Taichung or T'ai-chung [key], special municipality (2010 pop. 2,731,056), 855 sq mi (2,214 sq km), W central Taiwan. It was created in 2010 by merging the city of Taichung with Taichung co., and extends inland to forested mountains. Situated in an area where rice, sugarcane, and bananas are grown, Taichung is a distribution and processing center for these crops. The city has textile, machine-building, food-processing, and chemical industries, and was named an export-processing zone after the construction of a new port west of the city. A noted educational and cultural center, it is the home of the Chinese National Central Museum and Tunghai Univ. A fine park and several scenic spots are in the city. The city was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1999.
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