Monday 24th February 2014: GMT + 8hrs ­ Republic of China ­ Taiwan: First Impressions

The official name of Taiwan is the Republic of China and definitely not to be confused with the People’s Republic of Mainland China. Many of you may be more familiar with Taiwan’s former name of Formosa.  Incidentally my Oxford Dictionary tells me that Taiwan originates from Portuguese and literally means beautiful.   Maybe I have been a little overcritical in my initial impressions since I really only saw a very small part of the northeast of the country.

Keelung is on the northeast coast of Taiwan and legend has it that its name originates from a local mountain that is shaped like a Chinese Bird Cage (See photo).  It is more likely, however, that the name derives from the first inhabitants of the region; the Ketagalan tribe of aborigines, a rather fearsome and unruly tribe of head-hunters who were not ‘brought to heal’ until the Japanese took control towards the end of the 19^th Century.

Their first contact with the west came with the Spanish in the early 17^th Century who built a fort in Keelung as an outpost of the Manila Based Spanish East Indies.  From 1642 to 1668 the Dutch were in overall control.

Although the dates are a bit hazy the Quig (Commonly known as the Chi’ing) Dynasty were for many years, in control of Taiwan.  The Qing Dynasty was established by the Manchus that ruled China from 1644 until their overthrow in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen and his nationalist supporters ended imperial rule in China. 

So what other evidence is there for Chinese influence in Taiwan? Well a military base at Ershawan Fort or “Haimen Tiansian” (Dangerous gate to the ocean) for one; a string of forts at: Gonggzih, Dawalum, Baimiwong and Shihciouling for two and for three; the establishment by Chi’ing Dynasty Government of a gold mining bureau in 1892/93.  This was taken over by the Japanese in 1895 when Taiwan was ceded to the Japan. It was Japan that brought law and order to Taiwan including curbing the worst practices the indigenous tribes.

The history of Taiwan in the 20^th Century is inextricably entwined with the rise of nationalism in Mainland China and Chiang Kai-shek.

The Kuomintang nationalist party was founded in China under Sun Yat-sen in 1912 and led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) from 1925.  He was a Chinese statesman and general and President of China from 1928 – 31 and 1943-9 and of Taiwan from 1959-75.   He tried to unite China by military means in the 1930s but in 1949, towards the end of the war with the communist regime of China, Chiang Kai-shek withdrew to the island with 500,000 nationalist Kuomintang troops.  Taiwan became the headquarters of the Kuomintang, which held power continuously until defeated in presidential elections in 2000. Since the 1950s Taiwan has undergone steady economic growth based on its export industries.  Again my sources are too vague to offer any clarity on these industries.