The northwestern counties of Hsinchu and Miaoli (combined population 1.58 million, land area 3,351km2) form Taiwan’s Hakka heartland. Because much of the terrain is unsuitable for growing rice, Fujianese migrants preferred to go elsewhere and, as a consequence, the interior remained undeveloped until Hakka settlers began to arrive in the late 18th century. These days you won’t hear the Hakka language spoken very much in Hsinchu City, a prosperous place whose historic side isn’t well known. Never a purely Hakka settlement, its booming hi-tech industries have drawn migrants from every corner of the country, as well as thousands of foreigners. However, if you venture into the hilly townships that characterise this part of Taiwan, you’ll have plenty of chances to meet Hakka people who still use their mother tongue on a daily basis and whose lives, like those of their grandparents, revolve around extended families, farming, the local temple and traditional festivals like the annual celebration of the Yimin militiamen’s bravery.

Just as they struggled against an unfavourable natural environment, Hakka settlers also faced indigenous opposition. They traded with, competed against and often fought Atayal and SaiSiyat clans, eventually pushing them deeper into the highlands. Beipu, once a fortified frontier town, is popular now for its quaintness. Sanyi has become a renowned woodcarving centre, while Nanzhuang offers an appealing blend of Hakka and indigenous cultures and natural attractions. Indigenous communities cling to their way of life in the eastern third of the region; their villages are rewarding but somewhat difficult places to visit.

Just as Taiwan is better known for its exports than its rich culture and natural beauty, Hsinchu’s economic achievements – evidenced by the semi-conductor foundries, optoelectronics companies and computer-peripheral makers hosted by Hsinchu Science Park – have been so impressive that few outsiders are aware of its long history and alluring colonial-era buildings, or know that the local government has succeeded in translating its prosperity into tangible quality-of-life improvements. This is a shame: Hsinchu (population 456,000) is the most interesting west-coast city between Taipei and Tainan, and it’s easy to spend an entire day exploring the city centre on foot.

Fujianese, who’ve been settling hereabouts since at least 1711, called the town Tekkham (in Mandarin, Zhuqian), meaning ‘bamboo barricade’. There was no barricade and the presence of bamboo was nothing more than a coincidence because – like many 17th- and 18th-century place names – Tekkham was a simply loose Chinese rendering of the name used by the area’s indigenous inhabitants; in the language of the local Taokas tribe it meant ‘seashore’. The Taokas moved away or assimilated as the Han town developed. Then, as now, the population was a mix of Fujianese and Hakka. In the first quarter of the 19th century, when Taipei was still a brusque frontier community, Tekkham had several schools and an active group of literati. One of the latter, Zheng Yong-xi (1788–1858), became in 1823 the first Taiwan-born candidate to pass the highest-level imperial examination for scholar-bureaucrats, thus gaining the title jinshi. Zheng and his clan left their mark on Hsinchu, as the city was renamed in 1880. In 1826, Zheng successfully lobbied the Qing court for permission to construct a 2.7km-long brick-and-stone wall around the town, promising it would be financed entirely by citizens’ donations. Visitors can still see a small part of that wall (most was torn down during the Japanese colonial era), the house where Zheng lived and the shrine where his descendants worship their ancestors.