Keelung City (also: Jilong or Chilung) is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. It borders Taipei County and forms the Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area, along with the City and County of Taipei. Nicknamed the Rainy Port for its frequent rain and maritime role, the city is Taiwan's second largest seaport (after Kaohsiung). Keelung is currently administered as a provincial city of Taiwan Province, Republic of China.
The city of Keelung was known as Kelung or Keelung to the Western world during the 19th century. However, the Taiwanese people have long called the city Kelang (Taiwanese language POJ: Ke-lang, Chinese characters: meaning rooster cage).
It has been proposed that the name Keelung was derived from the local mountain that took the shape of a rooster cage. However, it is more probable that the name was derived from the first inhabitants of the region, as are the names of many other Taiwanese cities. In this case, the Ketagalan people were the first inhabitants, and early Han settlers probably approximated "Ketagalan" with "Ke-lâng" (phonetics of the Southern Min Language).
In 1875, during Qing Dynasty rule, the Chinese characters of the name were changed to the more auspicious(pinyin: Jilóng; POJ: Ki-liông, meaning prosperous base). In Mandarin, probably the working language of Chinese government at the time, both the old and new names were likely pronounced Kilóng (hence "Keelung"). Under Japanese rule (1895-1945), the city was known to the west by Japanese readings of the new name: Kirun, Kiirun or Kirun. In Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of the Republic of China, the new name is read Jilóng, although the locals have continued to call the city Ke-lâng throughout changes in government.
Keelung was first inhabited by the Ketagalan, a tribe of Taiwanese aborigine. Its first contact with the west was the Spanish. During 1642 to 1661 and 1663-1668, Keelung was under Dutch control. The Dutch East India Company attacked the Spanish and, after a short successful siege, took over their Fort San Salvador at Santissima Trinidad. They reduced its size and renamed it Fort Noort-Holland. The Dutch had three more minor fortifications in Keelung and also a little school and a preacher. When Ming Dynasty loyalist Koxinga (Cheng Ch'en-Kung) successfully attacked the Dutch in the South of Taiwan, the crew of the Keelung forts fled to the Dutch trading post in Japan. The Dutch came back in 1663 and re-occupied and strengthened their earlier forts. However, trade with China through Keelung was not what they hoped it would be and, in 1668, they left voluntarily.
In 1863, the Qing Empire opened up Keelung as a trading port.
The Keelung Campaign was an important subsidiary campaign in the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The French occupied Keelung from 1 October 1884 to 22 June 1885, and several battles were fought during this period between Liu Ming-ch'uan's Army of Northern Formosa and Colonel Jacques Duchesne's Formosa Expeditionary Corps.
Keelung became a town in Keelung District, Taipei Prefecture in 1920 and was upgraded to a city of Taipei Prefecture in 1924. Coal mining peaked in 1968.
Alphabetical Listings of Hotels in Keelung
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