Taiwan has 17 million people and 14,000 square miles. The Chinese mainland held by the Communists has nearly 900 million people and 3.7 million square miles. But Taiwan has per capita income approaching US$1,500 compared with an estimated US$300 on the mainland. Nearly every Taiwan family has a television set (approximately 1 for every 5 persons). The mainland has fewer than 1 per 1,000 and most of these are not privately owned.
So it goes, also, with automobiles, telephones, refrigerators and other possessions that make living better and more comfortable. In Taiwan cities, most people are living in apartment houses built within the last 10 years. On the mainland, the average family lives in quarters built before the Communist usurpation. Whole families share one room.
Nothing is rationed in the Republic of China. It is possible to buy durable goods on credit. Food prices are about the same as those elsewhere in the free world - some items a little higher, some a little lower. Rice and other grains, meat, cooking oil, textiles and most durable goods are rationed on the mainland. A long wait is required for a bicycle. In Taiwan, motorcycles and cars are available at any time. A choice may be made between imported and domestically produced autos.
The mainlander who wishes to travel to see members of his family or friends must receive the approval of party functionaries and obtain a ration card. People of Taiwan go where they like at any time. Identification is shown only for air travel, not for train, bus or taxi. Nothing is rationed; nothing is in short supply. Travel outside the country for purposes of tourism is not encouraged because of the high cost. Ordinarily, however, the citizen is able to find a legitimate reason. Visiting a close relative is one such. Relaxation of the ban on sightseeing travel is under consideration.
If the citizen of the Republic of China gets into trouble with the law, he is protected by the constitution against arbitrary arrest and incarceration. Police are answerable to higher authority, including the elected Control Yuan, which is sometimes called the watchdog of government.
On the mainland; the Communist party dictates justice - often through the device of the "people's courts." Appeals are unknown. When people disappear, their families dare not ask about them. To ask questions is to run grave risk of political implication.
Unions in the Republic of China bargain collectively and convey grievances to the employer. Wages went up about 20 per cent last year. The mainland worker's pay is frozen. A limited number of industrial workers received their first small pay increases in more than a decade this year. Farm pay has not been raised for much longer than that. Only the party hears complaints and inevitably sides with the regime and against the citizen.
In the last year, the Chinese Communists have made much of the supposed liberalization of the mainland life style. They claim that literature is available again, that Western music is heard, that the old operas are back and that the philosophy of Confucianism has been restored to good standing. In the Republic of China, the people have always been free to look into, study and espouse anything except Communism. All of the Chinese classics are available in hundreds of bookstores. Modern literature includes every possible theme. Even that of Communism is not barred so long as it does not represent an advocacy.
Western symphony orchestras have never ceased to play the music of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, although among young people these composers must vie for attention with boogie and Bacharach. The standard repertoire of Chinese opera is offered the year around. President Chiang Kai-shek's memory will be honored by a Chinese opera theater that is expected to offer the best of that art form to be seen anywhere in the world. Western singers, instrumentalists and dance troupes come to Taiwan to perform.
On the mainland, sports are handicapped for lack of equipment and opportunity to practice. Only a few sports - table tennis and badminton, for example - are encouraged. Taiwan offers nearly every known sport. Especially popular are basketball, track and field, baseball and golf. The Republic of China has become one of the world's leading exporters of sports equipment in the last few years.
Chinese Communist movie theaters show only heavy-handed propaganda. Free China has its own thriving film industry. Features are imported from the United States and many other countries for exhibition in several hundred theaters. Three television networks are broadcasting in color to all of Taiwan six hours a day and 11 hours on Saturday and Sunday. These networks are privately controlled and subject only to broad government directives. For instance, government recently asked that more children's programs be broadcast. The networks agreed. More than 100 radio stations have comparable freedom of programming. Thirty-one daily newspapers and hundreds of magazines publish without censorship.
News dissemination on the mainland is entirely in the hands of the party. Students of mainland affairs seek provincial newspapers, because these sometimes take small liberties with party directives or are too far away to be tightly bound by the party line. The authorities make it tough for the scholars by forbidding the export of the provincial press. Only an occasional provincial paper is smuggled out.
Except for matters involving the ongoing Communist conspiracy, life in Taiwan is free and devoid of government or police interference. The citizen's home is his castle and his person is sacrosanct. The midnight knock on the door is still heard on the mainland. After the "gang of four's" supporters have all been rounded up, who will be next? Purges are endless. Tyranny and slavery are the norm.
Life is not perfect in the Republic of China. There are poor people and substandard conditions. Inequities occur. Japanese, Americans and Europeans have more money in their pockets and more goods in their homes. Yet as refugees who still stream out of the Chinese mainland always attest when they reach Taiwan, life in the Republic of China is heaven compared with what they left behind. That is why they keep coming despite all the obstacles raised against them.
It only takes two to be friends. The Republic of China has learned that important lesson many times over since the 1971 day when it had to leave its seat at the United Nations.
Many of the countries which formerly recognized the ROC decided to send ambassadors to Red China. This necessitated a formal break with the Republic of China, which declines to accept any implication of "two Chinas." But lack of diplomatic relations does not imply enmity. Nor is it essential to have ambassadors and consuls to assure trade and travel between nations.
Such countries as Japan and the Philippines have offices in the Republic of China under civil auspices. The ROC maintains a similar presence in Tokyo and Manila. In other cases, friendship associations or business enterprises serve as channels of communication. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs places the count of friendly relationships between the Republic of China and other countries at more than 140, including well over a score of states with which diplomatic links are undisturbed.
Nationals of non-Communist countries have no difficulty in obtaining visas to visit the Republic of China as tourists or businessmen. Hongkong, which has no overt governmental-level relations with the Republic of China, is Taiwan's third-ranking trade partner after the United States and Japan. The island is a favorite destination of Hongkong honeymooners. Only Hongkong Chinese who have aligned themselves with the Communists are unwelcome. Ways have been found to bring some of the overseas Chinese from Vietnam for resettlement in the Republic of China.
Retired servicemen are major contractors at home and abroad. This Saudi Arabia road connects Taif and Banissa. (File photo)
Trade and social and cultural relations with the people of Britain and Europe are especially close, although the only ROC diplomatic establishment in that area is at the Holy See. In 1977, trade with Europe totaled nearly US$1,500 million.
Although most college graduates go abroad to the United States, many have been educated at English, French and German universities and some at other European institutions of higher learning. These graduates - including scholars and a number of government leaders - continue their interest in their schools and countries of schooling after returning home. Personal friendships with Europeans and Americans are numerous and close.
The United States now maintains liaison relations with the Chinese mainland, but there are few friendships between Americans and Chinese Communists. Social and cultural relationships with people of the mainland are difficult Thousands of Chinese students from the Republic of China have gone to the United States for advanced study and returned to Taiwan. The American University Club in Taipei has a large membership, mostly Chinese. There is an organization of scholars and technocrats who benefited from training under the American aid program.
The United States participates in a number of special activities on Taiwan. The Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction is supervised by commissioners appointed by the presidents of the United States and the Republic of China. Financial support is given the Asian Vegetable Center. Several other Asian countries participate, although only Korea continues to have diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.
The State Department's Mandarin language training center is located at Taichung. In Taipei is the headquarters of the Taiwan Defense Command, a U.S. Navy installation implementing the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Republic of China. Several American schools are operating in Taiwan, along with the U.S. International Communications Agency (formerly USIA), an AM-FM-SW radio station administered and staffed by the U.S. armed forces, and two U.S. Navy hospitals.
The biggest number of foreign students in Taiwan come from the United States. Most are learning Mandarin or Taiwanese at Chinese universities or special institutes. Several American universities have pooled their resources in a language training program supervised by Stanford. Americans constitute the second largest number of foreign tourists after the Japanese.
Korea, which has a new embassy building in Taipei, maintains especially close relations with the Republic of China. Exchange visits are frequent. Many Korean students are studying in the Republic of China. Some Chinese students go to Korea. Trade between the two countries has increased sharply in recent years.
Artistic exchanges include television programs. Television stations in Korea and Taiwan stand ready to increase the volume sharply as soon as Korea begins programming color. Except for an occasional old movie and some educational programs, color is used exclusively on the three Taiwan networks. TV programs also are exchanged with the Philippines, Hongkong and Singapore. Chinese singers from Taiwan long have been favorites in Southeast Asia and Japan. A Taiwan girl finished second in this year's Hongkong pop song contest.
The Japanese government's decision to recognize the Chinese Communists did not reflect the sentiments of large numbers of the Japanese people. In Asia, Taiwan is the principal destination for Japanese tourists. Taipei has a sizable Japanese population and a Japanese elementary school. Japanese residing in the Republic of China are serving commerce and investment and providing technical assistance under several hundred contracts.
Japanese enjoy many attributes of free Chinese culture. Their way is eased in Taiwan by the fact that older island-born Chinese speak the Japanese language. There are many Japanese restaurants. Japan Air Lines used to call the service between Tokyo, Osaka and Taipei its golden route. When this service was suspended after Japan's recognition of Peiping, JAL established a wholly new subsidiary - Japan Asia Airways - and made aviation peace with the Republic of China. The route is as golden as ever.
Foreigners reside anywhere in Taiwan and are welcomed into the community activities of the Chinese. In former times, overseas Chinese communities tended to be clannish. This is less true today, especially in the Americas and Europe. At the government's urging, those who still claim citizenship in the Republic of China take a greater interest in their countries of residence.
All over the world, friendship is the keynote of free Chinese approaches to other peoples. This has been repaid in kind in contrast to the attitudes of those who have become propaganda tools of the Chinese Communists. The people who owe or formerly owed allegiance to the Republic of China seek the goodwill of all. They follow the Confucian precept that no matter what shores the Four Seas may wash, all men are brothers.
Close to 1.3 million tourists will visit the Republic of China this year for another record. Only 17,000 came in 1958. In the mid-l970s, tourism growth threatened to founder on the rocks of insufficient hotel space. Visitors without confirmed reservations were warned to stay away. By the end of this year, the hotel room shortage will be virtually over. Eleven sizable hotels of international standard were scheduled to open in 1978. Nearly 2,700 rooms are being added to the Taiwan total.
Incentives for hotel construction were restored last year. This has led to groundbreaking for 27 first-class hotels with more than 9,200 rooms and 15 second-class hotels with more than 1,800 rooms.
Taipei is the hotel center of the island. However, good accommodations are found in all major cities and at resorts. Several resort hotels catering to families have been opened. Taipei and Kaohsiung are on international air routes. Keelung and Kaohsiung are major ports. The island is only an hour from Hongkong and a little over two hours from Tokyo, Osaka or Seoul. China Airlines now flies nonstop between Taipei and the U.S. West Coast.
Visitors give Taiwan high marks for friendly hospitality. That and the evergreen mountain scenery and seascapes impress tourists most. Chinese food of a dozen provincial specialties also rates high. Only a few years ago, the average stay was less than four days. This has been increased to a week by the enhanced accessibility of attractions "down island" from Taiwan. The whole island can be seen in a week for about US$200, including transportation, accommodations and meals.
Most visitors still enter the Republic of China through Taipei, which will be served by a new international airport beginning in 1979. Although the Taoyuan International Airport is much farther from the city than the present Sungshan International, the transportation time to major hotels will not be much longer. Taoyuan airport is just off the North-South Freeway.
Now a city of over 2 million, Taipei alone can keep the tourist busy for several days. At the top of the "must see" list is the National Palace Museum with its collection of nearly a quarter of a million treasures of Chinese art and culture. The jades, porcelains, paintings, calligraphies, bronzes, sculptures, lacquer and enamel wares, tapestries and embroideries are among the finest in the world. The National Palace Muse um is open every day in the year and the admission cost is only about U$50 cents. Bus or taxi transportation to the garden-like suburban setting is reasonable. There are frequent guided tours. Inscriptions in English and Chinese describe the exhibits. A cafeteria serves those who wish to stay all day.
There's something new at the National Palace Museum: an exclusive display of jade arranged by use of the stone. (File photo)
Taipei has several other museums of interest, several major temples, championship golf courses, Chinese theater restaurants and opera performances. Restaurants serve Japanese, Korean and Western food as well as all major Chinese cuisines. Although places of entertainment close at midnight, there is no curfew. The Grand Hotel has been ranked among the best in the world. Others are as good as the best in Tokyo, Seoul and Hongkong but with somewhat lower rates.
A number of one-day excursions are available from Taipei. The most popular is Taroko Gorge on the east coast. This narrow cleft reaching from the Pacific Ocean to the peaks of the Central Mountain Range (which rise to 13,000 feet) is a scenic spectacular ranking with those of the American West. The Taroko area is the center of Taiwan aborigine culture with dancing and songs brought to the island more than a thousand years ago by several tribes from the tropical lands to the south. Marble quarries and processors are found near the small city of Hualien, gateway to the gorge and the East-West Cross-Island Highway which lies beyond.
Also on the east coast as well as in the hills just north of Taipei are hot spring spas with both big hotels and small inns. By 1980, Taipei will be connected to Hualien by a railway which tunnels through the Central Mountain Range. The present coastal road is sometimes blocked by landslides and most visitors to Taroko go by air.
In half a day, the Taipei visitor can see the northern seascape, the strange sandstone formations of Yehliu and the seaport city of Keelung, where rain is measured more than 300 days in the year. Another half a day can be spent visiting Wulai, which has a waterfall, aborigine village and the only passenger-carrying cableway in Taiwan.
Sun Moon Lake, the favorite destination of Taiwan honeymooners, is an easy two-day trip by train to Taichung, a city of half a million, and then by bus into the mountains. Hotels overlook the serene and peaceful lake, which was built to help generate hydroelectricity. A little farther south is Alishan at an elevation of 7,500 feet. The trip up the mountain by narrow gauge forestry railroad is a study in botanical change, starting from pineapple fields and ranging through giant bamboo groves into pine and fir country. The resort lies above a "sea of clouds." From a nearby lookout, the sun can be seen rising behind Yushan (Mt. Morrison), a peak of over 13,000 feet. The Alishan visit can be made from Taipei in two days but three is more comfortable.
Well to the south are Tainan, the old capital of the island, and Kaohsiung, the second largest city, biggest port and center of heavy industry. Dutch fortifications dating to the 17th century can be seen at Tainan. Kaohsiung has parks, golf courses and the romantic River of Love as well as factories, steel mill and shipyard. The natural harbor is one of the finest in the world.
At the end of the island, looking southward to the Philippines, eastward to the Pacific and westward to the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits, is Oluanpi lighthouse and the Kenting beach resort. Snorkeling along coral reefs is popular here. The season extends through spring, summer and fall. There is a tropical botanical garden.
Another excursion is the ferryboat ride from Keelung in the north to Hualien on the east coast. On one side is the Blue Pacific stretching east to Hawaii and Mexico, on the other the sharply ascending mountains of the Central Range.
Except in the high mountains, where lost hikers are not uncommon, the tourist is free to wander off on his own. Crime against the person is rare in the Republic of China. Hold-ups and muggings are virtually unknown. If the exploring visitor loses his way, he will sooner or later find someone who speaks English. Japanese is also widely spoken.
Intra-island transportation is convenient, frequent and cheap by plane, train, bus and taxi. Except for some mountain areas, no special permission is required to travel anywhere. Identification need be shown only for plane travel. Visits to farms and factories can be specially arranged. Information is available from travel bureaus and agencies.
Confucius remarked that the greeting of friends coming from afar is one of life's greatest pleasures. That is the spirit of Taiwan tourism. All who come to the "island beautiful" are regarded as friends.