Zhongli District in the context of "National Central University"

Taoyuan (/ˌtaʊjuːˈɛn/) is a special municipality located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. Taoyuan District is the seat of the municipal government and which, along with Zhongli District, forms a large metropolitan area. Taoyuan developed from a satellite city of Taipei metropolitan area to become the fourth-largest metropolitan area, and fifth-largest populated city in Taiwan. "Taoyuan" literally means "peach garden" in Chinese, since the area used to have many peach trees. Formerly a county, Taoyuan became the latest new founding special municipality in 2014.

Taoyuan City is home to many industrial parks and tech company headquarters. Due to the city's proximity to Taipei, and the lower cost of living, Taoyuan has had the fastest population growth of any city in Taiwan in recent decades. The city is also home to 116,000 foreign workers, with many coming from Southeast Asia and working in factories or as household caregivers. Taoyuan International Airport, which serves the capital, Taipei and the rest of northern Taiwan, is located in this city.

Taoyuan–Zhongli metropolitan area (桃園中壢都會區) is the metropolitan area located in northwestern Taiwan, which encompasses most of Taoyuan City as well as parts of neighbouring urban districts of New Taipei such as Yingge and Linkou. The districts of Taoyuan and Zhongli are typical twin cities within the region which share approximate population sizes and similar function of urban centres, and have been respectively emerging to regional commercial centres on the periphery of the northern and southern parts of the municipality. Many industrial parks and tech company headquarters settle in this region. However, since 2010, the term is no longer in official usage. Recent report suggested that Taoyuan city is part of Taipei metropolitan area.

Taoyuan City witnessed the fastest population growth of Taiwan in the past few decades, and since 2014 it has been promoted to a special municipality from county status. It has become the fourth largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. In some sources, Taoyuan–Zhongli metropolitan area is occasionally viewed as an extent of Taipei metropolitan area due to its proximity and being complementary to each other economically, especially the Taoyuan International Airport is a major hub airport which serves the entirety of northern Taiwan.