Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan is a small island bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. With a population of 22,191, 087 (from July, 2000) Taiwan is about the size of Maryland and Delaware combined. Eighty four percent of Taiwan’s people are of Taiwanese and Hakka decent. Fourteen percent of the people are made up of main land Chinese and two percent of the people are aborigine. Since these people are so homogenous, religion is very important to the people of this island. In fact, ninety three percent of the people believe in Buddhism, Confucianism or Taoism. A small four and a half percent are Christians while two and a half percent worship some other means as their religion. Taiwan’s government is a multiparty democratic regime headed by a popular elected president, with their capital being
“Although the greatest change in post-1949 Taiwan has been the island's economic revolution and spectacular rise in income and living standards, the social transformation brought about following the lifting of martial law in 1987 cannot be overlooked. The legalization of labor strikes, demonstrations, and the formation of new political parties all gave greater power to the people. The lifting of restrictions on newspapers and publishing has also produced an explosion of media growth and broadened the perspectives of an increasingly sophisticated audience.” (http://www.gio.gov.tw) Economic prosperity has also taken its toll on the living environment. The rising population, although not as great as the population problem of China, is also a problem in Taiwan. Agriculture rich land is minimizing and as the population is growing, industrialization is growing as well, making the cities even bigger than before.