Taiwan is an island off the southeast coast of the People’s Republic of China.
Officially known as the “Republic of China in Taiwan”, Taiwan has understood itself to be independent of the People’s Republic of China since 1949, when the communists took power in China. To this day, the People’s Republic of China has not recognized this desire for independence and has not just threatened armed violence once if Taiwan actually enshrined independence in its constitution.
Taiwan itself developed into a so-called tiger state in the last decades of the 20th century. The economy was booming and still is today. You can see this for yourself in the modern metropolises, especially the capital Taipei
There is also a wealth of flora, fauna and animals due to the subtropical climate and an occurrence of hot water springs.
It may be a bit strange that you eat snakes on the island, for example.
Since it happens more often that the poisonous snakes intended for consumption run away and can thus become a danger, mongooses are often kept in cages, which are released in such a case and the snakes track down and eat them. The consumption of snakes should also help increase male potency!
| Name of the country | Republic of China to Taiwan |
| Form of government | republic |
| Geographical location | about 170 km east of the coast of China in the Pacific Ocean |
| National anthem | San Min Chu-i |
| Population | approx. 23 million (Credit: Countryaah: Taiwan Population) |
| Ethnicities | There are three main population groups in Taiwan: theindigenous people, ancient Chinese (emigrants from the 19th century) and new Chinese (emigrants from the 1940s and 1950s). |
| Religions | mainly Buddhists and Taoists, besides Christians and a few Muslims |
| Languages | Standard Chinese (Mandarin) as the official language, as well as Taiwanese |
| Capital | Taipei |
| Surface | 36,188 km² |
| Highest mountains | Yu Shan with a height of 3,952 m |
| Longest river | ChuoShui with a length of around 186 km |
| Largest lake | Sun moon lake |
| International license plate | RC |
| National currency | New Taiwan Dollar (also called Yuan or Kuai) |
| Difference to CET | + 7h |
| International phone code | +886 |
| Mains voltage, frequency | 110 volts, 60 hertz |
| Internet TLD (Top Level Domain) | .tw |
Taiwan: history
Before the year 1000
The earliest settlement of the island of Taiwan goes back to the 8th millennium BC. BC back. Different tribes of indigenous people developed, of which about 350,000 people still live in Taiwan today.
From the year 1000 to the 17th century
According to Abbreviationfinder website, in the 3rd century, the Wu people from the Chinese Han Empire conquered Taiwan. In the following centuries, the Hakka Chinese emigrated to Taiwan and settled on the island. Because of the Mongol raids, the Chinese of the Sung dynasty finally emigrated to Taiwan.
Taiwan remained almost untouched by the outside world until the 16th century. In 1590 the Portuguese reached Taiwan and established a trading post, which was taken over by the Spanish at the beginning of the 17th century. The Dutch also settled on the island in the 17th century. In 1641/42 there were military clashes between the Portuguese and the Dutch, which were decided in favor of the Dutch. In 1644, the Ching Dynasty replaced the previous Ming Dynasty in China. Around 30,000 followers of the Ming Dynasty then fled to Taiwan and allied with the Dutch for two decades. In 1661, however, the Dutch were expelled from Taiwan by the Ming Chinese. In the following centuries about 1 million other Chinese emigrated to Taiwan.
In the 18th and 19th centuries
Due to the conflict between France and China over the French colonization of Indochina in the middle of the 19th century, Taiwan was briefly occupied by the French. But in 1885 France withdrew from Taiwan again. In the same year Taiwan received the status of an independent province of China and quickly developed into the most advanced province in the country.
In 1894/95, China and Japan waged war over Manchuria and parts of Korea. After the defeat of China, Taiwan fell to Japan in 1895. The uprisings of the Taiwanese people against the Japanese occupation were quickly put down. Taiwan was restructured agriculturally in favor of Japan and from then on supplied mainly agricultural yields to Japan.
20th century until today
Taiwan remained a colony of Japan until 1945. After the end of World War II, Taiwan reverted to China.
In 1949, communist troops under Mao Tse-tung took power in China and proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on October 1st, 1949. The national government of China then fled to Taiwan with around 2 million people and took over political leadership there. Since then, Taiwan has officially been called the Republic of China in Taiwan. The different political courses of the communists on mainland China and the national Chinese on Taiwan brought about a strong potential for conflict between the “two Chinas” over time. While Mao Tse-tung established a People’s Republic in China, the Taiwan government stuck to the system of the republic.
Domestically, in the decades that followed, the native people of Taiwan and the long-established Chinese were strongly oppressed by the new Chinese settlers. In 1947 the Taiwanese rebelled against the then national Chinese governor, which was brutally suppressed by the Chinese. 10,000 Taiwanese lost their lives in the uprising. It was not until the 1980s that the situation changed for the indigenous people of Taiwan when the government began to protect them.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) joined the United Nations in 1949. However, when the People’s Republic of China became a member of the UN in 1971, Taiwan completely withdrew in foreign policy in favor of the PRC and also lost its seat in the UN.
Since the 1990s, Taiwan has been considering a declaration of independence from the PRC. The People’s Republic of China proclaimed a military offensive against the island nation if Taiwan should decide to gain independence. However, this does not prevent the “two China” from cooperating closely with one another in the field of economy and foreign trade.
In 1987 the first opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DFP) was admitted. And in 2000, DFP’s Chen Shui-bian won the presidential election. He was re-elected in 2004 with a narrow majority.
In the election on March 22, 2008, however, the Kuomintang candidate – Ma Ying-jeou – won with 58% of the vote, well ahead of the DFP candidate – Hsieh Chang-ting, who received 42% of the votes.
In September 2009, former President Chen Shui-bian, who was critical of China, was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption. He himself denied the allegations to the last and saw himself as the victim of a political intrigue.
