 Travelogue
Taiwan
The Geography and Economy of Taiwan-From Our Perspective
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Taiwan,
also known as the Republic of China (ROC), is a small island which is south west of Japan and East of China. The island
feels to be as long as the state of Florida. The East coast which fronts the
Pacific Ocean, is closely bordered by the mountain range which runs the entire
length of the island. For this reason it is not highly populated.
Right: A view of a Mountain Valley
outside of Taipei in Wulai taken from balcony of room in which we were
staying.
The West coast
has a wider plain from the mountains and is approximately the length of distance
from Jacksonville, Florida to Miami and is approximately as wide as 10-20 miles
in some places. Now crowd in over 21,500,000 people. You have it. This is a crowded country in its inhabited areas.
 High
rise apartments are primary residences. Due to crowded conditions, gardens are
on any vacant land available in a city.
The
four cities we visited:
1.
Taipei, the largest city and the capital has approximately
4 million people in its metropolitan area which is surrounded by mountains.
Chiang
Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. This is on a 30 acre park which includes
the National Concert Hall and National Theater Buildings on the grounds.
2.
Kaohsiung,
the second largest city has close to 2 million people in its metropolitan area,
it is the most heavy industrial city in the country.
Connie
in front of the CKS Cultural Center in Kaohsiung
 3.
Taichung,
the third largest city has close to 1.5 million people in its metropolitan area.
It is close to the farms in central West Taiwan.
The
Luce Chapel at Tunghai University in Taichung.
4.
Tainan, the fourth largest city has close to 750,000
people in its metropolitan area. It is known as the cultural city of Taiwan. It
is the oldest city. It has a canal system which linked the sea to the inner
lands and it was used by the Chinese mainlanders who came to settle Taiwan.
Chapel of Tainan Theological
Seminary and College, Tainan. Seminary Founded in the late 19th Century by
Missionary from England Thomas Bradley.
There
is a freeway which runs the length of the West coast of the island. There
is a charge every 40 kilometers. There is a good set of commuter airlines which
are reasonable between the cities of the island. There is a train which is
expensive. The port of Kaohsiung is an international port.
The port is a stop off point to and from the other major ports in the orient.
There are two international airports. One in Taipei called the CKS Airport and
the other in Kaohsiung.
There
is no break of population centers when you travel on the freeway. There is no
large stretches of rural areas on the West coast. The farms in Taiwan are tiered
and small. The major products are rice, sugar cane, bamboo and a variety of
vegetables. The country is very industrial with the largest heavy industry in the South around Kaohsiung, which has the worst pollution in the
county. There are some clean air rules in Taiwan, but to us it did not seem
enough. The pollution is obvious
to the naked eye. You can escape the bad air by going to the mountains.
Taiwan
is primarily the home of high tech industries. The majority of the RAM of
computers is made here. For that reason the price of RAM increased after the
earthquake in September 1999. There is a silicon valley which is south of
Taipei and north of Taichung. It is called the technology zone. This area
of Taiwan is the working jewel of the island. During the early days of the
Nationalist’s military rule, the people were encouraged to run factories
in their homes. At that time this involved the making of Christmas tree lights
and other small products. Once China opened up for commerce many of the
Taiwanese home based factories moved to China due to the low salaries. Today
there are many Taiwanese owned business in mainland China, resulting in many
families experiencing a separation of the major bread winner who spends a
great deal of time in the mainland supervising and managing such
industries.
The
economy of Taiwan is very good. There is lots of money and very few places to
spend this money. For this reason there are lots of casinos and KTV’s which
are karaoke clubs. Shopping is a major past time with extremely large department
stores in all of the major cities. There are shopping districts in each of the
major cities which compete well with Fifth Avenue in New York and the Magnificent Mile in Chicago for the numbers of Big Name Designer Stores.
Food and eating is the national pastime. There are all kinds of eating
establishments. There are huge restaurants which look like palaces and treat you
like kings and queens. There are lots of small places and 2100 seven eleven’s
and as many McDonalds, KFC’s and Pizza Huts.
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