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Taiwan

Population:22974347 (July 2010 est.)    Capital:Taipei     Official URL:http://www.gio.gov.tw/
About: Taiwan was known as Yizhou or Liuqiu in antiquities. The “Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer” compiled more than 1,700 years ago was the world's earliest written account of Taiwan, which said that... read more Taiwan was known as Yizhou or Liuqiu in antiquities. The “Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer” compiled more than 1,700 years ago was the world's earliest written account of Taiwan, which said that expeditions, with each numbering over ten thousand men, had been sent to Taiwan in the third century A.D. and the seventh century A.D. Then the population has exceeded to 2.54 million by 1893 which is period of the Chinese Qing Emperor Guangxu.<br /><br /> The Chinese governments of different periods set up administrative bodies to exercise jurisdiction over Taiwan.<br /><br /> In the mid-12th century the Song Dynasty set up a garrison in Penghu, putting the territory under the jurisdiction of Jinjiang County of Fujian's Quanzhou Prefecture. The Yuan Dynasty installed an agency of patrol and inspection in Penghu to administer the territory. During the mid- and late 16th century the Ming Dynasty reinstated the once abolished agency and sent reinforcements to Penghu in order to ward off foreign invaders.<br /><br /> In 1662 (first year of the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi) General Koxinga (known Zheng Chenggong by Chinese) instituted Chengtian Prefecture on Taiwan. Subsequently, the Qing government expanded the administrative structure in Taiwan, thereby strengthening its rule over the territory.<br /><br /> In 1684 (23rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi) a Taiwan-Xiamen Patrol Command and a Taiwan Prefecture Administration were set up under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province. These in turn exercised jurisdiction over three counties on the island: Taiwan (present-day Tainan), Fengshan (present-day Gaoxiong) and Zhuluo (present-day Jiayi).<br /><br /> In 1714 (53rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi) the Qing government ordered the mapping of Taiwan to determine its size.<br /><br /> In 1721 (60th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi) an office of imperial supervisor of inspecting Taiwan was created and the Taiwan-Xiamen Patrol Command was renamed Prefecture Administration of Taiwan and Xiamen, incorporating the subsequently-created Zhanghua County and Danshui Canton.<br /><br /> In 1727 (5th year of the reign of Emperor Yongzheng) the administration on the island was reconstituted as the Prefecture Administration of Taiwan (which was later renamed Prefecture Command for Patrol of Taiwan) and incorporated the new Penghu Canton. The territory then became officially known as Taiwan. In order to upgrade the administration of Taiwan, the Qing government created Taibei Prefecture, Jilong Canton and three counties of Danshui, Xinzhu and Yilan in 1875 (1st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu).<br /><br /> In 1885 (11th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), the Chinese government formally made Taiwan a full province covering three prefectures and one subprefecture and incorporating 11 counties and 5 cantons. Liu Mingchuan was appointed first Governor of Taiwan. During his tenure of office, railways were laid, mines opened, telegraph service installed, merchant ships built, industries started and new-style schools set up. Considerable social, economic and cultural advancement in Taiwan was achieved as a result.<br /><br /> Japan launched a war of aggression against China in 1894 (20th year of the reign of Qing Emperor Guangxu). In the ensuing year, as a result of defeat the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding Taiwan to Japan.<br /><br /> The 1920s and 1930s witnessed surging waves of mass action sweeping across the island against Japanese colonial rule.<br /><br /> In 1937 the Chinese people threw themselves into an all-out war of resistance against Japanese aggression, which is part of the world-wide struggle against Fascism. During the Second World War, China, the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and others formed an alliance to oppose the Axis of Germany, Japan and Italy. With the victory, China has recovered Taiwan, Penghu and the four northeastern provinces.<br /><br /> After the victory of the war, a civil war was launched by Kuomintang Party in China against the Communist Party. And since its reign of terror had been spurned by the Chinese people, the Kuomintang party was defeated. With government of the "Republic of China" in Nanjing city was overthrown, a group of military and political officials of the Kuomintang Party went to Taiwan and, with the support of the then U.S. administration, created the division between the mainland China and the Taiwan island.<br /><br /> In October 1971 the United Nations General Assembly adopted at its 26th session Resolution 2758 which restored all the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and eliminate the representatives of the Taiwan authorities from the U.N.<br /><br /> In December 1978 the U.S. Government accepted the three principles proposed by the Chinese Government, namely, the United States should sever "diplomatic relations" and abrogate the "mutual defense treaty" with the Taiwan authorities and withdraw U.S. military forces from Taiwan.<br /><br /> Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, 157 countries have established diplomatic relations with China. All these countries recognize that there is only one China and that the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China and Taiwan is part of China.<br /><br /> Now, The Chinese people and the people from Taiwan are engaged in the reunification between the mainland and the Taiwan.