- Home
- Programs
- International CyberFair
- Participants
- Display Project Details
Tamkang High School (2003 CyberFair Project ID 2348)
Taiwan,
Taiwan,
Taipei
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 1. Local Leaders
We estimate 7 student(s) from 17 to 18 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: Tamsui is in the northwest part of Taiwan, on the north shore of the lower Tamsui River, to west of the Ta-t’un Mountains, and faces Kuan-yin Mountain across the river. It is 11.138 kilometers east/west, 14.633 kilometers north/south, and 70.6565 square kilometers in area. It belongs to Taipei County and is divided into thirty-three districts in total. The Natural Surroundings of Tamsui Except for the narrow plain at the mouth of Tamsui River, the Ta-t’un plateau surrounds the greater part of Tamsui municipality, creating a mountainous river harbor. It is a river-lit landscape, with elegant scenery, known from of old as one of Taiwan’s Eight Sights, and in bygone days called the Venice of the East. It is recently become known as Taiwan’s famous tourist hot spot.
The Weather Conditions of Tamsui In winter (from December to the next March) when the northeasterly winter winds arrive on the Ta-t’un mountain system, Tamsui on the open side feels their strength. There are many rainy days, it is colder than in the Taipei basin and the lowest winter temperatures are often recorded in Tamsui. April is the springtime of ‘beautiful days and harmonious winds’, the famous ‘Ta-t’un’s spring color’ or ‘Kuan-yin spitting fog’, and such seasonal scenes of beauty on the plateau. Still, there is nothing that can match the changes in weather; sometimes a sudden cold spell will happen. The Plum Rains come from the middle of May to the middle of June with very copious rain, to top off the whole year. The Plum Rain season is comparatively cool. The old proverb illustrates this by saying ‘Until you have eaten the fifth month dumplings, don’t put away store away the winter covers.’ The hot months are July, August and September; the southwesterlies air currents are strong, and it may be cool outside, and especially famous for afternoon thunderstorms, in the Taipei basin as far as Kuantu. There may be many typhoons in the summer season; because the mouth of the Tamsui faces northwest, every time the typhoon comes from that direction, the seawater is higher longer and the Tamsui river basin will experience serious flooding. An October typhoon presents an epilogue, and begins the autumn season, but there is often an Indian Summer period. The air continues to have lower temperatures in November and as it slowly enters the winter season. The summer high temperatures may be between 30 to 35 C. The deep winter may see 5 C as the lowest temperature in January to March, but it seems quite cold because of the humidity.
Communications No. 2 Taiwan Highway to Taipei and No. 101 Provincial Road to San-chih Township connect Tamsui with the outside. Communication with the Pa-li, Wu-ku and San-ch’ung area beyond the river is convenient through the Kuan-tu Bridge. The Tamsui line of the MRT system takes passengers to Taipei Main Station in 35 minutes, increasing the convenience. There is also a ferry service crossing the river to Pa-li.
The history of the name, TAMSUI. In early days, Tamsui was the name of the area comprising the mouth and harbor of the Tamsui River. Even earlier it was the name of all of the northern part of Taiwan, and Hu-wei was the name of the village. For a while both names were used. The name Tamsui became the official name in the Japanese time, and that practice continues until today. The Tamsui area under the Japanese included San-chih, Shih-men and Pa-li municipalities.
The old name of Tamsui was Hu-wei. There are three explanations for this name: (1) HOBE: An aborigine word, the name of the aborigines who lived in the area in very old times which was used for the area where they lived. (2) Yu-wei (Rain-tail) the meaning of the Taiwanese words the Taiwanese settlers used for the aborigine words. In the summer the southwesterlies brought rain to the area south of Kuantu, but not to Tamsui. In the winter, because of northeasterlies, the rains fell in Tamsui, but not in Taipei. So people used the name which meant the tail, or end, of the rainy area, Hu-wei. (3) The fishermen on the north shore of the Tamsui River used a kind of stone weir as a trap for fish. When the tide came in, it brought fish which were trapped inside the weir as the water receded. As the base of the trap was the Tamsui Street, the name was shortened into Hu-wei.
The earliest people -- the Ketegelan, a plains aborigine people. The earliest people to settle in the Tamsui area belonged to the aborigine group that occupied the Taipei area, a Ketegelan plains aborigine tribe. They lived in tribal villages by fishing and hunting, farming and raising livestock. The present names of some Tamsui area places are plains aborigine names, such as Ta-t’un and Pei-t’ou.
Project Description: In this special research, the main subject we wanted to study was the life of Dr. George L. Mackay and the impression he made on people, especially in Tamsui Town, and to collect unusual material presented in a clear new way, escaping the usual serious viewpoint of most history websites. We invited local people to take part in the discussion of the topic, interviewed local people setting up a close association with the Tamsui area, securing the cooperation and involvement of the local people to really go deeper into the subject.