Lu-kang

Lu-kang, town and port in Chang-hua (Zhanghua) county, western coastal Taiwan. It is situated on the Taiwan Strait west of the city of Chang-hua, with which its fortunes have been closely linked.

Lu-kang was formerly one of the chief ports of Taiwan, and it absorbed many immigrants from the Chinese mainland cities of Xiamen (Amoy) and Fuzhou (Fu-chou) in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. At one time, early in the 19th century, it is said to have had a population of 100,000. The central area of Taiwan, however, for which Lu-kang was the chief port, declined in importance in the 19th century with the rapid growth of agriculture in the south and with the move of the administration in 1891 from T’ai-nan (Tainan) in the south to Taipei in the north. Taiwan’s trade moved away to the new ports of Chi-lung (Jilong, or Keelung) in the north and Kao-hsiung (Gaoxiong) in the south, which had better harbours and rail connections with the interior. By the early 1970s, Lu-kang’s commercial role too had largely been taken over by Chang-hua. It is now important for salt manufacturing and for such handicrafts as hat making. Pop. (2015 est.) 86,407.