County. On 21 April 1971, Taoyuan City was made the county seat of Taoyuan County. It had 6 cities, 1 urban township and 6 rural townships. In June 2009, the Executive Yuan approved the plan to upgrade Taoyuan from a county to a special municipality. On 25 December 2014, Taoyuan County was upgraded into a special municipality of Taoyuan City (). Geography Taoyuan is located approximately southwest of Taipei, in northern Taiwan, and occupies . It is made up of low-lying plains, interconnected mountains and plateaus. Its shape has a long and narrow southeast-to-northwest trend, with the southeast in the Xueshan Range and the far end on the shores of the Taiwan Strait. There are many irrigation ponds at Taoyuan Plateau, which caused Taoyuan to earn the nickname "Thousand-pond Township" (). Climate Taoyuan has a humid subtropical climate, with mild to warm winters and hot summers, typical of northern Taiwan. (The climate data of Taipei City is shown below for reference due to the city's proximity to Taipei.) Ethnic composition Han Chinese Hoklo As of most of the cities and urban towns of Taiwan, Minnan people (Hoklos) are one of the largest ethnic groups of Taoyuan, most of whom live in northern Taoyuan (北桃園) which comprises the northern districts of Taoyuan, including Taoyuan city centre, Bade, Daxi, Dayuan, Guishan and Luzhu, and the city seat of government, Taoyuan District citycentre. Hakka The Hakka are the second-largest ethnic group in the city after the Minnan ethnicity (Hoklo) who won against the Hakkas in clan wars moved to the poor mountainous regions in southern Taoyuan, most of the Hakka peasants live in the rural peasant village areas of southern Taoyuan (南桃園), which includes Zhongli, Pingzhen, Yangmei, Longtan, Guanyin and Xinwu districts. With more than 785,000 Hakka people, Taoyuan hosts the largest Hakka population among all of Taiwan's administrative divisions. Waishengren After the Chinese Civil War, many people from mainland China (unaffectionately referred to as "Waishengren") settled in the then-Taoyuan County after the retreat of the nationalist government in 1949. Most of them live in military dependents' villages in Zhongli, Pingzhen and Guishan. Longgang is well known for its immigrants from Yunnan, featuring many Yunnan-style restaurants. Aborigines Most Taiwanese aborigines in the city live in Fuxing District, with most of them belonging to the Atayal people. Economy Taoyuan is one of the Taiwan's top industrial and technological cities. High-tech companies including Quanta, MiTAC,