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Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as "Taiwan", to participate in some international organizations and almost all sporting events, such as the Olympics, Paralympics, Asian Games, Asian Para Games and FIFA World Cup. The international community commonly employs the term "Chinese Taipei" at the agreement of both the ROC and the People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly known as China, because it affirms ambiguity about the political status of Taiwan, implies that ROC is part of the same "China" under PRC's control, and does not limit the ROC's implied territorial control to the island of Taiwan. The PRC opposes the use of the official name "Republic of China" or the common name "Taiwan" for the ROC because it would imply Taiwan's status as a sovereign state, while the ROC opposes the use of the designation "Taiwan, China" because it would imply that Taiwan's status as subordinate to the PRC.

Origins[link]

After the Republic of China (ROC) lost its United Nations seat in 1971, more and more countries terminated their diplomatic relations with Taipei and established new ties with Beijing, the People's Republic of China (PRC). In diplomatic circles, Beijing was on the rise and the ROC found that in order to participate in some international forums it would have to make difficult concessions towards the PRC. One of these concessions was acceptance of the term "Chinese Taipei" as a name. The first instance that this name was used in a major international organisation was in the International Olympic Committee (IOC). By 1979, the IOC had finally decided that the Beijing Olympic Committee would be the "Chinese Olympic Committee" and another name would need to be found for the Olympic Committee on Taiwan.

In April 1979, in a plenary session of the IOC, He Zhenliang, a representative of the PRC, stated:

According to the Olympic Charter, only one Chinese Olympic Committee should be recognized. In consideration of the athletes in Taiwan having an opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games, the sports constitution in Taiwan could function as a local organization of China and still remain in the Olympic Movement in the name of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. However, its anthem, flag and constitutions should be changed correspondingly.^[1]

Chinese Taipei Olympic flag

In November 1979, in Nagoya, Japan, the International Olympic Committee, and later all other international sports federations, adopted a resolution under which the National Olympic Committee of the ROC would be recognized as the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, and its athletes would compete under the name Chinese Taipei.^[2][3] The National Olympic Committee of the ROC boycotted the 1980 Olympics (both the winter and summer games) in protest of this resolution.^[4]

The Chinese nationalism asserted by the top leadership of the ROC government during the 1970s meant that a name such as "Taiwan" would be unacceptable to them.^[5] The ROC leadership insisted that there be some kind of “Chinese-ness” to the name under which the island's team competed.

The ROC government turned down chances to use the name "Taiwan" (for example, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics), although the team had previously marched as "Taiwan" in opening ceremonies (for example, in Tokyo).^[5] One repeated contention recorded in the ministry reports is that both parts of divided China are Chinese territories and the people in one part are no less Chinese than those in the other. Another argument holds that the jurisdiction of the ROC Olympic Committee (ROCOC) includes Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu in addition to Taiwan, and thus the name “Taiwan” does not reflect the “territorial extent” of the ROCOC. Furthermore, although it is true that most products from the ROC are labeled “made in Taiwan,” the trade practices of the ROC are such that the regional area of production is used for labeling. Some wines from Kinmen are labeled “made in Kinmen,” just as some perfume is labeled “made in Paris” and not “made in France.” Finally, it was argued that the people of the ROC were Chinese and not “Taiwanese,” so the word Taiwan was not appropriate.

The ROC government under the Kuomintang (KMT) rejected designation as "Taiwan, China" on grounds that this would imply subordination to the People's Republic of China.^[5] It also refused the names "Taiwan" and "Formosa (simplified Chinese: 福尔摩沙; traditional Chinese: 福爾摩沙)" as a means of reasserting both its claim as the sole legitimate government of all of China, and its uncompromising rejection of Taiwan independence. Instead, deriving from the name of its capital city, the ROC government finally formulated the name “Chinese Taipei,” instead of accepting the offer of “Taiwan,” because “Chinese Taipei” signified an uncertain boundary that could exceed the ROC’s actual territory of control of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, whenever the ROC government wished to assert it. It regarded the term Chinese Taipei as both acceptably neutral and hopeful of assent from other interested parties. Its proposal found agreement. Beijing accepted the compromise position that the ROC Olympic Committee could be named the "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee".

The name "Chinese Taipei" was formally accepted by the Taipei government in 1981.^[6][7] A flag bearing the emblem of its Olympic Committee against a white background as the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag was confirmed in January 1981.^[2] The agreement was signed on March 23 in Lausanne by Shen Chia-ming, the President of Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the IOC. In 1983, National Flag Anthem was chosen as the anthem of the Chinese Taipei delegation. The Republic of China has competed under this flag and name exclusively at each Games since the 1984 Winter Olympics, as well as at the Paralympics and at other international events.

Translation compromise[link]

Both sides agree to use the English name "Chinese Taipei". This is possible because of the ambiguity of the English word "Chinese", which may mean either the state or the culture. In 1979, the International Olympic Committee passed a resolution in Nagoya, Japan, restoring the rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee within the IOC, meanwhile renaming the Taipei-based Olympic Committee "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee". Since then, and until 1989 the PRC translated "Chinese Taipei" as "Zhongguo Taipei" (simplified chinese: 中国台北, traditional chinese: 中國臺北, hanyu pinyin: Zhōngguó Táiběi), connoting that Taipei is a part of the Chinese state. By contrast, the Republic of China government translated it as "Zhonghua Taipei" (traditional chinese: 中華台北 or 中華臺北, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táiběi) in Chinese, which references the term "China" as the cultural or ethnic entity, rather than the state. In 1981 the former Republic of China Olympic Committee confirmed its acceptance of the Nagoya resolution, but translated "Chinese Taipei" to "Zhonghua Taipei". In 1989, the two Olympic committees signed a pact in Hong Kong, clearly defining the use of "Zhonghua Taipei".^[8] The PRC had been observing the Hong Kong pact and using "Zhonghua Taipei" in stipulated areas ever since, but on other occasions, the version of "Zhongguo Taipei" was still in use following past practice, especially in official media references.^[9] In the Olympic Games opening ceremony, when each country's team normally proceeds in alphabetical order in English, the Chinese Taipei (TPE) team does not follow China (CHN), but instead takes a place in the procession as if its name were "Taipei," following countries such as Switzerland and Syria instead. In Beijing 2008 it followed Japan and preceded the Central African Republic.^[10] This ordering was based on the stroke number and order of each team's name in simplified Chinese, the official script in the PRC.

Use of the name[link]

Chinese Taipei Universiade Flag

The name "Chinese Taipei" has spilled into apolitical arenas. The PRC has successfully pressured some religious organizations and civic organizations to refer to the ROC as "Chinese Taipei".^[11] The Lions Club used to refer to the Republic of China as "Chinese Taipei", but it now uses the name "Taiwan MD 300"^[12] Both the International Monetary Fund.^[13] and the World Bank^[14] refer to the Republic of China as "Chinese Taipei", and "Taiwan" does not appear on the member countries list of both organizations. The ICSU also refers to the Republic of China as "China Taipei", right below "China CAST".^[15] The Republic of China is a member economy of APEC, and its official name in the organization is "Chinese Taipei".^[16] It is also an observer in the World Health Organization (WHO) under the name Chinese Taipei. It is the only agency of the United Nations that the ROC is able to participate in since 1971.

Chinese Taipei Deaflympics Flag

In the Miss World 1998, the government of the People's Republic of China pressured the Miss World Organization to rename Miss Republic of China 1998 to "Miss Chinese Taipei", it has been competing ever since under that designation.^[17] The same happened in 2000, but with the Miss Universe Organization. Three years later at the Miss Universe pageant in Panama, the first official Miss China and Miss Taiwan competed alongside each other for the first time in history, prompting the Chinese government to again demand that Miss Taiwan assume the title "Miss Chinese Taipei". The contestant in question, Chen Szu-yu, was famously photographed tearfully holding her two sashes.^[18] Today, neither Miss Universe nor Miss World, the two largest pageant contests in the world, allow Taiwan's entrants to compete under the Taiwan label. In 2005, the third largest pageant contest, Miss Earth, initially allowed beauty contestant Li Fan Lin to compete as "Miss Taiwan"; a week into the pageant, however, her sash was updated to "Taiwan ROC". In 2008, the official name for the ROC, was changed to "Chinese Taipei".^[19]

Chinese Taipei national football team Flag

Chinese Taipei Paralympic Flag

The title "Chinese Taipei" leads some people to believe that "Taipei" is a country. During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, NBC television clarified each time the name was used that "Chinese Taipei" referred to Taiwan. Japanese and South Korean televisions were more impatient and simply dropped "Chinese Taipei" altogether in its reports, using "Taiwan" instead.^[20] For sporting events, the ROC team is abbreviated in Taiwan as the Zhonghua Team (中華隊; Zhonghua being a more cultural rather than political variation of the term China), which, in effect, labels it the "Chinese Team".

Starting around the time of the 2004 Summer Olympics, there has been a movement in Taiwan to change all media references to the team to the "Taiwanese Team", and the mainstream Taiwan Television (TTV) is one of the first Taiwanese media outlets to do so. Such usage remains relatively rare, however, and other cable TV channels currently refer to the ROC as the Zhonghua Team and the PRC as the Zhongguo Team, the China team or the mainland China team.

In the 2005 International Children's Games in Coventry, United Kingdom as well as the National Geographic World Championship, the name Chinese Taipei was too used. Chinese Taipei was also the term used by Major League Baseball for the ROC teams that participated in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic competitions, competing under the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag. The Little League World Series also refers to the Taiwanese teams as Chinese Taipei (although the uniforms states Asia-Pacific).

Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu[link]

The World Trade Organization officially uses "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu" ^[21] for the Republic of China, but "Chinese Taipei" is used very often since the official designation is too unwieldy. It is a politically neutral name; there is not any reference to what it is separated from (presumably, the People's Republic of China). Even official documents within WTO refer to the "separated customs territory..." as "Chinese Taipei".^[22]

Other references to the Republic of China[link]

References used in the international context to refer to the Republic of China or Taiwan differ according to the type of the organization.

International organizations that only admit sovereign states generally do not recognise the Republic of China or allow its membership. Presently, the ROC is recognized by 23 states. Thus, for example, whenever the United Nations makes reference to Taiwan, which does not appear on its member countries list^[23] it uses the designation "Taiwan, Province of China", and organizations that follow UN standards does the same, such as International Organization for Standardization in its listing of ISO 3166-1 country codes. Certain web-based postal address programs also label the country designation name for Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China". Inter-governmental organizations use a variety of terms to designate ROC. Some non-governmental organizations which the PRC does not participate in continue to use "China" or the "Republic of China". The World Organization of the Scout Movement is one of few international organizations that continue to refer to the Republic of China as "China", and the ROC affiliate as the Scouts of China. This is because such Scouting organizations do not exist in the People's Republic of China.

Countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, especially the ROC's older diplomatic affiliates, also refer to the ROC as "China" on occasion; for example, during the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian was seated as part of the French alphabetical seating arrangement between Marisa Letícia, the first lady of Brazil, and the president of Cameroon as the head of state of "Chine".

See also[link]

• History of the Republic of China
• Flag of the Republic of China
• Chinese Taipei Olympic flag
• National Banner Song
• Sport in Taiwan
• Political status of Taiwan
• Foreign relations of the Republic of China

References[link]

External links[link]

• (Chinese (Taiwan)) 國民體育季刊 No. 156. Focus Topic: Olympic Model
• Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Official Website
• Swiss Residency Permits Refer the Nationality of ROC Citizens as "Chinese Taipei"

v t e Politics of the Republic of China Doctrines Constitution Three Principles of the People Five Races Under One Union Government Branches Executive Premier · Vice Premier Legislative Speaker Legislators Judicial Control Examination Defunct: National Assembly Leadership President current Vice President current Parties Pan-Blue Kuomintang People First Party New Party Pan-Green Democratic Progressive Party Taiwan Solidarity Union Others Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Elections Presidential 1948 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Legislative 1948 1969 1972 1975 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2008 2012 National Assembly 1991 1996 2005 Cross-Strait One-China policy 1992 Consensus Special state-to-state relations One Country on Each Side Taiwan consensus Foreign affairs United Nations Chinese Taipei India Japan South Korea Mongolia Paraguay Singapore United States Venezuela Other topics Status Political Legal Issues Taiwan independence / Taiwanization Chinese reunification / Chinese nationalism

v t e Cross-Strait relations Participants People's Republic of China Republic of China Organisations Taiwan Affairs Office Mainland Affairs Council Straits Exchange Foundation Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Kuomintang Communist Party of China National Unification Council Cross-Straits Economic Trade and Culture Forum People Hu Jintao Ma Ying-jeou Chen Yunlin Chiang Pin-kung Jiang Zemin Chen Shui-bien Wang Daohan Koo Chen-fu Lee Teng-hui Lai Shin-Yuan Wang Yi Events Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) Retrocession of Taiwan (1945) 228 Incident (1947) Chinese Civil War (1946–1950) First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955) Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958) PRC entry to the United Nations (1971) Wang-Koo summit (1993) Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995–1996) Overseas Chinese World Conference (2000-current) Anti-Secession Law (2005) Pan-Blue visits to mainland China (2005) Cross-strait charter (2005-2008) Chen-Chiang summit (2008-current) Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (2010) Concepts Political status of Taiwan Legal status of Taiwan Chinese reunification Taiwan independence 1992 Consensus Three Links One China policy Two Chinas One Country on Each Side Three Noes Six Assurances Special state-to-state relations Four Noes and One Without Zhonghua Minzu Special non-state-to-state relations Cross-strait Economic Zone

Taipei 臺北
—  Special municipality  —
Taipei City · 臺北市
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The City of Azaleas
Satellite image of Taipei City
Coordinates: 25°02′N 121°38′E / 25.033°N 121.633°E / 25.033; 121.633Coordinates: 25°02′N 121°38′E / 25.033°N 121.633°E / 25.033; 121.633
Country	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Region	Northern Taiwan
Settled	1709
City seat	Xinyi District
District-divisions	12 districts
Government
• Type	Taipei City Government
• Mayor	Hau Lung-pin (KMT)
Area
• Special municipality	271.7997 km2 (104.9425 sq mi)
• Water	2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi)  1.0%
Population (December 2010)
• Special municipality	2,618,772
• Density	9,600/km2 (25,000/sq mi)
• Metro	6,900,273
	Population Ranked 4 of 22
Time zone	CST (UTC+8)
Postal code	100–116
Area code(s)	(0)2
Districts	12
Bird	Formosan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea)
Flower	Azalea (Rhododendron nudiflorum)
Tree	Banyan (India laurel fig, Ficus microcarpa)
Website	taipei.gov.tw (English)
The metropolitan area (or tri-cities) of Taipei includes Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung.

Taipei City (/ˌtaɪˈpeɪ/; [tʰǎipèi]; Chinese: 臺北市 or 台北市; pinyin: Táiběi Shì) is the capital of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Situated at the northern tip of the island of Taiwan, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River; it is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, a port city on the Pacific Ocean. It lies in the two relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung (基隆河) and Xindian (新店溪) rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border.^[1] The city proper (Taipei City) is home to an estimated 2,618,772 people.^[2] Taipei, New Taipei, and Keelung together form the Taipei metropolitan area with a population of 6,900,273.^[3] However, they are administered under different local governing bodies. "Taipei" sometimes refers to the whole metropolitan area, while "Taipei City" refers to the city proper. Taipei City proper is surrounded on all sides by New Taipei.

Taipei is the political, economic, and cultural center of Taiwan. The National Palace Museum which has one of the largest collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks in the world is located in Taipei. Considered to be a global city,^[4] Taipei is part of a major industrial area. Railways, high speed rail, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The city is served by two airports – Taipei Songshan and Taiwan Taoyuan.

Taipei was founded in the early 18th century and became an important center for overseas trade in the 19th century. The Qing Dynasty in China made Taipei the provincial capital of Taiwan in 1886.^[5] When the Japanese acquired Taiwan in 1895 after the First Sino-Japanese War, they retained Taipei as the capital of the island, and also advanced an extensive urban planning in Taipei.^[6] The Republic of China took over the island in 1945 following Japanese surrender. After losing Mainland China to the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) resettled the ROC government to Taiwan and declared Taipei the provisional capital of the Republic of China in December 1949.^[7][8]

Culture[link]

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attraction in the Zhongzheng District of Taipei.

Tourism[link]

Memorial halls and museums[link]

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument, landmark and tourist attractions that was erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China.^[9] The structure stands at the east end of Memorial Hall Square, site of the National Concert Hall and National Theater and their adjacent parks as well as the memorial. The landmarks of Liberty Square stand within sight of Taiwan's Presidential Building in Taipei's Zhongzheng District.

The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is a memorial to one of the most recognizable founding fathers of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen, and was completed on May 16, 1972.^[10] From the opening of the hall, majority of the exhibits displayed were revolutionary events of the national founding fathers at the end of the Qing Dynasty. However, recently its function moved toward a multi-purpose social, educational and cultural center for the Taiwanese public.

The National Palace Museum houses over 600,000 ancient Chinese artifacts.

The National Palace Museum is an art gallery and museum built around a permanent collection centered on ancient Chinese artifacts. It should not be confused with the Palace Museum in Beijing (which it is named after); both institutions trace their origins to the same institution. The collections were divided in the 1940s as a result of the Chinese Civil War.^[11][12] The National Palace Museum in Taipei now boasts a truly international collection while housing one of the world's largest collections of artifacts from ancient China.^[12]

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum was established in 1983. Located in a purpose-built building inspired by Japanese metabolism, is was the first museum in Taiwan dedicated to modern art. The artworks in the museum are mostly done by Taiwanese artists. There are more than 3,000 artworks in the museum. Most of them are done after 1940 by Taiwanese artist, and are organized into 13 groups. In 2001, the first museum dedicated to contemporary art opened as MoCA Taipei or Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (台北當代藝術館), located in the old building of the Taipei City government.^[13]

The National Taiwan Museum is the oldest museum in Taiwan. It was established as the Taiwan Governor Museum by the colonial government of Japan on October 24, 1908 to commemorate the inauguration of the North-South Railway during the Japanese rule in Taiwan.^[14] The museum had a collection of over 10,000 items in its initial stages. In 1915, the new building of the museum in Taipei 228 Peace Memorial Park (formerly known as New Park) was inaugurated and became one of the major public buildings during Japanese rule. Since 1999, it has been renamed to the "National Taiwan Museum".^[14]

Taipei 101 fireworks during the 2008 New Year's Celebrations

Taipei 101[link]

Taipei 101 is a 101-floor landmark skyscraper that claimed the title of world's tallest building when it opened in 2004. Taipei 101 is now the world's second tallest building. Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and constructed by KTRT Joint Venture and measuring 449 m (1,473 ft) from ground to roof, Taipei 101 lost the title of the tallest completed skyscraper in the world on January 4 2010. (The tallest skyscraper is now the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE). Built to withstand typhoon winds and earthquake tremors, the building incorporates many engineering innovations. Taipei 101 also set new records for ascending elevator speed which has also recently been surpassed by Burj Khalifa. The landmark has won numerous international awards for its innovations. A large mall is located at the base of the tower. Its indoor and outdoor observatories draw visitors from all over the world and its New Year's Eve fireworks display is a regular feature of international broadcasts.

Performing arts[link]

The National Theater and Concert Hall stand at Taipei's Liberty Square and host a events by foreign and domestic performers. Other leading concert venues include Zhongshan Hall at Ximen and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall near Taipei 101.

A new cultural landmark, the Taipei Performing Arts Center, is slated to open in 2013.^[15] The venue will stand near the Shilin Night Market and will house three theaters for events with multi-week runs. The architectural design was determined in 2009 in an international competition.^[16] The same design process is also in place for a new Taipei Center for Popular Music and Taipei City Museum.^[17]

Shopping and recreation[link]

Taipei is known for its many night markets, the most famous of which is the Shilin Night Market in the Shilin District. The surrounding streets by Shilin Night Market are extremely crowded during the evening, usually opening late afternoon and operating well past midnight. Most night markets feature individual stalls selling a mixture of food, clothing, and consumer goods.

The busy streets of Ximending at night

Ximending has been a famous area for shopping and entertainment since the 1930s. Historic structures include a concert hall, a historic cinema, and the Red House Theater. Modern structures house karaoke businesses, art film cinemas, wide-release movie cinemas, electronic stores, and a wide variety of restaurants and fashion clothing stores.^[18] The pedestrian area is especially popular with teens and has been called the "Harajuku" of Taipei.^[19]

The newly developed Xinyi District is popular with tourists and locals alike for its many entertainment and shopping venues, as well as being the home of Taipei 101, a prime tourist attraction famous for being one of the world's tallest buildings. Malls in the area include the sprawling Shin Kong Mitsukoshi complex, Taipei 101 mall, Eslite Bookstore's flagship store (which includes a boutique mall), The Living Mall, New York New York shopping mall, and the Vieshow Cinemas (formerly known as Warner Village). The Xinyi district also serves as the center of Taipei's active nightlife, with several popular nightclubs concentrated in a relatively small area around the Neo19 and Taipei 101 buildings.

The thriving shopping area around Taipei Main Station includes the Taipei Underground Market and the original Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store at Shin Kong Life Tower. Other popular shopping destinations include the Zhongshan Metro Mall, Dihua Street, the Guang Hua Digital Plaza, and the Core Pacific City. The Miramar Entertainment Park is known for its large ferris wheel and IMAX theater.

Taipei maintains an extensive system of parks, green spaces, and nature preserves. Parks and forestry areas of note in and around the city include Yangmingshan National Park, Taipei Zoo and Da-an Forest Park. Yangmingshan National Park (located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the central city) is famous for its cherry blossoms, hot springs, and sulfur deposits. It is the home of famous writer Lin Yutang, the summer residence of Chiang Kai-shek, residences of foreign diplomats, the Chinese Culture University, the meeting place of the now defunct National Assembly of the Republic of China, and the Kuomintang Party Archives. The Taipei Zoo was founded in 1914 and covers an area of 165 hectares for animal sanctuary.

Bitan is known for boating and water sports. Tamsui is a popular sea-side resort town. Ocean beaches are accessible in several directions from Taipei.

Temples[link]

Built in 1738, Longshan Temple is one of the oldest temples in the city.

Taipei is rich in beautiful, ornate temples housing Buddhist, Taoist, and Chinese folk religion deities. The Longshan Temple, built in 1738 and located in the Wanhua District, demonstrates an example of architecture with southern Chinese influences commonly seen on older buildings in Taiwan.

Xinsheng South Road is known as the "Road to Heaven" due to its high concentration of temples, shrines, churches, and mosques.^[20][21] Other famous temples include Baoan Temple located in historic Dalongdong, a national historical site, and Xiahai City God Temple, located in the old Dadaocheng community, constructed with architecture similar to temples in southern Fujian.^[22] The Taipei Confucius Temple traces its history back to 1879 during the Qing Dynasty and also incorporates southern Fujian-style architecture.^[23]

Besides large temples, small outdoor shrines to local deities are very common and can be spotted on road sides, parks, and neighborhoods. Many homes and businesses may also set up small shrines of candles, figurines, and offerings. Some restaurants, for example, may set up a small shrine to the Kitchen god for success in a restaurant business.^[24]

Festivals and events[link]

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall during the annual Lantern Festival.

Many yearly festivals are held in Taipei, including the Taipei Lantern Festival when thousands of sky lanterns are released in Pingxi.^[25] Common locations for festival celebrations include Memorial Square, Taipei 101, and the Zhongshan Hall in Ximending. On Double Ten Day, celebrations are held in front of the Presidential Building.

Other annual festivals include Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Ghost Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.^[25] In recent years some festivals traditionally held in Taipei, such as the Double Ten Day fireworks and concerts, have increasingly been hosted by other cities in Taiwan.

One other huge celebration in Taipei is the one on New Year Eve. Every year, thousands of people will gather in front of the Taipei City Hall to celebrate the beginning of a new year. Every time, there will be many famous singers who perform on the stage that is set up for the New Year Celebration. The performance usually starts out around eight o’clock and continues until midnight. Artists and dancers will perform throughout the night and it is just like a concert. Then, thirty minutes before midnight, the Taipei governor and some Taipei politicians will come up the stage and count down with the people. Then, when the clock reaches midnight, there will be firework at Taipei 101 and every year since, the firework has last longer than the year before.

From November 6, 2010 to April 25, 2011, Taipei held the garden festival named Taipei International Flora Exposition. It will be the first such internationally recognized exposition to take place in Taiwan, and the seventh of its kind to take place in Asia. Flora Exposition visitors hit new 1-day high admissions on February 27, 2011 with 110,000 people showing.

Taipei in film[link]

Romanization[link]

The spelling "Taipei" derives from the Wade-Giles romanization T'ai-pei.^[26] Under the official New Phonetic System (also known as Hanyu Pinyin) romanization system, which is used to romanize all street signage in Taipei, and the formerly official Tongyong Pinyin system,^[27][28] the city's name is romanized as Táiběi. However, the familiarity of the longstanding "Taipei" spelling led government authorities to retain it as one of several exceptions to the general standard.

Geography[link]

The city of Taipei, as seen from Maokong.

Tracks of all Pacific typhoons between 1980 and 2005.

Taipei City is located in the Taipei Basin in northern Taiwan.^[29] It is bordered by the Xindian River on the south and the Tamsui River on the west. The generally low-lying terrain of the central areas on the western side of the municipality slopes upward to the south and east and especially to the north,^[1] where it reaches 1,120 metres (3,675 ft) at Cising Mountain (七星山), the highest (extinct) volcano in Taiwan in Yangmingshan National Park. The northern districts of Shilin and Beitou extend north of the Keelung River and are bordered by Yangmingshan National Park. The Taipei city limits cover an area ranked sixteenth of twenty-five among all counties and cities in Taiwan.

Two peaks, Cising Mountain and Mt. Datun, rise to the northeast of the city.^[30] Cising Mountain is located on the Tatun Volcano Group and the tallest mountain at the rim of the Taipei Basin, with its main peak at 1,120 metres (3,670 ft). Mt. Datun's main peak is 1,092 metres (3,583 ft). These former volcanoes make up the western section of Yangmingshan National Park, extending from Mt. Datun northward to Mt. Caigongkeng (菜公坑山). Located on a broad saddle between two mountains, the area also contains the marshy Datun Pond.

To the southeast of the city lie the Songshan Hills and the Qingshui Ravine, which form a barrier of lush woods.^[30]

Climate[link]

Taipei has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) which is slightly short of a true tropical climate. Summers are very hot, humid, and accompanied by occasional heavy rainstorms and typhoons, while winters are short, mild and generally very foggy due to the northeasterly winds from the vast Siberian High being intensified by the pooling of this cooler air in the Taipei Basin. Due to Taiwan's location in the Pacific Ocean, it is affected by the Pacific typhoon season, which occurs between June and October.

Air quality[link]

Motor vehicle engine exhaust, particularly from motor scooters, is a source of air pollution in Taipei. The levels of fine particulate matter, including PAHs, are consistently more serious in the mornings as there is less air movement; sunlight helps clear up some pollutants, which tend to be trapped close to the ground.^[32] When compared to other Asian cities, however, Taipei has "excellent" capabilities for managing air quality in the city.^[33] Occasionally, dust storms from Mainland China can temporarily bring poor air quality to the city.^[34]

Administrative divisions[link]

Taipei City is divided up into 12 administrative districts (區 qu).^[35] Each district is further divided up into villages (里), which are further sub-divided up into neighborhoods (鄰).

	District			Population	Area	Postal code
	Hanyu Pinyin	漢字	Wade-Giles	as of 2009	km²
	■ Běitóu	北投區	Pei-t'ou	249,319	56.8216	112
	■ Shìlín	士林區	Shih-lin	285,459	62.3682	111
	■ Dàtóng	大同區	Ta-t'ung	124,466	5.6815	103
	■ Zhōngshān	中山區	Chung-shan	218,551	13.6821	104
	■ Sōngshān	松山區	Sung-shan	209,903	9.2878	105
	■ Nèihú	內湖區	Nei-hu	267,120	31.5787	114
	■ Wànhuá	萬華區	Wan-hua	190,050	8.8522	108
	■ Zhōngzhèng	中正區	Chung-cheng	159,464	7.6071	100
	■ Dà'ān	大安區	Ta-an	313,371	11.3614	106
	■ Xìnyì	信義區	Hsin-yi	227,232	11.2077	110
	■ Nángǎng	南港區	Nan-kang	113,462	21.8424	115
	■ Wénshān	文山區	Wen-shan	261,523	31.5090	116

City planning[link]

The city is characterized by straight roads and public buildings of grand Western architectural styles.^[36] The city is built on a square grid configuration, however these blocks are huge by international standards (500 m (1,640.42 ft) sides). However there is little uniformed planning within these blocks; therefore lanes (perpendicular to streets) and alleys (parallel with street, or conceptually, perpendicular to the lane) spill out from the main throughways. These minor roads are not always perpendicular and sometimes cut through the block diagonally.

Although development began in the western districts of the city from trade, the eastern districts of the city have become the downtown. Many of the western districts, already in decline, have become targets of new urban renewal projects.^[36]

History[link]

Diagram of Old Taipei revealing the original city wall and gates. Important buildings are highlighted.

First settlements[link]

The region known as the Taipei Basin was home to Ketagalan tribes before the eighteenth century.^[37] Han Chinese mainly from Fujian Province of China began to settle in the Taipei Basin in 1709.^[38][39] In the late 19th century, the Taipei area, where the major Han Chinese settlements in northern Taiwan and one of the designated overseas trade ports, Tamsui, were located, gained economic importance due to the booming overseas trade, especially that of tea exportation. In 1875, the northern part of Taiwan was separated from Taiwan Prefecture (Chinese: 臺灣府) and incorporated into the new Taipei Prefecture as a new administrative entity of the Chinese government (Qing Dynasty).^[6] Having been established adjoining the flourishing townships of Bangkah, Dalongdong, and Twatutia, the new prefectural capital was known as Chengnei (Chinese: 城內), "the inner city", and government buildings were erected there. From 1875 (during the Qing Dynasty) until the beginning of Japanese rule in 1895, Taipei was part of Tamsui County of the Taipei Prefecture and the prefectural capital. In 1886, when Taiwan was proclaimed a province of China, Taipei city was made the provincial capital. Taipei remained a temporary provincial capital before it officially became the capital of Taiwan in 1894. All that remains from the old Qing Dynasty city is the north gate. The west gate and city walls were demolished by the Japanese while the south gate, little south gate, and east gate were extensively modified by the Kuomintang (KMT) and have lost much of their original character.