Taiwan (Republic of China)

Taiwan Republic of China
Status	Proto Independent State
Social and Moral Index	20th best
Capital	Taipei
Land Area
Location	Asia
Groupings	Small Islands
Population
Life Expectancy
GNI
ISO3166-1 Codes	TW, TWN, 1581
Internet Domain	.tw2
Currency	Dollar (TWD)3
Telephone	+8864

1. Overview
2. Taiwan National and Social Development
3. Gender Equality
4. Religion and Beliefs
5. The Internet
6. More Charts and Comparisons to Other Countries
7. Links

1. Overview

#china #japan #taiwan

In all practical respects, Taiwan is an independent nation-state. But China claims that Taiwan is still part of China and has the aim of governing it again in the future.

“In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Beginning in the 1950s, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the local population within the governing structure. This process expanded rapidly in the 1980s. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform.”

CIA's The World Factbook (2013)₅

2. Taiwan National and Social Development

The Social and Moral Development Index is a formulaic aggregation of many factors. It concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: "What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2017).

3. Gender Equality

Gender inequality is not a necessary part of early human development. Although a separation of roles is almost universal due to different strengths between the genders, this does not have to mean that women are subdued, and, such patriarchialism is not universal in ancient history. Those cultures and peoples who shed, or never developed, the idea that mankind ought to dominate womankind, are better cultures and peoples than those who, even today, cling violently to those mores.

Taiwan is notable for its equality between the sexes.

See:

• "Religion Versus Womankind" by Vexen Crabtree (2007)

4. Religion and Beliefs

#buddhism #christianity #hinduism #islam #judaism

Data from the Pew Forum, a professional polling outfit, states that in 2010 the religious makeup of this country was as follows in the table below₆:

The CIA World Factbook has slightly different data, and states: mixture of Buddhist and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%₇.

Taiwan has enjoyed an increase in religious liberty since 1989. In that year the Law on Civic Organizations "allowed all religions to exist and removed multiple prohibitions". At the start of this period, in 1990, there were 83 religious groups in Taiwan and this surged to 1062 in the year 2004 "and the total number of temples and churches more than doubled"₈.

Links:

• A List of All Religions and Belief Systems
• Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?

5. The Internet

Internet access has become an essential research tool. It facilitates an endless list of life improvements, from the ability to network and socialize without constraint, to access to a seemingly infinite repository of technical and procedural information on pretty much any task. The universal availability of data has sped up industrial development and personal learning at the national and personal level. Individuals can read any topic they wish regardless of the locality of expert teachers, and, entire nations can develop their technology and understanding of the world simply because they are now exposed to advanced societies and moral discourses online. Like every communications medium, the Internet has issues and causes a small range of problems, but these are insignificant compared to the advantages of having an online populace.

Links:

• The Internet and Religion

6. More Charts and Comparisons to Other Countries