Taichung (/ˌtaɪˈtʃʊŋ/, Wade–Giles: Tʻai²-chung¹, pinyin: Táizhōng), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiwan, as well as the most populous city in Central Taiwan. It serves as the core of the Taichung–Changhua metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. Located in the Taichung Basin, the city was initially developed from several scattered hamlets helmed by the Taiwanese indigenous peoples. It was constructed to be the new capital of Taiwan Province and renamed as "Taiwan-fu" in the late Qing dynastic era between 1887 and 1894. During the Japanese era from 1895, the urban planning of present-day city of Taichung was performed and developed by the Japanese. From the start of ROC rule in 1945, the urban area of Taichung was organized as a provincial city up until 25 December 2010, when the original provincial city and Taichung County were merged into a new special municipality. The city is home to the National Museum of Natural Science, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the National Taichung Theater, the National Library of Public Information, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, as well as many cultural sites, including the historic Taichung Park, the Lin Family Gardens, and many temples.
