Geography of Taiwan
- "Taiwan (island)" and "Geography of the Republic of China" redirect here. This article is about the geography of the island of Taiwan and its associated islands. For other parts of the country commonly known by this namesake island, see Geography of Kinmen, Geography of the Matsu Islands, Geography of the Pratas Island, Geography of Taiping Island, Geography of Wuchiu.
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Geography | |
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Location | East Asia or Southeast Asia[1] |
Coordinates | 23°46′N 121°0′E / 23.767°N 121.000°E |
Administration | |
Names of Taiwan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | è‡ºç£ or å°ç£ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | å°æ¹¾ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Postal | Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Portuguese: (Ilha) Formosa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | ç¦çˆ¾æ‘©æ²™ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | ç¦å°”æ‘©æ²™ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | beautiful island | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Taiwan (historically called "Formosa" especially prior to 1945,[citation needed] from Portuguese: Ilha Formosa, "Beautiful Island") is an island and an archipelago in East Asia, composed of Taiwan Island and several much smaller islands such as the Penghu Islands, Orchid Island, Green Island, and Lamay Island. The main island is located some 180 kilometres (112 miles) off the southeastern coast of China across the Taiwan Strait. It has an area of 35,883 km2 (13,855 sq mi) and spans the Tropic of Cancer. The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest. The archipelago makes up the majority (99%) of the territory of the Republic of China (ROC), after the ROC lost its mainland China territory in the Chinese Civil War and fled to the island in 1949. For this reason, Taiwan has become the common name of the country itself.
The island of Taiwan is a tilted fault block, characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of five rugged mountain ranges parallel to the east coast, and the flat to gently rolling plains of the western third, where most of Taiwan's population live. There are six peaks over 3500 meters, the highest being Yu Shan at 3,952 metres (12,966 ft), making Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island. The tectonic boundary that formed these ranges is still active, and the island experiences many earthquakes, a few of them highly destructive.
Taiwan has a humid subtropical climate, with heavy rainfall from the East Asian Monsoon. The island is struck by an average of four typhoons in each year. The eastern mountains are heavily forested and home to a diverse range of wildlife, while land use in the western and northern lowlands is intensive.
Prehistory
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Migraciones_austronesias.png/280px-Migraciones_austronesias.png)
In the Late Pleistocene, sea levels were about 140 m lower than in the present day, exposing the floor of the shallow Taiwan Strait as a land bridge that was crossed by mainland fauna until the beginning of the Holocene 10,000 years ago.[2]
The oldest evidence of human presence on Taiwan consists of three cranial fragments and a molar tooth found at Chouqu and Gangzilin, in Zuozhen District, Tainan. These are estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 years old.[3][4] The oldest artifacts are chipped-pebble tools of a Paleolithic culture found in four caves in Changbin, Taitung, dated 15,000 to 5,000 years ago, and similar to contemporary sites in Fujian. The same culture is found at sites at Eluanbi on the southern tip of Taiwan, persisting until 5,000 years ago.[5][6]
At the beginning of the Holocene 10,000 years ago, sea levels rose, forming the Taiwan Strait and cutting off the island from the Asian mainland.[2]
Around 3,000 BC, the Neolithic Dapenkeng culture (named after a site in Taibei county) abruptly appeared and quickly spread around the coast of the island. Their sites are characterized by corded-ware pottery, polished stone adzes and slate points. The inhabitants cultivated rice and millet, but were also heavily reliant on marine shells and fish. Most scholars believe this culture is not derived from the Changbinian, but was brought across the Strait by the ancestors of today's Taiwanese aborigines, speaking early Austronesian languages.[7][8] Some of these people later migrated from Taiwan to the islands of Southeast Asia and thence throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Malayo-Polynesian languages are now spoken across a huge area from Madagascar to Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand, but form only one branch of the Austronesian family, the rest of whose branches are found only on Taiwan.[9][10][11][12] The Dapenkeng culture was succeeded by a variety of cultures throughout the island, including the Tahu and Yingpu cultures.
Iron appeared at the beginning of the current era in such cultures as the Niaosung Culture.[13] The earliest metal artifacts were trade goods, but by around 400 AD wrought iron was being produced locally using bloomeries, a technology possibly introduced from the Philippines.[14]
Physical boundaries
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Taiwan-CIA_WFB_Map.png/170px-Taiwan-CIA_WFB_Map.png)
The main island of the archipelago is the island of Taiwan, with a length of 394 km (245 mi) and a width of 144 km (89 mi), comprising about 99% of the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China.[15] The shape of the main island is similar to a sweet potato oriented in a south-to-north direction, and therefore Taiwanese, especially the Min-nan division, often call themselves "children of the Sweet Potato".[16]
The island of Taiwan is separated from the southeast coast of mainland China by the Taiwan Strait, which ranges from 220 km (140 mi) at its widest point to 130 km (81 mi) at its narrowest.[17] Part of the continental shelf, the Strait is no more than 100 m (330 ft) deep, and has become a land bridge during glacial periods.[18]
To the south, Taiwan is separated from the Philippine island of Luzon by the 250 km (155 mi)-wide Luzon Strait. The South China Sea lies to the southwest, the East China Sea to the north, and the Philippine Sea to the east.[19]
Smaller islands of the archipelago include the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait 50 km (31 mi) west of the main island, the tiny islet of Hsiao Liuchiu off the southwest coast, and Orchid Island and Green Island to the southeast, separated from the northernmost islands of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel. The islands of Quemoy, Matsu, Wuchiu, etc. near the coast of Fujian across the Taiwan Strait, and Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea, are also administered by Taiwan,[17] but are not part of the Taiwanese archipelago.
Taiwan's area is 35,980 km2 (13,892 sq mi) of which 32,260 km2 (12,456 sq mi) is land and 3,720 km2 (1,436 sq mi) is territorial water claims, making it slightly smaller than the combined area of Maryland and Delaware, or slightly larger than territory of Belgium. It has a coastline of 1,566.3 km (973.3 mi). The ROC claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi) and a territorial sea of 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi).[20]
Geology
The island of Taiwan was formed approximately 4 to 5 million years ago at a complex convergent boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate. In a boundary running the length of the island and continuing southwards in the Luzon Volcanic Arc (including Green Island and Orchid Island), the Eurasian Plate is sliding under the Philippine Sea Plate.
Most of the island comprises a huge fault block tilted to the west.[21] The western part of the island, and much of the central range, consists of sedimentary deposits scraped from the descending edge of the Eurasian Plate. In the northeast of the island, and continuing eastwards in the Ryukyu Volcanic Arc, the Philippine Sea Plate slides under the Eurasian Plate.[22][23]
The tectonic boundary remains active, and Taiwan experiences 15,000 to 18,000 earthquakes each year, of which 800 to 1,000 are noticed by people. The most catastrophic recent earthquake was the magnitude-7.3 Chi-Chi earthquake, which occurred in the center of Taiwan on 21 September 1999, killing more than 2,400 people.[17][24] On 4 March 2010 at about 01:20 UTC, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southwestern Taiwan in the mountainous area of Kaohsiung County.[25]
Terrain
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Taiwan_map_large.gif/220px-Taiwan_map_large.gif)
The terrain in Taiwan is divided into two parts: the flat to gently rolling plains in the west, where 90% of the population lives, and the mostly rugged forest-covered mountains in the eastern two-thirds.
The eastern part of the island is dominated by five mountain ranges, each running from north-northeast to south-southwest, roughly parallel to the east coast of the island. As a group, they extend 330 km (210 mi) from north to south and average about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from east to west. They include more than two hundred peaks with elevations of over 3,000 m (9,800 ft).
The Central Mountain Range extends from Su-ao in the northeast to Eluanbi at the southern tip of the island, forming a ridge of high mountains and serving as the island's principal watershed. The mountains are predominantly composed of hard rock formations resistant to weathering and erosion, although heavy rainfall has deeply scarred the sides with gorges and sharp valleys. The relative relief of the terrain is usually extensive, and the forest-clad mountains with their extreme ruggedness are almost impenetrable. The east side of the Central Mountain Range is the steepest mountain slope in Taiwan, with fault scarps ranging in height from 120 to 1,200 m (390 to 3,900 ft). Taroko National Park, on the steep eastern side of the range, has good examples of mountainous terrain, gorges and erosion caused by a swiftly flowing river.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Siouguluan-River-Hualien-Ta.jpg/170px-Siouguluan-River-Hualien-Ta.jpg)
The East Coast Mountain Range extends down the east coast of the island from the mouth of the Hualien River in the north to Taitung County in the south, and chiefly consist of sandstone and shale. It is separated from the Central Range by the narrow Huatung Valley, at an altitude of 120 m (390 ft). Although Hsinkangshan (新港山), the highest peak, reaches an elevation of 1,682 m (5,518 ft), most of the range is composed of large hills. Small streams have developed on the flanks, but only one large river cuts across the range. Badlands are located at the western foot of the range, where the ground water level is the lowest and rock formations are the least resistant to weathering. Raised coral reefs along the east coast and the frequent occurrences of earthquakes in the rift valley indicate that the fault block is still rising.
The ranges to the west of the Central range are divided into two groups separated by the Sun Moon Lake Basin in the centre of the island. The Dadu and Zhuoshui Rivers flow from the western slopes of the Central Range through the basin to the west coast of the island.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/San_Guang_River%2C_Fusing%2C_Taoyuan%2C_Taiwan_-_20080601.jpg/220px-San_Guang_River%2C_Fusing%2C_Taoyuan%2C_Taiwan_-_20080601.jpg)
The Xueshan Range lies to the northwest of the Central Mountain Range, beginning at Sandiaojiao in the northeast and gaining elevation as it extends southwest towards Nantou County. Xueshan, the main peak, is 3,886 m (12,749 ft) high.
The Yushan Range runs along the southwestern flank of the Central Range. It includes the island's tallest peak, the 3,952 m (12,966 ft) Jade Mountain (Yu Shan),[26] which makes Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island.[27]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Paddy_field%2C_Yilan_01.jpg/220px-Paddy_field%2C_Yilan_01.jpg)
The Alishan Range lies west of the Yushan Range, across the valley of the south-flowing Kaoping River. The range has major elevations between 1,000 and 2,000 m (3,300 and 6,600 ft). The main peak, Data Mountain (大塔山), towers 2,663 m (8,737 ft).
Below the western foothills of the ranges, such as the Hsinchu Hills and the Miaoli Hills, lie raised terraces formed of material eroded from the ranges. These include the Linkou Plateau, the Taoyuan Plateau and the Dadu Plateau. About 23% of Taiwan's land area consists of fertile alluvial plains and basins watered by rivers running from the eastern mountains. Over half of this land lies in the Chianan Plain in southwest Taiwan, with lesser areas in the Pingtung Plain, Taichung Basin and Taipei Basin. The only sizable plain on the east coast is the Yilan Plain in the northeast.[17]
Climate
The Tropic of Cancer roughly bisects the main island of Taiwan, which has a humid subtropical climate influenced by the East Asian Monsoon. The climate varies widely by season in the northern part and the mountain areas, but the south belongs to the tropical belt and is warm and humid all year. From May to June is rainy season, with almost daily showers. Typhoons are most likely to strike between July and October, with on average about four direct hits per year. In the northern part of the island, cloudiness is persistent and extensive during the year, while in the south 90% of the annual precipitation falls in the summertime. The annual rainfall is usually more than 2,500 mm (98.4 in), close to 5,000 mm (196.9 in) in some Eastern regions. Intensive rain from typhoons often leads to disastrous mudslides.[17]
Flora and fauna
Before extensive human settlement, the vegetation on Taiwan ranged from tropical rainforest in the lowlands through temperate forests, boreal forest and alpine plants with increasing altitude.[28] Most of the plains and low-lying hills of the west and north of the island have since[when?] been cleared for agricultural use. However the mountain forests are very diverse, with several endemic species such as Formosan Cypress (Chamaecyparis formosensis) and Taiwan Fir (Abies kawakamii), while the Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) was once also widespread at lower altitudes.
Taiwan is a center of bird endemism (see List of endemic birds of Taiwan).
Prior to major Taiwanese economic success[clarify], the mountainous areas held several endemic animal species and subspecies, such as the Swinhoe's Pheasant (Lophura swinhoii), Taiwan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea), the Formosan Sika deer (Cervus nippon taiwanensis or Cervus nippon taiouanus) and the Formosan landlocked salmon (Oncorhynchus masou formosanus). A few of these are now extinct, and many others have been designated endangered species.
Taiwan had relatively few carnivores, 11 species in total, of which the Formosan clouded leopard and otter are likely extinct. The largest carnivore is the Formosan black bear (Selanarctos thibetanus formosanus), a rare and endangered species.[29]
Seven national parks in Taiwan showcase the diverse terrain, flora and fauna of the archipelago. Kenting National Park on the southern tip of Taiwan contains uplifted coral reefs, moist tropical forest and marine ecosystems. Yushan National Park has alpine terrain, mountain ecology, forest types that vary with altitude, and remains of ancient road. Yangmingshan National Park has volcanic geology, hot springs, waterfalls, and forest. Taroko National Park has marble canyon, cliff, and fold mountains. Shei-Pa National Park has alpine ecosystems, geological terrain, and valley streams. (Kinmen National Park has lakes, wetlands, coastal topography, flora and fauna-shaped island. Dongsha Marine National Park has the Pratas reef atolls for integrity, a unique marine ecology, biodiversity, and is a key habitat for the marine resources of the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.[30])
Natural resources
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Abies_kawakamii_Chi-You.jpg/170px-Abies_kawakamii_Chi-You.jpg)
Natural resources on the islands include small deposits of gold, copper, coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos. The island is 55% forest and woodland (mostly on the mountains) and 24% arable land (mostly on the plains), with 15% going to other purposes. 5% is permanent pasture and 1% is permanent crops.
Because of the intensive exploitation throughout Taiwan's pre-modern and modern history, the island's mineral resources (e.g. coal, gold, marble), as well as wild animal reserves (e.g. deer), have been virtually exhausted. Moreover, much of its forestry resources, especially firs were harvested during Japanese rule for the construction of shrines and have only recovered slightly since then. To this day, forests do not contribute to significant timber production mainly because of concerns about production costs and environmental regulations.
Agriculture
The few natural resources with significant economic value remaining in Taiwan are essentially agriculture-associated. Sugarcane and rice have been cultivated in western Taiwan since the 17th century. Camphor extraction and sugarcane refining played an important role in Taiwan's exportation from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century. The importance of these industries subsequently declined not because of the exhaustion of related natural resources but mainly due to the decline of international demand.
Domestic agriculture (rice being the dominant kind of crop) and fisheries retain importance to a certain degree, but they have been greatly challenged by foreign imports since Taiwan's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Consequently, upon the decline of subsistent importance, Taiwan's agriculture now relies heavily on the marketing and exportation of specialty crops, such as banana, guava, lychee, bell fruit, and high-mountain tea.
Energy resources
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Wind_power-Kaumei.jpg/220px-Wind_power-Kaumei.jpg)
Taiwan has significant coal deposits and some insignificant petroleum and natural gas deposits. As of 2010[update], oil accounts for 49.0% of the total energy consumption. Coal comes next with 32.1%, followed by nuclear energy with 8.3%, natural gas (indigenous and liquefied) with 10.2%, and energy from renewable sources with 0.5%. Taiwan has six nuclear reactors and two under construction.[31] Nearly all oil and gas for transportation and power needs must be imported, making Taiwan particularly sensitive to fluctuations in energy prices. Taiwan is rich in wind energy resources, with wind farms both onshore and offshore, though limited land area favors offshore wind resources.[32] By promoting renewable energy, Taiwan's government hopes to also aid the nascent renewable energy manufacturing industry, and develop it into an export market.[citation needed]
Human geography
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Population_density_of_Taiwan.svg/170px-Population_density_of_Taiwan.svg.png)
Taiwan has a population of over 23 million,[1] the vast majority of whom live on the fertile plains of the western half of the island.
The island is highly urbanized, with nearly 9 million people living in the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area at the northern end, and over 2 million each in the urban areas of Kaohsiung and Taichung.[33]
Taiwanese aborigines comprise approximately 2% of the population, and now mostly live in the mountainous eastern part of the island.[34] Their ancestors arrived in Taiwan and Penghu by sea from the mainland between 4000 and 3000 BC.[35] Han Chinese immigrants from southern Fujian began to farm the area around modern Tainan and Kaohsiung from the 17th century, later spreading across the western and northern plains and absorbing the aboriginal population of those areas. Hakka people from eastern Guangzhou arrived later and settled the foothills further inland, but the rugged uplands of the eastern half of the island remained the exclusive preserve of the aborigines until the early 20th century.[36] A further 1.3 million Chinese from throughout mainland China entered Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. As of 2007, Han Chinese make up over 95% of the population.[34]
Environmental issues
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Scooters_in_taipei.jpg/220px-Scooters_in_taipei.jpg)
Some areas in Taiwan with high population density and many factories are affected by heavy pollution. The most notable areas are the southern suburbs of Taipei and the western stretch from Tainan to Lin Yuan, south of Kaohsiung. In the late 20th century, Taipei suffered from extensive vehicle and factory air pollution, but with mandatory use of unleaded petrol and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Administration in 1987, the air quality of Taiwan has improved dramatically.[37] Motor scooters, especially older or cheaper two-stroke versions, which are ubiquitous in Taiwan, also contribute disproportionately to urban air pollution.[38][39]
Other environmental issues include water pollution from industrial emissions and raw sewage, contamination of drinking water supplies, and trade in endangered species. Though regulation of sulfate aerosol emissions from petroleum combustion is becoming stringent, acid rain remains a threat to the health of residents and forests. Scientists in Taiwan estimate that more than half of the pollutants causing Taiwan's acid rain are carried from mainland China by monsoon winds.[40]
See also
- List of mountains in Taiwan
- List of rivers of Taiwan
- List of volcanoes in Taiwan
- List of islands of the Republic of China
- Taiwanese hot springs
- List of metropolitan areas in Taiwan
References
- ^ a b "Taiwan". The World Factbook. CIA. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ a b Chang (1989).
- ^ Olsen & Miller-Antonio (1992).
- ^ Zuozhen Man, Encyclopedia of Taiwan.
- ^ Jiao (2007), pp. 89–90.
- ^ Changbin Culture, Encyclopedia of Taiwan.
- ^ Jiao (2007), pp. 91–94.
- ^ Tapenkeng Site, Encyclopedia of Taiwan.
- ^ Blust (1999).
- ^ Diamond (2000).
- ^ Hill et al. (2007).
- ^ Bird, Hope & Taylor (2004).
- ^ Jiao (2007), pp. 94–103.
- ^ Tsang, Cheng-hwa (2000). "Recent advances in the Iron Age archaeology of Taiwan". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 20: 153–158.
- ^ The land area of Taiwan island proper (Formosa) is 35,980 km2,the total area of the ROC jurisdiction is 36,191 km2.
- ^ Chao, Kang; Johnson, Marshall (2000). "Nationalist Social Sciences and the Fabrication of Subimperial Subjects in Taiwan." Positions 8(1) p. 167.
- ^ a b c d e "Chapter 1: Geography". The Republic of China Yearbook 2011. Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan).
{{cite book}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Chang, K.C. (1989). "The Neolithic Taiwan Strait" (PDF). Kaogu. 6. translated by W. Tsao, ed. by B. Gordon: 541–550, 569.
- ^ National Taiwan Normal University, Geography Department. "Geography of Taiwan: A Summary". Retrieved 21 May 2007.
- ^ "Law on the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf of the Republic of China (ä¸è¯æ°'國專屬ç¶"濟海域åŠå¤§é™¸ç¤å±¤æ³•)". Retrieved 21 May 2007.
{{cite web}}
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at position 90 (help) - ^ Williams, Jack Francis; Chang, David (2008). Taiwan's Environmental Struggle: Toward a Green Silicon Island. Routledge. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-415-44723-2.
- ^ "The Geology of Taiwan". Department of Geology, National Taiwan Normal University.
- ^ "Geology of Taiwan". Department of Geology, University of Arizona.
- ^ "GSHAP Region 8: Eastern Asia". Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program.
- ^ Theodorou, Christine; Lee, Andrew (3 March 2010). "6.4-magnitude quake hits southern Taiwan". CNN.com. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
- ^ Reported by Taiwan's National Geographic Information System Steering Committee (NGISSC)
- ^ "Tallest Islands of the World â€" World Island Info web site". Worldislandinfo.com. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ^ Tsukada, Matsuo (1966). "Late Pleistocene vegetation and climate of Taiwan (Formosa)". Proc. National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 55 (3): 543–548. PMC 224184. PMID 16591341.
- ^ Chiang, Po-Jen (2012). "Niche relationships of carnivores in a subtropical primary forest in southern Taiwan" (PDF). Zoological Studies. 51: 500–511.
{{cite journal}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ National Parks of Taiwan, Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior, ROC (Taiwan).
- ^ Energy Statistics Handbook, Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2010.
- ^ "Taiwan's Energy Policy and Supply-Demand Situation". Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs.
- ^ "Taiwan: metropolitan areas". World Gazetteer. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
- ^ a b "Chapter 2: People and Language". The Republic of China Yearbook 2011. Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan). pp. 30–43.
{{cite book}}
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|chapterurl=
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suggested) (help) - ^ Jiao, Tianlong (2007). The Neolithic of southeast China: cultural transformation and regional interaction on the coast. Cambria Press. pp. 91–94. ISBN 978-1-934043-16-5.
- ^ Knapp, Ronald G. (1999). "The shaping of Taiwan's landscapes". In Rubinstein, Murray A. (ed.). Taiwan: a new history. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 1–26. ISBN 978-0-7656-1494-0.
- ^ "Taiwan: Environmental Issues". Country Analysis Brief — Taiwan. United States Department of Energy. October 2003. Archived from the original on 7 October 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2006.
The government credits the APC system with helping to reduce the number of days when the country's pollution standard index score exceeded 100 from 7% of days in 1994 to 3% of days in 2001.
- ^ "Taiwan Country Analysis Brief". United States Department of Energy. August 2005. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007.
Taipei has the most obvious air pollution, primary caused by the motorbikes and scooters used by millions of the city's residents.
- ^ Tso, Chunto (2002). "A Viable Niche Marketâ€"Fuel Cell Scooters in Taiwan" (PDF). International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 28 (7): 757–762. doi:10.1016/S0360-3199(02)00245-8.
In Taiwan's cities, the main source of air pollution is the waste gas exhausted by scooters, especially by the great number of two-stroke engine scooters.
- ^ Chiu, Yu-Tzu (26 January 2005). "Forests in Taiwan jeopardized by acid rain: EPA". Taipei Times.
External links
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