Tucheng

Tǔchéng (土城) is a heavily industrialized suburban district southwest of Banqiao in New Taipei. The name derives from earthen walls built by Qing dynasty settlers as defense against the Taiwanese Indigenous people whose traditional territory this was. The district developed as a coal mining center; Haishan Coal Mine, Taiwan’s second largest, operated here until the 1984 disaster that killed 72 miners and contributed to the end of Taiwan’s coal industry. The forested hills that once fed the mines now draw visitors each spring for the Tung Blossom Festival (土城桐花節), a celebration with Hakka roots held since 1997 when the white flowers blanket the slopes.