Archeological research shows that there were people living in Miaoli in the prehistoric era. Many archeological evidences have been found. In the prehistoric era, people lived in the river terrace. They mainly led an agricultural life and engaged in hunting and fishing for extra food sources. About a thousand years ago, Taokas, a group of the
indigenous Taiwanese, settled here. The aboriginal name of Miaoli is "Maoli", which refers to plateau in Taokas.
Starting from the mid-seventeenth century, Han people gradually settled in Miaoli. Local indigenous Taiwanese were forced to assimilate with Han people or move to the mountain areas. After several hundred years, Miaoli has become home of people from different origins, including Hakka, Southern Min, Atayal, and Saisiyat. Before the seventeenth century, few people lived in Miaoli and immigrants were rare.
When Cheng, Cheng-Kung took over Taiwan, he placed Miaoli into Tian-Sing County and started a immigration plan to develop this area. In the 24th year of Yong-Li of Ming Dynasty, Liu, Guo-Syuan led his relatives and followers to settle in Peng-Shan and Hou-Long. They were pioneers of Han people who first settlement in Miaoli. After Cheng, Ke-Shuang surrendered to the Qing government, Tian-Sing County was renamed as Jhu-Luo County. In the 13th year of Kuang-Hsu of Qing Dynasty, Miaoli became Miaoli County under the new system.
At the end of nineteenth century, in the western area of Nangjhuang, Shihtan, Dahu, and Jhuolan, thousands of acres of high-quality fertile fields had been opened up. Even in the difficult times of developing this area, our ancestors took education and the cultural heritage seriously. Public and private schools were established in Miaoli, that made Miaoli a place of gathering intellectuals and elites in the northern Taiwan.
In 1895, Japanese government occupied Taiwan. Miaoli County was abolished. From 1901 to 1908, Miaoli was under the governing of Miaoli Ting. The government office and area name changed several times before the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) took over Taiwan. The local self-government policy in 1950 settled the administrative district of Miaoli County which remains the same until now.
Miaoli is in the pivotal position of the Asia-Pacific region
Miaoli County is located in the mid-northern coast of western Taiwan. It faces Taiwan Strait in the west. Seashore lines are about 54 kilometers.
We offer a full range of telecommunication services to domestic and foreign destinations. With the convenience of connecting the world, Miaoli is an ideal place for business investment.
The development plan of Miaoli County
The revised development plan of Miaoli County focuses on four dimensions: production, ecology, life, and transportation. Taking the whole county into consideration, we come up with three major enterprises in the two dimensions of production and ecology. The development of life quality is based on the concept of living perimeters by connecting the whole county horizontally from the east to the west. Transportation takes into account of both the whole county perspective and living perimeters to build a matrix road network.
Based on the population size, river network, and the transportation network, Miaoli County is divided into three living perimeters: northern Miaoli, central Miaoli, and southern Miaoli. Central Miaoli is expected to become a prosperous and vigorous community of beautiful mountains and water. The three major developmental cores are: Miaoli City--the administrative, cultural, and educational center, Tongluo Township-- the high-tech enterprise center and Houlong Township-- the transportation annex center. We also plan to build extensive transportation network for convenient commuting and daily shopping need. Our future goal is to find our own niche and protect our environment simultaneously.
We plan to develop a special enterprise for each township to attract more people to live here. We also plan to enhance the living conditions through strengthening area special features and integrating the functions of different areas.
Midway between the Taizhong county and the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, Miaoli is the ideal location for setting up both Asian headquarters and production. It has a fully-developed industrial base, by CKS international Airport in Taoyuan, also has unmatched convenience of air, rail and road connections, in addition to its interior areas, offers over one thousand hectares of land awaiting development. Its latent forces are inexhaustible and will is high rate of industrial development, Miaoli has already attained the status of the important area in northern Taiwan in terms of productive capacity. Abounding in electrical, water and labor resources, it boasts low vulnerability to storm, flood and earthquake. To top it all off, its real estate prices are half those of Taipei. Put all these superlative conditions together, and what youve got is the investors dream. No wonder the smart choice is Miaoli!
Population and nationality
There are 560,903 people in the whole county, accounts for 2.6% of the total population in Taiwan. The density of population is 308 persons per square kilometer. 20 to 59 years old population accounts for 56%, 49.7% of employed population is to serve industry, the service trade accounts for 37.14%, Agriculture,
Forest, Fishing and Husbandary account for 13.47%.The administrative division is divided into 18 cities of villages and towns. The local trait has human touch industriously simple and honest, is to merge by the ethnicities, such as Hakkas,Fujian,Sai-Hsia Tribe,Tai-ya Tribe.
The culture of many styles and features , is pregnant with the literature and art skill assets of abundant people of this county. Although inevitably all aboriginal cultures will to some extent absorb elements of the mainstream (Han Chinese)culture, the peoples of all the aboriginal tribes have, after years of turbulent change, awakened to the idea that their traditional cultures have their aspects which are valuable. Following a reaffirmation of their own culture, many young people intellectuals are now seeking out their roots.
Many others have gone to local villages to do field research, teach their mother language, trace the migrations and origins of their people, reconstruct clan lineage histories, collect myths and legends, and study traditional music and dance. As part of these activities, primary and middle schools on many areas have added classes in mother tongues, opening a lifeline for the transmission of original culture to the next generation.
Some people say that Taiwan is a museum for anthropologists, in which case the venerable elders of the aborigines would be the most precious holdings in the collection.
On their faces are found the traces of time and the symbols of traditional culture, which mark them out as authoritative and respected tribal elders.
