Taiwan is composed of the main island of Taiwan and the Penghu Archipelago, which is made up of 64 islands and 21 other smaller islands. It sits astride the Tropic of Cancer, off the coast of mainland China in the South China Sea, separated by the Taiwan Strait, which is about 220km at its widest point and 130km at its narrowest.
Taiwan is amidst a chain of islands from Japan in the north to the Philippines in the southwest. It lies on major air and sea transportation routes in the western Pacific Ocean.
Over four-fifths of the people are descendants of Han Chinese settlers who came to the island in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries from southeastern China. They were joined in 1949 by remnants of the Nationalist party and army that left China after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949). The island's original inhabitants ( Yuanzhumin ), who are related to Malayo-Polynesian peoples of Southeast Asia, have lived on the island for thousands of years. The culture is a blend of aboriginal cultures, Taiwanese folk cultures, Chinese classical culture, and Western-influenced modern culture. The Nationalists have failed to impose a Chinese national culture on the island, and the potential for a Taiwanese national culture is held in check by both the Nationalists and the People's Republic of China (PRC) as they contest the country's sovereignty.
Monetary unit: Taiwan dollar
Topography
Taiwan is known for its eminent mountain features that span from the north to the south of the island. These hard rock mountains had developed from series of volcanic activities during the passé centuries. Nearly 200 of the island's peaks rise 3,000 meters or more in altitude, with Yu Shan (Mount Jade) being the highest peak at 3,952 meters.
Lush green mountains occupy up to the edge of the cerulean Pacific Ocean on the east coast, while the west coast features large coastal plains, which oblique downwardly to the Taiwan Strait.
With an estimated population of 22,113,250 in 1999, Taiwan is the second most densely populated country in the world. Seventy percent of the population is Hokkien, 14 percent is Hakka, 14 percent is Mainlander, and two percent is aboriginal. The population is 56 percent urban.
Linguistic Affiliation. Mandarin Chinese is the national language and the language of education, government, and culture. Taiwanese speak Taiyu, a southern Min dialect ( nanminhua ), or Hakka. There are seven distinct aboriginal languages, which are grouped into three language families. Most Taiwanese and aborigines speak both a local language and the national language. Mainlanders are monolingual, although some second-generation mainlanders speak Taiwanese.
History
Taiwan was inhabited by aborigines of Malayan descent when Chinese from the areas now designated as Fukien and Kwangtung began settling it in the 7th century, becoming the majority. The Portuguese explored the area in 1590, naming it “the Beautiful” (Formosa). In 1624 the Dutch set up forts in the south, the Spanish in the north. The Dutch forced out the Spanish in 1641 and controlled the island until 1661, when Chinese general Koxinga took it over and established an independent kingdom. The Manchus seized the island in 1683 and held it until 1895, when it passed to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese War. Japan developed and exploited Formosa. It was the target of heavy American bombing during World War II, and at the close of the war the island was restored to China.
After the defeat of its armies on the mainland, the Nationalist government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan in Dec. 1949. Chiang dominated the island, even though only 15% of the population consisted of the 1949 immigrants, the Kuomintang. He maintained a 600,000-man army in the hope of eventually recovering the mainland. Beijing viewed the Taiwanese government with suspicion and anger, referring to Taiwan as a breakaway province of China.
The UN seat representing all of China was held by the Nationalists for over two decades before being lost in Oct. 1971, when the People's Republic of China was admitted and Taiwan was forced to abdicate its seat to Beijing.
Emergence of the Nation. The earliest record of human habitation on Taiwan dates back ten thousand to twenty thousand years. The origin of the first inhabitants is open to debate. Linguistically, the aborigines are related to the Austronesian language family, which points to a southern origin in Southeast Asia. Early stone tool and ceramic styles have been placed in the same traditions as those of Fujian and other mainland sites and suggest a northern origin. A third theory proposes that Taiwan is the homeland of Austronesian culture and language and the source of migrations throughout the region. These theories have become politically charged, with aborigines and opposition party members favoring either the southern origin or homeland theory, and mainlanders favoring the northern origin theory.
Most of the Han settlers came from southern Fujian Province and eastern Guangdong Province, beginning in the seventeenth century. The pioneer era can be divided into three stages marked by different agendas and ethnic tensions. In the early stage (1683–1787), settlers reclaimed land and established farming communities. This period was relatively peaceful except for conflict between Han settlers and the aborigines. The second historical period (1788–1862) saw growth in agricultural production and markets, and leaders representing dominant surname groups competed for control of agricultural production and the lucrative market in grain and sugar. This was a violent period, with numerous uprisings and rebellions that pitted groups identifying with different homelands against one another. This fighting fortified ethnic identities and divisions as refugees sought protection within larger ethnic enclaves. The Lin Shuangwen Rebellion in 1786 engulfed the island and took two years to suppress. A few families rose out of the struggles of this intermediate period to form an island-wide elite that controlled the trade in the major export commodities. The third stage (1863–1895) was marked by the growth of cities and the conflict between occupational groups.
Various incidents between China and foreign powers, including Japan, raised concerns about Taiwan's sovereignty. The imperial court granted the island provincial status in 1886, and strenuous efforts were made to develop the infrastructure and defensive capabilities. Taiwan was ceded to Japan after China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Communication with the mainland was cut off, and Taiwan was incorporated into the Japanese Empire as a supplier of grain and sugar and a consumer of manufactured goods. Japan brought order and peace to the island at the cost of political and economic subjugation. While rice yields outpaced population growth, per capita consumption of rice decreased. Taiwan became a nation of sweet potato eaters, and the sweet potato became a symbol of the hardships the people suffered under colonial rule.
Japan's defeat in World War II led to the return of Taiwan to China. The Taiwanese were hopeful about the new political relationship but soon were disappointed. After losing in the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalists (Guomindang [KMT]) were concerned about the security of their future island refuge and imposed severe restrictions on the population. An incident in 1947 erupted into an islandwide demonstration against Nationalist rule. The Nationalists killed thousands and wiped out the Taiwanese leadership. Forty years of martial law and authoritarian rule followed. The repressive regimes of Japan and China helped forge a common identity from multiple identities based on homeland, religious sect, and surname group.
The Korean War (1950–1953) made clear to the United States the significant role of Taiwan as a model of capitalist development and a military bulwark against socialist expansion. The country experienced a forty-year period of phenomenal economic growth based on the production and exportation of light consumer goods, but this came at the cost of political oppression, including unlawful detentions, torture, and murder.
In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died and Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations. In 1977, an antigovernment riot in Chungli sent a message to the KMT that it had to relax its control of society. In 1978, the KMT's dream of retaking the mainland was shattered when the United States recognized the PRC and closed its embassy in Taipei. Other countries followed suit, leaving Taiwan in international limbo. In that year, President Chiang Ching-Kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son, set in motion a series of reforms that resulted in the lifting of martial law in 1987 and emergency rule in 1991. The reforms also included the Taiwanization of the KMT. Lee Tenghui won the first national presidential election in 1996. Lee has played the independence card to the chagrin of the mainland and KMT stalwarts, who broke away from the KMT to form their own party (New Party).
A three-party race in the 2000 presidential elections resulted in the election of the main opposition party's (the Democratic Progressive Party—DPP) candidate and former mayor of Taipei, Chen Shuibian. Elected with only 39 percent of the vote, Chen and the DPP must carry on the difficult role of governing and negotiating with the PRC. Chen Shuibian's election symbolizes the determination of the people to control their own destiny.
National Identity. The DPP rise to power has signaled an end to the KMT's futile effort to forge a common Chinese national identity through its control of government, education, and the media. The project was doomed from the start as long as China remained divided and Taiwanese were free to participate in the postwar economic boom that fueled a revival of their own culture and identity. Taiwan's national identity remains an open question.
Ethnic Relations. In spite of their cultural and linguistic differences, aborigines have found a common cause in their struggle for land rights and self-determination. The Alliance of Taiwan Aborigines (ATA) was founded in 1985. In 1988, the ATA issued a Manifesto of the Rights of the Taiwan Aborigines, and in 1991, it established the Taiwan Aboriginal Autonomous Area Assembly, a failed attempt at self-government. In 1994, President Lee Teng-hui met with aboriginal leaders to discuss their demands but rejected self-government. In 1996, the Legislative Yuan established an Aboriginal Affairs Commission chaired by a Paiwan leader from the National Assembly. The aborigines continue to press for self-government in their struggle for recognition and a place in society. Mainlander-Taiwanese tensions continue to exist but have been ameliorated by a broad dispersal of economic and political power as democracy takes root.
Today little animosity exists among Hokkien Taiwanese, but Hakka-speaking Taiwanese, who are originally from eastern Guangdong Province, have maintained a separate identity and political voice.
FOOD AND ECONOMY
Food in Daily Life. Food brings people together, and the eating and exchange of food define social groups. The family is identified as people who eat together, and dinner is a secular ritual that reinforces family relationships. Sharing food in the home signifies equality, and people of higher rank are never invited to dine in one's home. Larger groups of kin, neighbors, and temple members come together less frequently to share meals and reinforce their social connections.
Taiwan is a country of fish eaters. Food is cooked slowly in soups and stews or quickly by deep frying. Favorite dishes include oysters with black bean sauce, prawns wrapped in seaweed, abalone, cucumber crab rolls, and clam and winter melon soup. Small restaurants display fresh produce on the street so that customers can choose their evening meal. Fruit drinks are prepared in special beverage shops. Prosperity has produced a business culture that stresses entertaining, which supports restaurants that offer food from all the culinary regions of China. Western influences are found in bakeries and coffee shops in towns and cities. Buddhist food restrictions have produced a vegetarian cuisine in which bean curd, wheat gluten, and mushrooms are transformed into renditions of standard cuisine, sometimes being molded into the shape of ducks, chickens, and fish.
Taiwan is famous for tea, especially the lightly roasted oolong tea. Teahouses exist in almost every town, and most households have a tea cart to serve guests. Tea is brewed in a small pot and served in one-ounce cups. It is considered stimulating, conducive to conversation, and beneficial to health.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Food is served as offerings to gods, ancestors, and ghosts. A cup of tea or wine is placed on the family altar for the ancestors and gods, along with incense. More elaborate offerings are made on special days, including New Year's, gods' birthdays, and the Ghost Festival. Food offerings to ancestors are made in the form of a family dinner with seasoned dishes and rice. The altar table is set with chopsticks, bowls, soup spoons, soy sauce, vinegar, and condiments. The gods are offered cooked but not seasoned or sliced meats. Ghosts are offered cooked meals, but outside the house, where one would feed beggars.
Basic Economy. The Taiwanese have long been traders. Before the first Han settlers arrived, aborigines traded dried deer meat and hides with Chinese and Japanese merchants. When the Dutch arrived at the beginning of the seventeenth century, they developed markets in grain and sugar. In the second half of the nineteenth century, camphor and tea became major exports. The Japanese developed the island's economic infrastructure and agricultural capacity, making Taiwan a major producer and exporter of sugar. During World War II, the Japanese began to industrialize Taiwan, but this initiative was cut short by the bombing that destroyed a large portion of the island's industry and transportation infrastructure. Significant amounts of U.S. aid were received in the postwar years. The government used that money to develop key industries, especially petrochemicals, which produced human-made raw materials such as plastic. When U.S. aid was phased out in the early 1960s, the government was forced to find other sources of revenue. After a brief period of import substitution that allowed the building of industries, the government encouraged export production, which could utilize the cheap and educated labor force. Japan's large trading companies provided second hand machinery to manufacturers. The Cold War sharply divided world markets, and both Japan and Taiwan benefitted from their close connection to the U.S. market. Real growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) averaged over 9 percent per year between 1952 and 1980. In that period, Taiwan transformed itself from an agrarian economy in which farming constituted 35 percent of GDP in 1952 to an industrial economy in which industry accounted for by 35 percent of GDP and agriculture. Taiwan's 1997 GDP made it the twentieth largest economy in the world. The real motor of expansion has been accounted for by small and mediums size companies, which in 1998 made up over 98 percent of all companies, 75-80 percent of employment, and was responsible for 47 percent of economic production.
Land Tenure and Property. The country's indigenous people hunted and gathered for food and cultivated slash-and-burn plots. Neither practice encouraged permanent forms of property. Chinese immigrant farmers regarded fallow plots as unproductive wasteland and worked out arrangements for their use with aboriginal leaders, to whom they paid a nominal fee. Land tenure evolved into a three-tier system of patent holder, landowner, and tenant. The patent holder held the subsurface rights, or "bones," of the field in "perpetuity"; the landowner owned the surface rights, or "skin," of the field; and the tenant worked the field. One of the first programs instituted by the Japanese was land reform that made the landowner the sole owner. The Nationalists reduced taxes and returned land to the tiller. Today, full rights to private property are protected by the constitution.
Commercial Activities. Taiwan has a modern market economy with a large service sector, which comprises two-thirds of GDP. In July 2000, the Taipei Stock Exchange Corporation listed 473 companies with a total capitalization of NT $910 billion (U.S. $30.33 billion). The exchange rate for the New Taiwanese dollar (NT$) on 23 February 2001 was NT $33 to U.S. $1.00 (NT $1.00 = U.S. $0.031).
Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing government guidance of investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, some large, state-owned banks and industrial firms have been privatized. Exports, led by electronics and machinery, generate about 70% of Taiwan's GDP growth, and have provided the primary impetus for economic development. This heavy dependence on exports makes the economy vulnerable to downturns in world demand. In 2009, Taiwan's GDP fell by 2.5%, due primarily to a 20% year-on-year decline in exports. Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, low birth rate, and rapidly aging population are major long-term challenges. Free trade agreements have proliferated in East Asia over the past several years, but so far Taiwan has been excluded from this greater economic integration, largely for reasons of diplomacy. Taiwan's birth rate of only 1.2 child per woman is among the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages, falling domestic demand, and declining tax revenues. Taiwan's population is aging quickly, with the number of people over 65 accounting for 10.8% of the island's total population as of the end of 2009. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest, behind China, Japan, and Russia. Since President MA Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, cross-Strait economic ties have increased significantly. Since 2005 China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan's second-largest source of imports after Japan. China is also the island's number one destination for foreign direct investment. Taipei has focused much of its economic recovery effort on improving cross-Strait economic integration. Three financial memorandums of understanding, covering banking, securities, and insurance, took effect in mid-January 2010, opening the island to greater investments from the Mainland's financial firms and institutional investors, and providing new opportunities for Taiwan financial firms to operate in China. In January 2010, Taipei and Beijing began the first round of cross-Strait negotiations on an economic cooperation framework agreement.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$717.7 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
$736.1 billion (2008 est.)
$731 billion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):
$361.5 billion (2009 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-2.5% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
0.7% (2008 est.)
6% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$29,800 (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 47
$32,100 (2008 est.)
$32,000 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.6%
industry: 29.2%
services: 69.2% (2009 est.)
Labor force:
10.92 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 46
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 5.1%
industry: 36.8%
services: 58% (2008 est.)
Unemployment rate:
5.9% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 55
4.1% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line:
1.08% (2008 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: 41.1% (2002)
Investment (gross fixed):
18.7% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113
Budget:
revenues: $53.3 billion
expenditures: $57.2 billion (2009 est.)
Public debt:
33.5% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 77
29.5% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.9% (2009)
country comparison to the world: 7
3.5% (2008)
Central bank discount rate:
1.25% (February 2009)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
2.56% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 149
4.06% (2008 est.)
Stock of quasi money:
$618 billion (November 2008)
country comparison to the world: 9
$NA (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit:
$671.5 billion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 18
$649.2 billion (31 December 2008)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$657.3 billion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 27
$354.7 billion (31 December 2008)
$654 billion (28 December 2007)
Agriculture - products:
rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish
Industries:
electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals
Industrial production growth rate:
-7% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
Electricity - production:
238.3 billion kWh (2008)
country comparison to the world: 18
Electricity - consumption:
229.8 billion kWh (2008)
country comparison to the world: 15
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2009 est.)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2009 est.)
Oil - production:
276,800 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 39
Oil - consumption:
800,800 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 22
Oil - exports:
359,800 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 35
Oil - imports:
931,300 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
Oil - proved reserves:
2.38 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 93
Natural gas - production:
360 million cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 70
Natural gas - consumption:
12.44 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 45
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 100
Natural gas - imports:
12.08 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
Natural gas - proved reserves:
6.229 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 86
Current account balance:
$31.1 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
$25.1 billion (2008)
Exports:
$203.7 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
$255.6 billion (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities:
electronics, flat panels, machinery; metals; textiles, plastics, chemicals; optical, photographic, measuring, and medical instruments
Exports - partners:
China 26.6%, Hong Kong 14.4%, US 11.6%, Japan 7.2%, Singapore 4.2% (2009 est.)
Imports:
$174.7 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
$240.5 billion (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:
electronics, machinery, crude petroleum, precision instruments, organic chemicals, metals
Imports - partners:
Japan 20.7%, China 14%, US 10.3%, South Korea 6%, Saudi Arabia 4.8% (2009 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$352.1 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
$296.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external:
$79.8 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 37
$90.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$107.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33
$102.3 billion (2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$145.3 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 23
$135.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Exchange rates:
New Taiwan dollars (TWD) per US dollar - 33.056 (2009), 31.53 (2008), 32.84 (2007), 32.534 (2006), 31.71 (2005)
Major Industries. The major agricultural products are pork, rice, betel nuts, sugarcane, poultry, shrimp, and eel. The major industries are electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing, food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, and petroleum refining.
Trade. In 1997, the major exports were electronics and computer products, textile products, basic metals, and plastic and rubber products. The United States, Hong Kong (including indirect trade with the PRC), and Japan account for 60 percent of exports, and the United States and Japan provide over half the imports. The country also exports capital to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Taiwan has become a major investor in China. In the year 2000, 250,000 Taiwanese worked on the mainland in forty-thousand companies owned or partly owned by Taiwanese, representing an investment of $40 billion (U.S.) and accounting for 12 percent of China's export earnings.
Division of Labor. In 1991, the seven major urban occupational classifications were (1) Professional, technical, and administrative (32 percent), such as teachers, physicians, engineers, architects, artists, actors, accountants, reporters, managers, and government officials; (2) large business owners (20 percent) and private business firms employing ten or more people; (3) lower white-collar clerical employees (12 percent) such as clerks, secretaries, sales personnel, and bookkeepers; (4) small business owners (24 percent) of firms employing fewer than ten workers; (5) skilled blue-collar workers (6 percent) such as carpenters, auto mechanics, electricians, lathe operators, printers, shoemakers, tailors, ironworkers, textile workers, and drivers; (6) farmers (1 percent); and (7) semi skilled and unskilled blue-collar workers (7 percent) such as a bricklayers, cooks, factory workers, construction workers, railroad firemen, janitors, laborers, street cleaners, temple keepers, barbers, security guards, police officers, and masseurs.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Classes and Castes. The class system includes the chronically unemployed poor, beggars, and the underworld; the upper and lower bourgeoisie; and the working and middle classes. The upper bourgeoisie constitutes 5 percent of the population and include high-ranking government officials, officials who run large state-owned companies, and the owners of companies that employ more than two hundred people. The petty bourgeoisie makes up half the population and includes farmers, small
A family rides a motorcycle in Taipei, Taiwan, which is a common mode of transportation.
businesspeople, and artisans. The working class makes up a fifth of the population, and the middle class another fifth. The middle class is composed of more educated persons who engaged in nonmanual work in government, education, the military, and large companies. In the past, class coincided with ethnic group. Mainlanders constituted the bulk of the upper bourgeoisie and the middle class, and Taiwanese and aborigines accounted for most of the chronically poor, the working class, and the lower bourgeoisie. However, Taiwan's economic miracle and the Taiwanization of the government have lifted many residents into the upper bourgeoisie and the middle class.
Symbols of Social Stratification. Taiwan is a modern consumer society in which status is measured by wealth and marked by the commodities one can afford to buy, such as automobiles, clothes, and homes, as well as one's lifestyle. A person can live very cheaply in the countryside in a modest apartment, buying produce from an outdoor market, eating at street stands, and transporting a family of five on a scooter. One also can own a large condominium on a prestigious avenue in Taipei, eat in expensive restaurants, wear Western brand-name clothes, and ride in cabs or a chauffeured Mercedes.
Government. The territory of the ROC includes the islands of Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, and the Penghus (Pescadores), along with several smaller islands. Taiwan and the Penghu Islands are administered together as the Province of Taiwan. Kinmen, Matsu, and the smaller nearby islands are administered by the government as counties of Fujian Province. The seat of the provincial government is in central Taiwan. The two largest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung, are centrally administered municipalities. In 1998, the legislative Yuan eliminated the position of governor and many other administrative functions of the Taiwan Provincial Government.
From 1949 to 1991, the ROC on Taiwan claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of China, and the Nationalists (KMT) reestablished on the island the full state apparatus that had existed on the mainland. The first National Assembly was elected on the mainland in 1947. Because elections were no longer possible on the mainland, representatives of mainland constituencies held their seats for nearly forty-five years. In 1991, the Council of Grand Justices mandated the retirement of all members of the National Assembly who had been elected in 1947 and 1948.
The second National Assembly, which was elected in 1991, amended the constitution to allow for the direct election of the president and vice president. The president is both the political leader and the commander in chief of the armed forces and presides over the five administrative branches, or Yuan: executive, legislative, control, judicial, and examination. The legislative Yuan is the main lawmaking body; its members are elected directly by the people and serve three-year terms. The control Yuan oversees public servants and investigates corruption. The twenty-nine control Yuan members are appointed by the president and approved by the National Assembly; they serve six-year terms. The judicial Yuan administers the court system and includes a sixteen-member Council of Grand Justices that interprets the constitution. Grand justices are appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly and serve nine-year terms. The examination Yuan recruits and manages the civil service through the Ministry of Examination and the Ministry of Personnel.
Leadership and Political Officials. Before 1987, Taiwan had a one-party system with the KMT firmly in control. Although "outside the party" candidates sometimes won local elections, opposition parties were banned. Mainlanders dominated the government at the upper level and controlled the lower level of local Taiwanese leaders through a patronage system. To ensure that no leader or faction became too strong, the KMT supported rivalries between local leaders and factions. Vote buying was prevalent.
In the 1998 elections, the DPP won 31 percent of the 176 seats and the KMT won 55 percent. In other elections, the DPP won twelve of the twenty-three county magistrate and city mayor contests compared to the KMT's eight. Aboriginal representatives hold six reserved seats in the National Assembly and the legislative Yuan. The chairman of the Aboriginal Affairs Commission is an aborigine, as is the magistrate of Taitung County. An increasing number of women are involved in politics, and some hold key positions. Women sit in the cabinet and head several agencies and commissions, and three women are members of the KMT's Central Standing Committee. A fifth of legislative Yuan and National Assembly members and two of twenty-nine control Yuan members are women.
Social Problems and Control. In 1990, the most serious social problems were juvenile delinquency, transportation, public security, environmental pollution, vice and prostitution, bribery, speculation, the poor-rich discrepancy, rising prices, and gambling. Juvenile crime tripled between 1980 and 1995. In 1995, over a third of drug-related offenses were committed by youth, prompting the government to declare a war on drugs. The rise in juvenile delinquency has been attributed to the deterioration of the family system and the competitive education system. Fathers spend more time away from the home, and single-parent homes have increased. Many fifteen-year-olds have nowhere to go after finishing their nine years of compulsory education. Petty crime, drug dependency and suicides have risen dramatically in this age group.
Affluence has transformed Taiwan from a country of scooters to one of automobiles, creating traffic congestion and air pollution in the cities and a high death toll on the highways.
Murder, rape, robbery, and other violent crimes have doubled in the last ten years. Organized crime is involved in extortion, kidnaping, murder, fixing bids for public works, and gunrunning. The 1997 slaying of a prominent opposition feminist underscored the fact that 54 percent of the victims of violent crime that year were women. In 1992, 225,500 women were engaged in prostitution, including 61,400 teenagers.
Authoritarian rule in the past led to many human rights abuses. A 1997 reform has strengthened human rights protections in several ways. Prosecutors and police officers must release suspects within twenty-four hours unless a warrant is obtained from a court. Also, suspects must be informed of their right to remain silent, lawyers may be present during interrogation, and overnight interrogation is prohibited. The Council of Grand Justices has eliminated restrictions on freedom of association.
The judicial system has three levels: district courts, high courts, and the supreme court. District courts hear civil and criminal cases, high courts hear appeals, and the supreme court reviews judgments by lower courts. Criminal cases that involve rebellion, treason, and offenses against friendly relations with foreign states are handled by the high court.
Many social problems stem from lax enforcement of strict legal code. Business licenses are difficult to obtain, but once they are gotten, there is little monitoring of business. Companies, both legal and illegal, easily skirt tax, labor, environmental protection, and zoning laws. Thousands of businesses operate underground in an informal economy that may account for 25-50 percent of the GDP. Social order is maintained through personal connections and informal relationships in which the sanctions of face apply. However, this "Confucian" order requires enforcement, and businesses rely on gangsters to collect debts and enforce agreements.
Military Activity. Throughout the Chiang years (1949–1988), the KMT was fixated on retaking the mainland and maintaining its large military force that was partly sponsored by the United States. In 1979, Taiwan and the United States signed the Taiwan Relations Act, which defined the country's military mission as primarily a defensive one against the PRC and banned the sale of offensive weapons such as submarines, missiles, and bombers to Taiwan. The country maintains a large military force of 376,000 active and 1,657,000 reserve personnel. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has deployed hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles on the mainland opposite Taiwan and in 1996, during the presidential election campaign, "test" fired several missiles outside the harbors of the two largest ports. This demonstration produced the intended effect on Taiwan's export-dependent economy as the stock market fell and large sums of money left the island. The latest PLA threat is electronic and informational warfare, which is aimed at over-loading and jamming the country's communications systems.
Taiwan’s political democratization has released a growing consciousness of national identity on the island over the last decade. Culturally, there has been an ethnic division between native Taiwanese and those who came from the mainland during the 1940s, reflected in their different historical experiences and preferences for spoken languages (Mandarin vs. Taiwanese). Politically, the two ethnic groups tend to have different ideas about the future relationship (unification vs. independence) between Taiwan and mainland China. In recent years, the growth of a new and inclusive Taiwanese identity, as well as education and intermarriages, has helped reduce cultural cleavage between ethnic groups, and a majority of the Taiwanese people now define themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese. However, a growing number of people on the island call themselves simply Taiwanese but not Chinese.
What are the main reasons for the growth of a Taiwanese identity? What has been the impact of the “February 28 incident” on ethnic cleavage in Taiwan? Is the growth of Taiwan’s national identity inevitable in the years to come? What about ten years from now when Taiwan’s population is completely dominated by native Taiwanese? Four speakers examined these and related issues at a July 17 seminar hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program.
June Teufel Dreyer, professor of political science at the University of Miami, started the discussion by arguing that a sense of identity apart from that of mainland China has existed in Taiwan for more than a century. While fifty years of Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945) contributed to the development of distinct habits and attitudes of the Taiwanese people, the arrival of the Nationalist (KMT) government and its ill-disciplined soldiers from the mainland quickly disillusioned native Taiwanese. The traumatic February 28 incident (1947) when thousands of Taiwanese were slaughtered by the KMT military left searing memories in the consciousness of native residents, and became the first marker in the development of a Taiwanese identity, Dreyer maintained. Despite KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek’s efforts at culturally redefining Taiwan’s inhabitants as Chinese, a spontaneous movement of literary nativization by a group of indigenous writers emerged in the 1960s. According to Dreyer, the 1979 Kaohsiung incident, resulting from a mass demonstration and KMT’s crackdown, was another marker in the evolution of Taiwan’s identity.
Taiwan’s democratization in 1986 has accelerated the development of a new and more inclusive national identity on the island, Dreyer continued. Under the leadership of Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, a memorial to the victims of the February 28 incident was built in Taipei, and a “new Taiwanese” identity began to incorporate those residents coming from the mainland in the late 1940s as well as their children. While a separate Taiwanese identity has continued to develop under the Chen Shui-bian administration, Dreyer argued that its specific definition might be changed in the future. More than half a million Taiwan citizens now work and live in the mainland. What effect this will have on their self-identification remains to be seen, Dreyer concluded.
Thomas B. Gold, associate professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, explored Taiwan’s national identity from the perspective of state-society relations. According to Gold, the Taiwanese quest for identity was generated from below, reflecting the weakened capacity of the KMT state to impose its official identity over society. In the early days, the KMT state arrogated substantial amounts of all forms of power to itself, rendering society disorganized and powerless. It implemented martial law, maintained power to distribute scarce capital and resources, denied autonomy to social organizations, defined Taiwan as a province of the Republic of China (ROC), and made Mandarin Chinese the national language in schools, governmental offices, and the media. Beginning in the late 1970s, however, the initiative in Taiwanese life shifted away from the authoritarian party-state to society in the form of social movements. As Gold observed, non-KMT politicians began to call for self-determination and push for the termination of martial law, together with a veritable explosion of social activism addressing nearly every realm of life. Within the KMT, President Lee Teng-hui turned out to be the most unexpected political entrepreneur in pursuing a Taiwan-first line.
Over this period, structural shifts have opened up spaces for action by dissenters apart from the previously official definition of Taiwan’s identity, Gold continued. The expansion of the private sector transferred substantial resources and social prestige to entrepreneurs, most of whom were Taiwanese. As a result of Taiwan’s democratization, formerly forbidden topics became debatable. Eventually, the proponents of Taiwan as a province of China became increasingly isolated. Gold concluded that a separate identity is very real to many people in Taiwan, and that Beijing must find ways to understand its origins and implications in the island’s cultural and political life.
Shelley Rigger, associate professor of East Asian politics at Davidson College, argued that the discussion of Taiwan’s national identity often suffers from a lack of clarity about concepts and definitions. Disaggregating the concept of national identity, Rigger raised four distinct issues that are related to the discussion, including 1) provincial origin, 2) nationality, 3) citizenship and 4) policy preference.
As Rigger elaborated, provincial origin (ethnic identity) is the most politically significant demographic division in Taiwan’s society. The island’s residents were divided, legally and socially, between native Taiwanese whose families came to the island before 1895 and “mainlanders” whose families arrived between 1945 and 1950. While ethnicity was an ever-present component of political discourse in the early and mid-1990s, the intensity and frequency of ethnic politicking have diminished over the past several years, Rigger noted. Nationality (cultural identity) is the subject of heated debate, because “Chinese” and “Taiwanese” are not mutually exclusive identities. By contrast, citizenship (political identity) is already a settled issue, as residents of Taiwan believe that they are citizens of a unique state different from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Rigger argued that policy preference for Taiwan independence or Chinese unification is the most complicated issue related to Taiwan’s identity.
According to Rigger, most research on the independence-unification debate rests on flawed assumptions that the two positions are mutually exclusive and that they represent the only meaningful options for the Taiwanese people. Rigger contended that a plurality of Taiwanese is willing to accept either independence or unification under the right conditions, and that the percentage of Taiwanese who can accept either option has increased over the 1990s. The complexity of the identity issue resists easy analysis, Rigger emphasized.
John J. Tkacik Jr., research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, offered his commentary at the end of the seminar. Tkacik argued that Taiwanese preference for independence or unification is inextricably intertwined with their various ethnic identities. For example, when asked who had the right to determine the future of Taiwan, only 11 percent of respondents said that residents of mainland China should also be included. According to Tkacik, this figure perfectly reflects the percentage of “mainlanders” in Taiwan, suggesting a close relationship between the ethnic and national identities. Tkacik concluded that how Taiwan resolves its identity issue will decide the island’s future in the years ahead.
In brief, this seminar explored the growth of Taiwan’s national identity from historical, cultural, demographic, economic and political perspectives, factoring in Taiwan’s unique history, ethnic divide, domestic politics, and cross-Strait relations. While the four speakers agreed on the origin of Taiwan’s national identity, they differed on the direction of its evolution, as well as its implications for cross-Taiwan Strait relations.
GENDER ROLES AND STATUSES
Division of Labor by Gender. A universal educational system and a modern industrial economy have not changed the nation's patriarchal culture. Although women work in every industry, they tend to have poorly paid menial jobs. In the office, they occupy the lower tier of managerial jobs. Women's wages and salaries are generally lower than men's and women earn only 72 percent of men's income for equivalent work. In the heyday of
rural industry, factories accommodated young mothers by bringing work to their homes. Some women run their own businesses and occupy positions of power in the government.
The Relative Status of Women and Men. Filial piety, fraternal loyalty, lineage solidarity, and family are the pillars of this patriarchal society. Although women were vital to the reproduction of the patrilineage, that role translated into few rights for women. However, the domestic notions of prosperity, happiness, and peace constituted a parallel set of values that was tied to household productivity and well-being. Insofar as women's hard work and organizing skills contributed to a household's prosperity, women gained respect in the home. Women's organizing skills and adeptness at relationship building have to been important assets in small-scale industries, in which many successful women manage businesses and supervise workers in small factories and workshops. The network building required in the rural and export industries has favored relationships with relatives on both sides of the family, increasing the importance of women. Women have gone to college and joined professional ranks, and some have entered politics. Recent trends reflect an increase in women's power and status, such as delayed marriages, higher divorce rates, fewer children, and higher educational attainment among women. A growing feminist movement actively promotes women's rights. Legislation has been enacted that recognizes women's rights to child custody and inheritance of property. However, men continue to hold most material wealth and political power and strongly resist the women's movement. Women leaders have been vilified and jailed.
SOCIALIZATION
Infant Care. Infants and small children sleep with their mothers and are fed on demand. They are carried and entertained by adults and older children. Weaning is done abruptly at about age two. Little is expected of young children, who are seldom punished. By the time they begin primary school, children start doing chores. Girls help care for younger siblings and do household tasks, and boys run errands. Children are expected to be obedient, avoid fighting, and work hard. Threats and scolding are used to discipline children, but physical punishment is rare. Rewards also are used to motivate children. The mother is primarily responsible for child care, and the mother-child relationship is usually close. Fathers play with younger children and punish children for misbehavior; their aloofness often causes children to fear their fathers. Girls generally are treated more strictly than boys, but fathers often are more affectionate toward their daughters.
Child Rearing and Education. The Japanese instituted a system of universal primary education for grades one through six. The Nationalists extended the educational system to the ninth grade in 1968 and made it compulsory in 1982. In 1993,
ETIQUETTE
Because social relationships and the cultivation of social relationships are considered important, Taiwanese people are friendly and courteous. Social relationships derive importance from the belief that one cannot do anything alone and everyone requires the help and cooperation of others. The exchange of cigarettes, business cards, or small gifts is a quick and easy way to overcome initial shyness in forming a personal connection. Introductions are important in initiating a relationship. One's name and reputation have currency, as is demonstrated by the exchanging of business cards. Initial friendliness is only an overture to friendship and can quickly turn cold if one's intentions are suspected. As cordial as Taiwanese can be in a personal setting, on the street with strangers, it is a free-for-all; one fights for every inch of space on the streets of Taipei, and holding one's place in a line is a contest. It takes time to build relationships of trust. Teahouses, restaurants, and homes are places where people cultivate relationships. The object of these encounters is to relax, let down one's guard, and connect in a genuine and open way. Although people are interested in friendship, they understand that friendship has utilitarian benefits, as friends are expected do each other favors and help each other get things done. In spite of their openness and friendly demeanor, people pay close attention to status and authority as defined by age, education, occupation, and gender. Although it is difficult for people of different statuses to be friends, they still can form a relationship of mutual benefit ( guanxi ). Much of the work of government and business gets done through these relationships. RELIGION
Taiwan practices freedom of religion, generously accepting foreign religious ideas while honoring traditional beliefs: even within the same family, it is common for different faiths to exist. As a result, Taipei has welcomed the development of many different religions.
Traditional Chinese religions include Buddhism, Taoism, and folk beliefs. Taoism is indigenous to China, while Buddhism was introduced from India. Taoists and Buddhists originally worshipped separately in Taiwan, but during the period of Japanese occupation (1895-1945) Taoists were singled out for severe persecution and began worshipping their deities secretly in Buddhist temples. By the time Taiwan was returned to Chinese administration at the end of World War II, the two religions had blended together; while a few temples today are purely Buddhist, most Taiwanese continue worshipping a variety of Buddhist, Taoist, and folk deities in a single temple.
Many of these deities once lived as mortals and were given divine status because of their special virtues or contributions. One prominent example of this is Juan Kung, who was a famous general during the Three Kingdoms period more than 1,500 years ago and is now revered as the God of War. The most famous example, however, is Confucius, who lived 2,500 years ago and was first enshrined by Emperor Yuan of the Western Han, who reigned 48-33 B.C. The Sage is honored today in many temples throughout Taiwan.
Christianity was brought to Taiwan in the early 17th century by Spanish and Dutch missionaries. A number of Presbyterian missions were founded in early times, including the Panhsi Church of Tataocheng (today known as Tachiao Church) in 1874 and Manka Church in 1884; during the Japanese occupation period, the Chungshan Presbyterian Church, Chinan Church, and Chengchung Church were established.
Numerous other religions took hold in Taiwan in the atmosphere of religious freedom than followed retrocession; in addition to the Chinese religions and Christianity, Taiwan today also has followers of Bahaism, Islam, and Tienlichiao (from Japan), among others.
The Appearance of Temples in Taiwan
During the Ching dynasty (1644-1911) large numbers of Chinese from Fukien province made the perilous voyage across the Taiwan Straits to settle and seek better lives on this fertile but undeveloped island. To keep themselves from harm during the dangerous trip, they carried with them sacred images, incense for the gods, and protective amulets. Most of the ships they used carried images of Matsu, Goddess of the Sea, to assure calm weather and a safe passage.
Danger did not cease when the immigrants reached Taiwan, for medicine in this wilderness area was primitive and many people were claimed by sickness and disease. For protection, the settlers worshipped a group of plague gods called Wang-yeh, who were believed to have the ability to eradicate illness.
Later on, as the settlers and their new villages began to flourish, the naturally felt a need to show gratitude for the divine assistance that had blessed them. They built temples to honor their gods, the most important of which were Matsu and Wang-yeh. In addition to providing homes for the gods and places for devotees to worship, temples also became centers of social activity for all members of the community.
Temples are memorial buildings, sanctuaries for the gods, and centers of faith for believers. In addition to a design and layout that are governed by a complex set of rules, temples also showcase decorative arts (wood and stone carvings, clay sculptures, pottery, paintings, calligraphy) that in addition to offering a visual sense of beauty also reflect the Chinese outlook toward life - the desire to have good fortune and avoid bad luck, the supplication for enlightenment and honor. These decorations constitute a body of religious art which gives full expression to the spiritual culture of the Chinese people.
Direction from the Gods
Inside Taiwan's temples, you can frequently see rituals being performed to seek help from the gods. When devotees have a favor to ask or a fortune to be told, they burn three sticks of incense before an altar as they mentally repeat their name, birth date, address, and the question or favor they want to ask. Then they drop two crescent-shaped divining blocks, made of wood or bamboo, onto the floor. When one block lands convex side up and the other flat side up, the answer is positive or the omen is good. If both land with convex side up, the answer is negative or the omen bad. If both land with the flat side up, the answer or omen is neutral and the supplicant has to try again.
Another way to seek divine guidance in Taiwan's temples is by drawing lots or oracles. A large number of bamboo strips with number written on them are placed in a cylindrical container with the top open. The container is shaken and the strip which protrudes the farthest is drawn out. Then the diving blocks are used to determine if this is indeed the right strip; if they give a positive reply three times in a row, the supplicant chooses an oracle, according to the number on the bamboo strip, that is written on a piece of paper. Many of the oracles are vague in meaning, and larger temples have specialists available to help interpret them.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cohen, Myron L. House United, House Divided: The Chinese Family in Transition, 1976.
Davidson, James W. The Island of Formosa: Past and Present, 1903, rev. ed. 1988.
Davison, Gary Marvin, and Barbara E. Reed. Culture and Customs of Taiwan, 1998.
Gallin, Bernard. Hsin Hsing, Taiwan: A Chinese Village in Change, 1966.
Gates, Hill. China's Motor: A Thousand Years of Petty Capitalism, 1996.
Gold, Thomas. State and Society in the Taiwanese Miracle, 1986.
Harrell, Stevan. Ploughshare Village: Culture and Context in Taiwan, 1974.
Ho, Samuel P. S. Economic Development of Taiwan 1860– 1970, 1978.
Hsiung, Ping-chun. Living Rooms as Factories: Class, Gender, and the Satellite Factory System in Taiwan, 1996.
Hu, Tai-li. My Mother-in-Law's Village: Rural Industrialization and Change in Taiwan, 1983.
Kerr, George H. Formosa Betrayed, 1965.
Knapp, Ronald G. China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation , 1999.
Kung, Lydia. Factory Women in Taiwan, 1978, rev. ed 1994.
Marsh, Robert M. The Great Transformation: Social Change in Taipei, Taiwan since the 1960s , 1996.
Meskill, Johanna Menzel. A Chinese Pioneer Family: The Lins of Wu-feng, Taiwan 1729–1895, 1979.
Olsen, Nancy Johnston. The Effect of Household Composition on the Child Rearing Practices of Taiwanese Families , 1971.
Pasternak, Burton. Kinship and Community in Two Chinese Villages, 1969.
Rubinstein, Murray R., ed. The Other Taiwan: 1945 to the Present, 1994.
——. Taiwan: A New History , 1999.
Sangren, P. Steven. History and Magical Power in a Chinese Community, 1987.
Seaman, Gary. Temple Organization in a Chinese Village, 1978.
Shepherd, John Robert. Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier 1600–1800, 1993.
Skoggard, Ian A. The Indigenous Dynamic in Taiwan's Postwar Development: The Religious and Historical Roots of Entrepreneurship, 1996.
Thorton, Arland, and Hui-Sheng Lin, eds. Social Change and the Family in Taiwan , 1994.
Weller, Robert P. Unity and Diversities in Chinese Religion, 1987.
Winkler, Edwin A., and Susan Greenhalgh, eds. Contending Approaches to the Political Economy of Taiwan, 1990.
Wolf, Arthur, ed. Studies in Chinese Society, 1978.
Wolf, Margery. Women and Family in Rural Taiwan, 1972.
source :
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications//the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html
Taiwan is known for its eminent mountain features that span from the north to the south of the island. These hard rock mountains had developed from series of volcanic activities during the passé centuries. Nearly 200 of the island's peaks rise 3,000 meters or more in altitude, with Yu Shan (Mount Jade) being the highest peak at 3,952 meters.
Lush green mountains occupy up to the edge of the cerulean Pacific Ocean on the east coast, while the west coast features large coastal plains, which oblique downwardly to the Taiwan Strait.
With an estimated population of 22,113,250 in 1999, Taiwan is the second most densely populated country in the world. Seventy percent of the population is Hokkien, 14 percent is Hakka, 14 percent is Mainlander, and two percent is aboriginal. The population is 56 percent urban.
Linguistic Affiliation. Mandarin Chinese is the national language and the language of education, government, and culture. Taiwanese speak Taiyu, a southern Min dialect ( nanminhua ), or Hakka. There are seven distinct aboriginal languages, which are grouped into three language families. Most Taiwanese and aborigines speak both a local language and the national language. Mainlanders are monolingual, although some second-generation mainlanders speak Taiwanese.
History
Taiwan was inhabited by aborigines of Malayan descent when Chinese from the areas now designated as Fukien and Kwangtung began settling it in the 7th century, becoming the majority. The Portuguese explored the area in 1590, naming it “the Beautiful” (Formosa). In 1624 the Dutch set up forts in the south, the Spanish in the north. The Dutch forced out the Spanish in 1641 and controlled the island until 1661, when Chinese general Koxinga took it over and established an independent kingdom. The Manchus seized the island in 1683 and held it until 1895, when it passed to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese War. Japan developed and exploited Formosa. It was the target of heavy American bombing during World War II, and at the close of the war the island was restored to China.
After the defeat of its armies on the mainland, the Nationalist government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan in Dec. 1949. Chiang dominated the island, even though only 15% of the population consisted of the 1949 immigrants, the Kuomintang. He maintained a 600,000-man army in the hope of eventually recovering the mainland. Beijing viewed the Taiwanese government with suspicion and anger, referring to Taiwan as a breakaway province of China.
The UN seat representing all of China was held by the Nationalists for over two decades before being lost in Oct. 1971, when the People's Republic of China was admitted and Taiwan was forced to abdicate its seat to Beijing.
Emergence of the Nation. The earliest record of human habitation on Taiwan dates back ten thousand to twenty thousand years. The origin of the first inhabitants is open to debate. Linguistically, the aborigines are related to the Austronesian language family, which points to a southern origin in Southeast Asia. Early stone tool and ceramic styles have been placed in the same traditions as those of Fujian and other mainland sites and suggest a northern origin. A third theory proposes that Taiwan is the homeland of Austronesian culture and language and the source of migrations throughout the region. These theories have become politically charged, with aborigines and opposition party members favoring either the southern origin or homeland theory, and mainlanders favoring the northern origin theory.
Most of the Han settlers came from southern Fujian Province and eastern Guangdong Province, beginning in the seventeenth century. The pioneer era can be divided into three stages marked by different agendas and ethnic tensions. In the early stage (1683–1787), settlers reclaimed land and established farming communities. This period was relatively peaceful except for conflict between Han settlers and the aborigines. The second historical period (1788–1862) saw growth in agricultural production and markets, and leaders representing dominant surname groups competed for control of agricultural production and the lucrative market in grain and sugar. This was a violent period, with numerous uprisings and rebellions that pitted groups identifying with different homelands against one another. This fighting fortified ethnic identities and divisions as refugees sought protection within larger ethnic enclaves. The Lin Shuangwen Rebellion in 1786 engulfed the island and took two years to suppress. A few families rose out of the struggles of this intermediate period to form an island-wide elite that controlled the trade in the major export commodities. The third stage (1863–1895) was marked by the growth of cities and the conflict between occupational groups.
Various incidents between China and foreign powers, including Japan, raised concerns about Taiwan's sovereignty. The imperial court granted the island provincial status in 1886, and strenuous efforts were made to develop the infrastructure and defensive capabilities. Taiwan was ceded to Japan after China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Communication with the mainland was cut off, and Taiwan was incorporated into the Japanese Empire as a supplier of grain and sugar and a consumer of manufactured goods. Japan brought order and peace to the island at the cost of political and economic subjugation. While rice yields outpaced population growth, per capita consumption of rice decreased. Taiwan became a nation of sweet potato eaters, and the sweet potato became a symbol of the hardships the people suffered under colonial rule.
Japan's defeat in World War II led to the return of Taiwan to China. The Taiwanese were hopeful about the new political relationship but soon were disappointed. After losing in the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalists (Guomindang [KMT]) were concerned about the security of their future island refuge and imposed severe restrictions on the population. An incident in 1947 erupted into an islandwide demonstration against Nationalist rule. The Nationalists killed thousands and wiped out the Taiwanese leadership. Forty years of martial law and authoritarian rule followed. The repressive regimes of Japan and China helped forge a common identity from multiple identities based on homeland, religious sect, and surname group.
The Korean War (1950–1953) made clear to the United States the significant role of Taiwan as a model of capitalist development and a military bulwark against socialist expansion. The country experienced a forty-year period of phenomenal economic growth based on the production and exportation of light consumer goods, but this came at the cost of political oppression, including unlawful detentions, torture, and murder.
In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died and Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations. In 1977, an antigovernment riot in Chungli sent a message to the KMT that it had to relax its control of society. In 1978, the KMT's dream of retaking the mainland was shattered when the United States recognized the PRC and closed its embassy in Taipei. Other countries followed suit, leaving Taiwan in international limbo. In that year, President Chiang Ching-Kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son, set in motion a series of reforms that resulted in the lifting of martial law in 1987 and emergency rule in 1991. The reforms also included the Taiwanization of the KMT. Lee Tenghui won the first national presidential election in 1996. Lee has played the independence card to the chagrin of the mainland and KMT stalwarts, who broke away from the KMT to form their own party (New Party).
A three-party race in the 2000 presidential elections resulted in the election of the main opposition party's (the Democratic Progressive Party—DPP) candidate and former mayor of Taipei, Chen Shuibian. Elected with only 39 percent of the vote, Chen and the DPP must carry on the difficult role of governing and negotiating with the PRC. Chen Shuibian's election symbolizes the determination of the people to control their own destiny.
National Identity. The DPP rise to power has signaled an end to the KMT's futile effort to forge a common Chinese national identity through its control of government, education, and the media. The project was doomed from the start as long as China remained divided and Taiwanese were free to participate in the postwar economic boom that fueled a revival of their own culture and identity. Taiwan's national identity remains an open question.
Ethnic Relations. In spite of their cultural and linguistic differences, aborigines have found a common cause in their struggle for land rights and self-determination. The Alliance of Taiwan Aborigines (ATA) was founded in 1985. In 1988, the ATA issued a Manifesto of the Rights of the Taiwan Aborigines, and in 1991, it established the Taiwan Aboriginal Autonomous Area Assembly, a failed attempt at self-government. In 1994, President Lee Teng-hui met with aboriginal leaders to discuss their demands but rejected self-government. In 1996, the Legislative Yuan established an Aboriginal Affairs Commission chaired by a Paiwan leader from the National Assembly. The aborigines continue to press for self-government in their struggle for recognition and a place in society. Mainlander-Taiwanese tensions continue to exist but have been ameliorated by a broad dispersal of economic and political power as democracy takes root.
Today little animosity exists among Hokkien Taiwanese, but Hakka-speaking Taiwanese, who are originally from eastern Guangdong Province, have maintained a separate identity and political voice.
FOOD AND ECONOMY
Food in Daily Life. Food brings people together, and the eating and exchange of food define social groups. The family is identified as people who eat together, and dinner is a secular ritual that reinforces family relationships. Sharing food in the home signifies equality, and people of higher rank are never invited to dine in one's home. Larger groups of kin, neighbors, and temple members come together less frequently to share meals and reinforce their social connections.
Taiwan is a country of fish eaters. Food is cooked slowly in soups and stews or quickly by deep frying. Favorite dishes include oysters with black bean sauce, prawns wrapped in seaweed, abalone, cucumber crab rolls, and clam and winter melon soup. Small restaurants display fresh produce on the street so that customers can choose their evening meal. Fruit drinks are prepared in special beverage shops. Prosperity has produced a business culture that stresses entertaining, which supports restaurants that offer food from all the culinary regions of China. Western influences are found in bakeries and coffee shops in towns and cities. Buddhist food restrictions have produced a vegetarian cuisine in which bean curd, wheat gluten, and mushrooms are transformed into renditions of standard cuisine, sometimes being molded into the shape of ducks, chickens, and fish.
Taiwan is famous for tea, especially the lightly roasted oolong tea. Teahouses exist in almost every town, and most households have a tea cart to serve guests. Tea is brewed in a small pot and served in one-ounce cups. It is considered stimulating, conducive to conversation, and beneficial to health.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. Food is served as offerings to gods, ancestors, and ghosts. A cup of tea or wine is placed on the family altar for the ancestors and gods, along with incense. More elaborate offerings are made on special days, including New Year's, gods' birthdays, and the Ghost Festival. Food offerings to ancestors are made in the form of a family dinner with seasoned dishes and rice. The altar table is set with chopsticks, bowls, soup spoons, soy sauce, vinegar, and condiments. The gods are offered cooked but not seasoned or sliced meats. Ghosts are offered cooked meals, but outside the house, where one would feed beggars.
Basic Economy. The Taiwanese have long been traders. Before the first Han settlers arrived, aborigines traded dried deer meat and hides with Chinese and Japanese merchants. When the Dutch arrived at the beginning of the seventeenth century, they developed markets in grain and sugar. In the second half of the nineteenth century, camphor and tea became major exports. The Japanese developed the island's economic infrastructure and agricultural capacity, making Taiwan a major producer and exporter of sugar. During World War II, the Japanese began to industrialize Taiwan, but this initiative was cut short by the bombing that destroyed a large portion of the island's industry and transportation infrastructure. Significant amounts of U.S. aid were received in the postwar years. The government used that money to develop key industries, especially petrochemicals, which produced human-made raw materials such as plastic. When U.S. aid was phased out in the early 1960s, the government was forced to find other sources of revenue. After a brief period of import substitution that allowed the building of industries, the government encouraged export production, which could utilize the cheap and educated labor force. Japan's large trading companies provided second hand machinery to manufacturers. The Cold War sharply divided world markets, and both Japan and Taiwan benefitted from their close connection to the U.S. market. Real growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) averaged over 9 percent per year between 1952 and 1980. In that period, Taiwan transformed itself from an agrarian economy in which farming constituted 35 percent of GDP in 1952 to an industrial economy in which industry accounted for by 35 percent of GDP and agriculture. Taiwan's 1997 GDP made it the twentieth largest economy in the world. The real motor of expansion has been accounted for by small and mediums size companies, which in 1998 made up over 98 percent of all companies, 75-80 percent of employment, and was responsible for 47 percent of economic production.
Land Tenure and Property. The country's indigenous people hunted and gathered for food and cultivated slash-and-burn plots. Neither practice encouraged permanent forms of property. Chinese immigrant farmers regarded fallow plots as unproductive wasteland and worked out arrangements for their use with aboriginal leaders, to whom they paid a nominal fee. Land tenure evolved into a three-tier system of patent holder, landowner, and tenant. The patent holder held the subsurface rights, or "bones," of the field in "perpetuity"; the landowner owned the surface rights, or "skin," of the field; and the tenant worked the field. One of the first programs instituted by the Japanese was land reform that made the landowner the sole owner. The Nationalists reduced taxes and returned land to the tiller. Today, full rights to private property are protected by the constitution.
Commercial Activities. Taiwan has a modern market economy with a large service sector, which comprises two-thirds of GDP. In July 2000, the Taipei Stock Exchange Corporation listed 473 companies with a total capitalization of NT $910 billion (U.S. $30.33 billion). The exchange rate for the New Taiwanese dollar (NT$) on 23 February 2001 was NT $33 to U.S. $1.00 (NT $1.00 = U.S. $0.031).
Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing government guidance of investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, some large, state-owned banks and industrial firms have been privatized. Exports, led by electronics and machinery, generate about 70% of Taiwan's GDP growth, and have provided the primary impetus for economic development. This heavy dependence on exports makes the economy vulnerable to downturns in world demand. In 2009, Taiwan's GDP fell by 2.5%, due primarily to a 20% year-on-year decline in exports. Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, low birth rate, and rapidly aging population are major long-term challenges. Free trade agreements have proliferated in East Asia over the past several years, but so far Taiwan has been excluded from this greater economic integration, largely for reasons of diplomacy. Taiwan's birth rate of only 1.2 child per woman is among the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages, falling domestic demand, and declining tax revenues. Taiwan's population is aging quickly, with the number of people over 65 accounting for 10.8% of the island's total population as of the end of 2009. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest, behind China, Japan, and Russia. Since President MA Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, cross-Strait economic ties have increased significantly. Since 2005 China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan's second-largest source of imports after Japan. China is also the island's number one destination for foreign direct investment. Taipei has focused much of its economic recovery effort on improving cross-Strait economic integration. Three financial memorandums of understanding, covering banking, securities, and insurance, took effect in mid-January 2010, opening the island to greater investments from the Mainland's financial firms and institutional investors, and providing new opportunities for Taiwan financial firms to operate in China. In January 2010, Taipei and Beijing began the first round of cross-Strait negotiations on an economic cooperation framework agreement.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$717.7 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
$736.1 billion (2008 est.)
$731 billion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):
$361.5 billion (2009 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-2.5% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
0.7% (2008 est.)
6% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$29,800 (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 47
$32,100 (2008 est.)
$32,000 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.6%
industry: 29.2%
services: 69.2% (2009 est.)
Labor force:
10.92 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 46
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 5.1%
industry: 36.8%
services: 58% (2008 est.)
Unemployment rate:
5.9% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 55
4.1% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line:
1.08% (2008 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: 41.1% (2002)
Investment (gross fixed):
18.7% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113
Budget:
revenues: $53.3 billion
expenditures: $57.2 billion (2009 est.)
Public debt:
33.5% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 77
29.5% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.9% (2009)
country comparison to the world: 7
3.5% (2008)
Central bank discount rate:
1.25% (February 2009)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
2.56% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 149
4.06% (2008 est.)
Stock of quasi money:
$618 billion (November 2008)
country comparison to the world: 9
$NA (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit:
$671.5 billion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 18
$649.2 billion (31 December 2008)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$657.3 billion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 27
$354.7 billion (31 December 2008)
$654 billion (28 December 2007)
Agriculture - products:
rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish
Industries:
electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals
Industrial production growth rate:
-7% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
Electricity - production:
238.3 billion kWh (2008)
country comparison to the world: 18
Electricity - consumption:
229.8 billion kWh (2008)
country comparison to the world: 15
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2009 est.)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2009 est.)
Oil - production:
276,800 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 39
Oil - consumption:
800,800 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 22
Oil - exports:
359,800 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 35
Oil - imports:
931,300 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
Oil - proved reserves:
2.38 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 93
Natural gas - production:
360 million cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 70
Natural gas - consumption:
12.44 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 45
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 100
Natural gas - imports:
12.08 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
Natural gas - proved reserves:
6.229 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 86
Current account balance:
$31.1 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
$25.1 billion (2008)
Exports:
$203.7 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
$255.6 billion (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities:
electronics, flat panels, machinery; metals; textiles, plastics, chemicals; optical, photographic, measuring, and medical instruments
Exports - partners:
China 26.6%, Hong Kong 14.4%, US 11.6%, Japan 7.2%, Singapore 4.2% (2009 est.)
Imports:
$174.7 billion (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
$240.5 billion (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities:
electronics, machinery, crude petroleum, precision instruments, organic chemicals, metals
Imports - partners:
Japan 20.7%, China 14%, US 10.3%, South Korea 6%, Saudi Arabia 4.8% (2009 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$352.1 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
$296.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Debt - external:
$79.8 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 37
$90.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$107.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33
$102.3 billion (2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$145.3 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 23
$135.4 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Exchange rates:
New Taiwan dollars (TWD) per US dollar - 33.056 (2009), 31.53 (2008), 32.84 (2007), 32.534 (2006), 31.71 (2005)
Major Industries. The major agricultural products are pork, rice, betel nuts, sugarcane, poultry, shrimp, and eel. The major industries are electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing, food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, and petroleum refining.
Trade. In 1997, the major exports were electronics and computer products, textile products, basic metals, and plastic and rubber products. The United States, Hong Kong (including indirect trade with the PRC), and Japan account for 60 percent of exports, and the United States and Japan provide over half the imports. The country also exports capital to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Taiwan has become a major investor in China. In the year 2000, 250,000 Taiwanese worked on the mainland in forty-thousand companies owned or partly owned by Taiwanese, representing an investment of $40 billion (U.S.) and accounting for 12 percent of China's export earnings.
Division of Labor. In 1991, the seven major urban occupational classifications were (1) Professional, technical, and administrative (32 percent), such as teachers, physicians, engineers, architects, artists, actors, accountants, reporters, managers, and government officials; (2) large business owners (20 percent) and private business firms employing ten or more people; (3) lower white-collar clerical employees (12 percent) such as clerks, secretaries, sales personnel, and bookkeepers; (4) small business owners (24 percent) of firms employing fewer than ten workers; (5) skilled blue-collar workers (6 percent) such as carpenters, auto mechanics, electricians, lathe operators, printers, shoemakers, tailors, ironworkers, textile workers, and drivers; (6) farmers (1 percent); and (7) semi skilled and unskilled blue-collar workers (7 percent) such as a bricklayers, cooks, factory workers, construction workers, railroad firemen, janitors, laborers, street cleaners, temple keepers, barbers, security guards, police officers, and masseurs.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Classes and Castes. The class system includes the chronically unemployed poor, beggars, and the underworld; the upper and lower bourgeoisie; and the working and middle classes. The upper bourgeoisie constitutes 5 percent of the population and include high-ranking government officials, officials who run large state-owned companies, and the owners of companies that employ more than two hundred people. The petty bourgeoisie makes up half the population and includes farmers, small
A family rides a motorcycle in Taipei, Taiwan, which is a common mode of transportation.
businesspeople, and artisans. The working class makes up a fifth of the population, and the middle class another fifth. The middle class is composed of more educated persons who engaged in nonmanual work in government, education, the military, and large companies. In the past, class coincided with ethnic group. Mainlanders constituted the bulk of the upper bourgeoisie and the middle class, and Taiwanese and aborigines accounted for most of the chronically poor, the working class, and the lower bourgeoisie. However, Taiwan's economic miracle and the Taiwanization of the government have lifted many residents into the upper bourgeoisie and the middle class.
Symbols of Social Stratification. Taiwan is a modern consumer society in which status is measured by wealth and marked by the commodities one can afford to buy, such as automobiles, clothes, and homes, as well as one's lifestyle. A person can live very cheaply in the countryside in a modest apartment, buying produce from an outdoor market, eating at street stands, and transporting a family of five on a scooter. One also can own a large condominium on a prestigious avenue in Taipei, eat in expensive restaurants, wear Western brand-name clothes, and ride in cabs or a chauffeured Mercedes.
Government. The territory of the ROC includes the islands of Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, and the Penghus (Pescadores), along with several smaller islands. Taiwan and the Penghu Islands are administered together as the Province of Taiwan. Kinmen, Matsu, and the smaller nearby islands are administered by the government as counties of Fujian Province. The seat of the provincial government is in central Taiwan. The two largest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung, are centrally administered municipalities. In 1998, the legislative Yuan eliminated the position of governor and many other administrative functions of the Taiwan Provincial Government.
From 1949 to 1991, the ROC on Taiwan claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of China, and the Nationalists (KMT) reestablished on the island the full state apparatus that had existed on the mainland. The first National Assembly was elected on the mainland in 1947. Because elections were no longer possible on the mainland, representatives of mainland constituencies held their seats for nearly forty-five years. In 1991, the Council of Grand Justices mandated the retirement of all members of the National Assembly who had been elected in 1947 and 1948.
The second National Assembly, which was elected in 1991, amended the constitution to allow for the direct election of the president and vice president. The president is both the political leader and the commander in chief of the armed forces and presides over the five administrative branches, or Yuan: executive, legislative, control, judicial, and examination. The legislative Yuan is the main lawmaking body; its members are elected directly by the people and serve three-year terms. The control Yuan oversees public servants and investigates corruption. The twenty-nine control Yuan members are appointed by the president and approved by the National Assembly; they serve six-year terms. The judicial Yuan administers the court system and includes a sixteen-member Council of Grand Justices that interprets the constitution. Grand justices are appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly and serve nine-year terms. The examination Yuan recruits and manages the civil service through the Ministry of Examination and the Ministry of Personnel.
Leadership and Political Officials. Before 1987, Taiwan had a one-party system with the KMT firmly in control. Although "outside the party" candidates sometimes won local elections, opposition parties were banned. Mainlanders dominated the government at the upper level and controlled the lower level of local Taiwanese leaders through a patronage system. To ensure that no leader or faction became too strong, the KMT supported rivalries between local leaders and factions. Vote buying was prevalent.
In the 1998 elections, the DPP won 31 percent of the 176 seats and the KMT won 55 percent. In other elections, the DPP won twelve of the twenty-three county magistrate and city mayor contests compared to the KMT's eight. Aboriginal representatives hold six reserved seats in the National Assembly and the legislative Yuan. The chairman of the Aboriginal Affairs Commission is an aborigine, as is the magistrate of Taitung County. An increasing number of women are involved in politics, and some hold key positions. Women sit in the cabinet and head several agencies and commissions, and three women are members of the KMT's Central Standing Committee. A fifth of legislative Yuan and National Assembly members and two of twenty-nine control Yuan members are women.
Social Problems and Control. In 1990, the most serious social problems were juvenile delinquency, transportation, public security, environmental pollution, vice and prostitution, bribery, speculation, the poor-rich discrepancy, rising prices, and gambling. Juvenile crime tripled between 1980 and 1995. In 1995, over a third of drug-related offenses were committed by youth, prompting the government to declare a war on drugs. The rise in juvenile delinquency has been attributed to the deterioration of the family system and the competitive education system. Fathers spend more time away from the home, and single-parent homes have increased. Many fifteen-year-olds have nowhere to go after finishing their nine years of compulsory education. Petty crime, drug dependency and suicides have risen dramatically in this age group.
Affluence has transformed Taiwan from a country of scooters to one of automobiles, creating traffic congestion and air pollution in the cities and a high death toll on the highways.
Murder, rape, robbery, and other violent crimes have doubled in the last ten years. Organized crime is involved in extortion, kidnaping, murder, fixing bids for public works, and gunrunning. The 1997 slaying of a prominent opposition feminist underscored the fact that 54 percent of the victims of violent crime that year were women. In 1992, 225,500 women were engaged in prostitution, including 61,400 teenagers.
Authoritarian rule in the past led to many human rights abuses. A 1997 reform has strengthened human rights protections in several ways. Prosecutors and police officers must release suspects within twenty-four hours unless a warrant is obtained from a court. Also, suspects must be informed of their right to remain silent, lawyers may be present during interrogation, and overnight interrogation is prohibited. The Council of Grand Justices has eliminated restrictions on freedom of association.
The judicial system has three levels: district courts, high courts, and the supreme court. District courts hear civil and criminal cases, high courts hear appeals, and the supreme court reviews judgments by lower courts. Criminal cases that involve rebellion, treason, and offenses against friendly relations with foreign states are handled by the high court.
Many social problems stem from lax enforcement of strict legal code. Business licenses are difficult to obtain, but once they are gotten, there is little monitoring of business. Companies, both legal and illegal, easily skirt tax, labor, environmental protection, and zoning laws. Thousands of businesses operate underground in an informal economy that may account for 25-50 percent of the GDP. Social order is maintained through personal connections and informal relationships in which the sanctions of face apply. However, this "Confucian" order requires enforcement, and businesses rely on gangsters to collect debts and enforce agreements.
Military Activity. Throughout the Chiang years (1949–1988), the KMT was fixated on retaking the mainland and maintaining its large military force that was partly sponsored by the United States. In 1979, Taiwan and the United States signed the Taiwan Relations Act, which defined the country's military mission as primarily a defensive one against the PRC and banned the sale of offensive weapons such as submarines, missiles, and bombers to Taiwan. The country maintains a large military force of 376,000 active and 1,657,000 reserve personnel. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has deployed hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles on the mainland opposite Taiwan and in 1996, during the presidential election campaign, "test" fired several missiles outside the harbors of the two largest ports. This demonstration produced the intended effect on Taiwan's export-dependent economy as the stock market fell and large sums of money left the island. The latest PLA threat is electronic and informational warfare, which is aimed at over-loading and jamming the country's communications systems.
Taiwan’s political democratization has released a growing consciousness of national identity on the island over the last decade. Culturally, there has been an ethnic division between native Taiwanese and those who came from the mainland during the 1940s, reflected in their different historical experiences and preferences for spoken languages (Mandarin vs. Taiwanese). Politically, the two ethnic groups tend to have different ideas about the future relationship (unification vs. independence) between Taiwan and mainland China. In recent years, the growth of a new and inclusive Taiwanese identity, as well as education and intermarriages, has helped reduce cultural cleavage between ethnic groups, and a majority of the Taiwanese people now define themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese. However, a growing number of people on the island call themselves simply Taiwanese but not Chinese.
What are the main reasons for the growth of a Taiwanese identity? What has been the impact of the “February 28 incident” on ethnic cleavage in Taiwan? Is the growth of Taiwan’s national identity inevitable in the years to come? What about ten years from now when Taiwan’s population is completely dominated by native Taiwanese? Four speakers examined these and related issues at a July 17 seminar hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program.
June Teufel Dreyer, professor of political science at the University of Miami, started the discussion by arguing that a sense of identity apart from that of mainland China has existed in Taiwan for more than a century. While fifty years of Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945) contributed to the development of distinct habits and attitudes of the Taiwanese people, the arrival of the Nationalist (KMT) government and its ill-disciplined soldiers from the mainland quickly disillusioned native Taiwanese. The traumatic February 28 incident (1947) when thousands of Taiwanese were slaughtered by the KMT military left searing memories in the consciousness of native residents, and became the first marker in the development of a Taiwanese identity, Dreyer maintained. Despite KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek’s efforts at culturally redefining Taiwan’s inhabitants as Chinese, a spontaneous movement of literary nativization by a group of indigenous writers emerged in the 1960s. According to Dreyer, the 1979 Kaohsiung incident, resulting from a mass demonstration and KMT’s crackdown, was another marker in the evolution of Taiwan’s identity.
Taiwan’s democratization in 1986 has accelerated the development of a new and more inclusive national identity on the island, Dreyer continued. Under the leadership of Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, a memorial to the victims of the February 28 incident was built in Taipei, and a “new Taiwanese” identity began to incorporate those residents coming from the mainland in the late 1940s as well as their children. While a separate Taiwanese identity has continued to develop under the Chen Shui-bian administration, Dreyer argued that its specific definition might be changed in the future. More than half a million Taiwan citizens now work and live in the mainland. What effect this will have on their self-identification remains to be seen, Dreyer concluded.
Thomas B. Gold, associate professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, explored Taiwan’s national identity from the perspective of state-society relations. According to Gold, the Taiwanese quest for identity was generated from below, reflecting the weakened capacity of the KMT state to impose its official identity over society. In the early days, the KMT state arrogated substantial amounts of all forms of power to itself, rendering society disorganized and powerless. It implemented martial law, maintained power to distribute scarce capital and resources, denied autonomy to social organizations, defined Taiwan as a province of the Republic of China (ROC), and made Mandarin Chinese the national language in schools, governmental offices, and the media. Beginning in the late 1970s, however, the initiative in Taiwanese life shifted away from the authoritarian party-state to society in the form of social movements. As Gold observed, non-KMT politicians began to call for self-determination and push for the termination of martial law, together with a veritable explosion of social activism addressing nearly every realm of life. Within the KMT, President Lee Teng-hui turned out to be the most unexpected political entrepreneur in pursuing a Taiwan-first line.
Over this period, structural shifts have opened up spaces for action by dissenters apart from the previously official definition of Taiwan’s identity, Gold continued. The expansion of the private sector transferred substantial resources and social prestige to entrepreneurs, most of whom were Taiwanese. As a result of Taiwan’s democratization, formerly forbidden topics became debatable. Eventually, the proponents of Taiwan as a province of China became increasingly isolated. Gold concluded that a separate identity is very real to many people in Taiwan, and that Beijing must find ways to understand its origins and implications in the island’s cultural and political life.
Shelley Rigger, associate professor of East Asian politics at Davidson College, argued that the discussion of Taiwan’s national identity often suffers from a lack of clarity about concepts and definitions. Disaggregating the concept of national identity, Rigger raised four distinct issues that are related to the discussion, including 1) provincial origin, 2) nationality, 3) citizenship and 4) policy preference.
As Rigger elaborated, provincial origin (ethnic identity) is the most politically significant demographic division in Taiwan’s society. The island’s residents were divided, legally and socially, between native Taiwanese whose families came to the island before 1895 and “mainlanders” whose families arrived between 1945 and 1950. While ethnicity was an ever-present component of political discourse in the early and mid-1990s, the intensity and frequency of ethnic politicking have diminished over the past several years, Rigger noted. Nationality (cultural identity) is the subject of heated debate, because “Chinese” and “Taiwanese” are not mutually exclusive identities. By contrast, citizenship (political identity) is already a settled issue, as residents of Taiwan believe that they are citizens of a unique state different from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Rigger argued that policy preference for Taiwan independence or Chinese unification is the most complicated issue related to Taiwan’s identity.
According to Rigger, most research on the independence-unification debate rests on flawed assumptions that the two positions are mutually exclusive and that they represent the only meaningful options for the Taiwanese people. Rigger contended that a plurality of Taiwanese is willing to accept either independence or unification under the right conditions, and that the percentage of Taiwanese who can accept either option has increased over the 1990s. The complexity of the identity issue resists easy analysis, Rigger emphasized.
John J. Tkacik Jr., research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, offered his commentary at the end of the seminar. Tkacik argued that Taiwanese preference for independence or unification is inextricably intertwined with their various ethnic identities. For example, when asked who had the right to determine the future of Taiwan, only 11 percent of respondents said that residents of mainland China should also be included. According to Tkacik, this figure perfectly reflects the percentage of “mainlanders” in Taiwan, suggesting a close relationship between the ethnic and national identities. Tkacik concluded that how Taiwan resolves its identity issue will decide the island’s future in the years ahead.
In brief, this seminar explored the growth of Taiwan’s national identity from historical, cultural, demographic, economic and political perspectives, factoring in Taiwan’s unique history, ethnic divide, domestic politics, and cross-Strait relations. While the four speakers agreed on the origin of Taiwan’s national identity, they differed on the direction of its evolution, as well as its implications for cross-Taiwan Strait relations.
GENDER ROLES AND STATUSES
Division of Labor by Gender. A universal educational system and a modern industrial economy have not changed the nation's patriarchal culture. Although women work in every industry, they tend to have poorly paid menial jobs. In the office, they occupy the lower tier of managerial jobs. Women's wages and salaries are generally lower than men's and women earn only 72 percent of men's income for equivalent work. In the heyday of
rural industry, factories accommodated young mothers by bringing work to their homes. Some women run their own businesses and occupy positions of power in the government.
The Relative Status of Women and Men. Filial piety, fraternal loyalty, lineage solidarity, and family are the pillars of this patriarchal society. Although women were vital to the reproduction of the patrilineage, that role translated into few rights for women. However, the domestic notions of prosperity, happiness, and peace constituted a parallel set of values that was tied to household productivity and well-being. Insofar as women's hard work and organizing skills contributed to a household's prosperity, women gained respect in the home. Women's organizing skills and adeptness at relationship building have to been important assets in small-scale industries, in which many successful women manage businesses and supervise workers in small factories and workshops. The network building required in the rural and export industries has favored relationships with relatives on both sides of the family, increasing the importance of women. Women have gone to college and joined professional ranks, and some have entered politics. Recent trends reflect an increase in women's power and status, such as delayed marriages, higher divorce rates, fewer children, and higher educational attainment among women. A growing feminist movement actively promotes women's rights. Legislation has been enacted that recognizes women's rights to child custody and inheritance of property. However, men continue to hold most material wealth and political power and strongly resist the women's movement. Women leaders have been vilified and jailed.
SOCIALIZATION
Infant Care. Infants and small children sleep with their mothers and are fed on demand. They are carried and entertained by adults and older children. Weaning is done abruptly at about age two. Little is expected of young children, who are seldom punished. By the time they begin primary school, children start doing chores. Girls help care for younger siblings and do household tasks, and boys run errands. Children are expected to be obedient, avoid fighting, and work hard. Threats and scolding are used to discipline children, but physical punishment is rare. Rewards also are used to motivate children. The mother is primarily responsible for child care, and the mother-child relationship is usually close. Fathers play with younger children and punish children for misbehavior; their aloofness often causes children to fear their fathers. Girls generally are treated more strictly than boys, but fathers often are more affectionate toward their daughters.
Child Rearing and Education. The Japanese instituted a system of universal primary education for grades one through six. The Nationalists extended the educational system to the ninth grade in 1968 and made it compulsory in 1982. In 1993,
ETIQUETTE
Because social relationships and the cultivation of social relationships are considered important, Taiwanese people are friendly and courteous. Social relationships derive importance from the belief that one cannot do anything alone and everyone requires the help and cooperation of others. The exchange of cigarettes, business cards, or small gifts is a quick and easy way to overcome initial shyness in forming a personal connection. Introductions are important in initiating a relationship. One's name and reputation have currency, as is demonstrated by the exchanging of business cards. Initial friendliness is only an overture to friendship and can quickly turn cold if one's intentions are suspected. As cordial as Taiwanese can be in a personal setting, on the street with strangers, it is a free-for-all; one fights for every inch of space on the streets of Taipei, and holding one's place in a line is a contest. It takes time to build relationships of trust. Teahouses, restaurants, and homes are places where people cultivate relationships. The object of these encounters is to relax, let down one's guard, and connect in a genuine and open way. Although people are interested in friendship, they understand that friendship has utilitarian benefits, as friends are expected do each other favors and help each other get things done. In spite of their openness and friendly demeanor, people pay close attention to status and authority as defined by age, education, occupation, and gender. Although it is difficult for people of different statuses to be friends, they still can form a relationship of mutual benefit ( guanxi ). Much of the work of government and business gets done through these relationships. RELIGION
Taiwan practices freedom of religion, generously accepting foreign religious ideas while honoring traditional beliefs: even within the same family, it is common for different faiths to exist. As a result, Taipei has welcomed the development of many different religions.
Traditional Chinese religions include Buddhism, Taoism, and folk beliefs. Taoism is indigenous to China, while Buddhism was introduced from India. Taoists and Buddhists originally worshipped separately in Taiwan, but during the period of Japanese occupation (1895-1945) Taoists were singled out for severe persecution and began worshipping their deities secretly in Buddhist temples. By the time Taiwan was returned to Chinese administration at the end of World War II, the two religions had blended together; while a few temples today are purely Buddhist, most Taiwanese continue worshipping a variety of Buddhist, Taoist, and folk deities in a single temple.
Many of these deities once lived as mortals and were given divine status because of their special virtues or contributions. One prominent example of this is Juan Kung, who was a famous general during the Three Kingdoms period more than 1,500 years ago and is now revered as the God of War. The most famous example, however, is Confucius, who lived 2,500 years ago and was first enshrined by Emperor Yuan of the Western Han, who reigned 48-33 B.C. The Sage is honored today in many temples throughout Taiwan.
Christianity was brought to Taiwan in the early 17th century by Spanish and Dutch missionaries. A number of Presbyterian missions were founded in early times, including the Panhsi Church of Tataocheng (today known as Tachiao Church) in 1874 and Manka Church in 1884; during the Japanese occupation period, the Chungshan Presbyterian Church, Chinan Church, and Chengchung Church were established.
Numerous other religions took hold in Taiwan in the atmosphere of religious freedom than followed retrocession; in addition to the Chinese religions and Christianity, Taiwan today also has followers of Bahaism, Islam, and Tienlichiao (from Japan), among others.
The Appearance of Temples in Taiwan
During the Ching dynasty (1644-1911) large numbers of Chinese from Fukien province made the perilous voyage across the Taiwan Straits to settle and seek better lives on this fertile but undeveloped island. To keep themselves from harm during the dangerous trip, they carried with them sacred images, incense for the gods, and protective amulets. Most of the ships they used carried images of Matsu, Goddess of the Sea, to assure calm weather and a safe passage.
Danger did not cease when the immigrants reached Taiwan, for medicine in this wilderness area was primitive and many people were claimed by sickness and disease. For protection, the settlers worshipped a group of plague gods called Wang-yeh, who were believed to have the ability to eradicate illness.
Later on, as the settlers and their new villages began to flourish, the naturally felt a need to show gratitude for the divine assistance that had blessed them. They built temples to honor their gods, the most important of which were Matsu and Wang-yeh. In addition to providing homes for the gods and places for devotees to worship, temples also became centers of social activity for all members of the community.
Temples are memorial buildings, sanctuaries for the gods, and centers of faith for believers. In addition to a design and layout that are governed by a complex set of rules, temples also showcase decorative arts (wood and stone carvings, clay sculptures, pottery, paintings, calligraphy) that in addition to offering a visual sense of beauty also reflect the Chinese outlook toward life - the desire to have good fortune and avoid bad luck, the supplication for enlightenment and honor. These decorations constitute a body of religious art which gives full expression to the spiritual culture of the Chinese people.
Direction from the Gods
Inside Taiwan's temples, you can frequently see rituals being performed to seek help from the gods. When devotees have a favor to ask or a fortune to be told, they burn three sticks of incense before an altar as they mentally repeat their name, birth date, address, and the question or favor they want to ask. Then they drop two crescent-shaped divining blocks, made of wood or bamboo, onto the floor. When one block lands convex side up and the other flat side up, the answer is positive or the omen is good. If both land with convex side up, the answer is negative or the omen bad. If both land with the flat side up, the answer or omen is neutral and the supplicant has to try again.
Another way to seek divine guidance in Taiwan's temples is by drawing lots or oracles. A large number of bamboo strips with number written on them are placed in a cylindrical container with the top open. The container is shaken and the strip which protrudes the farthest is drawn out. Then the diving blocks are used to determine if this is indeed the right strip; if they give a positive reply three times in a row, the supplicant chooses an oracle, according to the number on the bamboo strip, that is written on a piece of paper. Many of the oracles are vague in meaning, and larger temples have specialists available to help interpret them.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cohen, Myron L. House United, House Divided: The Chinese Family in Transition, 1976.
Davidson, James W. The Island of Formosa: Past and Present, 1903, rev. ed. 1988.
Davison, Gary Marvin, and Barbara E. Reed. Culture and Customs of Taiwan, 1998.
Gallin, Bernard. Hsin Hsing, Taiwan: A Chinese Village in Change, 1966.
Gates, Hill. China's Motor: A Thousand Years of Petty Capitalism, 1996.
Gold, Thomas. State and Society in the Taiwanese Miracle, 1986.
Harrell, Stevan. Ploughshare Village: Culture and Context in Taiwan, 1974.
Ho, Samuel P. S. Economic Development of Taiwan 1860– 1970, 1978.
Hsiung, Ping-chun. Living Rooms as Factories: Class, Gender, and the Satellite Factory System in Taiwan, 1996.
Hu, Tai-li. My Mother-in-Law's Village: Rural Industrialization and Change in Taiwan, 1983.
Kerr, George H. Formosa Betrayed, 1965.
Knapp, Ronald G. China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation , 1999.
Kung, Lydia. Factory Women in Taiwan, 1978, rev. ed 1994.
Marsh, Robert M. The Great Transformation: Social Change in Taipei, Taiwan since the 1960s , 1996.
Meskill, Johanna Menzel. A Chinese Pioneer Family: The Lins of Wu-feng, Taiwan 1729–1895, 1979.
Olsen, Nancy Johnston. The Effect of Household Composition on the Child Rearing Practices of Taiwanese Families , 1971.
Pasternak, Burton. Kinship and Community in Two Chinese Villages, 1969.
Rubinstein, Murray R., ed. The Other Taiwan: 1945 to the Present, 1994.
——. Taiwan: A New History , 1999.
Sangren, P. Steven. History and Magical Power in a Chinese Community, 1987.
Seaman, Gary. Temple Organization in a Chinese Village, 1978.
Shepherd, John Robert. Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier 1600–1800, 1993.
Skoggard, Ian A. The Indigenous Dynamic in Taiwan's Postwar Development: The Religious and Historical Roots of Entrepreneurship, 1996.
Thorton, Arland, and Hui-Sheng Lin, eds. Social Change and the Family in Taiwan , 1994.
Weller, Robert P. Unity and Diversities in Chinese Religion, 1987.
Winkler, Edwin A., and Susan Greenhalgh, eds. Contending Approaches to the Political Economy of Taiwan, 1990.
Wolf, Arthur, ed. Studies in Chinese Society, 1978.
Wolf, Margery. Women and Family in Rural Taiwan, 1972.
source :
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications//the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar