Changhua

Changhua (Hokkien POJ: Chiong-hòa or Chiang-hòa), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan. For many centuries the site was home to a settlement of Babuza people, a coastal tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. Changhua city is ranked first by population among county-administered cities. It is part of the Taichung–Changhua metropolitan area, which is the second largest in Taiwan.

Historically, Changhua city was a base for the Han Chinese when they invaded Taiwan against the Taiwanese aborigines, constructing a fortress built out of bamboo. Changhua has a nickname of "Bamboo Town".

Changhua is best known for its landmark Great Buddha Statue of Baguashan. At 26 metres tall, the statue sits atop Bagua Mountain overlooking the city. The main walkway up to the giant is lined with statues of figures from Buddhist lore. Another site of interest is Taiwan's oldest temple honoring Confucius.

Poasoa (transliterated into Chinese: 半線; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pòaⁿ-sòaⁿ) was once a center of settlement for the Babuza people (a plains aboriginal tribe). During the Dutch period, the area was under the administration of Favorlang (modern-day Huwei, Yunlin) and was controlled by the Dutch East India Company. During the Siege of Fort Zeelandia, the area was also one of Koxinga's central defense and attack bases. During the Chinese immigration of the 17th century, Changhua city was one of the four cities that had major immigration; it was one of the oldest Han Chinese settlements.

By 1694, Poasoa Village (半線庄) had been established. During the late 17th to late 19th century the area continued to be one of the major urban settlements in central Taiwan. In 1723, Changhua County was established, following the Zhu Yigui rebellion. Despite that, rebellions and civil wars continued.

The origin of the modern Changhua City is attributed to the Japanese administration, as they made the city into the official county seat in 1897 under Taichū Ken (Japanese: 臺中縣). During this era, the Japanese pronunciation Shōka came into use, alongside the "Chinese spellings" of "Changwha, Changhwa, Changhoa, Chanhue, Chan-hua, Tchanghoua".

In 1901, the local administrative unit Shōka Chō (彰化廳) was established, but this merged with Taichū Chō (臺中廳) in 1909. In 1920, Shoka was governed under the new Taichū Prefecture. In 1933, Ōtake Village (大竹庄) and Nankaku Village (南郭庄) were merged with Shōka Town and upgraded to Shōka City.

After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945, Changhua City was established as provincial city of Taiwan Province on 25 December the same year. On 30 November 1951, the Changhua City Office was established and subsequently on 1 December 1951, it was downgraded to county-administered city and became the county seat of Changhua County.