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| Taiwan |
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Resources Overview
Taiwan (China) lies relatively far to the north. Nonetheless, it has a number of well developed coral reef communities at the northern edge of the South China Sea, particularly along its southern edge, and around offshore islands. Taiwan is particularly affected along its southern and eastern edges by the Kuroshio Current, which carries warm water from the south, although its influence is weakened during the winter months by the Northeast Monsoon. An estimated 300 hard coral species have been recorded at the island, along with 1 200 fish species.
There are thought to be considerable pressures on the reefs in Taiwan, particularly from fishing, coastal development and tourism. Dynamite fishing, trawling and sedimentation are reported to have degraded the reefs around the Pen Hu Islands, while destructive fishing and tourism are believed to have impacted reefs on the southeast mainland. Aquarium fish collecting and spear fishing are also reported to have affected numbers of reef fish. Nuclear power plants were reported to have been built in the vicinity of a number of reefs, while a nuclear waste disposal site was reportedly established at Lan-Yu
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Geography
Total area: 9,596,960 sq. km. (about 3.7 million sq. mi.).
Cities: Capital--Beijing. Other major cities--Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Harbin, Chengdu.
Terrain: Plains, deltas, and hills in east; mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west.
Climate: Tropical in south to subarctic in north. |
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Chinese (singular and plural). Population (2001 est.): 1.3 billion.
Population growth rate (2001 est.): About 1%.
Health (2000 est.): Infant mortality rate--28.92/1,000. Life expectancy--71.38 years (overall); 69.6 years for males, 73.33 years for females.
Ethnic groups: Han Chinese--91.9%; Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uygur, Yi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities--8.1%.
Religions: Officially atheist; Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity.
Language: Mandarin (Putonghua), plus many local dialects.
Education: Years compulsory--9. Literacy--81.5%.
Work force (2001 est., 711 million): Agriculture and forestry--50%; industry and commerce--23%; other--27%. |
Economy
GDP (2000 est.): $1.1 trillion (exchange rate based).
Per capita GDP (2000 est.): $838 (exchange rate based).
GDP real growth rate (2000): 8.0%.
Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, crude oil, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest).
Agriculture: Products--Among the world's largest producers of rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley; commercial crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds; produces variety of livestock products. Industry: Types--iron, steel, coal, machinery, light industrial products, armaments, petroleum.
Trade (2000): Exports--$249.2 billion: mainly apparel, electronics, appliances, footwear, toys. Main partners--U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, E.U., South Korea, Taiwan. Imports--$214.7 billion: mainly industrial machinery, electrical equipment, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles, steel. Main partners--Japan, E.U., Taiwan, South Korea, U.S., Hong Kong. |
Profile
Ethnic Groups
The largest ethnic group is the Han Chinese, who constitute about 91.9% of the total population. The remaining 8.1% are Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8 million), Uygur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Mongolian (5 million), Tibetan (5 million), Buyi (3 million), Korean (2 million), and other ethnic minorities.
There are seven major Chinese dialects and many sub dialects. Mandarin (or Putonghua), the predominant dialect, is spoken by over 70% of the population. It is taught in all schools and is the medium of government. About two-thirds of the Han ethnic group are native speakers of Mandarin; the rest, concentrated in southwest and southeast China, speak one of the six other major Chinese dialects. Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other Turkic languages (in Xinjiang), and Korean (in the northeast). |
History
Dynastic Period
China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, with records dating back about 3,500 years. Successive dynasties developed a system of bureaucratic control that gave the agrarian-based Chinese an advantage over neighboring nomadic and hill cultures. Chinese civilization was further strengthened by the development of a Confucian state ideology and a common written language that bridged the gaps among the country's many local languages and dialects. Whenever China was conquered by nomadic tribes, as it was by the Mongols in the 13th century, the conquerors sooner or later adopted the ways of the "higher" Chinese civilization and staffed the bureaucracy with Chinese.
The last dynasty was established in 1644, when the Manchus overthrew the native Ming dynasty and established the Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty with Beijing as its capital. At great expense in blood and treasure, the Manchus over the next half century gained control of many border areas, including Xinjiang, Yunnan, Tibet, Mongolia, and Taiwan. The success of the early Qing period was based on the combination of Manchu martial prowess and traditional Chinese bureaucratic skills.
During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and prosperity diminished. China suffered massive social strife, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence. The Taiping and Nian rebellions, along with a Russian-supported Muslim separatist movement in Xinjiang, drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty. Britain's desire to continue its illegal opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the First Opium War erupted in 1840. China lost the war; subsequently, Britain and other Western powers, including the United States, forcibly occupied "concessions" and gained special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking, and in 1898, when the Opium Wars finally ended, Britain executed a 99-year lease of the New Territories, significantly expanding the size of the Hong Kong colony.
As time went on, the Western powers, wielding superior military technology, gained more economic and political privileges. Reformist Chinese officials argued for the adoption of Western technology to strengthen the dynasty and counter Western advances, but the Qing court played down both the Western threat and the benefits of Western technology. |
| Information provided by CIA Worldfactbook, US Department of State, Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). ReefBase: Oliver, J. and M. Noordeloos. Editors. 2002, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center, |
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