Taiwan (Republic of China)

Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, is an island nation in East Asia located east of China, south of Japan, and north of the Philippines. Taiwan governs itself as an independent country, although the People’s Republic of China (PRC) considers it a province and insists on a “One China” policy that Taiwan should be reunited with the mainland.

Geography

Taiwan, located in the Pacific Ocean, is only slightly larger in area than Belgium and more than twice as large in population. It occupies one of the largest islands off the east coast of China. The tobacco leaf-shaped island, stretching from north to south, is surrounded by three seas. The South China Sea (known for its pirates) along with the Philippine Sea washes the southern shores, the East China Sea is to the north, and the Pacific Ocean is to the east. The island is separated from China by the Taiwan Strait, and its closest neighbors besides China are other island nations – the Philippines to the south and Japan to the north.

Taiwan is an ancient island: it has witnessed many geological transformations on Earth. For example, the collision of tectonic plates (Eurasian and Philippine), which displaced from the bottom of the ocean rock from which the island was formed, At its core, it is a pile of huge masses of granite, shale and marble slabs. Taiwan has small deposits of coal (Xinzhu) and combustible gas (Nyushan), as well as oil and gold, natural gas and copper, limestone and marble.

The island is divided almost in half by the Tropic of Cancer, or Northern Tropic (one of the major parallels on the Earth’s map), which separates the temperate zone from the tropical zone. On the island itself, the zones are combined: in the mountains the climate is temperate, and on the coast there is a region of tropics and subtropics (the northern part of the island).

The island was called in Chinese in the old days: Liuqiu, Daoyi, Dunti, Yizhou, Bisaya. Its Portuguese name, Formosa, appeared at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was used for a long time. But since the end of the XVII century, along with it, at least in Chinese sources, began to use the current name – Taiwan. Versions of its origin are several. For example, parts of the word characterize a higher place (probably a sand spit), which foreigners arriving on the island considered the most convenient for a pier. “Tai” in Chinese means “platform” or “flat elevation” and “wan” means “bay”. Together, it means “platform over the bay.” But this word has older roots, “Tayoan” or “Dayuan”, the places of their habitat on the island were called by its original inhabitants – the aborigines of the Austronesian tribe Siraya, who settled in the south-western and partly eastern plains. Over time, the name became identified with the entire island and the variant “Taiwan” became commonplace among cartographers and travelers.

History

The island of Taiwan is occupied by the Republic of China, but is also considered one of its provinces by mainland China. Since 1949, Taiwan has operated as an independent state, but the question of Taiwan’s status is still open The Republic of China also includes the 155 islands of the main group and the 64 Pescadores (or Penghu) of the Taiwan Strait. The island has long been inhabited by tribes of two groups with collective names that include many more subgroups: the Gaoshan Highlanders and the Siraya Plains People. Taiwan is also mentioned in Chinese documents; as early as 230 AD the Chinese undertook one of the first military reconnaissance expeditions to the island. And by the XIII century – as something natural Taiwan was officially included in the Chinese Empire.

From the side of mainland China, Chinese gradually moved to the island. The descendants of these settlers are up to 84% of the inhabitants of modern Taiwan. They are figuratively called “yams” (sweet potatoes are one of the staple foods of the locals), which means “rooted Taiwanese”.

Since the late 16th century, an era of colonization began for Taiwan. In 1590, the Portuguese gave the island its adopted name Formosa, but in 1624 it was conquered by the Dutch, although the Spanish and French also claimed the island. They were expelled in 1661-1662 by a Chinese patriot named Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga, 1624-1662): some regard him as a state criminal, others as an outstanding military leader. Still others add an air of adventure by claiming he was the son of a Chinese pirate and a Japanese woman.

Be that as it may, the island was cleared of European colonizers and then incorporated into one of the Chinese provinces. In 1895, it was ceded to the Japanese under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japan-China War (1894-1895). It was not until 1945 that Taiwan was returned to China. After the victory of the Communist Party in China in 1949, the island was hit by a wave of “elite migration”: the political elite, including representatives of the Kuomintang (Chinese National People’s Party) with part of the army and many businessmen moved here. These emigrants are symbolically labeled “taro” after the name of the taro tuber (or edible calocasia), which can take root in any soil. “Taro,” who came from all over China, make up a smaller percentage of Taiwan’s current population, but it is their dialect – called Mandarin – that has become Taiwan’s official language, not the Amoy dialect of the first migrants who came from nearby Chinese provinces. Since 1996, it has elected its own president.

For prosperity had to pay a serious deterioration of the environment: significant pollution of rivers and air, acid rain occurs. The main industrial center was the capital – Taipei, whose economy continues to grow annually by almost 5%. In the city, as well as in the country, low inflation and unemployment (employment is almost full). The spirit of modern Taipei is fully symbolized by the skyscraper “Taipei-101” (2003): The 101 floors of this commercial and business building raise its top to a height of 509.2 meters, making it the world’s second tallest.

The temples and palaces of Taipei, and indeed the whole of Taiwan, mostly date back to the XVII-XVIII centuries, an era of rapid development of the island, which has remained the guardian of traditional Chinese culture. The jewel of Taipei is the National Palace Museum in the Weishuangxi district: a collection of 720,000 pieces of Chinese art – the largest collection in the world – compiled over centuries (more than 500 years), then stored in the “Forbidden City” of Beijing, guarded by patriots from capture by the Japanese, until finally brought to Taipei, rescued from the Maoists. The former capital of the island – the city of Tainan is famous for its abundance of architectural monuments: there are about 200 temples. Folk traditions are reflected in festivals and holidays of the island, and modern art (especially popular here abstract expressionism) is presented in galleries and in the museum of sculptures of avant-garde artist Zhu Ming. Thermal springs, natural parks and surrounding islands (for example, Orchid Island with Yami fishermen) attract more and more visitors to the island.

Taiwan’s Economic Miracle

Taiwan’s economic miracle was made possible by the development of high-tech manufacturing and electronics. The timber industry and related industries are traditionally developed: for example, Taiwan is still one of the world’s largest exporters of camphor.

A huge number of products on the world market are labeled “Made in Taiwan” or “Made in the Republic of China”. Many European companies have moved their factories to Taiwan. Low taxes and cheap skilled labor provide a large number of orders from abroad, particularly in the textile and footwear industries.

Currently, one of the tasks of the Taiwanese economy is to transfer labor-intensive industries to countries with cheap labor (China, Vietnam) and to develop high technologies and services.

Foreign trade has been the engine of Taiwan’s rapid development for 40 years. Its economy remains export-oriented, with 98% of its exports being manufactured goods. In 2002, the nation became a member of the WTO as an independent customs territory. Taiwan is also a member of the Asian Development Bank and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Taiwan’s top five trading partners include China, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Japan, and Singapore. The lack of formal diplomatic relations between the Republic of China and its partners is not a major impediment to rapidly expanding trade. Taiwan maintains cultural and trade missions in more than 60 countries with which it has no formal relations.

The electronics sector is the most important. Taiwan is the world’s largest supplier of computer chips, one of the leading manufacturers of LCD panels, computer DRAM memory, networking equipment and consumer electronics. A priority industry such as microelectronics has been invested in Taiwan jointly by private capital and the government. Since the early 1980s, science and industry parks (SIPs) have been established on the island, with the government playing an active role in their development.

Textile production, although losing its competitiveness, is still a major export sector. Imports are dominated by raw materials and capital goods (90%).

Only about 25% of Taiwan’s territory is suitable for agriculture, but all lands are intensively cultivated, some of them capable of producing 2-3 crops per year. The main crops are rice, sugar cane, fruits, and vegetables. Fully self-sufficient in rice, Taiwan imports wheat, mainly from the USA. Frozen pork is exported, as well as fish, aquaculture and seafood, canned and frozen vegetables, and cereals.

Taiwan lacks energy resources, importing 98% of them, so the country’s priority is to develop clean and independent forms of energy. Currently, three nuclear power plants and six reactors provide 20% of the national energy consumption. This makes Taiwan the 15th largest user of nuclear energy in the world.

In just a few decades, practically in front of the eyes of a generation, Taiwan has taken off from a low start and made the whole world talk about the “Taiwan Economic Miracle.”

As a legacy of 50 years of Japanese rule, the country inherited a colonial production structure focused on serving Japan’s military-industrial complex, as well as reserves of food and materials. This facilitated the economic endeavors of the new masters, despite the post-war decline in the country’s standard of living. Having been defeated in the civil war with the Communists in 1949, the Kuomintang leadership retreated to the island of Taiwan along with two million refugees from the mainland. In addition to the refugees, among whom were many skilled professionals, Chiang Kai-shek took with him a significant portion of the treasury, which allowed the Kuomintang to become the richest political party in the world and ensure the stabilization of prices in the country. But the economic miracle was primarily based on the right strategy. One of the first economic transformations was the land reform, under which landowners were given shares in nascent state-owned enterprises for confiscated portions of land, tax breaks, and loans to encourage the establishment of private businesses. Thus, while continuing to develop agriculture, the basis of which was rice and sugar, Taiwan’s leadership was raising the industrial sector. A huge role was played by US financial aid, whose investments in the island’s industry in the 1950s amounted to 25-30% of all invested funds, state planning of the economy and universal education. The government also embarked on a policy of import substitution, using profits from agricultural exports to buy foreign industrial equipment to develop the national industrial sector. It was important for the state to make the people rich. A feature of the development of the Taiwanese economy was the encouragement of small and medium-sized private businesses and the focus on family resources. With this approach, no one could claim a monopoly, and the high level of domestic competition formed high requirements to the quality of products, which became the key to successful exports.

In the 1960s, the possibilities of import-substituting industrialization were exhausted due to the saturation of the limited domestic market, and Taiwan’s economic policy began to shift toward export expansion. The need to compete in the foreign market stimulated the development of technology to the world level. To improve the country’s scientific and technological potential, export-production zones began to be established, the first of which was established in 1966 in Kaohsiung City.

The 1970s were an important turning point for Taiwan. The Republic of China’s expulsion from the United Nations in 1971, the oil crisis of ’73, the change in U.S. policy toward Taiwan, and diplomatic isolation had a severe impact on the country’s economy. But the government carried out ten major construction projects in transportation, industry, and nuclear energy, which became the basis for the development of heavy industry.

After 1980, Taiwan’s economy stabilized. It became the largest producer and exporter of high-tech electronics products, one of the “four Asian tigers”, and even the 1997 Asian financial crisis did not affect it much, but the impact of the latest global financial crisis is felt, but there is no catastrophe in this regard.

General Information

• Official name: Republic of China.
• Form of government: mixed republic.
• Administrative-territorial division: 18 districts, 3 municipalities and 4 special municipalities.
• Capital: Taipei, 2,618,772 inhabitants (2010).
• Languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese, “Gaoshan” languages.
• Ethnic composition: 98% Han (Hoklo – 70%, Hakka – 14% and others), 2% – representatives of indigenous island tribes.
• Religions: mixed Buddhist-Taoist beliefs – 93%, Christianity – 4.5%, other – 2.5%.
• Monetary unit: the new Taiwan dollar.
• The largest cities: Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung.
• The largest rivers: Zhoshuiqi (Silo), Xia (Lower) Danshuiqi.
• The most important ports: Jilong, Kaohsiung, Taichung.
• The most important airports: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Songshan International Airport (both near Taipei).
• Length: 394 km.
• Width: 144 km.
• Island area: 35,801 km2.
• Area of the state: 36,193 km2.
• Population: 23,113,901 people (2011).
• Population density: 638.6 persons/km2.
• Highest point: Yushan Mountain (otherwise known as Jade Mountain, 3950 m).
• Forests cover about ½ of the island’s territory.
• There are more than 1500 species of endemic plants.
• Up to 20% of the island’s area is set aside as protected areas.

Climate and weather

• Subtropical (in the north), tropical monsoon (in the south), temperate (in the mountains).
• Average temperature in January: +19°C (above 2000 m: +7°C on average).
• Average July temperature: +31°C (above 2000 m: average: +18°C).
• Average annual precipitation: 1500-2500 mm on the plains, in the mountains – over 5000 mm.
• Typhoons are frequent (August – September).
• Seismically active zone.

Economy

• GDP: $ 887.3 billion (2011).
• Industry: machine building, chemical, petrochemical, oil refining, cement, timber processing, metallurgy (steel and aluminum), electronics (main export item), shipbuilding, manufacturing, light industry, food industry.
• Hydropower.
• Agriculture: crop production (rice, yams, sugarcane, pineapples, bananas, tangerines, tea), livestock (pig farming).
• Fishing.
• Services: tourism, financial, transportation, trade.

Attractions

• Landscape: Alishan Mountains (16 mountains): 72-kilometer mountain railroad, sacred tree of Alishan Mountains – “Juniper of Prince Zhou”, “Juniper of Guangwu” (1900 years old), “sleepless tree” (4100 years old), cherry blossoms, the effect of “sea of clouds”, sunrise and sunset, for admiring which special observation platforms are built; Sisters’ pond, cherry garden, 3000-year-old sacred forests, Trek Generations tree (merged trunks of three ages); Sun and Moon Lake, green area “Moon World”, Orchid Island (Lanyun), Green Island (Liu Tao).
• National parks: Taroko-Gorge Gorge Park, Kendin (with one of the best oceanographic museums in Asia), Taroko, Xueba, Yuishan, Yangming-shan.
• Taipei City: Lunshan Temple (1738), Baoan Temple (early 19th century), Confucius Temple (1879), Formosa Aboriginal Museum “Shun Yi”, Chiang Kaishi Memorial (20th century), Presidential Palace (1906-1919), Zoo (1914), Taipei Valley – National Imperial Palace Museum (1965), skyscraper “Taipei-101” (2003).
• “City of temples” Tainan: Taoist “East Mountain”; Mito (with a statue of the thousand-church goddess Kuanyin); Chahsi; Tien-Tang; Chushi; Confucius (1666); goddess of the sea Mazzu; Buddhist Kayuan; old fort Anping (1624, suburb of Tainan) and forts Zealand and Provincia (both – the beginning of the XVII century. ); Chikan Towers; Great South Gate (shaped like a month) or Moon Gate (1736); Main Gate; “Eternal Fortress” or Golden Castle of Yi Zai (1876); museum and memorial of national hero Koxing; Wooseland Waterslade Park; Tsengwen Estuary Bird Park (suburb).
• Kaohsiung City: Mount Longevity (park and temple complex), Chengxing Lake with Confucius and Quan Quang temple, the highest Buddha statue on the island (120 m) and temple complex near Mount Foguang.
• Zhu Ming Open Air Sculpture Museum (Jinshan Village, Taipei County).

Fun Facts

• Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world with a rapidly aging population; the number of people over 65 is more than 10% of the total population.
• The island has the only (apart from Italy and Japan) source of naturally carbonized mineral water with a constant temperature of +22°C.
• The Orchid Island, inhabited by the Yami people, hosts the annual Flying Fish Festival. This marine life is highly revered by the Yami, and they even call their land the home of the flying fish.
• During the festival tons of fish are caught, then they are dried in the sun and prepared for the winter, when there are no flying fish.