Place:Hualien, Taiwan, Republic of China

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Hualien County (Mandarin Wade–Giles: Hua¹-lien² Hsien⁴; Pīnyīn: Huālián Xiàn; Hokkien POJ: Hoa-lian-koān or Hoa-liân-koān; Hakka PFS: Fâ-lièn-yen; Amis: Kalingko) is a county on the east coast of Taiwan. It is the largest county by area, yet due to its mountainous terrain, has one of the lowest populations in the country. The county seat and largest city is Hualien City.

Most of the population resides in the Huadong Valley, which runs north to south, sandwiched between the Central and Hai'an mountain ranges. Due to the rural nature of the county, Hualien attracts many visitors for its natural environment, which includes Taroko Gorge, Qingshui Cliff and Qixingtan Beach.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Early history

Modern-day Hualien City was originally called Kilai, after the Sakiraya Taiwanese aborigines and their settlement.

Spanish settlers arrived in 1622 to pan for gold. Picking up the sounds of native words, these settlers called the area Turumoan. Han Chinese settlers arrived in 1851. Qing Dynasty records give the name of the region as Huilan due to the whirling of waters in the delta.

Empire of Japan

During Taiwan's Japanese colonial period (1895–1945) the island's Japanese governors opted not to transliterate the name "Kiray" because the Japanese pronunciation of the word resembled the Japanese word for . The official name became . Karenkō Prefecture consisted of modern-day Hualien County. Toward the end of World War II the Governor-General of Taiwan moved many Japanese residents of Taiwan to the area to develop agriculture.

Republic of China

After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in October 1945, Hualien was established as a county named Hualien County of Taiwan Province on 9 January 1946. In 1951 Hualien was the first county in Taiwan to be governed according to the ROC local autonomy law. Today the Hualien area serves as the key population centre on the east coast as well as the one of five main life circle regions in Taiwan, together with Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

2021 train derailment

On 2 April 2021, a Taroko Express derailed at the north entrance of Qingshui Tunnel after striking an unattended flatbed truck that had fallen onto the tracks. The accident is the deadliest train accident in Taiwan since 1948, with at least 50 passengers reported dead and more than 150 injured.

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