Nanxi

Nánxī (楠西), also written as Nansi, is a rural district in eastern Tainan surrounded by hills and named for its position west of the Qishan River (旗山溪). The area was settled by Hakka families during the camphor boom of the late 19th century and remains part of the traditional territory of the Siraya Indigenous people. The district is home to Zengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫), Taiwan’s largest by volume and surface area, constructed between 1967 and 1973 to supply the Wushantou Reservoir and irrigate the Chianan Plain. During construction over 2,000 laborers relocated to Nanxi, spurring the development of a modest entertainment industry including multiple theaters, notably the Huazhou Theater, which opened in 1969 and closed around 1976 after the workforce departed. The district has experienced severe population decline from approximately 14,000 residents in 1981 to around 8,000 by the 2020s.