Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung or Kao-hsiung (both: gou`shyng`), city (1995 pop. 1,426,035), S Taiwan. It is the second largest city of Taiwan and its leading port. Its designation as an export processing zone in the late 1970s has stimulated foreign investment. The leading industries produce petroleum products, steel, cement, aluminum, wood and paper products, fertilizers, metals, and machinery; shipbuilding is also carried on. Kaohsiung is connected by high-speed rail to Taipei. The city grew up from a small fishing village and was developed as a manufacturing center and port by the Japanese, who occupied Taiwan in 1895. Nearby is an important naval base.

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Kaohsiung, Kao-hsiung, Gaoxiong

a port in SW Taiwan, on the South China Sea: the chief port of the island. Pop.: 1 506 000 (2005 est.)

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Kaohsiung 

a city in China, in the province of Taiwan. Population, 720,000 (1968). Located on the southwest shore of the island on the Formosa Strait, it commands a large natural harbor. After Chiulung, it is the second most important port in Taiwan, handling 11 million tons of freight in 1969. Its economic growth began when it was opened for foreign trade in the second half of the 19th century. From the end of that century, it has become one of the chief industrial centers of the island, important for the smelting of aluminum (since 1935), machine building, shipbuilding, cement, chemicals (superphosphates), and oil refining. There is also production of sugar, alcohol, canned goods, and so on.