Chang-hua

Chang-hua, county (hsien, or xian), west-central Taiwan. Chang-hua city, in the north of the county, is the administrative seat.

The county is bordered by the special municipality T’ai-chung (Taizhong) to the north, the counties Nan-t’ou (Nantou) and Yün-lin (Yunlin) to the east and south, respectively, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Its northern and southern boundaries are roughly parallel to the Wu and Cho-shui (Zhuoshui) rivers, respectively. The Pa-kua (Bagua) Mountains, a western extension of the Chung-yang (Zhongyang) Range, are in the southeast. The rest of the region is a fertile alluvial deltaic plain.

The economy is based on irrigated agriculture. Crops produced include paddy rice, sugarcane, peanuts (groundnuts), corn (maize), jute, wheat, and sweet potatoes. Livestock and poultry are also raised. Rice and sugar milling, weaving, paper and hat making, sawmilling, and food canning are the major industries. Marble deposits are worked.

What is now Chang-hua county was a Chinese outpost during the reigns of the Kangxi (K’ang-hsi; 1661–1722) and Yongzheng (Yung-cheng; 1722–35) emperors of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty. The region has many Confucian and Buddhist temples and relics. Lung-shan (Longshan; “Dragon Mountain”) temple at Lu-kang (Lugang) was the first Buddhist temple built (1665) in Taiwan, and a giant bronze statue of the Buddha—72 feet (22 metres) high—at Chang-hua city is one of the world’s tallest of him. The hot springs of Chang-hua are in the northwest and a “highway flower garden,” a horticultural research station and tourist attraction, has been developed in T’ien-wei (Tianwei). Lu-chiang, west of Chang-hua city, is the only port in the county. Area 415 square miles (1,074 square km). Pop. (2015 est.) 1,289,072.