Taiwan Travel Guide
Imagine that you're flying above the island on a clear and cool day, you can see from the bird-eye's view of the densely populated Taipei City, to the vast field of vegetation areas or forests throughout the province; from low-lying areas or beaches along the coast, to the snowy mountains in the middle of the island; the geographical diversity of Taiwan is entirely in the eyes of yours. The climate is quite moderate here, so no need to worry about too hot or too cold, but the air is often relatively moist. Food is always delicious on the island, nothing would make you disappointed and the delicate beef noodles and snacks in downtown Tainan that can match the taste of Cantonese dim sum. Posh coffee shops, McDonald's, KFC's and convenient stores are easily to find on the island. As for the locals, they are friendly, polite and helpful when you are confronting some difficulties. People sometimes may talk loudly in bars and restaurants when they are happy or mentioning something exciting, youngsters love to speak very American English and like listening to R & B songs. Motorcycles are very common on the island. Traffic is very convenient throughout the province; the passenger train cabins are clean and tidy with a little bit of luxury feel.
Perhaps there is no other place in the world like Taiwan that contains such a vast social, biological and geographical diversity within a small area. In urban areas, you would feel the very modernized and westernized atmosphere with Chinese characteristics, crowded and busy, just like Hong Kong and Singapore; but in the rural areas and inland mountainous regions, the traditional culture and customs are still preserved perfectly. The air is cool and fresh, as well as the virgin forest on high grounds and hot springs are all across the island due to its special geographical position.
Taiwan is a place you always feel that you would like to stay on with no thought of leaving with many sightseeing spots you haven't traveled. When you're here, you would really call it Ilha Formosa.
Geography
Taiwan is the largest amongst the islands in China, which is located in East Asia off the east coast of Fujian Province, southwest of the main islands of Japan and directly west of the end of Japan's Ryukyu Islands, and northwest of the Philippines. It is bound to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The offshore islands are Lanyu (Orchid Island) and Green Island in the Pacific off the Taiwan coast, the Pescadores (Penghu Archipelago) at the southwest in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands off the coast of Fujian Province, as well as Diauyutai Archipelago off the northeast coast. The main island of Taiwan is 394 km (245 miles) long and 144 km (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered mostly by tropical and subtropical vegetation with plains mainly in the west. The total area of the region is 36,000 sq. km in which the main island occupies about 35,800 sq. km. The coastline on the island is about 1600 km in length. Due to the geographical position of matching cold and warm sea currents, so the fishery resource is rich throughout the year especially along the east coast. The relatively plain sea bottom of the west coast is an extension of the Mainland China's continental shelf, which has abundant bottom fish and shellfish resources; therefore the coastal and offshore fishing industry and fish breeding are well developed.
The Taiwan Strait lies between the west coast of the island and Fujian Province with length of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) and width range from 70 to 221 nautical miles (129.64 km to 409.29 km) with an average width of 108 nautical miles (200.02 km). It is a main maritime route for China and international, which the strait links the East China Sea and the South China Sea, ships from Europe, Africa, South Asia and Oceania that go to East China coast must via the strait; and those from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean may pass by the Taiwan Strait also.
Taiwan is young in geological history that the island was formed four million years ago by a collision of tectonic plates, which made it locates at the geologically unstable Pacific earthquake and volcano zone thus earthquakes are still frequent nowadays. The landscape is characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, which consists mostly of rugged high mountains running in five ranges that paralleled with each other from the northeast to southwest of the island namely Central Mountains, Shiueshan Mountains, Yushan (Jade) Mountains, Alishan Mountains and Taitung Mountains; and the flat to gently rolling plains in the west and the north that are also home to most of Taiwan's population as Ilan Plain, Chianan Plain and Pingtung Plain; as well as three basins namely Taipei Basin, Taichung Basin and Puli Basin. Taiwan's highest point is Yushan Peak at 3,952 m above sea level on the Yushan Mountains and five others of over 3,500 m scattered on the island, thus making it the world's seventh-highest island.
Abundant rainfall has given the excellent environment for rivers on the island that up to 608 rivers, streams and brooks of various sizes flowing toward the sea; with some of them are roaring fiercely and waterfalls that provide plenty of waterpower resources. Rivers which length over 100 km on the island are Zhuoshui River (186.4 km), Gaoping River (170.9 km), Danshuie River (158.7 km), Dajia River (140.3 km), Tzunguen River (138.5 km) and Ma River (116.8 km).
The agricultural area in Taiwan Province occupies about one-fourth of the total land area, with two or three times of rice harvest per year, which is in large scale and of top quality. The other main economic crops are cane sugar and tea. There are more than 90 kinds of vegetables and fruits produced on the island with which the cultivation area ranked behind rice paddy field. Taiwan has a famous name of "Kingdom of Fruit" owing to the vast variety of fruits, and high production value for flowers and plants on the island as well.
Moreover, Taiwan's forest covers about 52 percent of the land area of which Taiping Shan in Taipei, Bashian Shan in Taichung and Alishan in Chiayi County are the three notable forest zones.
Since the 1950s, the authority of Taiwan began to actively implement its forestation policy so that the forest areas increased gradually. In late 1990s, the forest on the island takes up an area of more than 2.1 million hectares, in which the tropical forest accounts for 56% of area, subtropical occupies 31%, the temperate forest zone takes up 11% and the frigid climate zone covers just 2% of the forest area (frigid forest zone is located on high mountains). The ecology of plantation community can be divided into coastal flora, plain and massif flora and high mountain flora zones. The variety of altitude and climate, abundant rainfall and rich vegetation have provided favorable environment for breeding of the wild faunas on the island. According to statistics, there are about 25,000 species of animals in Taiwan, of which the most famous is butterfly. There are more than 400 species of butterflies on the island, so Taiwan Island is known as "Kingdom of Butterfly".
The timber reserves are up to 326 million cubic meters in the province and about 4000 kinds of tree, in which the precious wood resources such as taiwaria cryptomerioides, chamaecyparis formosensis, camphor and nanmu etc. are famous all over the world; the extracted substances like camphor and camphor oil from camphor tree are ranked first in the world, which taking up 70 percent of the world's total yield.
Apart from the rich water, forest and fishery resources, there are limited natural mineral resources on the island. Natural gas, coal, gold, silver, copper and iron are less and mainly reserved in volcanic rock area in the north and the Central Mountains.
With such plenty of mountainous terrain, deep gorges, roaring streams and swiftly flowing rivers, tranquil brooks and coastal beaches, Taiwan's ecological system mirrors the greater global system of the northern hemisphere, especially the biological system, which is a microcosm of the northern half of our planet.
The administration area of Taiwan, China is divided as follows: five cities that are directly governed by provincial government as Keelung, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi and Tainan, with Taipei as the regional capital of Taiwan, and sixteen counties as Taipei, Ilan, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien and Penghu. In 1967 and 1979, the Taiwan authority granted Taipei and Kaoshiung respectively as Cities Directly Governed by the Executive Yuan, while Kinmen and Matsu are two Fujian "counties" governed by the Taiwan's authority.
Climate
Taiwan's climate is mainly marine tropical with long warm period and short mild winter. Temperatures are quite warm all over Taiwan for annual average range (except on high mountains) from 20 to 25 degrees Celsius (68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit). Summer is from April to November (about 240 days) for the north and central while the south has around 290 days. The entire island succumbs to hot and humid weather from June to September, in July the daily average temperatures are 27ºC - 28ºC (80.6ºF - 82.4ºF) while the autumn, which lasts from October to December is considered as the most pleasant times of year due to the relatively dry feeling. The winter lasts from mid December to mid March in the north, and actually theres no winter in the southern tip of the island. The coolest month is February that the average daily temperature in Taipei is around 15ºC and the coldest temperature seldom drop to below 4ºC (in urban areas). The cool season in Taiwan is just like the spring or early autumn in the Yangtze River Region on Mainland China that there is no gusty cold wind and heavy snowfall, and everywhere is green and mild; but quite cold on high mountains due to the fact that temperature drops 0.6ºC (1.08ºF) for per 100 meters up in altitude, thus making the island has tropical, temperate and frigid climates altogether. If the temperature at the sea level is 17ºC (65ºF), then there may be -1ºC (30.2ºF) at 3000 m above the sea level, where snowfall is common. Apart from the high and cold mountains, Taiwan's climate is mild and balmy throughout the year.
Taiwan's abundant rainfall and wet weather are well known. The rainy season on the island is varied because of topological diversity and different direction of wind from the sea. The Northern part of the island has a rainy season that lasts from January to late March due to the southwest monsoon, and also experiences meiyu rain (literally "plum rain season") in May. It rains frequently during winter in the northeast. Conversely, the southwest and central plains are less rainy in cool months and rainfall is mainly during summer. The annual average rainfall on the plain area is above 2000 mm, while the rainfall may reach 5000 mm on some mountain slope regions. Huoshaoliao area in the northeast of the island has an annual rainfall reaches 8408 mm and it is the rainiest town in China. Keelung Harbor on the northern tip of Taiwan enjoys the name "Rainy Port" that it rains 245 days and has 2910 mm of rainfall in average annually.
The middle and southern parts of the island do not have an extended monsoon season during the winter months, but can experience several weeks of rain, especially during and after the Lunar New Year. Natural hazards such as typhoons and earthquakes are common in the region.
Due to Taiwan is located between the vast landmass of the mainland China and the Pacific Ocean, which bring monsoon climate for the island. In winter, the northeasterly wind is originally from the dry and cold Mongolian Plateau or Siberia, then passing through northern China into the East China Sea, and becomes moist maritime northeasterly when reaching Taiwan, thus making the province quite rainy during cooler days. While in summer the southwesterly wind blows from the tropical South China Sea so that it is wet as well, and of course bringing much rainfall. There are three directions of monsoon for Taiwan: northeasterly, southeasterly and southwesterly.
Taiwan is one of the most tropical cyclone affected provinces in China. The typhoon season begins at late May and ends at late October, during which typhoons hit most frequently from July to September. When typhoon strikes, daily rainfall commonly reaches about 200 mm and leads to flash flood situation, thus often bringing massive landslides that break dams and damage houses; eventually cut off highways and railway traffic. The hardest hit area is the northeast because most of the typhoons that directly strike Taiwan will pass through the region. Due to the high mountain ranges in central-eastern Taiwan as protective walls, typhoons that reach these mountains might be drastically weakened, thus making them less dangerous for the western part of the island and Fujian Province on Mainland China.
The only Tropic of Cancer Sign in China is located near the railway line in Chiayi County. Built during the 1940s with height over 20 m, the sign shaped like a pagoda. When a visitor standing here at noon on Summer Solstice may see the sun shines directly above the head. The sign indicates Taiwan is located on the Tropic of Cancer, which is roughly a division line for tropic in the south and temperate in the north. For the maritime climate on the island, the region locates in the south of the Tropic of Cancer is of tropical climate, the region between the north of the line and the northern area is a transitional place from tropical to subtropical climates, and the north is of subtropical monsoon.
Population
According to the statistics of Taiwan's authority, the total population in the region is about 22.9 million in 2005. The most populated area is the western plain on the island where about 96% of population living, while in the mountainous eastern area just 4%.
Han Chinese occupies 98% of population while the ethnic minorities just 2% (about 430,000) consist of folks like Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Tao, Taroko, Tsou, Saisiyat, Taokas, Siraya, Qauqaut, Pazeh, Papora, Ketagalan, Hoanya, Babuza, Kamalan and Idasau.
Anthropologists classify aborigines in Taiwan as Austronesian. It could be deduced from the theories of philology, archeology and cultural anthropology that these aborigines have been live on the island for several hundred or even several thousand years. The Austronesian is the widest dispersed living nation in the world that can be seen from Madagascar in East Africa to Easter Island of South America with islands of various sizes in between. Apart from some native groups and tribes who speak Papuan in Australia and Papua New Guinea, most people of the nation speak Austronesian languages. The population of the Austronesian is estimated around 250 million. For common Chinese people on the island, these aborigines are regarded as plain and highland natives.
The 86% of Han Chinese in Taiwan are descendants of early immigrants known as "native Taiwanese" locally. This group contains two subgroups: the Southern Fujianese or "Hokkien" (in Taiwanese dialect) or "Min-nan" (70% of the total population), who migrated from the coastal Southern Fujian region in the southeast of Mainland China; and the Hakka (15% of the total population), who originally migrated south to Guangdong and its surrounding areas and Taiwan, intermarrying extensively with Taiwanese aborigines. The remaining 12% of Han Chinese are known as Mainlanders or "People from Outside Provinces" and are composed of and descend from immigrants who arrived after the World War II. This group also includes those who fled Mainland China in and after 1949.
