Taitung City () is a county-administered city and the county seat of Taitung County, Taiwan. It lies on the southeast coast of Taiwan facing the Pacific Ocean. Taitung City is the most populous subdivision of Taitung County and it is one of the major cities on the east coast of the island. Taitung City is served by Taitung Airport. Taitung is a gateway to Green Island and Orchid Island, both of which are popular tourist destinations. History Before the 16th century the Taitung plain was settled by agriculturalist Puyuma and Amis aboriginal tribes. Under Dutch rule and during Qing rule, a large part of eastern Taiwan, including today's Taitung, was called "Pi-lam" (). Many artifacts of the prehistory sites of the city are located at Beinan Cultural Park, which was discovered in 1980 during the construction of Taitung Station. In the late 19th century, when Liu Mingchuan was the Qing Governor of Taiwan, Han Chinese settlers moved into the Taitung region. Pi-lam Subprefecture (卑南廳) was established in 1875, and was upgraded and renamed to Taitung Prefecture in 1888, after the island was made Fujian-Taiwan Province. Japanese rule During Japanese rule, the central settlement was called . was one of twenty local administrative offices established in 1901. English-language works from the era refer to the place as Pinan (from Japanese) and Pilam (from Hokkien). Taitō Town was established in 1920 under Taitō Prefecture, and included modern Taitung City and eastern Beinan Township. There were no Americans living here during the Japanese rule. Post-war After handover of Taiwan from Japan to the ROC in 1945, it became Taitung Township and in 1976 it was promoted to Taitung City. City government Taitung City government is headquartered at Taitung City Hall which takes the responsibility for the city general administration and all of its other affairs, from folk, education, cultural popularization, negotiation, emergency help, disaster prevention, environmental taxation, cleaning control, finance, public property control, tellership, taxing help, farming and fishing control, wholesale products, marketing and business administration, urban planning, public establishment, tourism, community development, army service administration, welfare, national health insurance program and indigenous administration affairs. Departments Civil Affair Section Financial Section Construction Section Labor Affair Section Social and Army Service Section Aboriginal Administration Section Administration Section Personnel Office Budget, Accounting and Statistics Office Ethics Section Climate Taitung has a tropical monsoon climate, with a wet season from May to October, a dry season