|
 Location of Taiwan |
 Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east and gently sloping plains in the west. The Penghu Islands (the Pescadores) are west of Taiwan (Satellite photo by NASA). |
'Taiwan' (;
Taiwanese: Tâi-oân) is an
island in
East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the territories administered by the
Republic of China (ROC) and to ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan,
Lanyu (Orchid Island) and
Green Island in the
Pacific off the Taiwan coast, the
Pescadores in the
Taiwan Strait, and
Kinmen and the
Matsu Islands off the coast of mainland
Fujian. The island groups of Taiwan and Penghu (except the municipalities of
Taipei and
Kaohsiung) are officially administered as
Taiwan Province of the
Republic of China.
The main island of Taiwan, also known as 'Formosa' (from
Portuguese (''Ilha'') ''Formosa'', meaning "beautiful (island)"), is located in
East Asia off the coast of
mainland China, southwest of the main islands of
Japan but directly west of the end of Japan's
Ryukyu Islands, and north-northwest of the
Philippines. It is bound to the east by the
Pacific Ocean, to the south by the
South China Sea and the
Luzon Strait, to the west by the
Taiwan Strait and to the north by the
East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation.
History
Main articles: History of Taiwan,
Timeline of Taiwanese history
Prehistory
Main articles: Prehistory of Taiwan
Evidence of human settlement in Taiwan dates back thirty thousand years, although the first inhabitants of Taiwan may have been genetically distinct from any groups currently on the island. About four thousand years ago, ancestors of current
Taiwanese aborigines settled in Taiwan. These aborigines are genetically related to
Malay and
Polynesians, and linguists classify their language as
Austronesian.
[1] Polynesians are suspected to have ancestry traceable back to Taiwan.
Early settlement
Han Chinese began settling in the
Pescadores in the 1200s, but Taiwan's hostile tribes and its lack of the trade resources valued in that era rendered it unattractive to all but "occasional adventurers or fishermen engaging in barter" until the sixteenth century.
[ Reprinted Taipei: SMC Publishing, 1995.]
Records from
ancient China indicate that
Han Chinese might have known of the existence of the main island of Taiwan since the
Three Kingdoms period (
third century, 230 A.D.), having assigned offshore islands in the vicinity names like Greater
Liuqiu and Lesser Liuqiu (
etymologically, but perhaps not
semantically, identical to
Ryūkyū in
Japanese), though none of these names have been definitively matched to the main island of Taiwan. It has been claimed but not verified that the
Ming Dynasty admiral Cheng Ho (
Zheng He) visited Taiwan between 1403 and 1424.
European settlement
Main articles: Taiwan under Dutch rule
In 1544, a
Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and dubbed it "Ilha Formosa", which means "Beautiful Island." The Portuguese made no attempt to colonize Taiwan.
In 1624, the
Dutch established a commercial base on Taiwan and began to import workers from
Fujian and
Penghu as laborers, many of whom settled. The Dutch made Taiwan a colony with its colonial capital at Tayoan City (present day
Anping, Tainan). The Dutch military presence was concentrated at a stronghold called
Castle Zeelandia.
[2] The Dutch colonists also started to hunt the native
Formosan Sika deer (''Cervus nippon taioanus'') that inhabited Taiwan, contributing to the eventual extinction of the subspecies on the island.
[3] The name ''Taiwan'' derives from ''Tayoan'', meaning "I" in one of the
Formosan languages.
Koxinga and Imperial Chinese rule
Main articles: Taiwan under Qing Dynasty rule
Zhongxiao West Road, Taipei
Naval and troop forces of Southern
Fujian defeated the
Dutch in 1662, subsequently expelling the Dutch government and military from the island. They were led by
Koxinga (). Following the fall of the
Ming Dynasty, Koxinga retreated to Taiwan as a self-styled Ming loyalist and established the
Kingdom of Tungning (1662–83). Koxinga established his capital at Tainan and he and his heirs,
Zheng Jing (), who ruled from 1662–82, and
Zheng Keshuang (), who served less than a year, continued to launch raids on the south-east coast of mainland China well into the
Qing Dynasty, attempting to recover the mainland.
In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral
Shi Lang of Southern Fujian, the
Qing Dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. The Qing Dynasty government tried to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, issuing a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Immigrants mostly from Southern Fujian continued to enter Taiwan. The border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands shifted eastward, with some aborigines '
Sinicizing' while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts between
Chinese from different regions of Southern Fujian, and between Southern Fujian Chinese and aborigines.
In 1887, the Qing government upgraded Taiwan's status from prefecture of Fujian to full province, the twentieth in the country, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building Taiwan's first railroad and starting a postal service.
[4]
Japanese rule
Main articles: Taiwan under Japanese rule
Imperial Japan had sought to control Taiwan since 1592, when
Toyotomi Hideyoshi began extending
Japanese influence overseas. In 1609, the Tokugawa Shogunate sent Haruno Arima on an exploratory mission. In 1616, Murayama Toan led an unsuccessful invasion of the island.
In 1871, an
Okinawan vessel shipwrecked on the southern tip of Taiwan and the crew of fifty-four were beheaded by the
Paiwan aborigines. When Japan sought compensation from
Qing China, the court rejected the demand on the grounds that the "wild"/"unsubjugated" aboriginals （) were outside its jurisdiction. This open renunciation of sovereignty led to a Japanese invasion of Taiwan. In 1874, an expeditionary force of three thousand troops was sent to the island. There were about thirty Taiwanese and 543 Japanese casualties (twelve in battle and 531 by
endemic diseases).
Qing China was defeated in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), and ceded Taiwan and the
Pescadores to
Japan in perpetuity in the
Treaty of Shimonoseki. Inhabitants wishing to remain Chinese subjects were given a two-year grace period to sell their property and remove to mainland China. Very few Taiwanese saw this as plausible.
[5]
On
May 25,
1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the
Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at
Tainan and quelled this resistance on
October 21,
1895.
The Japanese were instrumental in the industrialization of the island; they extended the railroads and other transportation networks, built an extensive sanitation system and revised the public school system. During this period, both rice and sugarcane production greatly increased. At one point, Taiwan was the seventh greatest sugar producer in the world. Still, the ethnic Chinese and Taiwanese aborigines were classified as second- and third-class citizens. Large-scale violence continued in the first decade of rule. Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the Japanese Empire. The plan worked very well, to the point that tens of thousands of Taiwanese joined the Japanese army ranks, and fought loyally for them
[6]. By 1945, just before Japan lost
World War II, desperate plans were put in place to incorporate popular representation of Taiwan into the Japanese Diet to make Taiwan an integral part of Japan proper.
Japan's rule of Taiwan ended when it lost World War II and signed the
Instrument of Surrender of Japan on
August 15,
1945. But the Japanese occupation had long lasting effects on Taiwan. Up to this very day, a small number of older Taiwanese are still loyal toward Japan, and they share their beliefs with the next generation.
Kuomintang martial law period
Li Wu River
On
October 25,
1945,
Republic of China troops representing the Allied Command accepted the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in
Taihoku. The ROC administration, led by
Chiang Kai-shek, announced that date as "Taiwan Restoration Day" (). At first, they were greeted as liberators by the people of Taiwan. However, the ROC military administration on Taiwan under
Chen Yi was generally unstable and corrupt; it seized property and set up government monopolies of many industries. These problems, compounded with
hyperinflation, unrest due to the
Chinese Civil War, and distrust due to political, cultural and linguistic differences between the Taiwanese and the Mainland Chinese, quickly led to the loss of popular support for the new administration.
[7] This culminated in a series of severe clashes between the ROC administration and Taiwanese, in turn leading to the bloody
228 incident and the reign of
White Terror.
[8]
In 1949, on losing the
Chinese Civil War to the
Communist Party of China (CPC), the
Kuomintang (KMT) , led by
Chiang Kai-shek, retreated from
Mainland China and moved the ROC government to
Taipei, Taiwan's largest city, while continuing to claim sovereignty over all of
China and
Greater Mongolia. On the mainland, the victorious Communists established the
People's Republic of China, claiming to be the sole representative of China including Taiwan and portraying the ROC government on Taiwan as an illegitimate entity.
[9] Some 1.3 million refugees from Mainland China, consisting mainly of soldiers, KMT party members, and most importantly the intellectual and business elites from the mainland, arrived in Taiwan around that time. In addition, as part of its retreat to Taiwan, the KMT brought with them literally the entire gold reserve and foreign currency reserve of mainland China. This unprecedented influx of human and monetary capital laid the foundation for Taiwan's later dramatic economic development. From this period through the 1980s, Taiwan was governed by a
party-state dictatorship, with the KMT as the
ruling party. Military rule continued and little to no distinction was made between the government and the party, with public property, government property, and party property being interchangeable. Government workers and party members were indistinguishable, with government workers, such as teachers, required to become KMT members, and party workers paid salaries and promised retirement benefits along the lines of government employees. In addition all other parties were outlawed, and political opponents were persecuted, incarcerated, and executed.
Taiwan remained under
martial law and
one-party rule, under the name of the "
Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion" (), from 1948 to 1987, when Presidents
Chiang Ching-kuo and
Lee Teng-hui gradually
liberalized and democratized the system. With the advent of democratization, the issue of the
political status of Taiwan has resurfaced as a controversial issue (previously, discussion of anything other than unification under the ROC was
taboo).
During the 1960s and 1970s, the ROC began to develop into a prosperous,
industrialized developed country with a strong and dynamic economy, becoming one of the
Four Asian Tigers while maintaining the authoritarian, single-party government. Because of the
Cold War, most Western nations and the
United Nations regarded the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China (while being merely the de-facto government of Taiwan) until the 1970s, when most nations began switching recognition to the PRC.
[10]
Modern democratic era
Chiang Kai-shek's eventual successor, his son
Chiang Ching-kuo, began to liberalize Taiwan's political system. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected
Lee Teng-hui, a native Taiwanese technocrat, to be his vice president. In 1986, the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed illegally and inaugurated as the first opposition party in Taiwan to counter the KMT. A year later Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law.
After the 1988 death of Chiang Ching-Kuo, his successor as President Lee Teng-hui continued to hand more government authority over to the native Taiwanese and democratize the government. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of
localization in which local culture and history was promoted over a pan-China viewpoint. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank rather than the Provincial Bank of Taiwan, and disbanding the
Taiwan Provincial Government. Under Lee, the original members of the
Legislative Yuan and
National Assembly, elected in 1947 to represent mainland constituencies and having taken the seats without re-election for more than four decades, were forced to resign in 1991. Restrictions on the use of
Taiwanese in the broadcast media and in schools were lifted as well.
In the 1990s, the
Republic of China transformed into a true democratic state, as President
Lee Teng-hui was elected by the first popular vote held in Taiwan during the 1996 Presidential elections. In 2000,
Chen Shui-bian of the
DPP, was elected as the first non-
KMT President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the
Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the
KMT, favoring eventual
Chinese reunification, and the
Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the
DPP, favoring an eventual and official declaration of
Taiwan independence.
Geography
Main articles: Geography of Taiwan
Map of Taiwan
The island of Taiwan lies some 120 kilometers off the southeastern coast of
mainland China, across the
Taiwan Strait, and has an area of 35,801 square kilometers (13,823 square miles). The
East China Sea lies to the north, the
Philippine Sea to the east, the
Luzon Strait directly to the south and the
South China Sea to the southwest. The island is characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of rugged mountains running in five ranges from the northern to the southern tip of the island, and the flat to gently rolling plains in the west that are also home to most of Taiwan's population. Taiwan's highest point is the
Yu Shan at 3,952 meters, and there are five other peaks over 3,500 meters. This makes it the world's
seventh-highest island.
Taroko National Park,located on the mountainous eastern side of the island, has good examples of mountainous terrain, gorges and
erosion caused by a swiftly flowing river.
The shape of the main island of Taiwan is similar to a
sweet potato seen in a south-to-north direction, and therefore, Taiwanese people, especially the
Min-nan division, often call themselves "children of the Sweet Potato."
[11] There are also other interpretations of the island shape, one of which is a
whale in the ocean (the Pacific Ocean) if viewed in a west-to-east direction, which is a common orientation in ancient maps, plotted either by
Western explorers or the
Ching Dynasty.
Siouguluan River
Taiwan's
climate is marine
tropical.
[12] The Northern part of the island has a rainy season that lasts from January to late March during the southwest
monsoon, and also experiences ''
meiyu'' in May.
[13] The entire island succumbs to hot humid weather from June until September, while October to December are arguably the most pleasant times of year. The middle and southern parts of the island do not have an extended monsoon season during the winter months, but can experience several weeks of rain, especially during and after Lunar New Year. Natural hazards such as
typhoons and
earthquakes
[14] are common in the region.
Taiwan is a center of bird
endemism; see
Endemic birds of Taiwan for further information.
Environment and pollution
With its high population density and many factories, some areas in Taiwan suffer from heavy pollution. Most notable are the southern suburbs of Taipei and the western stretch from Tainan to Lin Yuan, south of Kaohsiung. In the past, Taipei suffered from extensive vehicle and factory air pollution, but with mandatory use of unleaded gasoline and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, the air quality of Taiwan has improved dramatically.
[15] Motor scooters, especially older or cheaper two-stroke versions, which are ubiquitous in Taiwan, also contribute disproportionately to air pollution in Taiwan.
Land and soil pollution has decreased as Taiwanese industry moves out of heavy industry; however, several toxic sites continue to pose challenges. Solid waste disposal has become less of a problem as a nation-wide recycling movement has taken hold, especially with support from Buddhist charity organizations.
Water pollution remains a problematic issue. Nearly 90% of sewage waste in Taiwan is dumped untreated into waterways. Several rivers are so heavily polluted that it would take billions of dollars to clean them.
Natural resources
Because of the intensive exploitation throughout Taiwan's pre-modern and modern history, the island's mineral resources (eg. coal, gold, marble), as well as wild animal reserves (eg. deer), have been virtually exhausted. Moreover, much of its forestry resources was harvested during Japanese rule for the construction of shrines (using particularly firs) and has only recovered slightly since then. The remaining forests nowadays do not contribute to significant timber production mainly because of concerns about production costs and regulations of environmental protection.
Camphor oil extraction and cane
sugar production played an important role in Taiwan's exportation from the late nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. The importance of the above industries subsequently declined not because of the exhaustion of related natural resources but mainly of the decline of international market demands.
Nowadays, few natural resources with significant economic value are retained in Taiwan, which are essentially agriculture-associated. Domestic agriculture (
rice being the dominant kind of crop) and
fishery retain importance to a certain degree, but they have been greatly challenged by foreign imports since Taiwan's accession to the
World Trade Organization in 2001. Consequently, upon the decline of subsistent importance, Taiwan's agriculture now relies heavily on the marketing and exportation of certain kinds of specialty, such as
banana,
guava,
lychee,
wax apple, and high-mountain
tea.
Energy resources
Taiwan has significant coal deposits and some insignificant oil and gas deposits. Electrical power generation is nearly 50% oil-based, less than 10% natural gas, less than 10% nuclear power, and about 35% hydroelectric power, with the remainder from renewable energy sources. Nearly all oil and gas for transportation and power needs must be imported, making Taiwan particularly sensitive to fluctuations in energy prices. Because of this, Taiwan's Executive Yuan is pushing for 10% of energy generation to come from renewable energy by 2010, double from the current figure of approximately 5%. In fact, several wind-farms built by American and German companies have come online or will in the near future. Taiwan is rich in wind-energy resources, both on-shore and off-shore, though limited land area favors offshore wind resources. Solar energy is also a potential resource to some extent. By promoting renewable energy, Taiwan's government hopes to also aid the nascent renewable energy manufacturing industry, and develop it into an export market.
Society
Ethnic groups
Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress.
,
Taiwanese aborigines,
Taiwanese people
The Republic of China's population was estimated in 2005 at 22.9 million, most of whom are on the island of Taiwan. About 98% of the population is of
Han Chinese ethnicity. Of these, 86% are descendants of early Han immigrants known as "''native Taiwanese''" (). This group contains two subgroups: the Southern
Fujianese or "Hokkien" or "Min-nan" (70% of the total population), who migrated from the coastal
Southern Fujian (Min-nan) region in the southeast of
mainland China; and the
Hakka (15% of the total population), who originally migrated south to
Guangdong, its surrounding areas and Taiwan, intermarrying extensively with
Taiwanese aborigines. The remaining 12% of Han Chinese are known as "
mainlanders" () and are composed of and descend from immigrants who arrived after the
Second World War. This group also includes those who fled
mainland China in 1949 following the
Nationalist defeat in the
Chinese Civil War. For
political reasons, more and more young people started to call the
mainlanders ''xin zhùmín'' (), or "new residents".
A survey in November 2006 conducted by the Taiwanese National Chengchi University, the Japanese University of the Ryukyus and the Chinese University of Hong Kong showed that more than 60% of Taiwan's population consider themselves Taiwanese, compared to only 18% in 1992.
''Dalu ren'' () refers to residents of
mainland China. This group excludes almost all
Taiwanese, including the
mainlanders, except recent immigrants from mainland China, such as those brides made ROC citizens through marriage. It also excludes foreign brides from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines or foreign grooms of which a greater number come from Western countries. One in seven marriages now involves a partner from another country. As Taiwan's birthrate is among the lowest in the world,
[16] this contingent is playing an increasingly important role in changing Taiwan's demographic makeup. Transnational marriages now account for one out of six births.
The other 2% of Taiwan's population, numbering about 458,000, are listed as the
Taiwanese aborigines (), divided into 13 major groups:
Ami,
Atayal,
Paiwan,
Bunun,
Puyuma,
Rukai,
Tsou,
Saisiyat,
Tao (Yami),
Thao,
Kavalan,
Taroko and
Sakizaya .
[ The World Factbook ]
Languages
Main articles: Languages of Taiwan
About 80% of the people in Taiwan belong to the
Hoklo (;
Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hok-ló) ethnic group and speak both
Standard Mandarin (officially recognized by the ROC as the National Dialect) and
Taiwanese (a variant of the
Min Nan dialect spoken in
Fujian province). Mandarin is the primary language of instruction in schools; however, most spoken media is split between Mandarin and Taiwanese. The
Hakka (), about 15% of the population, have a distinct Hakka dialect. Aboriginal minority groups still speak their native languages, although most also speak Mandarin.
English is a common second language, with many large private schools providing English instruction. English is also featured on several of Taiwan's education exams.
Although Mandarin is still the language of instruction in schools and dominates television and radio, non-Mandarin dialects have undergone a revival in public life in Taiwan. A large fraction of the populace speak the Taiwanese dialect, a variant of
Min Nan spoken in
Fujian,
China, and a majority understand it. Many also speak
Hakka. People educated during the Japanese period of 1900 to 1945 used
Japanese as the medium of instruction. Some in the older generations only speak the Japanese they learned at school and the Taiwanese they spoke at home and are unable to communicate with many in the modern generations who only speak Mandarin.
Most aboriginal groups in Taiwan have their own languages which, unlike Taiwanese or Hakka, do not belong to the Chinese language family, but rather to the
Austronesian language family.
Religion
Main articles: Religion in Taiwan
Tainan Confucius Temple. Four characters on the inscribed board mean "First School in All of Taiwan"
Over 93% of Taiwanese are adherents of a combination of
Buddhism,
Confucianism, and
Taoism; 4.5% are adherents of
Christianity, which includes
Protestants,
Catholics,
Mormons, and other non-denominational Christian groups; and 2.5% are adherents of other religions, such as
Islam.
Taiwanese aborigines comprise a notable subgroup among professing Christians: "...over 64 percent identify as Christian... Church buildings are the most obvious markers of Aboriginal villages, distinguishing them from Taiwanese or Hakka villages."
[17]
Confucianism is a philosophy that deals with
secular moral ethics, and serves as the foundation of both
Chinese and
Taiwanese culture. The majority of
Taiwanese and
Chinese usually combine the secular moral teachings of
Confucianism with whatever religions they are affiliated with.
One especially important goddess for Taiwanese people is
Matsu, who symbolizes the seafaring spirit of Taiwan's ancestors from
Fujian and
Guangdong.
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Taiwan
The cultures of Taiwan are a hybrid blend of Confucianist Han Chinese cultures, Japanese,
European, American, global, local and indigenous influences which are both interlocked and divided between perceptions of tradition and modernity (Harrell/Huang 1994:1-5).
After the retreat to Taiwan, the
Nationalists promoted an official interpretation of traditional Chinese culture over the local Taiwanese cultures. The government launched a program promoting
Chinese calligraphy,
traditional Chinese painting,
folk art, and
Chinese opera.
Since the
Taiwan localization movement of the 1990s, Taiwan's cultural identity has been allowed greater expression.
Identity politics, along with the over one hundred years of political separation from
mainland China has led to distinct traditions in many areas, including
cuisine,
opera, and
music.
The status of Taiwanese culture is debated. It is disputed whether Taiwanese culture is part of Chinese culture or a distinct culture. Speaking Hoklo as a symbol of the localization movement has become an emblem of Taiwanese identity.
One of Taiwan's greatest attractions is the
National Palace Museum, which houses more than 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting and porcelain. The KMT moved this collection from the
Forbidden City in
Beijing in 1949 when it fled to Taiwan. The collection, estimated to be one-tenth of China's cultural treasures, is so extensive that only 1% is on display at any time.
Popular sports in Taiwan include
basketball and
baseball.
Cheerleading performances and
billiards are quite fashionable.
Badminton is also common.
Karaoke, drawn from contemporary Japanese culture, is extremely popular in Taiwan, where it is known as
KTV.
Taiwan has a high density of 24-hour
convenience stores, which in addition to the usual services, provide services on behalf of financial institutions or government agencies such as collection of parking fees, utility bills, traffic violation fines, and credit card payments.
[18]
Taiwanese culture has also influenced other cultures.
Bubble tea and
milk tea are available in
Australia,
Europe and
North America.
Ang Lee has directed critically acclaimed films such as
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,
Eat Drink Man Woman,
Sense and Sensibility and
Brokeback Mountain.
See also
★
Kaohsiung
★
Taichung
★
Tainan
★
Taipei
Further reading
★ Bush, R. & O'Hanlon, M. (2007). ''A War Like No Other: The Truth About China's Challenge to America''. Wiley. ISBN 0471986771
★ Bush, R. (2006). ''Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait''. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815712901
★ Carpenter, T. (2006). ''America's Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan''. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403968411
★ Cole, B. (2006). ''Taiwan's Security: History and Prospects''. Routledge. ISBN 0415365813
★ Copper, J. (2006). ''Playing with Fire: The Looming War with China over Taiwan''. Praeger Security International General Interest. ISBN 0275988880
★ Federation of American Scientists et al. (2006).
Chinese Nuclear Forces and U.S. Nuclear War Planning
★ Gill, B. (2007). ''Rising Star: China's New Security Diplomacy''. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 0815731469
★ Shirk, S. (2007). ''China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195306090
★ Tsang, S. (2006). ''If China Attacks Taiwan: Military Strategy, Politics and Economics''. Routledge. ISBN 0415407850
★ Tucker, N.B. (2005). ''Dangerous Strait: the U.S.-Taiwan-China Crisis''. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231135645
Notes and references
1. Traces of Archaic Mitochondrial Lineages Persist in Austronesian-Speaking Formosan Populations, , Jean, Trejaut, PLoS Biology, 2005
2. Finding the Heritage - Reasons for the project
3. Wildlife conservation in Taiwan, , Minna J., Hsu, Conservation Biology, 1997
4. Build History of Main Routes of Taiwan Railway
5. Ryotaro, Shiba. ''Taiwan Kikou''
6. History
7. This Is the Shame (subscription required)
8. Snow Red & Moon Angel (subscription required) Full version at Lomaji.
9. The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue
10. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758.
11. Chao, Kang & Johnson, Marshall (2000).''Nationalist Social Sciences and the Fabrication of Subimperial Subjects in Taiwan.'' Positions 8:1. Page 167.
12. Field Listing - Climate
13. Monthly Mean Days of Precipitation
14. Rescuers hunt quake survivors
15. Taiwan: Environmental Issues
16. Low birthrate a concern for nation's economic future
17. Stainton, Michael (2002). ''Presbyterians and the Aboriginal Revitalization Movement in Taiwan.'' Cultural Survival Quarterly 26.2. Accessed 3/21/2007.
18. Convenience Stores Aim at Differentiation, American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, , , Taiwan Business TOPICS,
External links
★
★
Central Weather Bureau - local weather and earthquake reports
★
Satellite view of Taiwan at WikiMapia
★
Statistics of Taiwan
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