Taiwan

Introduction Taiwan is a small island located in Southeast Asia, right next to Japan and the Philippines. As of 2015, the population of this country is about 23.4 million, across an area of 13, 972 square miles. Taiwan is predominately Chinese making up most of their population. Thus, their official language is a Chinese dialect called Mandarin, also known as Guoyu. About two-thirds of Taiwan is covered by mountains, including the tallest mountain in northeast Asia known as Jade Mountain (Jilkova). The other one-third of Taiwan is where most of the population lives since the land is mainly flat. In Taipei, (the capital of Taiwan), many people can see the mountains and peaks of Yangmingshan National Park (Crook, et al). Depending on…

In A City of Sadness, movie director Hou Hsiao-Hsien vividly captures the despair of the Taiwanese through the Lin family following the surrender of Japan in 1945 to when the Nationalist Party completely retreats to Taiwan after losing the Mainland to the Communist Party in 1949. Throughout the movie, despair is depicted through the collapse of the Lin family, where one after another, members (the sons) of the family are lost as they struggle against the power of new government implemented by…

Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu written by Yi Shun Lai is a story concerning a young Taiwanese-American woman, living in Manhattan, seeking her place in the world through a variety of self-help books. The novel was written in the form of a diary from the main character’s perspective. The story follows Marty, who has moved to New York from Taiwan when she was five, at the beginning of the novel she has a job in Manhattan working in advertising sales for a magazine. Although…

However, there is a common historical platform which the Islands get affiliated. Ideally, the islands under disputes have a contentious geographical location between China and Japan. Accordingly, the land gets located on the east of the Chinese territory and from the southwestern side of the Japanese territory. After China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War, under the Treaty of Shimonoseki the Qing dynasty (1644- 1911) formally ceded Taiwan "and its surrounding islands" to Japan. China claims…

that USSR was no longer fully reliable. The 1971 Ping-Pong Diplomacy can be viewed as the demonstration of a friendly gesture to America Facing the deteriorating relationship with the Soviets, China set aside their ideological differences and other issues, such as the Taiwan problem, agreeing on the Sino-American Rapprochement. For the next part of the essay, I will focus on the how various historians’ viewed the significance of Nixon’s speech and his trip. The orthodox historical analyst of…

America is a nation of immigrants, no one doubts that. However, as a child of first generation immigrants, I did not live in a tight-knit immigrant community, and my parents did not bring many elements of their home culture into the house. I grew up listening to American music, learning American history, and my friends were predominantly non-Asian. As a result, I never understood much about my parents’ background, and Taiwanese culture. Sensing my curiosity about my background (perhaps from the…

Communist Revolution in 1949, Republic of China (ROC), also known as Taiwan, and mainland China, People’s Republic of China (PRC) had been in a state of conflict for the rightful control of the nation. The Nationalist party that retreated to ROC had established a new democracy and had the political recognition as China until 1979 when PRC was recognized as the official political head by the United States and most countries. The Taiwanese democracy provided many constitutional rights and freedom,…

According to the book How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century by Tonio Andrade, a new colonial system called co-colonization was formed for the Dutch to rule Taiwan in the early 17th century. The establishment of co-colonization was based on the cooperation between the Dutch colonists and Chinese settlers, but it is important to realize that this cooperation was based on mutual interest but under an unfair relationship, and it had changed…

Putonghua, Minbei, Xiang, some Hakka dialects, and various other minority languages. The religion with the largest affiliation is Buddhist at approximately 18%. Christianity is approximately 5%, Muslim is close to 2%, folk religions is approximately 22% and other various religions make up the rest of the religious affiliations of China ("World", n.d.). The 2014 estimated GDP for China was $17.62 trillion. The currency in China is renminbi yuan (RMB). Some of the commodities that China…

To the government of the People 's Republic of China (PRC), any negotiation with Taiwanese government was allowable expect the independence of Taiwan. One china, the idea that Taiwan was a territory rightfully belonging to China, served as the baseline attitude of the PRC. However, the concept of One China became continuously ambiguous in recent years especially when Taiwanese formed their own cultural, political system and understanding about Chinese nationalism. However, the PRC government…