Anping, Tainan
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Anping (Chinese: 安平; Pinyin: Ānpíng; Wade-Giles: An-p'ing; POJ: An-pêng) is a district of Tainan City. The history of Anping dates back to the 17th century, when Dutch East India Company occupied Tayuan/Tayoan (the namesake of Taiwan). In the period of the Japanese occupation, the history of trade between China and Japan unfolded at Anping.
Anping was a small island separated from mainland Taiwan until the 19th century. Because of the ocean current, the small ocean between Anping island and Taiwan was silted up on account of lots of sand brought by the ocean current. Afterwards, the small ocean between Anping island and Taiwan gradually disappeared. And then, Anping was getting closer to mainland Taiwan and became a part of Tainan.
Attractions
When Dutch occupied Anping, they built up the first castle in Taiwan called Fort Zeelandia. At that time, it was the heartbeat of politics and trade in Taiwan. In the period of being occupied, Fort Zeelandia changed its name several times. Afterwards, Fort Zeelandia was changed its name into "Anping Castle" in 1983 and it has been left up to now.Eternal Golden Castle was built in 1874 by Shen Bao-Jhen, one of famous officials in Cing Dynasty. At that time it was used to defend the Japanese army's invasion and maintain the Anping ocean's safeguard. In 1895, when Taiwan was occupied by Japan, Taiwan's people fought against Japanese's battleship by this fortress. During the war between Japan and Russia, Japanese government sold some cannons of Eternal Golden Castle in order to pay for the war expense. Afterwards, the fortress lost its military value.
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