Chronicles of Fucheng

As the origin of history , Tainan City is the oldest city in Taiwan. In 1661 when Jheng Chenggong (a.k.a. Koxinga) recovered Taiwan from the hands of the Dutch, he began his reign in Taiwan from Tainan City . His troops and followers cultivated wasteland s and made great efforts to transform Taiwan into a strong state. Immigrants from the mainland came in swarms, merchant ships gathered here, and all sorts of shops in the city mushroomed . Tainan finally became the urban center of Taiwan . It was a pity that Jheng Chenggong died at an early age. After his son Jheng Jing came into power , Jing built the Confucius Temple and founded schools to continue his father's efforts in building Taiwan into a strong state.

When the Cing Government defeated the Jhengs in 1684, they established the Taiwan Prefecture in Tainan. It was the capital city of Taiwan then. When the Cing Government promoted Taiwan from a prefecture into a province in 1885, they also changed the name from Taiwan Prefecture into the Tainan Prefecture , and the name of Tainan has been used to represent the place since then. Up until the end of the 19th century, Tainan was still the political, economic and cultural center of Taiwan . Therefore, with such rich background, we can see many historical monuments in Tainan City . It also explains why the city is known as the ancient cultural capital of Taiwan.

During the Japanese Colonization, the Japanese planted Royal Poinciana (commonly known as flame trees) on both sides of Jhong s han Road (former Da j heng Ding) and Fu c ian Road. These green boulevard s would turn in to a sea of flames in July when the flowers of the flame trees are in full bloom, thus creating a southern exoticism.

The flame tree , also know as the phoenix tree in Taiwan, is the most common among street tree species in the city; therefore, Tainan is also known as the Phoenix City . When summer draw near and the flame-red flowers bloom on the trees along street sides , such flamboyance makes the whole city appear on the way to shake off its shackles, as if a wild fire blazing towards the blue sky . The passionate exuberance of the flame trees is the perfect reflection of typical Tainan people, under whose reserved and courteous exteriors run their candid and zealous nature.