Taiwan's Silicon Valley and the Windy City — where the world's chips are made beside an old walled town, a famous temple food court, and rice noodles dried by the wind.
台灣的矽谷,也是風城——全球晶片在此誕生,身旁是古城牆、傳奇的廟口小吃,與被風吹乾的米粉。
Hsinchu is one of the oldest cities in northern Taiwan. Its old name was Zhuqian (竹塹), from the Taokas (道卡斯) Plains Indigenous people who lived here long before Han settlement. Settlers arrived in force in the early 1700s, and in 1733 the magistrate planted a defensive ring of thorny bamboo around the town — the origin of the modern name Hsinchu (新竹, "new bamboo").
新竹是台灣北部最古老的城市之一。它的古名是竹塹,源自比漢人更早居住於此的平埔族道卡斯族。漢人於十八世紀初大量移入,1733 年同知於聚落周圍栽植刺竹為城——這正是今名新竹(「新的竹城」)的由來。
In the 1820s the gentry, led by the scholar Zheng Yongxi, rebuilt Zhuqian as a proper stone-and-brick walled city, built from 1827 to 1829 with four gates. After the Japanese tore down most of the wall in 1902, only the East Gate — Yingxi Gate (迎曦門) — survived; it still stands downtown, ringed by a restored moat. Hsinchu is nicknamed "the Windy City" (風城) for its fierce autumn-winter northeasterly monsoon, the "nine-descending wind" (九降風) — far from a nuisance, it is the very wind that dries Hsinchu's famous rice noodles.
1820 年代,以進士鄭用錫為首的仕紳將竹塹改建為磚石城牆,1827 至 1829 年完工、築有四門。日治時期 1902 年拆除大部分城牆,僅存東門——迎曦門;它至今仍矗立市中心,外環護城河。新竹有「風城」之名,源於秋冬強勁的東北季風「九降風」——這風並非只是惱人,正是它風乾了新竹著名的米粉。
The Japanese era brought modernization — the 1913 railway station, parks, the glass industry. But the single event that remade Hsinchu was the founding of the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) in 1980, Taiwan's very first. Built beside the research institute ITRI (工研院) and the universities of Tsing Hua and Yang Ming Chiao Tung, it became the heart of Taiwan's semiconductor industry — ITRI spun off UMC in 1980 and TSMC in 1987. An old walled wind-city had become the capital of Taiwan's "Silicon Valley."
日治時期帶來現代化:1913 年的火車站、公園、玻璃工業。然而真正改變新竹命運的,是 1980 年新竹科學園區的設立——台灣第一座科學園區。它緊鄰研究機構工研院與清華、陽明交通兩所大學,成為台灣半導體產業的心臟——工研院於 1980 年衍生聯電、1987 年衍生台積電。一座古老的風城,就此蛻變為台灣「矽谷」之都。
The last surviving gate of the 1827–1829 walled city, sitting at the very center of downtown, ringed by a moat and a sunken waterside plaza. Its granite base is original; the upper tower has been rebuilt. It is the symbol of old Zhuqian.
Founded in 1748, this is the highest-ranking City God temple in Taiwan — the only one elevated to "Duchenghuang" and titled "Weiling Gong" by the Guangxu Emperor in 1891. Its forecourt is one of Taiwan's most famous food courts.
North Gate Street is the old commercial spine of Hsinchu. On it stands the Jinshi Di, built in 1838 by Zheng Yongxi — the first Hsinchu native to pass the imperial palace exam. The Kinmen-style mansion is a national monument.
The city's green heart, laid out in 1916. Within it, the Glass Museum occupies the elegant 1936 former prefecture hall and tells the story of the city's glass industry, with the Confucius Temple nearby.
Opened in 1936, this is the oldest zoo still on its original site in Taiwan. After a "no-cage, habitat-style" renewal it reopened in 2019, keeping its original 1936 gate and fountain.
A forested ridge on the city's southern edge — Hsinchu's beloved urban hiking spot, with gentle shaded trails popular for morning walks and viewpoints over the city.
Nanliao is the seaside gateway and the start of the scenic 17-kilometre coastal bike path, running past the "Fish Scale Sky Ladder," wetlands and a riverside birdwatching area — Hsinchu's classic windswept coastal ride.
Completed in 1913 and designed by Japanese architect Matsugasaki Tsumunaga, this Baroque-style station is the oldest railway station still in service in Taiwan, with a steep mansard roof and central clock tower.
Housed in the 1933 "Yule-kan," the first air-conditioned public cinema in Taiwan during the Japanese era, now restored as a museum and small theater celebrating Hsinchu's film heritage.
The tech icon of the city. Founded in 1980, the park and the neighboring ITRI are the cradle of Taiwan's semiconductor industry and home to global chip giants — the modern face of the Windy City.
Hsinchu's culture sits in three layers: a glass-art capital, a wind-made food tradition, and one of Asia's densest concentrations of engineers.
During the Japanese era, abundant local silica sand and natural gas — the two essentials for glassmaking — were found here, and Hsinchu grew into the center of Taiwan's glass industry. That heritage is celebrated at the Glass Museum and the biennial Glass Art Festival, and beneath the modern city the old walled-city heritage of Zhuqian still shows in the East Gate, moat and Zheng-family mansions.
The city's other defining heritage is its food born of the wind — rice noodles and fish balls — and the City God Temple food court, a living museum of century-old snack shops. Layered over it all is a uniquely dense intellectual and tech culture: Tsing Hua, Yang Ming Chiao Tung, ITRI and the Science Park give Hsinchu one of the highest concentrations of engineers and PhDs in Asia.
The first Hsinchu native to pass the imperial palace examination, earning the nickname "Kaitai Jinshi" (開台進士). He led the rebuilding of the walled city in the 1820s and built the Jinshi Di on Beimen Street, which still stands today.
Hsinchu's fame rests on its institutions: TSMC and UMC (both born of ITRI), the research institute itself, and the universities — collectively the engine of Taiwan's semiconductor industry. TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, is headquartered right here in the Science Park.
Hsinchu's signature folk festival, held through the seventh "ghost" month at the City God Temple. Highlights include the "carrying the cangue" (夯枷) penance ritual and the great relief-of-orphans procession — one of northern Taiwan's three great Mid-Yuan festivals.
First held in 1995 and staged roughly every two years, this autumn festival fills Hsinchu Park and the Glass Museum with glass art, the "Golden Glass Award" exhibition, markets and hands-on workshops.
Hsinchu regularly celebrates its "Three Treasures" — rice noodles, fish balls and zhuqian cake — through tourism and food events, especially in the cool, windy months when rice-noodle drying is at its best.
The strong autumn-winter wind that gives the city its nickname also makes the Nanliao coast and the 17-km bike path a breezy seasonal draw, with kites and sea-wind sunsets.
Hsinchu's two icons — rice noodles and fish balls — were both made possible by the wind, and the City God Temple food court is where the city eats.
The headline dish — thin rice vermicelli dried by the northeasterly wind. Best eaten stir-fried as chao mi-fen.
Citywide 全市Bouncy pork meatballs beaten from fresh hind-leg pork into a springy paste; a bowl of fish-ball soup with stir-fried rice noodles is the classic pairing.
Citywide 全市The third "treasure" — a rich, sweet-savory traditional pastry, most famously from the century-old Xin Fu Zhen bakery by the City God Temple.
Beimen St 北門街Fresh, thin wheat wrappers rolled around savory fillings — a City God Temple food-court classic with famous long-running stalls.
Miaokou 城隍廟口Translucent steamed or fried glutinous dumplings stuffed with pork — a staple of the temple snacks.
Miaokou 城隍廟口Beyond the dry stir-fried version, the temple court is loved for hearty bowls of rice-noodle soup in savory broth.
Miaokou 城隍廟口A humble ring-shaped pastry that began as a City God Temple offering — still threaded on red string and hung on the deity statues during the Mid-Yuan procession.
Miaokou 城隍廟口A popular sweet finish — shaved peanut "candy floss" and ice cream wrapped in a thin spring-roll skin.
Miaokou 城隍廟口The Science Park and the semiconductor industry — TSMC and UMC.
The nine-descending northeasterly wind that defines the seasons.
The wind-made food icons, best at the City God Temple court.
Taiwan's glass capital, with the Glass Museum and Glass Art Festival.
The old walled-city heritage of Zhuqian at the city's heart.
Tsing Hua, Yang Ming Chiao Tung and the research that built an industry.
Introduce Hsinchu City to a visitor — tap 🔊 to hear each sentence. 用英文向訪客介紹新竹市,點 🔊 聽聽看。
Sources · 資料來源:新竹市政府、新竹都城隍廟、工業技術研究院、文化部、維基百科等公開資料整理。