Japanese Imperial rule. existed from ca. 1901 to 1908, but was split over and in 1909. From 1920 to 1945, , and six villages were under the jurisdiction of Byōritsu District, under Shinchiku Prefecture. Republic of China After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China on 25 October 1945, the present day area of Miaoli County was incorporated to Hsinchu County. On 16 August 1950, the government re-established Miaoli county with Miaoli Township as the county seat. On 25 December 1981, Miaoli Township was upgraded from township to a county-administered city. Geography Miaoli County is considered to be located in the central northern part of the island of Taiwan, contiguous with Hsinchu county, Hsinchu City, and Taichung City. The Xueshan Range is located on the border between Miaoli county and Taichung City. Miaoli county north to south averages about 50 kilometers and east to west averages about 64 kilometers. It is roughly diamond-shaped in appearance. The overall coastline of Miaoli is about 50 kilometers long. Miaoli has little flat lands (plateau) and very mountainous due to the Xueshan Range. Miaoli has rich rainfall along with abundant rivers. Administrative divisions Miaoli County is divided into 2 cities, 5 urban townships, 10 rural townships and 1 mountain indigenous townships. Miaoli County has the second highest number of urban townships after Changhua County. Miaoli City is the county seat which houses the Miaoli County Government and Miaoli County Council. The incumbent Magistrate of Miaoli County is Hsu Yao-chang of the Kuomintang. Colors indicate the common language status of Hakka within each division. Note that Nanzhuang and Tai'an are also indigenous areas of Atayal people. Demographics and culture Population The main population of Miaoli County is comprised by the Han Chinese and the Taiwanese aborigines. The Taiwanese aborigines constitute about 1.9% of the total population where the rural areas is where the Hokkiens are the main group in western urban areas of Miaoli, while the Hakkas comprise the main group of Han Chinese in the rural southern and central parts of Miaoli county Taiwanese aborigines The Saisiat currently reside in the Wufeng Township of Hsinchu County and the Nanzhuang Township of Miaoli County. Due to oppression by initial Han immigrants, the Atayal aboriginal group and the Nanzhuang Incident, the population of the Saisiat people has decreased to 5,000 people. It is the least populous Taiwanese aboriginal group after the Thao