Taiwan
:
This article is about the geography, culture, history, and people of Taiwan. For information about the politics, government, and economy of the state popularly known as Taiwan, please see Republic of China. For other meanings, see Taiwan (disambiguation).
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The terrain of Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east but gradually changes to gently sloping plains in the west. Penghu Islands (the Pescadores) are to the west of Taiwan. (Satellite photo by NASA) |
Taiwan (;
Taiwanese: Tâi-oân) is an island in
East Asia, but the term
Taiwan is also commonly used to collectively refer to the territories governed by the
Republic of China (ROC), which include 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
Matsu off the coast of
Fujian.
The main island of Taiwan, sometimes also referred to as
Formosa (from
Portuguese, meaning "beautiful"), is located at 22°57′N 120°12′E, off the coast of
mainland China, south of
Japan and north of the
Philippines. It is bounded 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.
In an ongoing dispute, the
People's Republic of China (PRC) denies the legitimacy of the ROC, claiming Taiwan as part of its own territory which should eventually be
unified with the
People's Republic of China under the "
one country, two systems" scheme currently used for the
Special Administrative Regions of
Hong Kong and
Macao. This claim is rejected by the ROC, which is
de facto independent of and distinct from the PRC.
Prehistory and early settlement
Evidence of human settlement in Taiwan dates back 30,000 years, although the first inhabitants of Taiwan may have been genetically distinct from any groups currently on the island. About 4,000 years ago, ancestors of current
Taiwanese aborigines settled Taiwan. These aborigines are genetically related to
Malay and
Polynesians, and linguists classify their language as
Austronesian.
Records indicate that
Han Chinese settled in the
Pescadores since the 1100s, but it was not until later that people other than aborigines permanently settled in the main island of Taiwan.
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), having assigned offshore islands in the vicinity names like Greater and Minor
Liuqiu (
Ryukyu 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 Zheng He visited Taiwan between 1403 and 1424.
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.
Japan had sought to claim sovereignty over Taiwan (known as
Takayama Koku) since 1592, when
Toyotomi Hideyoshi undertook a policy of overseas expansion and extending Japanese influence southward.[
1]
Korea, to the west, was invaded and an attempt to invade Taiwan and subsequent invasion attempts were to be unsuccessful due mainly to disease and attacks by aborigines on the island. In 1609, the
Tokugawa Shogunate sent
Haruno Arima on an exploratory mission of the island. In 1616,
Murayama Toan led an unsuccessful invasion of the island.
The Dutch & Spanish
In 1624, the
Dutch established a commercial base on Taiwan and began to import workers from
Fujian and the
Pescadores 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.
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.
The skins of the deer were destined for the
Japan trade. The name
Taiwan derives from
Tayoan, meaning "I" in
Sirayan, one of the
Formosan languages.
Koxinga and imperial Chinese rule
Ming naval and troop forces defeated the
Dutch in
1662, subsequently expelling the Dutch government and military from the island. They were led by Lord
Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong, 鄭成功), a pirate turned
Ming navy commander. Following the fall of the
Ming dynasty, Koxinga retreated to Taiwan as a self-styled Ming loyalist, and established the
Kingdom of Tungning (1662"1683). Koxinga established his capital at Tainan and he and his heirs,
Zheng Jing (鄭") who ruled from 1662-82 and his son
Zheng Keshuang (鄭克塽), who served less than a year, continued to launch raids on the east coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty in an attempt to recover the mainland.
In 1683, the
Qing dynasty defeated the Zheng holdout, and formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of
Fujian province. Following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang, Zheng's followers were expatriated to the farthest reaches of the Qing Empire, leaving approximately 7,000
Han on Taiwan. The
Qing government wrestled with its Taiwan policy to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, which led to a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Illegal immigrants from
Fujian continued to enter Taiwan as renters of the large plots of aboriginal lands under contracts that usually involved marriage, while the border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands migrated east, with some aborigines 'Sinicizing' while others retreated into the mountains. The bulk of Taiwan's population today claim descent from these immigrants. During this time, there were a number of conflicts involving Han Chinese from different regions of China, and between Han Chinese and aborigines.
In 1887, the Qing government upgraded Taiwan's status from that of being a prefecture of Fujian to one of province itself, the 20th in the country, with its capital at Taipei. The move was accompanied by a modernization drive that included the building of the first railroad and the beginning of a postal service in Taiwan.
Japanese rule
In 1871, an
Okinawan vessel shipwrecked on the southern tip of Taiwan and the crew of 54 were beheaded by the
Paiwan aborigines. When Japan sought compensation from Qing China, the court rejected compensation on the grounds that parts of Taiwan were outside its jurisdiction. This led to Japan testing the situation; in 1874 an expedition of 3,000 troops was sent to the island. There were about 30 Paiwan casualties, and 543 Japanese (12 in battle and 531 by disease).
In 1895, Taiwan, including the
Pescadores, became a
Japanese colony, a concession by the
Qing Empire in the
Treaty of Shimonoseki after it lost the
First Sino-Japanese War. After
Japan's defeat at the end of
World War II in 1945, Allied Command ordered Japanese troops in Taiwan to surrender to the
Republic of China (ROC) and the ROC has been the de facto ruler of Taiwan ever since.
Following its defeat in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), by signing the
Treaty of Shimonoseki, Qing China ceded Taiwan and the
Pescadores to
Japan in perpetuity, on terms dictated by the latter. Inhabitants wishing to remain Chinese subjects were given a 2-year grace period to sell their property and move to the mainland.
On
May 25,
1895, the
Republic of Formosa was formed with a dynastic name of "Forever Qing" ("Qing" or "Ch'ing" referring to the dynastic name of China at the time: Great Qing Empire) and with capital at
Tainan, to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital and quelled this resistance on
October 21,
1895. Unlike elsewhere in Asia, most notably Korea, Japan never tried to fully assimilate Taiwan culturally. According to Japanese public relations, the Japanese attempted to use Taiwan as a model colony and were instrumental in the industrialization of the island. The Japanese extended the railroads and other transportation networks that had just sprung up during late Qing rule, built an extensive sanitation system and revised the public school system, among other things. The Japanese motivation for these new infrastructures on Taiwan were primarily to tap the natural resources of the island. Much deforestation occurred on Taiwan to supply Japan with timber and mining for the Japanese war efforts. 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. Chinese resistance was put down brutally and by 1920s, armed uprising had largely been put down. Aboriginal populations suffered hardship and massacres in the Japanese quest for natural resources. Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the
Japanese Empire. 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.
The signing of the
Instrument of Surrender on
August 15,
1945, signaled that Taiwan was to be returned to China, one of the
Allied objectives from the wartime declarations. On
October 25,
1945, ROC troops, representing the Allied Command, accepted the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in
Taihoku (today:
Taipei). However, due to the Chinese Civil War between the
Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communists, the 1951
San Francisco Peace Treaty between Japan and the Allies stipulated the United States as the main occupying power of Taiwan while not naming the recipient of Taiwan's sovereignty, which Chiang Kai-Shek, President of the ROC, refused to accept. The PRC was not invited to the treaty because of the
Korean War.
Supporters of
Taiwanese independence claim that technically, documents and treaties left the legal sovereignty of Taiwan ambiguous, and the ruling KMT government of the ROC only exercised de facto control over the island.
However, the validity of this stewardship is disputed by the ROC, as well as by the PRC.
Authoritarian rule under the Kuomintang
The ROC administration, led by Chiang Kai-shek, announced October 25, 1945, as "Taiwan Retrocession Day" (臺灣光復節). 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.
[ (Subscription required)] 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.
[ (Subscription required) Full version at [2]]In 1949, upon losing the Chinese Civil War to the CPC, the KMT 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 Communists established the PRC, claiming to be the sole representative of China including Taiwan and portraying the ROC government on Taiwan as an illegitimate entity.
[ See Sec. 1: "Since the KMT ruling clique retreated to Taiwan, although its regime has continued to use the designations "Republic of China" and "government of the Republic of China," it has long since completely forfeited its right to exercise state sovereignty on behalf of China and, in reality, has always remained only a local authority in Chinese territory."] Some 1.3 million refugees from Mainland China, consisting primarily of soldiers, KMT party members, and wealthy mainlanders, arrived in Taiwan around that time. From this period on, 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.
Initially, the United States abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists. However, in 1950,
North Korea invaded
South Korea, and in the context of the
Cold War, US President
Harry S. Truman intervened again and dispatched the 7th Fleet into the
Taiwan Straits to "neutralize" the Straits.
[ Page 1: "In addition 7th Fleet will take station so as to prevent invasion of Formosa and to insure that Formosa not be used as base of operations against Chinese mainland." Page 4: "Seventh Fleet is hereby assigned to operational control CINCFE for employment in following task hereby assigned CINCFE: By naval and air action prevent any attack on Formosa, or any air or sea offensive from Formosa against mainland of China."] In the
San Francisco Peace Treaty, which came into force on
April 28,
1952, and the
Treaty of Taipei, concluded hours before that date, Japan formally renounced all right, claim and title to Formosa (Taiwan) and the Pescadores (Peng-hu), and renounced all treaties signed with China before 1942. Both treaties remained silent about who would take control of the island, in part to avoid taking sides in the
Chinese Civil War. Advocates of Taiwan independence have used this omission to call into question any legal claims on Taiwan, arguing that the future of Taiwan should be decided by
self-determination.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Taiwan began to develop into a prosperous and dynamic economy, becoming one of the
East 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 until the 1970s, when most nations began switching recognition to the PRC.
[See UN General Assembly Resolution 2758.]Democratic transition
After Chiang Kai-shek's death in 1975, Vice President
Yen Chia-kan briefly took over from 1975 to 1978 according to the Constitution, but actual power was in the hands of the Premier of the
Executive Yuan,
Chiang Ching-kuo, who was KMT chairman and a son of Chiang Kai-shek. During the presidency of Chiang Ching-kuo from 1978 to 1988, Taiwan's political system began to undergo gradual liberalization. Martial law, which had been in effect since 1948, was lifted in 1987, and the opposition
Democratic Progressive Party was formed and allowed to participate overtly in politics. After Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988, Vice President
Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as the first Taiwan-born president of the ROC and chairman of the KMT. One-party rule lost its effective dominance with the continuation of peaceful social and political reforms. Lee became the first ROC president elected by popular vote in 1996.
In 2000,
Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party won the Presidential election, marking the first ever peaceful democratic transition of power to an opposition party in Chinese history and a decisive end to the KMT's monopoly in administration of the central government.
After surviving a politically controversial assassination attempt the night before the 2004 election, Chen was re-elected to his second four-year term by an extremely slim margin.
In the
2005 local elections, the KMT swept through the island and captured several traditionally DPP counties. Today, both parties have moderated their positions and appear to support maintenance of the status quo in the short term. However, Chen's recent executive order that the
National Unification Council "cease to function" is criticized by some of his opponents as dangerous in terms of cross-strait policy and neglecting the economic needs of Taiwan.
The island of Taiwan lies some 200 kilometers off the southeastern coast of
China, across the
Taiwan Strait, and has an area of 35,801 square kilometers (13,823 square miles), with the
East China Sea 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 3,997 meters, and there are five other peaks over 3,500 meters. This makes it the world's
7th highest islandThe 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'. 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.
Taiwan's
climate is marine
tropical.
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.
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
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 eastern 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.
[ "The government credits the APC system with helping to reduce the number of days when the country's pollution standard index score exceeded 100 from 7% of days in 1994 to 3% of days in 2001. "] The motor scooters which are ubiquitous in Taiwan, especially older or cheaper 2-stroke versions, 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 left mainly by foreign companies 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 into waterways untreated. Several rivers are so heavily polluted that it would take billions of dollars to clean them, which is politically infeasible.
Natural resources
Taiwan has few natural resources. Fishing is a big industry, but its international quotas have been cut. Life depends on agriculture and trade. Taiwan's history includes some mining for gold and marble. The forests are not capable of significant timber production. Much of it was harvested during the Japanese occupation and has only recovered slightly since then.
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 fluctations 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.
Ethnic groups
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Dancer in traditional aboriginal dress |
The ROC's population was estimated in 2005 at 22.9 million, most of whom are on 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.
Dalu ren (大陸人) refers to residents of
mainland China. This group excludes almost all
Taiwanese, including the
Mainlanders, except recent immigrants from mainland China, such as those 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,
this contingent is playing an increasingly important role in changing Taiwan's demographic makeup.
The other 2% of Taiwan's population, numbering about 440,000, are listed as the
Taiwanese aborigines (), divided into 12 major groups:
Ami,
Atayal,
Paiwan,
Bunun,
Puyuma,
Rukai,
Tsou,
Saisiyat,
Yami,
Thao,
Kavalan and
Taroko.
Languages
About 80% of the people in Taiwan belong to the
Holo (河洛) ethnic group and speak both
Mandarin and
Taiwanese. Mandarin is the primary language of instruction in schools; however, most spoken media is split between Mandarin and Taiwanese. The
Hakka(客家), about 10% of the population, have a distinct
Hakka language. Aboriginal minority groups still speak their native languages, although most also speak Mandarin. English is a common second language, with many large private schools such as
Hess providing English instruction. English also features on several of Taiwan's education exams.
Although Mandarin is still the language of instruction in schools and dominates television and radio, non-Mandarin languages have undergone a revival in public life in Taiwan. A large fraction of the populace speaks
Taiwanese, a variant of
Min-nan, and a majority understand it. Many also speak
Hakka. Between 1900 and 1945,
Japanese was the medium of instruction, so older people educated during that period speak it. 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.
The national phonetic system of the ROC is still used on Taiwan. That is
Zhuyin Fuhao (), or "Symbols for Annotating Sounds", often abbreviated as
Zhuyin, or known as
Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first four letters of this
Chinese phonemic alphabet (bo po mo fo). It is used for teaching the Chinese languages, especially Standard Mandarin, to people learning to read, write, and speak Mandarin.
The romanization of Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan is inconsistent. Although the national government officially adopted
Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, it allowed local governments to make their own choices. Taipei, Taiwan's largest city, has adopted
Hanyu Pinyin, replacing earlier signage, most of which had been in a bastardized version of
Wade-Giles.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city, has adopted Tongyong. Elsewhere in Taiwan, signs tend to be in a mixture of systems, with the most common overall being
MPS2, which was official before the adoption of Tongyong Pinyin. Because romanization is not taught in Taiwan schools and there has been little political will to ensure that it is implemented correctly, romanization errors are common throughout Taiwan; at present the area with the fewest errors on official signage is Taipei. As the Pan-Blue bloc has largely aligned itself behind Hanyu Pinyin and the Pan-Green bloc has largely backed Tongyong Pinyin, Pan-Blue victories in the 2005 county elections are likely to result in an expansion of the use of Hanyu Pinyin, especially in northern and central Taiwan.
Most people in Taiwan have their names romanized using a modified version of Wade-Giles. This, however, is generally not out of personal preference but rather a tendency to use the system that most reference materials in Taiwan have employed to date.
Religion
93% of Taiwanese are adherents of a combination of
Buddhism,
Confucianism, and
Taoism; 4.5% identify themselves as
Christians, including
Protestants,
Catholics,
Mormons, and other non-denominational Christian groups; and 2.5% are adherents of other religions, such as
Islam and
Judaism.
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 usually combine the secular 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
Taiwan's mainstream culture is primarily derived from
traditional Chinese culture, with significant influences also from
Japanese and
American cultures, especially in the areas of politics and architecture. Fine arts, folk traditions, and popular culture embody traditional and modern Asian and Western motifs.
After the retreat to Taiwan, the Nationalists took steps to preserve traditional Chinese culture and suppress the local Taiwanese culture. 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 100 years of political separation from
mainland China, 50 of which were under Japanese colonial rule, has led to distinct traditions in many areas, including
cuisine,
opera, and
music.
The status of Taiwanese culture is a subject of debate. Along with the political status of Taiwan, it is disputed whether Taiwanese culture is a segment of Chinese culture (due to the Han ethnicity and a shared language and traditional customs with mainland Chinese) or a distinct culture separate from Chinese culture (due to the long period of recent political separation and the past colonization of Taiwan). Speaking Taiwanese under 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
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.
Taiwanese culture also has influenced the West:
Bubble tea and
milk tea are popular drinks readily available around city centers in Europe and North America.
Ang Lee is the famous Taiwanese movie director of
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,
Eat Drink Man Woman,
Sense and Sensibility and
Brokeback Mountain.
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Taichung*
Tainan*
Central Weather Bureau - local weather and earthquake reports
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Satellite view of Taiwan at WikiMapia*
Snapshots from Taiwan (personnal website)
