Introduction to Taiwan | 台灣介紹

August 21, 2022

As I write this post, I am sipping on my first cup of Taiwanese bubble tea! I've officially arrived in Taiwan. My flight was overall smooth and uneventful. First, I flew from Chicago to San Francisco. There, I met up with a St. Olaf classmate, Hannah, and together we flew from San Francisco to Taipei. Initially, I was a little worried about being bored on the 12 hour flight, but I managed to stay occupied. I watched a couple of movies, ate, and slept. I was also fortunate to have a last minute seat change to an emergency exit row with abundant legroom and no one sitting next to me which was lovely.

After landing in Taipei, it took about two hours to complete everything customs related and get to the hotel. I had to buy a SIM card, register with the CDC, get covid testing equipment, pass through the customs desk, get my luggage, actually take my covid test, and then take a quarantine taxi to my hotel. Fortunately, most of the airport workers spoke enough English, but there was still a language barrier to overcome. I’m now in quarantine for 7 days; 3 days of strict lockdown, and four days of self-health management.

Since I’m in quarantine for a bit, I figured I’d write a little bit about the history, geography, and language in Taiwan for some more context about where I’ll be living for the next four months.

History | 歷史

Before it was colonized, Taiwan was home to a number of aboriginal peoples. Today, these groups make up about 2.3% of the population, but their numbers continue to dwindle.

Taiwan faced Spanish and Dutch colonization in the mid-to-late 1500s and early 1600s. In 1683, the Qing dynasty (China) took control of the island and was declared a province of the empire in 1885. The Qing empire was defeated in the first Sino-Japanese war, and Taiwan was handed over to Japanese control in 1895. It remained a Japanese colony until Japan’s WWII defeat/surrender in 1945.

To backtrack, in 1911, the Qing empire (in present-day mainland China) was overthrown and the Republic of China (ROC), led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen was established along with the Kuomintang government (KMT). In 1921, Mao Zedong established the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), inspired by the spread of new ideologies (ie. Marxism) during protests in response to post-WWI treaties with China. The two parties fought intermittently from 1927-1949, but formed a united front to ward off Japanese invasions in 1937. After Japan was defeated in 1945, the CCP gained the upper hand in the civil war, ultimately driving the KMT, let by Chiang Kai-Shek, out of China and into Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was then established in 1949.

Since then, there has been an intense dispute over which government is the legitimate ruler of China. There have been several crises in the Taiwan strait, most recently being China’s demonstration of military force after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month.

Government | 政府

The ROC constitution of 1947 was written with provisions for democracy; however, these did not take effect until 1987 when martial law was lifted in Taiwan. The president and vice president are elected every four years, with one chance for re-election. The president is head of the executive yuan, one of the five yuans (or branches) of the ROC government. There is also a legislative yuan with 113 directly elected representatives who serve 4 year terms.

Taiwan is known to be one of the more progressive places in Asia. Most notably, they passed a law in 2020 protecting the right to same-sex marriage, becoming the first Asian country to do so.

Geography | 地理

Taiwan is situated southeast of China between the South and East China Seas. It is about the size of Maryland, clocking in at just under 14,000 square miles. Taiwan is bisected by the Tropic of Cancer (not the equator, had to double check my geography on that one), so the climate is very hot, humid, and rainy. The average temperature in my first few months will be about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, feeling like 105 with humidity. The eastern side of the island is very mountainous and forested. The western side is flatter and is where most people live. I’ll be living in Taipei, the capital, near the northern tip of the island.

Language | 語言

Mandarin Chinese is the official national language of Taiwan. Unlike China, Taiwan exclusively uses traditional Chinese characters (China has shifted to predominantly simplified characters in an effort to promote literacy). I’ve been learning Mandarin Chinese in school for six years, so I know enough of the spoken language to get around. However, I’ve been studying primarily simplified characters, so reading will be a challenge for me. Here’s a link to a Wikipedia article if you’re interested in more of the details on the differences between the two writing systems. There are also a few other languages spoken on the island, primarily Taiwanese Hokkein and Taiwanese Hakka. I likely won’t encounter these languages as much. English is taught in school, so most people know a little bit, however, I still expect to mostly use Chinese to execute my day-to-day activities outside of class.

I hope this was a helpful basic introduction to Taiwan and that I answered some “Taiwan FAQ”. I have lots of time this week while I'm alone in quarantine and would love to hear from you via email or text (iMessage, WhatsApp etc.)!