Taiwan

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The English used in this article may not be easy for everybody to understand. You can help Wikipedia by making this page or section simpler.

Taiwan (Traditional Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣, Simplified Chinese: 台湾) is an island in East Asia. It is southeast of China, south of Japan, and north of the Philippines. It includes the Pescadores islands. They are located nearby. Taiwan's old name was Formosa. It means "beautiful" in Portuguese.

Taiwan can also mean:

• The Republic of China (ROC). This is because most of the land that the Republic of China controls is on Taiwan. But actually the republic also controls other smaller islands.
• The Taiwan Province of the ROC. This province is made up of the island of Taiwan and the Pescadores islands nearby. The province of Taiwan does not include Taiwan's two largest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung. These two cities have different city governments.
• The Taiwan Province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), though it is controlled by the ROC.

The largest cities on Taiwan are Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Most people living on Taiwan (sometimes called Taiwanese) are Han Chinese. There are also Taiwanese Aborigines who lived on Taiwan before the Han Chinese came to live there.

Taiwan has three large Han Chinese groups. They are different in language and places where their ancestors came from: the Southern Fujianese (from China's Fujian Province, the Hakka (from China), and Mainlanders (from Mainland China after 1948).

However, according to this website, these so-called "Han Chinese" were really Taiwanese Aborigines who were forced to become like Chinese by the Qing Dynasty.

The People's Republic of China says that Taiwan belongs to them, and does not think the Republic of China has a right to exist. But many Taiwanese think the ROC should be allowed to have it. Still others think that Taiwan should be independent as a native Taiwanese nation.

[edit] History

• 1517: A Portuguese ship sees the island and names it "Ilha Formosa", or "Beautiful Island" in Portuguese.
• 17th century: From 1624 until 1661 Dutch rule Taiwan's south and the Spanish rule the north. Before that time only native Austronesian peoples lived there. The Dutch drive away the Spaniards. A Chinese military man, Koxinga, drives away the Dutch, because he needed a place to make war against China's foreign rulers, the Manchu (Qing). But the Manchu eventually win.
• 1860: Taiwan becomes a treaty port following the Treaty of Tientsin, opening the island to widespread contact with the outside world. European and American merchants use and trade the island's resources, especially camphor.
• 1874: Japan invades southern Taiwan, seemingly to "punish" the aborigines there for the murder of ship-wrecked Okinawan fishermen in 1871, but actually to establishing a colony. Japanese forces withdraw later in the year after the Meiji and Qing empires nearly go to war.
• 1884-1885: Taiwan is blockaded by French navy during the Sino-Franco War.
• 1895: Qing China loses the First Sino-Japanese War and "forever" gives Taiwan away to Japan.
• 1911: The Republic of China (ROC) begins in China. This occurs after the Qing dynasty ends.
• 1945: Japan loses in World War II and gives up Taiwan, Korea, and other colonial territories. China (ROC) takes Taiwan for the Allies.
• 1947: Taiwanese widely protest governmental corruption under the Nationalists. Chiang Kai-shek sends in the army to restore order, killing thousands. Some Taiwanese begin the Taiwan independence movement.
• 1949:
  • Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) party and the Communist Party of China (CCP).
  • The Nationalists (KMT) lose the war, and escape to the island of Taiwan. They set up Taipei as the temporary capital of China (ROC).
  • The Communist Party of China (CCP) establishes Beijing as the capital of The People's Republic of China (PRC).
• 1979: The KMT government jails many democracy activists who opposed it (Kaohsiung Incident).
• 1986: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is formed; it is the first party to form in the ROC other than the KMT. It remains illegal for several years, but the KMT government does not try to ban it.
• 1987: The KMT government lifts the martial law after almost 40 years.
• 2000: Chen Shui-bian (DPP) becomes president.
• 2004: Chen Shui-bian is shot, lives, and is elected to be president again. Although his opponents claim he faked this assassination , an investigation afterwards appears to show that the shooting was real, and that he won fairly.

[edit] Status of Taiwan

There are two Chinese governments in the world: The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). Both governments claim control over all of China. PRC claims control over the island of Taiwan (which is also known as Taiwan province). ROC claims control over all of China, including Mongolia. Today, in reality, the PRC government controls mainland China, and the ROC government controls Taiwan. The PRC government has never ruled Taiwan. The ROC government ruled mainland China from 1911 to 1949, before losing control of mainland China to the communist PRC.

Today, people who live in Taiwan have different ideas. Taiwan has not been ruled by mainland China since 1949. Today, Taiwan has become a democratic nation, but China is still ruled by a communist government. There is no freedom in China. Although some people in Taiwan want to be united again with China, none of them want to be united with a China that is not free. Other people want Taiwan to formally become the Republic of Taiwan. But most of the people in Taiwan want to keep everything like it is now, at least until China becomes free.

Today, because of pressure from the communist PRC government, most countries of the world recognize the PRC as China. Most countries however still have very close economic and cultural relationship with the people of Taiwan. The dictators of China have said that if the people of Taiwan formally votes to become the Republic of Taiwan, they will invade Taiwan. So, there is now a situation where both sides are not making any big changes.

As of March 2004, China's government passed a law that will allow China to invade Taiwan if the people of Taiwan vote to become the Republic of Taiwan. This law hurt the feelings of the people in Taiwan very much, especially since the government of mainland China does not rule Taiwan. It has caused even more people in Taiwan to not want to be re-united with mainland China.

See also: Political status of Taiwan