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Origin of Hunei District's name

    Origin of Hunei District’s name

    Hunei District is located on the northwestern part of the city, it is bordered in the north by Tainan’s Wanli and Rende, in the west by Jiading and in the east and south by Lujhu. Although the district is close to Tainan City, whether Chinese people did indeed reside here during the Dutch period cannot be ascertained due to the lack of evidence in the literature. After the Mingjheng period, the development of the Chinese people gradually moved southwards and crossed the Erren River; the region was one of the important development areas at the time. First, when one of the generals, General Wang in the Jheng army arrived in the southeastern part of the area, it was named Canjyun Village. Later, more inhabitants arrived and villages were formed in Weizainei and Hunei, and the territory was divided into Wunsian and Changjhih Li. Wunsian Li was in the northeast with Weizainei Village as the center, while Changjhih Li was in the southeast and comprised of Hunei Village and Canjyun Village. Both Lis belonged to Wannian County (it was change to a state after 1664).

    In 1683, Taiwan was incorporated into the domain of the Cing Dynasty. During April of the following year, a government was established, consisting of one Fu and three counties, in particular, the two major counties of Taiwan and Fongshan bordering the Erren River. The district is located at the intersection of these two counties; Wunsian Li in the northwest belonged to the Taiwan County territory, while Changjhjh in the southeast belonged to the Fongshan County territory. In 1690, the Baojia System was implemented in Taiwan, Wunsian and Changjhih Li were divided into the first and second Tu; the district included the second Tu of Wunsian Li in Taiwan County as well as the second Tu of the Changjhih Li in Fongshan County, and there were 8 and 16 Jias of residents in the arrangement (Gao Gong-gan, 1960:39~39). Since the demarcation of Taiwan, Fongshan and Jhu County was very difficult during the early Cing Dynasty, Wunsian Li was spanned across the south and north bank of Erren River, causing great inconvenience. In order to solve the problem, the territory of Taiwan and Fongshan County was readjusted in 1731 using the Ercenging River as the border, where the Sinan part of Wunsian Li’s second Tu was incorporated into Fongshan County. Such arrangement remained until the end of the Cing Dynasty.

    After Taiwan’s cession in 1895, southern Taiwan was still under the control of General Liou Yong-fu from the Republic of Formosa during the initial stages. In September of the same year, Liou Yong-fu lost the battle and moved to China. In November, the Japanese governor-general established the Tainan Civil Affairs Sub-department, to which the district belongs. It fell under the jurisdiction of Fongshan station, including Wunsian Li and Changjhih second Tu Li. In March 1896, it was restructured as the Tainan County Fongshan Sub-prefecture; it was again changed to the Fongshan County Dahu branch office in March 1897. In February 1898, Fongshan County was abolished and the district was incorporated into Tainan County together with the Dahu branch office. In October 1901, the County system was abolished and the Prefecture System was created; the district once again fell under Fongshan Prefecture Agongdian Sub-prefecture. These were however merely adjustments in the County and Prefecture administration areas, they did not involve any changes in the scope of the Li and villages. For the two major areas of Wunsian Li and Changjhih Li, their names have even remained the same until today.

    In December 1909, the fifth governor-general Sakuma Samata changed the local administration area for the seventh time. Aside from combining the original 20 prefectures into 12, sub-prefectures were also created, while the local administration system of district, Li and village was established under the sub-prefecture system. In particular, the newly created districts were formed by the previous Li or several Lis. This in turn formed the model for the future scope of towns and townships. The district was the Weizainei District and Dahu District under the Tainan Prefecture Agongdian Sub-prefecture. In particular, the Weizainei territory was originally the Wunsian Li. It was incorporated into Jiadingzai Village which fell under the Tainan Prefecture Wunsian Li (including Baishalun, Ding and Siajiadong village). The Mayor’s Hall was created in Wunsian Li Weizainei Village. The Dahu territory was originally the Changjhih second Tu Li, with the Mayor’s Hall established in the Changjhih second Tu Li Dahu Village. In 1920, the first civil governor-general once again adjusted the administration area. Li, which had been used for a long time, was abolished, prefectures were changed into states while sub-prefectures were changed into prefecture cities and districts were changed into villages. Furthermore, Taiwan’s old place names were changed substantially. At the time the district belonged to Gangshan Prefecture of Kaohsiung State. Weizainei and Dahu that were originally in the township were amalgamated into one village; one word from each area was chosen to form the new name: Hunei Village. The Mayor’s Hall was located in the Weizainei territory. This was the first time that the territory of the area had been formed and it is also the origin of the name of the district.

    After the end of the war in December 1945, Taiwan was divided into eight counties and nine province-governed municipalities. All the original prefectures or sub-prefectures were changed into districts with subsidiary towns and townships. The demarcation of towns, townships and districts was provisionally based on the existing village street parameters; in other words, villages became townships and streets became towns. Consequently, Hunei Village was renamed as Hunei Township, which was under the jurisdiction of Kaohsiung County Gangshan District, while the township office was still within the boundaries of the Weizainei territory. The subordinate old Changjhih second Tu Li had five villages including Dahu, Tianwei, Hunei, Jhuhu and Dingliao. The old Wunsian Li were divided into 25 villages: Haipubei, Haipunan, Lioucuo, Gongguan, Taiye, Yecuo, Weizaineidong, Weizaineisi, Weizaineinan, Caozihliao, Baishalunbei, Baishalunjhong, Beishalunnanan, Dingjiadingren, Dingjiadingyi, Dingjiadingli, Dinajiadingjhih, Dingjiadingsin, Gangbu, Siajiadingren, Siajiadingyi, Siajiadingli, Siajiadingzhi, Siajiadingsin and Cilou, making it a class one township with a population of over 30,000. Aside from the existing township, its parameter also includes Jiafinding Township and Luzhu Township’s Jhuhu and Dingliao.

    Later, its population grew too large to manage, therefore in March 1950, Jiadingzih Village, which was originally merged from Tainan Prefecture’s Wunsian Li, was incorporated into the independent Jiading Township together with Cilou Village. In addition, Jhuhu and Dingliao Village were demarcated to Lujhu Township, which eventually finalized the district’s boundaries. The total area of the township is 21 km2, which consists of 13 villages: Dahu, Tianwei, Hunei, Haipu (formerly Haipubei), Haishan (formerly Haipunan), Lioujia (formerly Lioucuo), Gongguan, Taiye, Yecuo, Wunsian (formerly Weizaineidong), Jhongsian (formerly Weizaineisi), Yisian (formerly Weizaineinan) and Jhongsing (formerly Caozailiao). In February 5, 2002, Hudong Village was partitioned from Hunei Village, bringing the total to 14 villages.
    On December 25, 2010, Kaohsiung County and City were consolidated, where the various towns, townships and cities in the former Kaohsiung County were restructured as districts, while villages were changed into Lis; as a result, Hunei Township was renamed as Hunei District. It comprises 14 Lis: Dahu, Tianwei, Hunei, Hudong, Haipu, Haishan, Lioujia, Taiye, Gongguan, Yecuo, Wunsian, Jhongsian, Yisian and Jhongsing Li.

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