|
 In the 30th year of the Wanli Period, Ming Dynasty (the end of 1602), Chen Di and Shen You-Rong went to the battle in the East (Taiwan) against the Japanese. After they returned, they wrote down their experiences in a book of more than a thousand words; this is the book- Dong Fan Ji (Journey to Undeveloped East). In the book, they said, "The uncivilized residents of the east land with unknown origins live on the island farther away from Penghu. Ciwang Port, Jialai Bay, Lidayuan, inland sea of yaogang, and the little Danshui are habitats of the aborigines."
The inland sea of Yaogang is located at the east to southeast side of Cieding Township; today's Xingda area is the remaining site of the old inland sea of Yaogang.The Yaogang Port (the tidal inlet of the Yaogang Inland Sea) is located in between today's Cieding and Cilou area.
The name "Yaogang" has been documented in the ancient literature written over 380 years ago. We can see that the land of Cieding has been known and there have long been residents (the Pingpu Aborigines) on this land. During the earlier period of Dutch occupation (between 1624 and 1625), a map was made for the area "from Penghu Islands to the Dayuan Island, Wanggang, and Yaogang area." The fishermen''s bay on the map (Vissers baojj) was the site of Yaogang and fishermen's cape (de Vissers Caep) is today's upper Cieding to lower Cieding area. From this, we can see that a community of fishermen has settled in Cieding at the time.
In the 33rd year of the Kangxi Period, Qing Dynasty (1694), the Topography of Taiwan written by Gao Gong-Cian mentioned in the Chapters of Waterways and Administration System mentioned: "The map of Wen-Sian Li of Taiwan County contains nine Jia (including five Jia of the coastal Jiadong vines) .. " This passage reveals that Cieding already had a scale of five Jia (Jia is the smallest unit in the administrative system, which equals today's village or neighborhood) and zoned into the municipality of Wensian Li, Taiwan County (today's Tainan County and City).
In the 9th year of the Yongzheng Period, Qing Dynasty (1731), the administrative zones went under a reorganization. Two Counties, Taiwan and Fengshan Counties, were set up divided by the Ercengsing Creek. (today's Erhjen Creek). Cieding is located south of the Creek; therefore, it was zoned under the Fengshan County (today's Kaohsiung County). This is the beginning of Cieding 's history with Kaohsiung County. No long later, the two counties had a dispute over the borderline (a dispute over the ownership of theland in the Jiatengji area). In the 28th year of the Qianlong Period (1763), the two magistrates agreed to re-survey the border area and draw a line over the Ercengsing Creek dividing the two municipalities into the north and south regions and separate the east and west border at Sinkai Port. The land east of Sinkai Port was zoned into the municipality of Fengshan County and the land west of Sinkai Port to Taiwan county.
Sinkao Port was a new port canal built in the 13th year of the Qianlong Period (1748). Later known as Kaoshui Port, this canal links the downstream of Ercengsing Creek to Jiateng Port (the inland sea of Yaogang) Today, only a small drain of the old canal is left at the border of Cieding and Hunei Townships.
|