Taiwan

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Taiwan's Information


Capital	Taipei
Languages	Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Ethnic Groups	More than 95% Han Chinese (including Hoklo, who compose approximately 70% of Taiwan's population, Hakka, and other groups originating in mainland China), 2% indigenous Malayo-Polynesian peoples
Religion	Buddhist 35.3%, Taoist 33.2%, Christian 3.9%, Taoist or Confucian folk religionist approximately 10%, none or unspecified 18.2% (2005 est.)
Government	Semi-presidential republic
Area	35,980.00 km²
Water Area	3,720.00 km²
Land Area	32,260.00 km²
Population	23,464,787.00 Distribution exhibits a peripheral settlement pattern, with the largest populations on the north and west coasts
Location	Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China
GDP(PPP)	$1,130,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$49,500.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are China, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are semiconductors, petrochemicals, automobile/auto parts, and ships.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are Japan, China, and the United States.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include oil, semiconductors, natural gas, and coal.
Climate	Mid-latitude continental, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid to polar in Pamir Mountains
Terrain	Eastern two-thirds mostly rugged mountains; flat to gently rolling plains in west

Where is Taiwan?

Located in Eastern Asia, Taiwan is an island nation. It has a 1,566.00 km coastline. Taiwan is involved in a complex dispute with Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam over the Spratly Islands.

The capital city of Taiwan is Taipei, located in the northern region of the island. Taipei is political, cultural, and economic center for the Republic of China, or Taiwan. The city was founded in 1949 in the 18th century. The city area has 2,607,428 residents while the large metropolitan area has 6,776,264 residents. Taipei is the most populated city in Taiwan and one of the world's most densely populated cities. The capital of Taiwan is made up several districts including Songsha, Daton, and Daan. The latter city is the most populated district it has a population density of 71,295 people per square mile. The city also has several tourist hot spots. Some of the must-see sites are the Taipei 101 skyscraper which has an observatory deck to view the city. The building offers the best scenes of the city during the day and night. Other must-see sites are the san-ying waterfront, tasumi Old Street, taianyuan xizhi, among other places. The city experiences four distinct seasons.

Geography

Taiwan has a mean elevation of 1,150 m above sea level.

It has a continental climate with hot summers and mild winters; some areas in the mountainous regions are semiarid. Its terrain consists of rugged mountains and gently rolling plains.

Population

Taiwan has a population of 23,464,787 making it the 55th largest in the world. The majority of the population can be found on the periphery.

Mandarin Chinese is the official language. More than 95% of the population identifies as Han Chinese. The majority of the population identifies as having Buddhist, Taoist, and to a lesser extent, Christian, beliefs.

The Republic of China has one official language: Mandarin Chinese. It is spoken widely across the island. It has two dialects, of standard Chinese Mandarin and Taiwanese mandarin. Chinese Mandarin is spoken only by 20% of the population while the Taiwanese Chinese is spoken by 70% of the population. When tourists visit Taiwan, it might be hard to communicate with the locals since 70% of the population speaks the official language. Apart from Chinese, there are some minority languages spoken on the island. They include foreign languages like English, Vietnamese, Tagalong, Indonesian, Javanese, and Hakka among others.

Economy

Factoring in Purchasing Power Parity, Taiwan's GDP is $1,130,000,000,000.00 (USD) with $49,500.00 (USD) per capita. This makes it the 21st largest economy and its citizens the 27th richest in the world. The currency of Taiwan is the Dollar (TWD).

Its major export partners are China, Hong Kong, and the United States. Its main exports are semiconductors, petrochemicals, automobile/auto parts, and ships. Its major import partners are Japan, China, and the United States. Its major imports include oil, semiconductors, natural gas, and coal.

Flag

The present national flag of Taiwan is known as the blue sky, white sun and a red earth in Chinese. The flag was officially made Taiwan’s state flag in the 1928. This flag was designed by Lu Haodong and was later modified by Sun Yat-Sen to include a red part. The three colors of the flag are red, blue, and white are symbolic of the bloodshed to make Taiwan a Republic, the blue sky, and the white sun respectively. The three colors also symbolize the principles of the people of Taiwan. The flag has not undergone many changes through the years. The original flag was made up of the navy blue square having a white sun with 12 rays, and the red part of the flag was added later. The blue sky with a white sun part of the flag is used as the Taiwanese Coat of Arms. The official dimensions of the flag are in the ratio of 2 to 3 and the blue part occupies one fourth of the whole flag.