Changhua City

Changhua City (彰化市) is the administrative capital of Changhua, a historic county in central Taiwan. As the foremost settlement in central Taiwan during the Qing dynasty era, the city is home to a rich cultural heritage, including the Confucian Temple (1726) and Chenghuang Temple (1733), along with traces of even earlier Dutch colonial presence at the Hongmao Well. During the Japanese colonial era the city was significantly modernized and became a vital transportation hub on the Western Trunk Line (縱貫線), with the crown jewel of this heritage being the Fan-Shaped Roundhouse (1922), a national monument and one of the only remaining railway roundhouses still in operation anywhere in the world. Other notable heritage sites include the Martial Arts Hall (1930); Yingong Theater (1958); and the iconic Big Buddha statue, site of a major 1895 battle during the Japanese conquest of Taiwan.