The Taipei Zoo (traditional Chinese: 臺北市立動物園), sometimes referred to as the "Muzha Zoo" (木柵動物園), is a public institution affiliated to Taipei City in Taiwan. It is the most famous and a leading zoological garden in Taiwan in terms of the efforts on recreation, conservation, research and education, it is also the present largest zoo in Asia. Taipei zoo was founded in 1914, when Taiwan was under Japanese sovereignty, in Yuanshan Mountain (Maruyama) on the northern suburb of Taipei City. It was originally a private zoological garden owned by a Japanese citizen, Mr Oe. The Japanese government in Taiwan bought the property the following year and opened it as a public park. After World War II, the Republic of China came to Taiwan and the ownership of the park was passed to the Taipei city government of ROC. An Asian elephant named Lin Wang that served with the Chinese Expeditionary Force during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and later relocated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang forces. Lin Wang lived out most of his life in the Taipei Zoo and unquestionably was the most popular and famous animal in Taiwan. Many adults and children alike affectionately called the bull elephant "Grandpa Lin Wang." Due to a need for expansion and for better raising conditions for the animals, the zoo was moved to its current site in Muzha on the southeastern suburb of Taipei City in 1986. It is, therefore, sometimes referred to as the "Muzha Zoo" (木柵動物園) because of its location and to be distinguished from the former "Yuan-shan Zoo". The current site encloses 165 hectares, including 90 hectares open to the public.