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TAIWAN
Overview
Area: 35,980 sq. km
Population: 21,500,583 - Est.
Capital: Taipei
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
System of Government: multiparty democratic regime
Time: GMT + 8 hours
General
Taiwan Strait, is located in the Western Pacific between Japan and the Philippines. With a total area of about 36,000 square kilometers, the island is 394 kilometers long and 144 kilometers at its widest point.
Taiwan's most prominent geographic feature is its 270-kilometer central mountain range, which has more than 200 peaks over 3,000 meters high. At 3,952 meters, Mount Jade is the highest point in East Asia. Foothills from the central mountain range lead to tablelands and coastal plains in the west and south. The eastern shoreline is relatively steep, and volcanic mountains over 1,000 meters high dominate the island in the north. Over 60 percent of the island is classified as mountainous.
History
The first mention of Taiwan in Chinese historical literature was in the era of ‘Three Kingdoms’ (San Guo), year 230 AD when the king of Wu, Suen Quan, sent some troops to explore ‘Liuqiu’ (Ryukyu). Until Song dynasty (around 1100 AD), many Chinese already started to emigrate to Penghu (Pescadores Islands) and Taiwan. Taiwan was formally became part of China in Yuan Dynasty (around 1400 AD) when Yuan officially set up an office in Penghu. During Ming Dynasty (around 1600 AD), many Chinese coastal cities were attacked by Japanese pirates (‘Wuokou’), and plagued by smugglers, therefore Ming officials started to blockade the Taiwan Strait, prohibiting people from moving around the strait. However, many Chinese people still managed to secretly emigrate to Taiwan.
In 1624 AD, Dutch troops landed Taiwan and occupied Taiwan until 1662 AD. During the occupation there was one notable revoke led by Guo Huaiyi. That revolt failed because of the superior fire power of the Dutch troop. As a result more than 4,000 Chinese were killed.
Since 1644 AD when Manchurian troops entered China's heartland, Ming Dynasty was doomed. Undaunted, Gerenal Zeng Chenggong formed a resistance. He fought the Manchurian troops for many years with no avail. Finally in 1661 AD he decide to retreat to Taiwan as a base to recover the Mainland in the future. On April 30th, 1661, General Zeng's troops landed on Luermen, a small port in southern Taiwan. After 9 months fighting, The Dutch formally surrendered to General Zeng on Feb. 1st 1662.
The batch of Ming refugees brought with by General Zeng to Taiwan formed the first large scale Chinese immigrants base in Taiwan. The descendants of these Ming refugees are generally known today in Taiwan as ‘Taiwanese’.
In 1683 AD, General Zeng's son surrendered to Qing dynasty, and Taiwan again become unified with China. In the 200 years that followed, Taiwan is just like any other Chinese provinces, shared many good and bad moments with the fatherland as Qing dynasty became sometimes stronger or many times weaker.
Around 1800 AD, British merchants started to smuggle opium to China. Innocent Chinese officials in the beginning didn't know the effect of opium until millions of Chinese were addicted to it. And later history had shown that British opium was the single one factor that made China weak for almost 200 years! There is no better way to conduct a genocide than to drug the people and earn untold zillions of dollars from them! In 1840 the notorious "Opium War" erupted and China lost. Hong Kong was ceded to England, and became a ‘Crown’ colony of ‘Her Majesty’. And opium was forced to be completely ‘legal’ to trade, distribute and use in China (the trade or consumption of opium was not legal in England nor in British-occupied Hong Kong).
In 1874 AD Japan occupied Ryukyu islands (north of Taiwan). Two years later, Japan annexed Ryukyu and changed its name to Okinawa. In 1894 AD, First Sino-Japanese war started and China lost. As part of the surrender agreement, China ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895.
During the 50 years of Japanese occupation, the Japanese policy of ‘Industrialized Japan, Agricultural Taiwan’ and effectively got no benefit of any industrialization. However, becoming a protectorate of Japan, unlike most other Chinese provinces, Taiwan did escape from many disastrous wars inflicted by the Japanese and Chinese war lords. Like a caged bird, Taiwan at least enjoyed 50 years of peace without war.
In 1949 when KMT was defeated by the Communists, Generalismo Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan with some 600,000 troops and untold amount of civilians. The people and their children of those second large scale of immigration are known in Taiwan today to be ‘Chinese Mainlanders’.
Economic Profile
Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with considerable government guidance of investment and foreign trade and partial government ownership of some large banks and industrial firms. Real growth in GNP has averaged about 9% a year during the past three decades. Export growth has been even faster and has provided the impetus for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment are remarkably low. Agriculture contributes about 4% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952. Taiwan currently ranks as number 13 among major trading countries. Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The tightening of labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal.
Climate
Crossed by the Tropic of Cancer, Taiwan has a subtropical climate, except for the extreme southern tip, which is tropical. Warm ocean currents give the island a climate conducive to the growth of lush vegetation and two or three rice harvests per year. Rainfall is abundant, with an average annual precipitation of 2,515 millimeters and the highest recorded rainfall reaching more than 5,600 millimeters. Thunder showers and typhoons often bring heavy downpours in the summertime. November through February is the island's driest period.
Summers are long and humid, while winters are short and usually mild. In the coldest months, snow is visible on the high mountains. The mean monthly temperature in the lowlands is 16 C in the winter, and ranges between 24-30 C the rest of the year.
Due to Taiwan's subtropical climate, plant life is diverse and plentiful. Low altitude flora is closely related to that of southern China, mountain flora is similar to that of western China, and high alpine flora resembles that of the Himalayan region. Acacia is ubiquitous in the lower hills, and bamboo groves and forests are found throughout central and northern Taiwan. Native plant species are numerous, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the total.
(Source: Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications)
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