed "Citong" or "Zaiton", see Quanzhou.

23.772935°N 120.527717°E / 23.772935; 120.527717

Cihtong Township 莿桐鄉 Citong
Rural township
Farm fields with cover crops in the winter in Cihtong
莿桐鄉 CIHTONG TOWNSHIP
Cihtong Township in Yunlin County
Location	Yunlin County, Taiwan
Area [1]
• Total	51 km2 (20 sq mi)
Population  (February 2023)[1]
• Total	27,538
• Density	540/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Website	www.cihtong.gov.tw/english/

Citong Township
Chinese	莿桐鄉
Hanyu Pinyin	Cìtóng Xiāng
Wade–Giles	Tz'u4-t'ung2 Hsiang1
Tongyong Pinyin	Cìhtóng Siang
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	Tshṳ̀-thùng-hiông
Hokkien POJ	Chhì-tông-hiong

Cihtong Township^[2][3] or Citong Township^[4] is a rural township in Yunlin County, Taiwan. It has a population total of 27,538 (as of February 2023^[update][1]) and an area of 50.8502 square kilometres.^[1]

Name

Cihtong was named after Cihtong Lane (Chinese: 莿桐巷; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhì-tông-hāng). Before the Qing Dynasty era, Erythrina flowers (Chinese: 刺桐; Hanyu Pinyin: cìtóng; Tongyong Pinyin: cìhtóng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhì-tông) flourished in the then-unpopulated area. The first settlers chose a small lane there to establish a village, which had flowers spread throughout its length.^[5]

Geography

Administrative divisions

The township comprises 14 villages: Citong, Damei, Gancuo, Ganxi, Liuge, Mayuan, Puwei, Puzi, Raoping, Sihe, Wuhua, Xinggui, Xingtong and Yihe.

Economy

The township main economy is agriculture. It produces paddy rice mainly along the northern township border with Zhuoshui River in which the output is the highest in the county.