Checheng

22°04′47″N 120°44′45″E / 22.079754°N 120.745727°E / 22.079754; 120.745727

Checheng Township 車城鄉 Chai-cheng
Rural township
Checheng Township in Pingtung County
Location	Pingtung County, Taiwan
Area
• Total	50 km2 (19 sq mi)
Population  (February 2024)
• Total	8,002
• Density	160/km2 (410/sq mi)

Checheng Township^[1] is a rural township in Pingtung County, Taiwan.^[2]

The name of the town Checheng (Chinese: 車城; pinyin: Chēchéng) combines the Chinese character for "cart", 車 today used to refer to cars and other motorized transport, and 城 which is used in words for walled fortresses and cities, but which in the Taiwanese historical context refers to a town with an earthen security berm.

With the arrival of ethnic Chinese on Taiwan, the native Paiwan name of Kabeyawan was transliterated as Ku-piah-oan (龜壁灣) in the Taiwanese Hokkien language of these new settlers.^[3] Following the period of Dutch rule in the 17th century, the name Thóng-léng-po͘ (統領埔; Hakka: Thúng-liâng-phû) was used after Koxinga's son and successor Zheng Jing stationed troops there under a tongling  [zh] (統領),^[3] a military officer with rank roughly equal to a battalion commander; The suffix po͘ (埔) is often used for place names in Taiwan. A village gradually grew up in the area.^[3]

After the Manchu Qing Dynasty assumed control of the lowlands of western Taiwan, ethnic Chinese settlers wanted protection from aboriginal attacks.^[3] A wooden palisade was built around the town giving rise to a new name, Chhâ-siâⁿ (柴城; Hakka: Tshài-sàng),^[3] using the character 柴 (chhâ) which is the Hokkien word for "wood". Thus Chhâ-siâⁿ has roughly the meaning of "stockade".

In 1788, the fifty-third year of the Qianlong Emperor's rule, Manchu general Fuk'anggan landed his army in the area to suppress the Lin Shuangwen rebellion.^[3] In commemoration, the town received yet another name Hok-an-chng (福安庄; also Hok-an-siâⁿ [福安城]),^[3] with 福 from Fuk'anggan's Chinese name and 安 for "pacified", plus 庄, meaning "hamlet".

The origin of the town's current name Checheng is disputed.^[3] Some such as Japanese anthropologist Inō Kanori believe that it arose as a mispronunciation of Chhâ-siâⁿ (柴城);^[3] the pronunciations of 柴 and 車 are similar in both Hokkien and Hakka, chhâ/chhia and tshài/tshâ respectively. Another theory is that as an aboriginal army approached the town, the inhabitants used dozens of oxcarts carrying charcoal to lined up as a defense.^[3]

Today, Hokkien-speaking inhabitants continue to pronounce the name of the town with the older Chhâ-siâⁿ, though the written form is almost inevitably 車城. English-language maps and sources have historically used spellings such as Chasiang that reflect this pronunciation.

Area: 49.85 square kilometres (19.25 sq mi)
Population: 8,002 (February 2024)

The township comprises 11 villages: Baoli, Fuan, Fuxing, Haikou, Houwan, Puqi, Sheliao, Tianzhong, Tongpu, Wenquan and Xinjie.

• National Pingtung University

• Checheng Fu'an Temple
• Kenting National Park
• National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
• Sichongxi Hot Spring
• Dongyuan Forest Recreation Area and Dongyuan Wet Grassland
• Shihmen Ancient battle Field and Mudan Incident Memorial Park
• Syuhai Grassland Recreation Area
• Hsi Chung River Hot Spring
• HaiKou
• Gourmet: Huang's peeled mung bean desert^{[permanent dead link]}

• Pan Men-an, Magistrate of Pingtung County

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Checheng Township, Pingtung County.

• Checheng Township Office, Pingtung County Government (in Chinese)
• Checheng Township Travel Guide (in English)