Taiwan

It sometimes seems that the history of Taiwan only began in 1949. This was when the Koumintang, led by Chiang Kai Shek and on the losing side of the Chinese Civil War, withdrew to the island of Taiwan. Ever since, there have been "two Chinas", the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's Republic of China on the mainland. The two have never reunited, but are not completely separate. Most of the world recognizes the People's Republic, on the mainland, as the "real" China, but Taiwan has become a great nation in it's own right.

The Nationalist Chinese forces brought along a lot of China's historical treasures when they withdrew to Taiwan in 1949. A building was constructed near Taipei for a museum, and built in the style of one of the pavilions in the Forbidden City. We saw this museum in the posting, "Imperial Palaces" August 2016.

But the history of Taiwan does not begin with 1949, it actually goes back a long way. Many people from neighboring Fujian Province, about 150 km away on the mainland, had long settled in Taiwan. Today, Taiwan is structured almost like one continuous city on it's west coast, facing mainland China, with the rest of the island being mostly rural and mountainous.

The capital city of Taiwan it Taipei, at the northern end of the island. Taipei had the world's tallest building for about six years. Sun Yat Sen, considered as the founder of modern China, is highly regarded both in Taiwan and on the mainland. The following scenes begin at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0393484,121.5603665,3a,75y,174.24h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s3w8PIzIVVP13M-W8T99JZQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D3w8PIzIVVP13M-W8T99JZQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D174.77835%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is the Xinyi District of Taipei.

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0418102,121.5750867,3a,75y,3h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1si78KoZ4VIHlWsmnJ3H_PqQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Di78KoZ4VIHlWsmnJ3H_PqQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D3.0205078%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is some more of the central city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0280598,121.5486593,3a,75y,278.72h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1szhXPHwEwouEHf2df6A-7mw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DzhXPHwEwouEHf2df6A-7mw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D278.72427%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

These scenes begin outside the Office of the President of Taiwan. There is plenty of traditional Chinese architecture which shows that the history of Taiwan most certainly did not begin in 1949.

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0389117,121.5119996,3a,75y,143.75h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEPbEO4EG5uAeeZk9icAbWg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DEPbEO4EG5uAeeZk9icAbWg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D146.40233%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is the Luzhou District, in the northern part of Taipei.

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0856918,121.4664784,3a,75y,75h,68t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPgSq90VbbHU3cqu9vo3eLSpHAZPzASt33KfzGF!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPgSq90VbbHU3cqu9vo3eLSpHAZPzASt33KfzGF%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-21.999998-ya334.45834-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

At the opposite end of Taiwan, the southern end of the island, lies the city of Kaohsiung. It is known to be warmer than Taipei because the mountains of the island block the north wind. The following scenes begin in the center of Kaohsiung. The tallest building, constructed as an arch in three pieces, is the Tuntex Sky Tower.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.6161913,120.3010902,3a,75y,46h,87t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s61QnsaiIubC3nYwMdza4YQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D61QnsaiIubC3nYwMdza4YQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D46.500008%26pitch%3D-3%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is the Yancheng District of Kaohsiung.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.6245154,120.2842264,3a,75y,169h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPJjwLyVE-ccfaoh_uR3045DW9CbEJmrX83lfcw!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPJjwLyVE-ccfaoh_uR3045DW9CbEJmrX83lfcw%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya302.5-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Finally, we come to a place that has some special meaning for me. It is the industrial district of Kaohsiung. The reason that it has meaning is that the ship that I came across the ocean on when I was a young boy ended up here. The name of the ship was the Empress of England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_England#/media/File:Empress_of_England.jpg

The ship was launched in 1957, but probably shouldn't have been built. Air travel was already starting to put the great ocean liners out of business. I took the ship along it's usual Liverpool to Montreal route, but it would be scrapped less than twenty years after being launched. Some ocean liners had a dignified end, like the Queen Mary floating hotel in California. But the one I came over on ended it's days being sold as scrap metal.

I see online that the Empress of England was sold in 1975, and brought to Kaohsiung. China Steel started it's first blast furnace here shortly after, and I presume that it is where the ship ended up.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.5351281,120.364116,3a,75y,139h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sOXCdHkdppkCywEL9ALvxIA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DOXCdHkdppkCywEL9ALvxIA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D139.21516%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656