Taiwanese aborigines, including the Babuza people, populated the plains that make up modern Taichung City. They lived by cultivating millet and taroand were hunter gatherers. Several local names in central Taiwan, including Shalu Township and Lukang Township in Changhua County contain the word for “deer.”
Taichung was founded in 1705 as a part of Changhua County with the name of Dadun. At this point in history, the Qing Dynasty, formed by invading Manchus in the 1640s, was consolidating its hold on western Taiwan, which it had wrested from the Cheng family in 1682. As a part of strengthening its control, a garrison was founded in 1721 near the site of present-day Taichung Park by Lan Ting-chen.
All was not peaceful for Qing authorities in central Taiwan. North of the city, at the Dajia River, an aboriginal revolt broke out in 1731 after Chinese officials moved in and compelled them to provide labor. After being joined by other aboriginals, they drove as far south as the county seat of Changhua in May 1732 before being chased into the mountains by Qing forces.
In 1786, another rebellion against the Qing authorities had its roots in the distriction of Dali. Led by Lin Shuang-wen, it began as an attempt to overthrow the Manchu government and restore the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, as they moved northward, they turned to slaughter and looting. They were eventually defeated by a coalition of Hakka, Quanzhou Fujianese descendants, and Aboriginal volunteers who joined with the government to defeat the rebels.
Qing Dynasty rule era
Taiwan became a province of Qing-dynasty China in 1885, and the city, named Dadun at the time, was designated capital of Taiwan Prefecture, one of three prefectures in the newly created Taiwan Province. It was also initially designated as the provincial capital, and Qing official Liu Ming-chuan received the authority
