Air quality of the Kao-Ping airshed has been the worst of all airsheds which are divided into seven groups by districts in Taiwan. The percentage of annual bad air quality (Pollution Standard Index, PSI > 100) in the Kao-Ping airshed (6.65−13.56%) was twice than it in the Yun-Chia-Nan airshed (2.58−6.98%) during the past decade (1998−2007). Oil refineries, petrol/plastic industries, power plants, and iron/steel/metal plants are the major industries in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area. Due to intensive industrial and traffic activities, the Kao-Ping area has the poorest air quality in Taiwan − either increased ground-level concentrations of particulate matter (PM) or ozone (O3) associated with unfavorable meteorological conditions − particularly between late fall and mid-spring The temporal and spatial characterization of suspended particles in the Kao-Ping area was analyzed by using TAPM (air quality model) and CMB (receptor model) to understand the contributions of the major emission sources. Estimations using the TAPM model suggest that point-source emissions were the predominant contributors (about 49.1%) to PM10 concentrations at Hsiung-Kong industrial site in Kaohsiung City, followed by area sources (approximately 35.0%) and neighboring transport (7.8%). Because Ping-Tung City (urban) and Chao-Chou town (rural) are located downwind of Kaohsiung City when north or northeasterly winds prevail, the two sites also experience severe pollution events despite the lack of industrial sources; neighboring transport contributed roughly 39.1% to PM10 concentrations at Ping-Tung and 48.7% at Chao-Chou. Results of CMB (chemical mass balance) modeling show that the main contributors to PM2.5 mass are vehicle exhaust (gasoline vehicle emission: 43% and diesel vehicle emission: 17% at Hsiung-Kong; gasoline vehicle emission: 45% and diesel vehicle emission: 19% at Ping-Tung; gasoline vehicle emission: 12% and diesel vehicle emission: 29% at Chao-Chou). And the main contribution to PM2.5-10 mass is the paved road emission (Hsiung-Kong: 40%; Ping-Tung: 48%; Chao-Chou: 50%). It is recommended that air quality model is an appropriate tool to large area and receptor model is more suitable to specific point to identify emission sources by the results in this study.