What Taiwan calls Hsinchu today refers mainly to Greater Hsinchu-Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County together-with a combined population of over 1.05 million. Anciently called tek-kham (Taiwanese for the historic name of Hsinch), Hsinchu faces the Taiwan Strait to the west and is ringed by mountains and hills to the east and south, its terrain opening out from southeast to northwest in the shape of a trumpet; when autumn comes, the northeast monsoon pours down along this landform to become the strong, dry September Winds (九降風, northeasterly autumn wind).

The walled town of tek-kham took shape during the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty, when the establishment of Tamsui Subprefecture's administration and the need for defense led first to a "wall" of planted bamboo and later, gradually, to a sturdier rampart. Under Japanese rule, Hsinchu's administrative divisions were reorganized several times: Hsinchu Subprefecture was created in 1901, the area came under Hsinchu District of Hsinchu Prefecture after 1920, and in 1930, the town of Hsinchu was upgraded to a city. Hsinchu Train Station, completed in 1913, remains an important heritage site. After the war, large numbers of soldiers, civilians, and their dependents moved in, making military-dependents'-village culture an important element in shaping today's Hsinchu.

The September Winds and Migrant Cultures Shape Hsinchu's Local Flavors

Hsinchu Science Park, established in 1980, was Taiwan's first science park and an important starting point for the island's high-tech industry. National Tsing Hua University began building its campus in Hsinchu in 1956, and National Chiao Tung University was re-established in Taiwan in 1958, breaking ground that same year for its Boai campus in Hsinchu; together with research bodies such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), they gradually formed the talent and R&D base that would underpin the park's growth.

In Hsinchu, Hoklo and Hakka food cultures meet, and together with rice-processing skill, the September Winds, and inherited local industry they have shaped a rice-food culture of rice noodles, ban tiau, and the like; pork meatballs are another of Hsinchu's well-known products. Beyond being a key natural condition for Hsinchu rice noodles, the September Winds also give Xinpu's dried persimmons their sweetness and lend the mullet roe of the Hsinchu coast its local character.