Yilan City


Yilan City is a county-administered city and the county seat of Yilan County, Taiwan. The city lies on the north side of the Lanyang River.

History

The Yilan Plain in which the city is located has historically been referred to as Kapalan, Kapsulan, Komalan, etc. These names, as well as that of Yilan itself, were given to the sites by the Kavalan tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. Later arrivals included Han Chinese settlers during the Qing dynasty in China and settlers from Okinawa during Taiwan's Japanese era.

Qing dynasty

In 1810 under Qing dynasty rule, a formal administration office was established at Wuwei and "Komalan Subprefecture" was at the present day location of Yilan City. Construction of the city wall was completed a year later. After a few years once the basic infrastructure was ready, the city assumed the political, economical, cultural and educational center for the Lanyang Plain. In 1878, Komalan was a large rice production area commonly called Kapsulan, and became a district called Gilan Hsien. It was one of the three new districts that constituted the new Taipeh Prefecture.

Empire of Japan

According to the 1904 census, the population of Giran town was about 15,000.

Republic of China

After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945, Yilan City was created in January 1946 as a county-administered city the county seat of the newly created Yilan County and continued to become the political, economical and cultural centers of the region.

Geography

Yilan City is located on Lanyang Plain with an average altitude of 7.38 meters above sea level.
  • Area:
  • Population: 95,019

    Climate

Yilan City experiences a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and hot, humid summers.

Administrative divisions

Yilan City consists of 38 villages and 478 neighborhoods, including:
Yilan City is accessible by Yilan Station of Taiwan Railway.

Sister cities

Yilan City became a sister city of Rockville, Maryland, in 2019. The relationship gained notoriety as diplomats from the Embassy of China, Washington, D.C., unsuccessfully attempted to scuttle the agreement.