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Last Minute Tips Before you Travel to Taiwan
- Time Zone: GMT/UTC +8
- Electricity: 110V, 50 Hz (bring an adapter/transformer for your hair drier, laptop, cellullar phone etc.)
- Currency: New Taiwan Dollar (NT$)
- Country Dialing Code: 886 - Cities (Taipei:2, Tainan:6)
Taiwan
Location
Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China
Capital
Taipei
Population
22,894,384 (July 2005 est.)
Regions
includes central island of Taiwan plus numerous smaller islands near central island and off coast of China's Fujian Province; Taiwan is divided into 18 counties (hsien, singular and plural), 5 municipalities (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special municipalities (chuan-shih, singular and plural)
: counties: Chang-hua, Chia-i, Hsin-chu, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung county, Kin-men, Lien-chiang, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu, P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan, T'ai-pei county, T'ai-tung, T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin
: municipalities: Chia-i, Chi-lung, Hsin-chu, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan
: special municipalities: Kao-hsiung city, T'ai-pei city
note: Taiwan generally uses Wade-Giles system for romanization; special municipality of Taipei adopted standard pinyin romanization for street and place names within city boundaries, other local authorities have selected a variety of romanization systems
Climate
tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon (June to August); cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year
Ethnic groups
Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%
Religions
mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%
Languages
Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Government type
multiparty democratic regime headed by popularly-elected president and unicameral legislature
Background
In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1946 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the native population within the governing structure. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of eventual unification - as well as domestic political and economic reform.
Visitor's Impressions
If you would like to share your experiences of traveling to Taiwan or to other countries, please send us your article and we will gladly post it at this site.
