Theme Week Taiwan – Penghu

26 January 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Double-Heart of Stacked Stones © Zeze0729/cc-by-sa-3.0

Double-Heart of Stacked Stones © Zeze0729/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Penghu or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait. The largest city is Magong, located on the largest island, which is also named Magong. Covering an area of 141 square kilometers (54 sq mi), the archipelago collectively forms Penghu County of the Taiwan, and is the second smallest county, after Lienchiang. The traditional English name of the islands, the Pescadores, comes from the Portuguese name Ilhas dos Pescadores (“Fishermen Islands”). The islands have also been called Pehoe from the Minnan name Phêⁿ-ô·. Pescadores was also the name given by the Spanish expedition of Hernando de Grijalva in 1537 to the Micronesian atoll Kapingamarangi.   read more…

Tainan in Taiwan

26 March 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Confucius Temple © David Bronski

Confucius Temple © David Bronski

Tainan, officially Tainan City, is a special municipality of Taiwan, facing the Formosan Strait or Taiwan Strait in the west and south. Tainan is the oldest city on the island of Taiwan and also commonly known as the “Capital City” for its over 200 years of history as the capital of Taiwan under Koxinga and later Qing dynasty rule. Tainan’s complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname “the Phoenix City”.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top