History
The present-day area of Zhonghe District was originally settled by aboriginal tribes. During conflict between the colonial forces of the Dutch and the Spanish, the area is recorded by the Dutch as Chiron, from the name of one of the tribes living there. This name is preserved in on of the constituent villages of the city, called Xiulang Li (秀朗里), and the bridge which connects Zhonghe to Xindian.
The area was subsequently settled by Han migrants from Fujian but remained relatively unimportant until the end of the Second World War. In 1946 the population of the area of present-day Zhonghe and Yonghe was 30,000 and it was classified as a rural township (鄉 xiāng).
Due to rapid population growth Yonghe was separated from Zhonghe in 1958. Subsequently, on January 1, 1979, Zhonghe was upgraded to county-controlled city status after reaching a population of 170,000.
Read more about this topic: Zhonghe District
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