History
Hualien was originally called Kilai (奇萊) by the native Austronesian inhabitants of Taiwan. Spanish settlers arrived in 1622 to pan for gold. Picking up the sounds of native words, these settlers called the area "Turumoan" (多羅滿). Han Chinese settlers arrived in 1851. Qing Dynasty record the name of the region as "Huilan" (洄瀾 "eddies") due to the whirling of waters in the delta.
During Taiwan's Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) the island's Japanese governors opted not to transliterate the name "Kilai" as the Japanese pronunciation of the word resembled the Japanese word for "disgusting" (嫌い). The official name became "Karen" (花蓮; かれん). Toward the end of World War II the Governor-General of Taiwan moved many Japanese residents of Taiwan to the area to develop agriculture.
After Japan's surrender in 1945 rule of Taiwan passed to the Chinese Kuomintang. The Kuomintang soon became refugees in Taiwan following the rise of Communism in China (1949) but continued to govern the island according to the Republic of China constitution. In 1951 Hualien was the first county in Taiwan to be governed according to the ROC local autonomy law.
In the 1990s Taiwan transformed itself into a self-governing multiparty democracy. Today the Hualien area serves as the key population centre on the east coast as well as the one of five main life circle regions in Taiwan. (Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung)
A great white shark was caught off Hualien County on May 14, 1997. Reportedly almost 7 meters in length and weighing 4000 kg, it is the largest specimen ever recorded.
Read more about this topic: Hualien County
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