TaiwanArticle Free Pass
- The land
- The people
- The economy
- Administration and social conditions
- Cultural life
Taiwan, Chinese (Wade-Giles romanization) T’ai-wan or (Pinyin) Taiwan, Portuguese Formosa, island, located about 100 miles (161 km) off the southeast coast of the China mainland. It is approximately 245 miles (394 km) long (north-south) and 90 miles across at its widest point. The largest city, Taipei, is the seat of the government of the Republic of China (ROC; Nationalist China). In addition to the main island, the ROC government has jurisdiction over 22 islands in the Taiwan group and 64 islands to the west in the Pescadores archipelago.
Taiwan is bounded to the north by the East China Sea, which separates it from the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa, and mainland Japan; to the east by the Pacific Ocean; to the south by the Bashi Channel, which separates it from the Philippines; and to the west by the Taiwan (Formosa) Strait, which separates it from the China mainland.
From the mid-1660s to 1895, Taiwan was administered by the imperial Chinese government, after which (until 1945) the island was ruled by the Japanese as a colony. In 1945 Taiwan reverted to China, and in 1949 it became the last territory controlled by the Nationalist government. The government of the ROC continued to claim jurisdiction over the Chinese mainland, whereas the government of the People’s Republic of China on the mainland claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan; both governments remained in agreement that the island is a sheng (province) of China. Taipei was the provincial capital until 1967, when the capital was moved to Chung-hsing Hsin-ts’un.
Taiwan is part of the great island system rimming the western Pacific Ocean. The island of Taiwan is formed by a fault block trending north-northeast to south-southwest and tilted toward the west. The more gently rising western face of the block borders the shallow Taiwan Strait, under which the continental shelf connects the island to the Chinese mainland. The terraced tablelands and alluvial plains along the western face of the block provide the principal areas of dense population and the major cities. The steeply sloping eastern face of the block marks the edge of the continental shelf and the beginning of the Pacific Ocean. Aside from one major rift valley, the east coast provides little room for human settlement.
The coastline on the west is simple and straight, bordered with low sand dunes and lagoons. Deepwater ports are situated at Chi-lung (Keelung), at the northern tip of the island, and at Kao-hsiung, on the southwestern coast.
The crest of the Chung-yang Shan-mo (Central Range) lies east of and parallel to the island’s axis. Scores of peaks rise to about 10,000 feet, the highest being Yü Shan (13,113 feet [3,997 metres]) in the south-central part of the island. Around the mountainous area are numerous independent hills with an average height of 5,000 feet.
Drainage and soils
The rivers, nearly all of which rise in the Chung-yang Shan-mo, are short and subject to extreme seasonal variations in flow. Lacking steady currents, most rivers are unreliable for irrigation or hydroelectric power generation. Late-summer typhoons, however, bring torrential rains that are liable to cause floods, especially in the plains, necessitating an extensive system of dikes. The principal rivers are the Tan-shui Ho in the northwest, the Cho-shui Hsi, in the west, and the Kao-p’ing Hsi in the south. Alluvial soil on the plains and in the valleys covers about one-fourth of the island and is its chief resource. The upland soils, subject to drastic erosion, are leached, acid, and infertile.
Taiwan straddles the tropical and subtropical zones and has warm summers and mild winters. The climate is moderated by the warm waters of the Kuroshio (Japan Current). The summer is long, lasting from April until November (200 days or more). In cold months the mean monthly temperature is about 59 °F (about 15 °C). Beginning with April, the mean monthly temperature is above 68 °F (20 °C). The highest mean monthly temperature, 86 °F (30 °C), is reached from June to September. Lowland Taiwan is frost-free while the central mountains are covered with snow in winter.
Mean annual precipitation is 102 inches (2,580 millimetres), although in some years the precipitation in summer alone may exceed 200 inches in some parts of the islands. The upland area receives more rain than the lowlands, and the east receives more than the west. In addition, rainfall is heavier in the north, where winters are drizzly, than in the south, where winters are sunny. Most typhoons and, therefore, most precipitation are concentrated in the months of July, August, and September.
Plant and animal life
There are green plants on the plains all the year round, and more than half of Taiwan is covered by forests. As the climate varies with elevation, so does the natural vegetation. Stands of mixed bamboo, palm, and tropical evergreen grow in the lowlands; subtropical evergreen forests, including camphor laurel, are found from 2,000 to 6,000 feet; broad-leaved evergreen forests of the temperate zone are represented by cedars, cypress, junipers, rhododendrons, maples, and cryptomeria (Japanese cedar) from 6,000 to 8,000 feet; and coniferous forests are found above 7,500 feet.
Animal life, similar to that of the southern Chinese mainland, includes deer, wild boars, bears, monkeys, goats, wildcats, and panthers. Birds include pheasant, geese, flycatchers, kingfishers, larks, and many other species. Fish abound in the coastal areas.
The population density of Taiwan has always been highest on the western coastal plains and basins and lowest in the central and eastern mountains. Chinese settlement of Taiwan historically proceeded from south to north along the western coast. Before the introduction of modern transportation, the most convenient access to the interior was along river valleys, and it was up these that the immigrant population expanded.
Urbanization was the dominant settlement pattern of the 20th century. There has been a noticeable migration from rural areas to towns, especially since mid-century, when the urban population increased from less than half to more than three-fourths of the total population. Three major urban areas have developed: Taipei and its port of Chi-lung in the north and the two port cities of Kao-hsiun in the south and Tʾai-chung in the west.
The original inhabitants of Taiwan were Malayo-Polynesian aborigines. Taiwan’s indigenous peoples have historically been referred to in terms of their language groups, the largest of which are the Ami, Atayal, and Paiwan. Chinese immigrants largely displaced or assimilated the plains aborigines and carried on a protracted conflict with the mountain aborigines, who were subdued only by the Japanese. The aborigines, nearly all of whom now live in the foothills and highlands, constitute about 2 percent of the population. Although several aboriginal dialects and many tribal customs have been retained, the people have increasingly become assimilated, linguistically and culturally, into modern Taiwanese society. Nonetheless, many indigenous groups increased their political activity in the early 21st century, with 14 gaining official recognition as of 2008.
The great majority of the population—those now called Taiwanese—are descendants of the original immigrants from the Chinese provinces of Fukien and Kwangtung. The Hokkien from southern Fukien constitute the largest of the immigrant groups; their dialect of Chinese is often called the Taiwanese dialect. The Hakka, originally from northern Kwangtung, also have a distinct dialect.
The most recent addition to Taiwan’s population are the predominantly Mandarin-speaking Nationalist adherents, who came to Taiwan from all parts of China in the late 1940s. These “mainlanders” still compose about 15 percent of the population. Because of their prominence in the Nationalist government, Mandarin has become the principal language of Taiwan.
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