Tainan City, the former capital, is situated on the southwest coast. It has a population of 750.000 spread over an area of 176 km², 0,5 % of the total land area of Taiwan. Tainan's modern history may be seen to begin when the Dutch established Fort Zeelandia in 1624. The Fort was however surrendered to Koxinga after nine months siege in 1662. The fort is located in Anping, one of the oldest non-indigenous settlements in Taiwan and the oldest part of Tainan. It is here that the famous Anping Tree House may be found. Originally Tait & Co.'s warehouse during the Japanese period, it was taken over by Taiwan Salt Co. in 1945. Finally, when the house was abandoned, it is the Banyan trees that 'took over'. Both the fort and the house are open daily 9am - 5pm.

Tainan is more traditional than in the north and the residents use their native Taiwanese more than Mandarin. The city is much quieter and more peaceful at night than Taipei. Still there are lot of restaurants and night markets with delicious food. More than 200 major temples and an infinite number of shrines are spread around the town and surrounding countryside.

Shopping in Tainan can be enjoyed in several traditional arts and craft stores as well as new modern department stores, malls and the latest boutiques. Beimen Street is the city's computer ¨street¨.

A 20 km long straight coastline, including mangrove swamps, attracts many birds. The mangroves host around 20 endangered species of migratory bird from other parts of Asia and Australia, as well as over half of Taiwan's more than 400 species.

Most of the soil in Tainan City contains salty alluvia to which the Cigu Salt Mountains with two 90.000 ton piles of rock-hard sodium crystals and the Taiwan Salt Museum, open daily 9am - 5pm, bear witness. The soil being thus unsuitable for agriculture the fishing industry has expanded. Tainan's milkfish is well known nationwide and fish farms have been established in an area of over 4000 ha. But, with new technology and irrigated water the city has been able to grow sugarcane, vegetables and cereals. Indeed, the famous muskmelon has also recently been grown very successfully in Tainan.

"Tainan Technology Industrial Park" is 6 km from the City Hall. This green technology park has been developed were "production", "lifestyle" and "ecology" harmoniously co-exist side by side. The fact that the park is situated next to the wildlife reserve with bird watching decks raises awareness of the goal of environmental conservation.