Keelung

English

Alternative forms

• Kelung
• Kilung
• Kiirun

Etymology

A romanization of Mandarin 雞籠 (Jīlóng), without palatalization of the velar initial k-.

Proper noun

Keelung

1. A city in north-eastern Taiwan.
   • 1857, George H. Preble, “Sailing Directions and Nautical Remarks by Officers of the Late United States Naval Expedition to Japan”, in Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: Alfred O. P. Nicholson, pages 377-378:

     SAILING DIRECTIONS FOR THE HARBOR OF KEELUNG, ISLAND OF FORMOSA.
     . . .
     Keelung harbor, or Keelung-taw, head (or promontory) is situated near the northeastern point of the island of Formosa.
     . . .
     Making and keeping Keelung island well to the eastward, the entrance may be approached without fear, as the soundings are deep, and free from hidden dangers....The town of Keelung is situated at the head of the harbor, about a mile from this last anchorage, and surrounded by extensive mud flats, bare at low water, and can only be approached by small boats at high tides.
     . . .
     There is a covered market or bazaar at Sowan Point, near the junk anchorage, and another in the town of Keelung.

   • 1866, Reports on Trade at the Ports in China Open by Treaty to Foreign Trade for the Year 1865‎^[2], Shanghai: Imperial Maritime Customs' Press, page 57:

     This trade is as yet undeveloped, but would increase were greater facilities for communication in existence. The principal imports at present are Coal and Rice, but in time of dearth the export from Formosa of the latter commodity is prevented by the Native authorities. Keelung Coal is brought over almost exclusively for the use of coasting steamers.

   • 1873, “China”, in The American Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1868 (Annual Cyclopædia)‎^[3], number VIII, New York: D. Appleton & Company, page 115:

     The Island of Formosa suffered greatly from an earthquake which took place on December 18, 1867. The shock pursued almost a direct course over the island from Keelung to Yamsin, at which latter place it was felt very severely, as well in loss of life as in the destruction of property and houses, including a temple which had just been completed at a cost of $30,000.

   • Keelung and Tamsui in the north of the island are the principal harbours ; the former town partly owes its prosperity to the proximity of some coal beds, which the Chinese have for a long time worked ' in the most primitive fashion ;' shafts were abandoned from having become flooded....The country round Keelung is charming in its rich green dress of bamboo groves and paddy ; but the odours of the town, which Mr. Taintor has stigmatised as the ' filthiest town in the universe,' are probably unrivalled.

   • 1896 October 24, “Earthquakes in Formosa”, in The Friend‎^[4], volume LXX, number 14, page 107:

     Years ago, at Keelung, rumbling sounds were heard, and the waters of the harbor receded until fish of all sizes were left wriggling and floundering in the mud and pools. Women and children rushed out to secure such rare and enticing prizes, but shrieks from the shore warned them of the return of the water. Back it came, furious as a charge of battle, overleaping its appointed bounds, and sweeping away all the houses in the low-lying land along the shore. The story of that tidal wave is handed down as one of the great catastrophes in history.

   • 1905 May 18, “The War on Sea and Land”, in The Independent‎^[5], volume LVIII, number 2946, page 1096:

     The Japanese have made extensive preparations for the defense of Formosa and the Pescadores. [For a description of the Pescadores and a map, see THE INDEPENDENT for February 16th.] The Pescadores Islands have been supplied with provisions and ammunition for two years and heavy guns mounted in strategic positions. In Formosa the ports of Keelung and Tamsui are strongly protected by mines. The garrison is estimated at 15,000 men. The island is declared to be under martial law and in a state of siege.

   • 1919 December, “More Coal in the East”, in South African Mining and Engineering Journal‎^[6], page 163:

     Good quality coal at present costs about 19 yen per ton at Keelung.

   • 1943, Roy Chapman Andrews, Under a Lucky Star‎^[7], New York: Viking Press, page 78:

     It required a week to make repairs in Keelung; then we went northward to the Loo Choo Islands, that "Forgotten Kingdom of the East."

   • 1968, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships‎^[8], volume 3, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, page 290:

     Helena's 1958 cruise in the Far East began 3 August. Her first port of call was Keelung, Taiwan, arriving 21 August. Next day students and faculty of the Taiwan National Defense College were received on board for a tour of the ship.

   • 1980 October 26, “People enjoy modern lifestyle”, in Free China Weekly‎^[9], volume XXI, number 42, Taipei, page 4:

     Today Kaohsiung and Keelung are the two busiest harbors in Taiwan, handling modern containerized traffic. At the time of Retrocession, they could accommodate ships only up to 8,000 tons.
     . . .
     Taiwan's main railway has been electrified, and an expressway has been built. It now takes only four hours to go from Keelung in the north to Kaohsiung in the south by train, or five hours by car.

   • 1997, Willem van Kemenade, translated by Diane Webb, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc.‎^[10], New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 50:

     It was not until early-March that China announced its new round of surface-to-surface missile tests near the Taiwanese ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung, to be held from 8 to 15 March, partly coinciding with a new round of air-sea live-ammunition exercises, to be held from 12 to 20 March.

   • 2005, Bertil Lintner, Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea under the Kim Clan‎^[11], Silkworm Books, →ISBN, page 103:

     In July 2002, the police in Taiwan seized 79 kilograms of high-grade heroin and arrested six suspects in a daring raid in the port city of Keelung.

   • 2014 February, Peter Dutton, Andrew S. Erickson, and Ryan Martinson, editor, China's Near Seas Combat Capabilities‎^[12], Newport, R.I.: Naval War College, →ISBN, page 103:

     A retired senior PLA official alleges that PLA analysis has concluded that unexpected Global Positioning System (GPS) disruption likely caused the PLA to lose track of the second and third missiles of a three-missile salvo fired into the East China Sea 18.5 kilometers from Taiwan's Keelung naval port in March 1996, as part of a larger effort to deter what Beijing perceived to be pro-Taiwan independence moves.

   • 2021 January 29, Clarissa Wei, “A city guide to Taipei, Taiwan's culinary capital”, in National Geographic‎^[13]:

     2. Keelung
     Around 15 miles north east of Taipei proper, in oceanside Keelung City, Keelung Night Market is a great place for seafood. With more than 60 vendors spread out across multiple blocks, it’s expansive, with a huge amount of variety. Go there for barbecue-sauce-coated squid, creamy butter crabs, eel noodles and plump oyster pancakes.

Synonyms

• (abbreviation) KEE
• Chi-lung, Jilong
• Kelang

Translations

a city in Taiwan

• Arabic: كِيلُونْغ m (kilunḡ), جِيلُونْغ m (jilunḡ), تْشِيلُونْغ m (tšilunḡ)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 基隆 (gei¹ lung⁴)

  Mandarin: 基隆 (zh) (Jīlóng)

  Min Nan: 基隆 (Ke-lâng)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 基隆 (キールン, Kīrun)
• Korean: 지룽 (ko) (Jirung) (基隆)
• Russian: Цзилу́н m (Czilún)
• Vietnamese: Cơ Long (基隆)