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Taiwan: Islands
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De facto, Taiwan has been controlled by the Republic of China since 1945. The Republic of China has only controlled Taiwan and several small islands since 1949, when mainland China was brought completely under control by the People's Republic. Whether this control by the Republic of China makes Taiwan already independent or not is disputed.
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The government that administers Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China. Leaders of the government moved to the island from the Chinese mainland in 1949, when Communist armies gained control of the mainland and established the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The government on Taiwan recognizes the mainland city of Nanjing (spelled Nanking in Taiwan) as its official capital, and designates Taiwan’s largest city of Taipei as its temporary capital. The PRC does not recognize the government on Taiwan and considers the island a renegade province. Taiwan recognizes that the Communist government rules the Chinese mainland while the republican government rules Taiwan.
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Generally speaking, the foods of Taiwan are derived from mainland Chinese cuisines. It is possible to find Szechuan food, Hunan food, Beifang food, Cantonese food and almost every other Chinese cuisine on the island. Taiwanese renditions of these cuisines tend to be somewhat greasy, though, and completely authentic mainland cuisines are rare. This is especially true for the Cantonese cuisine, as demonstrated by the lack of Cantonese speakers on the island. The Taiwanese are ... passionately in love with eggs and seafood, as you will discover during your stay on the island.
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For most Americans, Taiwan is far away and not well known. Probably even less well known still is the U.S. commitment to defend the island against any attack from the Mainland. That commitment, made when Taiwan was an offshore counter-revolutionary base area run by Chiang Kai-shek who had open military ambitions to invade the mainland, now actually has both moral and realistic force. Taiwan is today a thriving democracy and a mid-level economic power in its own right. What is sometimes forgotten, it has voluntarily eschewed nuclear weapons in return for that U.S. military guarantee. [1]
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Monopoly bureau officials in Taiwan beat up a woman they suspect of selling cigarettes on the black market and shoot a passerby who tries to intervene. The incident, which is known as the "2–28 Incident," ignites an island–wide revolt and thousands of angry citizens pours out into the streets. The protesters are met by KMT troops on March 8. Upwards of 20,000 people are brutally slaughtered in the confrontation.
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Because of the intensive exploitation throughout Taiwan's pre-modern and modern history, the island's mineral resources (eg. coal, gold, marble), as well as wild animal reserves (eg. deer), have been virtually exhausted. Moreover, much of its forestry resources was harvested during Japanese rule for the construction of shrines (using particularly firs) and has only recovered slightly since then. The remaining forests nowadays do not contribute to significant timber production mainly because of concerns about production costs and regulations of environmental protection.
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