We trekked up Jin Mountain in New Taipei City.
We trekked up Jin Mountain at New Taipei City.
What's the correct choice, and why?
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2 Answers
Since "New Taipei City" sprawls over a large geographical area (2,052.6 square kilometres or 792.5 square miles) including most of the northernmost parts of Taiwan--in fact this "city" is composed of an entire county that was reclassified in 2010 as a "special municipality"--I would use in in this case. You can use at and not be wrong. But at suggests a point, while in suggests being inside or contained within something, in this case this huge sprawling city that used to be a county. A lot of things are in New Taipei City, since it covers such a large geographical area.
In most cases it is difficult to think of a mountain being in (inside) a city, but in the case of this particular city, it is not so difficult.
In sum, either preposition is fine. It depends whether you conceive of New Taipei City as a "point" (at) or as a place that encloses things (in). This distinction goes for the use of in and at as prepositions of place in general. But even if you look at a map of Taiwan, it's difficult to consider New Taipei City as a point on a map, since it spreads over a large area.
When speaking about countries or states, cities, towns, villages, etc. it is always best to use in.
The preposition at is best used with events, places of business, homes. However there is an exception: when we speak of capitals of countries or states, we can use in the capital or at the capital, especially when it's viewed as a political/business center.
