Ashgabat vs Taichung

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Ashgabat (Turkmen: Aşgabat; Ашгабат, pronounced [ɑʃʁɑˈbɑt], Persian: عشق آباد‎; Russian: Ашхабад), formerly named Poltoratsk (Russian: Полтора́цк, IPA: [pəltɐˈratsk]) between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It is situated between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range in Central Asia. It is also near the Iran-Turkmenistan border. The city was founded in 1881 on the basis of an Ahal Teke tribal village, and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924.

Much of the city was destroyed by the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake but has since been extensively rebuilt under the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov’s "White City" urban renewal project, resulting in monumental projects sheathed in costly white marble. The Soviet-era Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west. Since 2019, the city has been recognized as having one of the highest costs of living in the world largely due to Turkmenistan's inflation and import issues.

Source: Wikipedia

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Taichung (, Wade–Giles: Tʻai²-chung¹), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has a population of approximately 2.82 million people and is Taiwan's second most populous city, overtaking Kaohsiung in July 2017. It serves as the core of the Taichung–Changhua metropolitan area, which is the second largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. The current city was formed when Taichung County merged with the original provincial Taichung City to form the special municipality on 25 December 2010. Taichung is consider a "Gamma level" global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Located in the Taichung Basin, the city was named under Japanese rule, and became a major economic and cultural hub.

Originally composed of several scattered hamlets, the city of Taichung was planned and developed by the Japanese. It was called "the Kyoto of Formosa" in the Japanese era because of its calm and beauty. The city is home to the National Museum of Natural Science, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the National Taichung Theater, the National Library of Public Information, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, as well as many cultural sites, including the historic Taichung Park, the Lin Family Gardens, and many temples.

Source: Wikipedia