Yongkang

Yǒngkāng (永康) is a suburban industrial district sprawling northeast of Tainan City along the railway line, home to approximately 234,000 residents. The district experienced rapid population growth from the 1970s onward due to the development of manufacturing and food-processing industries, becoming the largest city in Tainan County by 1977. Yongkang was home to a significant number of military dependents’ villages in the post-war era, with communities such as Feiyan New Village established to house military personnel and their families following the KMT retreat to Taiwan in 1949. The district is also home to a large Southeast Asian population, most of whom work in its many factories. The Sankandian Sugar Factory (三崁店糖廠), established in 1906 by British firm Bain & Company, was one of the early sugar refineries in the area, and traces of it remain around the restored Shinto shrine of the same name.