Introduction
Taiwan , officially the Republic of China (ROC ), is a country in East Asia . The main island of Taiwan , also known as Formosa , lies between the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean , with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. It has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 square miles), with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanized population is concentrated. The combined territories under ROC control consist of 168 islands in total covering 36,193 square kilometres (13,974 square miles). The largest metropolitan area is formed by Taipei (the capital), New Taipei City , and Keelung . With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries .
Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years. Ancestors of Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the island around 6,000 years ago. In the 17th century, large-scale Han Chinese immigration began under a Dutch colony and continued under the Kingdom of Tungning , the first predominantly Han Chinese state in Taiwanese history . The island was annexed in 1683 by the Qing dynasty of China and ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895. The Republic of China , which had overthrown the Qing in 1912 , took control following the surrender of Japan in 1945. Japan renounced sovereignty over Taiwan in 1952 . The immediate resumption of the Chinese Civil War resulted in the loss of the Chinese mainland to Communist forces , who established the People's Republic of China , and the flight of the ROC central government to Taiwan in 1949. The effective jurisdiction of the ROC has since been limited to Taiwan, Penghu , and smaller islands.
In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization called the "Taiwan Miracle ". In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ROC transitioned from a one-party state under martial law to a multi-party democracy , with democratically elected presidents since 1996 . Taiwan's export-oriented industrial economy is the 21st-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the 20th-largest by PPP measures, with a focus on steel, machinery, electronics, and chemicals manufacturing. Taiwan is a developed country . It is ranked highly in terms of civil liberties , healthcare , and human development .
The political status of Taiwan is contentious. Despite being a founding member, the ROC no longer represents China as a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead. The ROC maintained its claim of being the sole legitimate representative of China and its territory until 1991, when it ceased to regard the Chinese Communist Party as a rebellious group and recognized its control over mainland China. Taiwan is claimed by the PRC, which refuses to establish diplomatic relations with countries that recognise the ROC. Taiwan maintains official diplomatic relations with 11 out of 193 UN member states and the Holy See . Many others maintain unofficial diplomatic ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates . International organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate on a non-state basis. Domestically, the major political contention is between parties favoring eventual Chinese unification and promoting a pan-Chinese identity, contrasted with those aspiring to formal international recognition and promoting a Taiwanese identity ; in the 21st century, both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. (Full article... )
Kaohsiung , officially Kaohsiung City , is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan . It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of 2,952 km2 (1,140 sq mi). Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million people as of October 2023 and is Taiwan's third most populous city and largest city in southern Taiwan .
Founded in the
17th century as a small trading village named
Takau (or
Takow ), the city has since grown into the political and economic center of
southern Taiwan , with key industries such as manufacturing,
steel-making ,
oil refining ,
freight transport and
shipbuilding . It is classified as a "Gamma −" level
global city by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network , with some of the most prominent infrastructures in Taiwan. Kaohsiung is of strategic importance to the nation as the city is the main port city of Taiwan; the
Port of Kaohsiung is the largest and busiest harbor in Taiwan and more than 67% of the nation's exports and imports container throughput goes through Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung International Airport is the second busiest airport in number of passengers in Taiwan. The city is well-connected to other major cities by
high speed and
conventional rail, as well as several national freeways. It also hosts the
Republic of China Navy fleet headquarters and its
naval academy . More recent public works such as
Pier-2 Art Center ,
National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts and
Kaohsiung Music Center have been aimed at growing the tourism and
cultural industries of the city. (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
Selected biography
Jay Chou (traditional Chinese : 周杰倫 ; simplified Chinese : 周杰伦 ; pinyin : Zhōu Jiélún ; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer and musician. Dubbed the "King of Mandopop " and having sold over 30 million records, Chou is one of the best-selling artists in Taiwan . He is known for his work with lyricist Vincent Fang , with whom he has frequently collaborated on his music.
In 2000, Chou released his debut studio album,
Jay (2000), under the record company Alfa Music. Chou rose to fame with the release of his second studio album,
Fantasy (2001), which combined Western and East Asian music styles. The album won five
Golden Melody Awards , including Album of the Year. He has since further released twelve more studio albums, spawning a string of hit singles and gaining significant prominence in Overseas Chinese communities such as
Taiwan ,
Hong Kong ,
Mainland China ,
Malaysia , and
Singapore . Chou has embarked on six world tours, performing in cities around the world to more than 10 million spectators as of 2019. (
Full article... )
List of selected biographies
Acer's logo since 2011.
... that Acer (pictured) is ranked as one of the world's top five branded PC vendors and has a history dating to 1976 ?
... that Taipei was the first city in the world to roll out a city-wide Wi-Fi network with 4,000 hot spots serving a city population of 2.6 million?
General images
The following are images from various Taiwan-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Original geographic distributions of Taiwanese aboriginal peoples (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 2 The Imperial Guard Defeats the Enemy in Hard Fighting at Keelung on the Island of Taiwan , 1895 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 3 Japanese painting of the expedition forces attacking the Mudan tribe, 1874 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 5 Section of a painting depicting daily life of the
Taokas people , 1684–1722 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 6 Pearl milk tea (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 7 Depiction of Qing ships crossing the ocean to suppress the
Lin Shuangwen rebellion , 1787–1788 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 8 Section of
Kangxi period painting of Taiwan, 1684–1722 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 9 Map of Asia showing the "Chinese Empire" (1892) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 10 Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1734 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 11 Evacuation of
Keelung by the French forces, image created 1887 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 12 Kagi Shrine , one of many Shinto shrines built in Taiwan. (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 13 A map of the
Empire of Japan including Taiwan ("barbarian land" in red) in 1895 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 14 The Qing Empire in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange. (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 15 Conquest of Douliumen (
Zhuluo ) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 16 Apo Hsu and the
NTNU Symphony Orchestra on stage in the
National Concert Hall in
Taipei and Play
Saint-Saens 's
Organ Symphony No. 3 (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 17 Yin and Yang symbol of
Taoism (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 18 Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty by 1894 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 19 Taiwan in the 17th century, showing Dutch (magenta) and Spanish (green) possessions, and the
Kingdom of Middag (orange) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 21 Depiction of a Chinese man, woman, and soldier, by Georg Franz Müller (1646–1723) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 22 Woodcut of the mass killings which took place during the February 28 Incident (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 23 Chinese depiction of Chikan (
Fort Provintia ), 1752 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 24 Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1685 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 25 Bird's eye view of
Fort Zeelandia in
Dutch Formosa in the 17th-century (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 27 Photo from
Savages of Formosa , a 1926 government report on tribal life in Taiwan (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 28 Map of Taiwan with the western coast pointed downwards, c. 1640 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 29 Population density map of Taiwan in 2019 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 30 The original flag of the
Taiwanese People's Party , 2 January 1929 – 6 October 1929 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 31 Mid-17th century portrait of
Koxinga (
Guoxingye or "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese), "Lord of the Imperial Surname" (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 32 Shi Lang (1621–1696) in an 18th-century painting (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 34 Portrait of
Zheng Jing (1642–1681), possibly 17th c. (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 36 Severed heads of
Seediq rebels (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 39 The Capture of
Lin Shuangwen (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 40 Entrance hall of a K-TV in Taipei (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 41 Territory controlled by
Koxinga , founder of the
Kingdom of Tungning (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 42 Two
7-Eleven stores opposite each other on a crossroad. Taiwan has the highest density of 7-Eleven stores per person in the world (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 43 1901 map with red line marking approximate boundary separating territory under actual Japanese administration from "Savage District" (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 44 Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress (1989) (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 45 Sky Lantern festival in
Pingxi , Taiwan (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 46 Departure of a
Ryukyuan ship bearing tribute to
Beijing , 1831 (from
History of Taiwan )
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