Definition of "Kelung"
Kelung
proper noun
Quotations
Here, being desirous to find a place where she might refit, the natives recommended her proceeding to Kelung harbor, on th northeast of the island, which was "found to be a most excellent and secure harbor, perfectly landlocked, but rather difficult of entrance, owing to a rapid tide of five and six knots sweeping past the mouth."
1837 May, “Coast of China”, in The Chinese Repository, volume VI, number 1, page 11
TAIWAN, or Chinese Formosa, is considered a Foo or district of the province of Fokien, and is governed by a Taoutai extraordinary, who, though responsible to the provincial viceroy, possesses the privilege of memorialising the Throne direct. “The district of Taiwan,” says the Chinese Government Chart, of which a copy was supplied to me by the Formosan authorities, “is bounded in the rear by mountains, and in front by the sea. The ancestral hills of Formosa derive their origin from the Woo-hoo-mun (Five Tiger Gate), the entrance to Foochow, whence they glided across the sea. In the ocean towards the east are two places called Tungkwan (Damp Limit) and Pih-mow (White Acre), which mark the spots where the dragons of the Formosan hills emerged. These sacred reptiles had pierced unseen the depths of ocean, and announcing their ascent to the surface by throwing up the bluff at Kelung-head, by a number of violent contortions heaved up the regular series of hills, valleys, and plains that extend north and south in varied undulations for the space of 1000 leagues (applied figuratively). The mountain-peaks are too multitudinous to enumerate, and the geography of the island too comprehensive to take into present consideration ; we will therefore confine ourselves to a few general remarks. In rear of the hills, eastward, flows the ocean ; facing them, to the westward, is the sea ; and between lies the prefecture of Taiwan.”]
, volume XXXIV, London: John Murray, published 1865, page 6
I remember reading in my old grammar-school geography that Kelung is the second wettest port in the world, and I have no trouble in believing it. I have been there many times, and each time it has rained. Without showers, Kelung would wear an unrecognizable face, like a person without spectacles who was accustomed to wearing them.
March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine, page 247
In 1885 Joffre volunteered for Far Eastern service, where as a captain he was assigned to the staff of Vice Admiral Amédée Courbet, commanding the French China Squadron. Courbet entrusted him with organizing the defenses of Kelung (Chilung) in Formosa, which France had just seized.
2006, Spencer C. Tucker, “Joseph Joffre”, in World War I : A Student Encyclopedia, volume 2, ABC-Clio, page 982