A million and more tourists can't be wrong. Taiwan had that many visitors in 1976 and again in 1977.
Tourism is temporarily growing faster than the construction of hotels. Tens of thousands of visitors have had to be turned away for lack of rooms.
Government loan funds recently were made available to finance 40 per cent of the cost of approved hotel construction. The shortage will be over by 1980.
Meanwhile, visitors unable to find first-class hotel accommodations are trying second-class inns and guest houses. These are comfortable, if not luxurious. Their guests are of the view that it's better to compromise on lodging than miss a stopover in Taiwan.
About half of Taiwan tourists are Japanese.
There are several reasons for this: propinquity, low air fares, tour groups, wide understanding of the Japanese language and the rich variety of attractions.
Some older Japanese also come because they lived in Taiwan or visited the island during the occupation period that ended in 1945.
Americans make up the second largest group of Taiwan tourists. About 140,000 of them came in 1976 despite the distance from the United States and the high cost of Pacific air travel.
Twenty years ago and even less, Taiwan was known as Formosa throughout the Western world. Today the island is known under its own name from New Zealand to Newcastle and from Cape Town to Tierra del Fuego. It is also known as the only place in the world where the traveler can see the "real China" and freely experience the full flavor of Chinese living.
The Republic of China welcomes visitors from all except Communist countries. Visas are necessary but may be easily obtained through ROC diplomatic establishments, consulates and other offices all over the world. Travel agents and carriers can assist those who have any difficulty with visa formalities.
Twelve airlines serve the Republic of China - all of them via Taipei. China Airlines also flies to Hongkong by way of Kaohsiung - the biggest port and second largest city - and has nonstop Boeing 747SP flights from Taipei to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Pan American, Northwest and Korean Air Lines have direct one-stop and two-stop flights to the United States. The other airlines are regional carriers.
For sightseers coming from outside Asia, the Taiwan stopover is one of the region's biggest tourism bargains. Transportation costs nothing additional for those who visit Korean or Japanese cities together with Manila, Hongkong, Bangkok, Singapore or Jakarta.
Attractions of the island may be broken down into such categories as scenery, culture and night life.
Portuguese mariners coined the name Formosa because of the island's evergreen beauty. There has been no change in that loveliness during the last 400 years.
Plentiful rain, high mountains and endless vistas of rice paddies and other crops make Taiwan the emerald isle of Asia. Nor is it necessary to go far to see upland scenery. Three-fourths of the island is mountainous.
Scenic foothills are only a l5-rninute drive from Taipei. An excursion of one day is sufficient to visit Taroko Gorge, a great cleft on the east coast and the portal to the Cross-Island East-West Highway traversing rugged mountains that soar past 13,000 feet.
Sea and beach vistas are never far away. Coral viewing draws snorkelers to the island's southern tip. The view south on a clear day is to the northernmost island of the Philippines.
Off the west coast are the Penghu (Pescadores) with succulent seafood, estuaries connecting several of the islands, and ancient buildings. These islet outposts of Taiwan were reached first as the Chinese people fanned out across the straits that separate the big island from the mainland.
In the foothills of the Central Mountain Range is peaceful Sun Moon Lake, long a favorite of honeymooners. Higher in the mountains is Alishan, reached by a narrow gauge forestry line that fascinates railway buffs.
Every means of intraisland transportation is available - plane, train, bus and rented car. Good accommodations and food are found everywhere.
Questionnaires answered by tourists rank scenery as one of Taiwan's most satisfying attractions.
Chinese culture is inescapable - from the architecture of the Grand Hotel in Taipei - rated one of the world's best - to the Chinese College of Culture in the Taipei foothills.
Chinese classical opera is on view only in Taiwan. A repertoire theater of this great art soon will be opened in Taipei. Chinese music is to be heard in concert. There are frequent performances of Chinese dance.
All of China's festivals are observed: Lunar New Year, Lantern Festival, Tombsweeping Day, Dragon Boat Day and Moon Festival. Each has its own special rites and foods. Each welcomes the visitor to watch and often to participate.
At the National Palace Museum in a Taipei rustic setting is the world's largest collection of Chinese art treasures: paintings, jades, porcelains, embroideries, tapestries, calligraphies and many others. The trinkets of the emperors are on display. So are the furnishings and costumes of dynastic times.
Other museums in the Taipei area have similar treasures. Also to be seen are ancient ox bones once used in divination. These have provided a Rosetta stone for the deciphering of primitive written characters. Artifacts of the Taiwan aboriginal peoples are exhibited along with modern art and sculpture.
Visitors interested in history will find nearly 400-year-old forts of the Dutch occupation period well preserved at Tainan. Here, too, is the temple of Koxinga, who expelled the Dutch from Taiwan and almost defeated the Manchus in his efforts to restore the Ming dynasty.
Chinese food in Taiwan is the best in the world. Every major provincial cuisine is included. There are outstanding restaurants within walking distance of any major hotel. Some hotels have their own Chinese restaurants of distinction and also serve international and Japanese cuisines.
Merely to walk the streets of a Taiwan city or village is to be in China. There are no English signs, yet English is compulsory in secondary schools and is widely spoken. To walk the streets is also safe by day or night. Taiwan has almost none of the street crime that mars tourism in so many other parts of the world.
Night life is to be found in all major cities. There are night clubs and dance halls and bars. Such establishments close at midnight but this doesn't mean a curfew. For those who seek a Chinese flavor, there are song halls and theater restaurants with acrobats, singing, dancing and bits of Chinese opera.
If scenery and Chinese culture should begin to pall, Taiwan also has most aspects of Western modem life: movies, music and food. Big department stores sell goods from all over the world as well as Chinese specialties and handicrafts.
Taiwan is a great place to visit. Ask the tourist who has been to the "island beautiful." He is bound to have his own list of tourism priorities. Free China has something for every taste.
To say that the Republic of China accents youth and education would be an understatement.
Nearly 28 per cent of a population of just under 17 million is enrolled in school - from kindergarten through the doctoral level of graduate work.
Quantity in education has now been assured. There are 2,400 primary schools and more than 600 junior high schools. Since 1968, every child has been pledged a minimum of nine years of free education.
Entrance examinations do not begin until the senior high school level.
Teachers, parents and the government are now urging greater emphasis on improving the quality of education.
Educators are fairly well satisfied with primary schools. Pupils transferring to other countries and other systems are usually ahead in mathematics and beginning science.
If the language is Chinese, they are ahead in that, too.
The concentration on reform is at the secondary and college levels.
Surveys suggest that too much education stresses the academic and neglects the vocational. Steps have been taken to implement a secondary education ratio of 60-40 for vocational studies versus the academic curriculum.
Particular attention is being given youngsters who drop out of school after nine years. At age 15 or 16, they are not in demand by employers. Their academic education is minimal and they have no special skills.
Many are channeled into vocational schools. When lengthy training is not possible, specially organized short courses are given. Experiments are under way that combine vocational education with on-the-job training.
The Republic of China has one of Asia's top records in the development of higher education.
More than one hundred universities, separate colleges, junior colleges and advanced technical institutes have an enrollment in excess of 300,000. Eight universities offer doctoral programs and 156 departments have courses leading to the master's degree.
Admission to institutions of higher learning is through competitive examinations held once a year. Only about 25 per cent of applicants can be accepted. Those admitted have a choice of schools and fields of study in the order of their exam grades.
Universities and colleges decide what they shall teach and how. Those trained in the sciences do especially well when they go abroad for further study.
College graduates may seek advanced degrees at foreign schools without examination provided they pay their own way. Fewer are leaving now that Taiwan has graduate work of a high level. Students may not go abroad to seek the baccalaureate degree.
Higher education costs are low. Tuition at the most expensive private universities is only about US$150 a semester. Scholarships and living allowances are available to outstanding students at both public and private institutions.
Chinese children are frequently spoiled as toddlers. This may be thought of as advance recompense for the hard years of study that lie ahead.
From the first grade onward, the rule is homework first and recreation (even television) only after its completion. Politicians often point to the number of high school and college students wearing glasses and assert that teachers are working them too hard.
Mastering the Chinese characters is essential and time-consuming. English must be tackled beginning in the seventh grade. Students who aspire to college degrees have to pass an examination to get into high school and finish among the top 25 per cent of those taking the college entrance examination.
Despite the stress on book learning, young people of Taiwan are growing bigger and stronger and more skillful in sports.
The Little League baseball teams fielded by nearly every elementary school have made the Republic of China famous in the world of boys' baseball. Taiwan champions have dominated world series play in Senior and Big Leagues as well as the Little League. The age span is from 10 to 18.
Other ranking sports are basketball, soccer, swimming, badminton, tennis, table tennis, track and field, gymnastics, golf and mountain climbing.
Two of the world's outstanding athletes of the last 20 years have come from Taiwan: C.K. Yang in the decathlon and Miss Chi Cheng in the sprints, hurdles and broad jump.
Professional golfers from Taiwan customarily win the Asian Circuit. The Republic of China has won the World Cup.
Girls are doing well in international golf and basketball. They have begun to play Little League baseball but with teams of their own rather than in competition against boys.
Year-round favorable weather makes it possible to accent outdoor youth activities.
Scouting is sponsored by schools. Campouts attract many young people. Scouts perform various community services as they carry out their merit badge programs.
Mountain climbing attracts thousands of high school and college students. The mountains are easily accessible. Students can rise to a challenge which doesn't involve a lot of adult guidance.
Outdoor activities constitute the heart of the annual China Youth Corps program for young people. (File photo)
Young people have sometimes been too venturesome in climbing rugged Taiwan peaks that are snow-covered and freezing cold during the winter season. Several tragedies have occurred. Instead of trying to prohibit winter hikes, experienced mountain climbers are teaching survival skills through the China Youth Corps.
CYC, which was established at the direction of the late President Chiang Kai-shek, sponsors winter and summer recreation programs that include activities ranging from horseback riding to dancing and debate. Supervisors come from the armed forces as well as the schools and society generally. All are volunteers.
Playgrounds for young people are to be found in every city and at schools of the countryside.
Taipei City recently converted a nine-hole golf course into a Youth Park with swimming pools, playing fields, gymnasiums and play areas for the very young.
Plans call for the construction of swimming pools at most Taipei schools. Swimming performances are improving fast as a result of increasing opportunities to participate.
School excursions involve young people from the first grade through college. Students of Taipei venture out into the countryside and "down south." Those of rural areas go to the cities. Those in the south visit Taipei, which is the island's cultural center.
President Chiang had great respect and affection for children. His elder son, Premier Chiang Ching-kuo. has written: "Father was always kind to me but he was also very strict. In showing his affection or giving me instruction, he would never overlook the smallest detail."
Nor did the Republic of China's leader of nearly half a century overlook details of education and training for other young people. The nine year education program and the China Youth Corps are two of his principal memorials.