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Taino: A Novel
by José Barreiro"Written" by Guaikán, the elderly Taino man who, in his youth, was adopted by Christopher Columbus and saw history unfold, Taino is the Indian chronicle of the American encounter, the Native view on Columbus and what happened in the Caribbean.<P><P> This novel, based on a true story, penetrates the historical veil that still enshrines the "discovery." Presently a senior fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, José Barreiro is a novelist, essayist, and an activist of nearly four decades on American indigenous hemispheric themes. Barreiro is a member of the Taino Nation of the Antilles.
Tainted Tap: Flint's Journey from Crisis to Recovery
by Katrinell M. DavisAfter a cascade of failures left residents of Flint, Michigan, without a reliable and affordable supply of safe drinking water, citizens spent years demanding action from their city and state officials. Complaints from the city's predominantly African American residents were ignored until independent researchers confirmed dangerously elevated blood lead levels among Flint children and in the city's tap water. Despite a 2017 federal court ruling in favor of Flint residents who had demanded mitigation, those efforts have been incomplete at best. Assessing the challenges that community groups faced in their attempts to advocate for improved living conditions, Tainted Tap offers a rich analysis of conditions and constraints that created the Flint water crisis. Katrinell Davis contextualizes the crisis in Flint's long and troubled history of delivering essential services, the consequences of regional water-management politics, and other forms of systemic neglect that impacted the working-class community's health and well-being. Using ethnographic and empirical evidence from a range of sources, Davis also sheds light on the forms of community action that have brought needed changes to this underserved community.
Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say About Their Lives (Gender and Culture Series)
by Leigh GilmoreIn 1991, Anita Hill's testimony during Clarence Thomas's Senate confirmation hearing brought the problem of sexual harassment to a public audience. Although widely believed by women, Hill was defamed by conservatives and Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. The tainting of Hill and her testimony is part of a larger social history in which women find themselves caught up in a system that refuses to believe what they say. Hill's experience shows how a tainted witness is not who someone is, but what someone can become. Why are women so often considered unreliable witnesses to their own experiences? How are women discredited in legal courts and in courts of public opinion? Why is women's testimony so often mired in controversies fueled by histories of slavery and colonialism? How do new feminist witnesses enter testimonial networks and disrupt doubt? Tainted Witness examines how gender, race, and doubt stick to women witnesses as their testimony circulates in search of an adequate witness. Judgment falls unequally upon women who bear witness, as well-known conflicts about testimonial authority in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries reveal. Women's testimonial accounts demonstrate both the symbolic potency of women's bodies and speech in the public sphere and the relative lack of institutional security and control to which they can lay claim. Each testimonial act follows in the wake of a long and invidious association of race and gender with lying that can be found to this day within legal courts and everyday practices of judgment, defining these locations as willfully unknowing and hostile to complex accounts of harm. Bringing together feminist, literary, and legal frameworks, Leigh Gilmore provides provocative readings of what happens when women's testimony is discredited. She demonstrates how testimony crosses jurisdictions, publics, and the unsteady line between truth and fiction in search of justice.
Taiwan Cinema, Memory, and Modernity
by Ivy I-chu ChangThis book investigates the aesthetics and politics of Post/Taiwan-New-Cinema by examining fifteen movies by six directors and frequent award winners in international film festivals. The book considers the works of such prominent directors as Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-liang and Chang Tsuo-chi and their influence on Asian films, as well as emergent phenomenal directors such as Wei Te-sheng, Zero Chou, and Chung Mong-hong. It also explores the possibility of transnational and trans-local social sphere in the interstices of layered colonial legacies, nation-state domination, and global capitalism. Considering Taiwan cinema in the wake of globalization, it analyses how these films represent the socio-political transition among multiple colonial legacies, global capitalism, and the changing cross-strait relation between Taiwan and the Mainland China. The book discusses how these films represent nomadic urban middle class, displaced transnational migrant workers, roaming children and young gangsters, and explores how the continuity/disjuncture of globalization has not only carved into historical and personal memories and individual bodies, but also influenced the transnational production modes and marketing strategies of cinema.
Taiwan Cinema: International Reception and Social Change (Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia)
by Kuei-Fen Chiu Ming-Yeh Rawnsley Gary RawnsleyThe book examines recent developments in Taiwan cinema, with particular focus on a leading contemporary Taiwan filmmaker, Wei Te-sheng, who is responsible for such Asian blockbusters as Cape No.7, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale and Kano. The book discusses key issues, including: why (until about 2008) Taiwan cinema underwent a decline, and how cinema is portraying current social changes in Taiwan, including changing youth culture and how it represents indigenous people in the historical narrative of Taiwan. The book also explores the reasons why current Taiwan cinema is receiving a much less enthusiastic response globally compared to its reception in previous decades.
Taiwan Conundrum
by Martin L LasaterThe Taiwan issue in Sino-American relations remains one of the most complex, controversial, and even dangerous policy dilemmas facing the United States in the post-Cold War period. In an era of growing nationalism on mainland China and Taiwan, tremendous strain is being placed on relations across the Taiwan Strait. As demonstrated by the 1996 Taiwa
Taiwan Enterprises in Global Perspective
by Xiaohu (Shawn) WangThis volume was conceived to further the understanding of the transformation of the Taiwan economy over the past four decades and thus to throw light on issues in development theory and policy, especially for other developing economies. It is built on the micro foundation of a series of enterprise field studies which were conducted by a consortium of eight Taiwan universities under the auspices of Taiwan's National Science Council. Although Taiwan's status as one of the "four dragons" and a rapidly growing Asian Pacific economy is well understood, information on its development remains relatively scarce. Publications of most international organizations rarely include Taiwan as an entity, and scholarly analysis of the causes of the Taiwan miracle are often speculative. Those based on empirical research are by and large at the macro level; few are based on field studies of one of the most critical factors - Taiwan's enterprises. This volume aims to fill the void and goes a long way toward developing a micro perspective on this important economy.
Taiwan In World Affairs
by Robert G Sutter William Oscar JohnsonTraditionally, Taiwan has been viewed as the passive pawn of more aggressive powers, yet now it has begun to assert its voice in world affairs—especially through economic influence. This volume brings together leading scholars to examine the origins and implications of Taiwan's global role and the ramifications of its growing strength for such crucial policy issues as China's reunification and U.S. policy in East Asia.
Taiwan Studies Revisited (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series)
by Dafydd Fell Hsin-Huang Michael HsiaoThis book examines and reviews some of the key figures in Taiwan Studies to plot the development of the field by revisiting their earlier influential books and bodies of work. Often autobiographical in detail, each chapter asks the author to discuss the origins of their research and how their engagement with the field has developed since. The contributors then discuss their methodologies, fieldwork and arguments, as well as how their work was received at the time. They also go on to reflect on their chosen methods and core findings, assessing whether they have stood the test of time. Reflecting the diversity of the Taiwan Studies field, subjects covered in this volume include sociology, musicology, linguistics, comparative politics, international relations and anthropology. As such, this comprehensive overview adopts a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to understanding Taiwan. Painting a picture of the changing state of international Taiwan Studies through the work of leading scholars, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Taiwan Studies, Chinese Studies and Asian politics, culture and society.
Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895–1945: History, Culture, Memory (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)
by David Der-Wei Wang Eds. Liao Ping-HuiThe first study of colonial Taiwan in English, this volume brings together seventeen essays by leading scholars to construct a comprehensive cultural history of Taiwan under Japanese rule. Contributors from the United States, Japan, and Taiwan explore a number of topics through a variety of theoretical, comparative, and postcolonial perspectives, painting a complex and nuanced portrait of a pivotal time in the formation of Taiwanese national identity.Essays are grouped into four categories: rethinking colonialism and modernity; colonial policy and cultural change; visual culture and literary expressions; and from colonial rule to postcolonial independence. Their unique analysis considers all elements of the Taiwanese colonial experience, concentrating on land surveys and the census; transcolonial coordination; the education and recruitment of the cultural elite; the evolution of print culture and national literature; the effects of subjugation, coercion, discrimination, and governmentality; and the root causes of the ethnic violence that dominated the postcolonial era. The contributors encourage readers to rethink issues concerning history and ethnicity, cultural hegemony and resistance, tradition and modernity, and the romancing of racial identity. Their examination not only provides a singular understanding of Taiwan's colonial past, but also offers insight into Taiwan's relationship with China, Japan, and the United States today. Focusing on a crucial period in which the culture and language of Taiwan, China, and Japan became inextricably linked, Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule effectively broadens the critique of colonialism and modernity in East Asia.
Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism: National Identity and Status in International Society (Politics in Asia)
by Christopher HughesFor China, Taiwan is next in line to be unified with the People's Republic after Hong Kong in 1997. China's claim on Taiwan is of great importance to the politics of Chinese Nationalism, and is central to the dynamics of power in this most volatile of regions. The democratic challenge from Taiwan is very potent and its status and identity within the international community is crucial to its survival.Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism explores how Taiwan's status has come to be a symbol for the legitimacy of the Chinese regime in the evolution of Chinese nationalism. It also demonstrates how this view has been challenged by demands for democratization in Taiwan. The KMT regime is shown to have allowed sovereignty to be practised by the population of the island while maintaining the claim that it is a part of China. The result is a "post-nationalist" identity for the island in an intermediate state between independence and unification with the PRC.
Taiwan and International Human Rights: A Story of Transformation (Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific)
by Chang-Fa Lo Jerome A. Cohen William P. AlfordThis book tells a story of Taiwan’s transformation from an authoritarian regime to a democratic system where human rights are protected as required by international human rights treaties. There were difficult times for human rights protection during the martial law era; however, there has also been remarkable transformation progress in human rights protection thereafter. The book reflects the transformation in Taiwan and elaborates whether or not it is facilitated or hampered by its Confucian tradition. There are a number of institutional arrangements, including the Constitutional Court, the Control Yuan, and the yet-to-be-created National Human Rights Commission, which could play or have already played certain key roles in human rights protections. Taiwan’s voluntarily acceptance of human rights treaties through its implementation legislation and through the Constitutional Court’s introduction of such treaties into its constitutional interpretation are also fully expounded in the book. Taiwan’s NGOs are very active and have played critical roles in enhancing human rights practices. In the areas of civil and political rights, difficult human rights issues concerning the death penalty remain unresolved. But regarding the rights and freedoms in the spheres of personal liberty, expression, privacy, and fair trial (including lay participation in criminal trials), there are in-depth discussions on the respective developments in Taiwan that readers will find interesting. In the areas of economic, social, and cultural rights, the focuses of the book are on the achievements as well as the problems in the realization of the rights to health, a clean environment, adequate housing, and food. The protections of vulnerable groups, including indigenous people, women, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals, the disabled, and foreigners in Taiwan, are also the areas where Taiwan has made recognizable achievements, but still encounters problems. The comprehensive coverage of this book should be able to give readers a well-rounded picture of Taiwan’s human rights performance. Readers will find appealing the story of the effort to achieve high standards of human rights protection in a jurisdiction barred from joining international human rights conventions.
Taiwan and Post-Communist Europe: Shopping for Allies (Routledge Contemporary Asia Series)
by Czeslaw TubilewiczTaiwan and Post-Communist Europe examines Taiwan’s economic diplomacy towards post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. The media, and occasionally academia, have often suggested that Taipei resorts to costly aid, trade and investment diplomacy to facilitate its foreign relations, whilst China engages in equally costly counter-economic diplomacy to keep Taiwan isolated. Czeslaw Tubilewicz argues conversely that Beijing’s diplomacy in post-communist Europe has demonstrated China’s reluctance to employ economic instruments against states violating the ‘one-China’ principle when cheaper (diplomatic) alternatives are available. Taipei, for its part, has demonstrated that promises of economic assistance are sufficient to induce target states’ short term compliance, whilst in the medium to long term Taiwanese economic assistance, conditional upon meeting political criteria, has proved inconsequential due to Taipei’s refusal to follow up aid commitments. This book examines the efficacy and limitations of Taipei’s frugal economic diplomacy in furthering its broader diplomatic objectives, looking at both Taipei’s failure to establish a lasting diplomatic presence in post-communist Europe, but also its success in securing ‘substantive’ relations with a number of major post-communist states, and thus opening transition economies for its exports and investments. The first in-depth study into Taiwan’s economic diplomacy toward post-communist Europe, this book will appeal to readers interested in Taiwan and China studies, diplomacy, Asian studies and international relations.
Taiwan and The 'China Impact': Challenges and Opportunities (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series)
by Gunter SchubertThere can be no doubt that China’s economic and political rise is having a stronger effect on Taiwan than on any other country, given the Chinese government’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan, and Taiwan’s quest to maintain its democratic achievements and political identity as a sovereign state. Against this background, this volume deals with the ‘bigger picture’ of evolving relations across the Taiwan Strait, departing from the observation that China’s impact on Taiwan has become stronger over the last 20 years. This book analyses the ‘China impact’ on Taiwan in terms of its social, political and security space from both an empirical and conceptual point of view. It is the first comprehensive account of China’s multifaceted impact on the politics and society of contemporary Taiwan, written by renowned scholars from Taiwan, Europe and the U.S. The book covers a wide range of topics including Taiwan’s party alignment, elections, generational politics, cross-strait political economy, immigration policy and security. The contributors, political scientists and sociologists, highlight both the dangers and the opportunities of the ‘China impact’ for Taiwan and draw a realistic picture of the island republic’s current situation and future options in the shadow of its giant neighbour. Based on qualitative and quantitative data, this volume intends to fill a gap in the Taiwan studies field by studying the ‘China impact’ on Taiwan’s politics and society systematically and from a comparative perspective. By doing so, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Taiwan studies, and East Asian politics and society more generally.
Taiwan and the Changing Dynamics of Sino-US Relations: A Relational Approach (Politics in Asia)
by Hung-Jen WangWang discusses the dynamics of Sino–US relations since 2008 and the implications for relations between Taiwan and both the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Ever since China surpassed Japan to become the world’s second largest economy, it has appeared to shift its policy shift from “biding our time” and a self-described “peaceful rise” toward increased assertiveness in regional and international affairs. This has only become more pronounced since the 19th Party National Congress in October 2017, when Xi Jinping reiterated his agenda for “the Chinese Dream.” In contrast, the US’s “Pivot to Asia” strategy has been widely perceived as unsuccessful. In its precarious political position between China and the United States, Taiwan is especially exposed to the fluctuations in policy and diplomatic relations between the two powers. The three bilateral relationships are intertwined, with policy changes and actions in any one of them affecting the other two. Wang emphasizes the “small power” and “disputed nation-state” perspective of Taiwan, over the “great power politics” of the United States and China. In doing so, he presents an analysis of how the changing dynamics of Sino–US relations and the great power transition in Asia have an impact on smaller stakeholders in the region. A valuable resource for scholars and policy-makers with a focus on Taiwan’s position in Sino–US relations.
Taiwan in Japan's Empire-Building: An Institutional Approach to Colonial Engineering (Academia Sinica on East Asia)
by Hui-Yu TsaiThis book explores the institutions through which Taiwan was governed under Japanese colonial rule, illuminating how the administration was engineered and how Taiwan was placed in Japan’s larger empire building. The author argues that rather than envisaging the ruling of the society and then going on to frame policies accordingly Japanese rule in Taiwan was more ad hoc: utilizing and integrating "native" social forces to ensure cooperation. Part I examines how the Japanese administration was shaped in the specific context of colonial Taiwan, focusing on the legal tradition, the civil service examination and the police system. Part II elaborates on the process of "colonial engineering," with special attention paid to "colonial governmentality", "social engineering" and colonial spatiality. In Part III Hui-yu Caroline Ts’ai provides a more in-depth analysis of wartime integration policies and the mobilization of labor before making an evaluation of Japan’s colonial legacy. Taiwan in Japan’s Empire-Building will appeal to researchers, scholars and students interested in Japanese Imperial History as well as those studying the history of Taiwan.
Taiwan in Net-Zero Transition: An East Asian Perspective of Developmental Environmentalism (Routledge Contemporary Asia Series)
by Kuei Tien ChouChou explores the structural dilemmas, mindsets, challenges, and solutions of the net-zero transition in Taiwan. Using Taiwan as a representative example of the structural challenges faced by East Asian countries in achieving the global net-zero carbon emission goal, the book examines the proposition of developmental environmentalism in the context of East Asia.Taiwan faces diverse challenges, such as internal and external net-zero carbon emission pressures, geopolitical socioeconomic competition, an internal carbon-intensive industrial structure, and the path dependence of the brown economy. Within this framework, the developmental net-zeroism perspective, from the vantage point of developmental environmentalism and the distinctive characteristics of Taiwan, offers insights into the climate governance particularities of East Asian countries as high-carbon manufacturing systems and as part of the global supply chain.A valuable read for researchers and policymakers concerned about the political, economic, and social situations in Asia and Taiwan affecting the net-zero transition.
Taiwan in Transformation: Retrospect and Prospect
by Chun-chieh HuangThe late twentieth century witnessed rapid changes not only in Taiwan's economy, but also in its identity. Both economic as well as ideological restructuring have been basic elements in the transformation of postwar Taiwan, as rapid democratization opened a Pandora's Box, and stirred a whirlwind of social discord. This volume considers such important questions as whether the old Taiwanese work ethic is a relic of the past, and whether Taiwan is likely to become a battleground of ideological wars.The book addresses Taiwanese nostalgia for Chinese culture; the rise and fall of postwar Taiwanese agrarian culture; the transformation of farmers' social consciousness in the period 1950–1970; the place of Confucianism in postwar Taiwan; and the awakening of the self and the development of a Taiwanese national identity in the post–World War II period. Finally, it considers whether mutual historical understanding may be the basis for Taiwan-Mainland relations in the twenty-first century. This second edition includes a new chapter on the history of Taiwan after World War II, incorporating additional developments in Taiwan in the past decade.Insights extrapolated from an understanding of history are essential for grasping and solving the basic problems Taiwan now faces and, above all, the conflicted relationship between Taiwan and Mainland China. The book's thematic undercurrent is the question of Taiwan and Mainland China: How do we deal with the tension between cultural China and political China?
Taiwan in the 21st Century: Aspects and Limitations of a Development Model (Politics in Asia #10)
by J. Megan Greene Robert AshThroughout the twentieth century Taiwan was viewed as a model - whether in terms of a model colony, a model China or a development model. This perception was based on the notion of Taiwan undergoing an economic miracle and political developments. Yet much of Taiwan’s history is unique and may not be readily replicable elsewhere. Written by an impressive line up of contributors from the US, UK, Taiwan, France and Hong Kong, this book analyzes Taiwan’s economic and political achievements, and asks whether it is possible to identify through the experience of a single nation – Taiwan – the makings of a replicable model. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Taiwan, political economy, and Asia-Pacific regional development issues.
Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen: Changes and Challenges (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series)
by June Teufel DreyerThis book assesses the forces that led to the election of Tsai Ing-wen and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2016 and re-election in 2020, and provides the first comprehensive treatment of this pivotal period in Taiwan’s politics, policy, and international relations. The Democratic Progressive Party’s victory in Taiwan’s 2016 presidential and legislative elections marked several significant turning points. The third peaceful transition of power between political parties during Taiwan’s democratic era heralded further consolidation of Taiwan’s democracy, and Tsai Ing-wen’s election gave the Republic of China its first female president. Her administration has pursued an ambitious agenda of domestic and foreign policy reforms, and has faced challenges that include steering through economic transitions, addressing contentious issues of social justice, national identity and cultural change, and navigating an external environment defined by an increasingly powerful and hostile China, and a more supportive but less predictable United States. In Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen, leading experts from the US and Taiwan chart the progress and problems of Tsai’s first term and the prospects for Taiwan during her second term and beyond. As a study of a crucial era of politics in Taiwan, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Taiwan studies, Political Science, Law, Economics and International Relations.
Taiwan's Defense Reform (Routledge Security in Asia Series #Vol. 3)
by Martin Edmonds Michael M. TsaiThe stand-off across the Straits of Taiwan continues to be one of the most dangerous confrontations in Asia. The technical superiority of the Taiwanese forces has been a major factor in maintaining balance, but as mainland China's armed forces modernize, Taiwan's advantages are being eroded. In response, Taiwan has recently undertaken a major reform of its armed forces. Bringing together a wide range of experts including people who are involved in defence policy making in Taiwan, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of these reforms, and assesses their likely effectiveness. Chapters are devoted to issues including the Chinese threat, the domestic context of reform, the role of the United States and specific defence issues, making the book an invaluable guide to the changes undertaken and underway within Taiwan’s strategic environment. With a foreword by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's Defense Reform will be of interest to policy makers and academics working in this vital strategic area.
Taiwan's Democracy: Economic and Political Challenges (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series)
by Robert Ash John W. Garver Penelope B. PrimeTaiwan’s rapid industrialization during the 1960s and 1970s, combined with the democratic revolution that began with the lifting of martial law in 1987 were of deep historic importance. Over the next decade Taiwan’s "political miracle" matched its earlier "economic miracle" creating a vibrant liberal democracy complete with freedom of speech, association and assembly, rule of law, and competitive and fair multi-party elections. The continuation of these achievements and the new challenges that have surfaced are addressed in rich detail in the chapters of this volume by an international team of experts. One of the biggest such challenges is Mainland China’s economic success, which has added to the complexity of Taiwan’s economic and political policy options. A number of the contributors to this volume consider Taiwan’s response to China’s economic rise and show how Taiwanese companies have strategically taken advantage of the changing economic environment by moving up the value chain of production within Taiwan while also taking the opportunity to invest overseas. With chapters covering a wealth of topics including: Constitutional reform National identity Party politics Taiwan's development model Industrial policy Trade and investment Globalization Sustainable development Taiwan's Democracy will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Taiwan studies, Chinese politics and economics, international politics and economics, and development studies.
Taiwan's Economic Transformation: Leadership, Property Rights and Institutional Change 1949-1965 (Routledge Research on Taiwan Series)
by Tai-Chun Kuo Ramon H MyersThis book tells the story of Taiwan’s economic revolution—how Taiwan transformed itself from a planned economy into a market economy between 1949 and 1965. The authors posit that it was the Kuomintang Government's endorsement of property rights reform and institutional change that enabled Taiwan to transform from an impoverished command economy to one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The book gives special attention to how a small group of political and economic leaders began adopting the new ideas and beliefs that created the vision that enabled them to embrace institutional and organizational innovations, actions which led to the formation of the new market economy. Using first-hand interview material with key government officials from the period, and analyses of hitherto unused Chinese-language archives including: the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek, Kuomintang party archives, and personal papers of Kuomintang leaders, as well as newspaper and journal articles published in Taiwan between 1949 and 1965, this book is both empirically rich, and gives the reader insights into Taiwan's developmental experience and the direction in which, under different circumstances, China's post-war expansion might have proceeded. Taiwan's Economic Transition will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the economic and political history and development of Taiwan. More broadly it will also appeal to scholars and students of China's historical and contemporary development, Asian economics, and Asian studies.
Taiwan's Electoral Politics and Democratic Transition: Riding the Third Wave (Taiwan In The Modern World Ser.)
by Hung-Mao TienAn examination of the evolution of the democratic two-party system in Taiwan. This work explores the growth of Taiwan's competitive party system in the context of social attitudes, issue-based politics and local factions.
Taiwan's Environmental Struggle: Toward a Green Silicon Island (Routledge Contemporary Asia Series)
by Jack Williams Ch’ang-yi David ChangTaiwan experienced a highly successful economic transformation in the last 50 years that produced one of Asia’s genuine ‘miracles’ of modern development, in terms of improvement in per capita income and overall quality of material well being for its citizens. The process, though, involved rapid industrialization and urbanization, and breakneck mass consumption, that inevitably resulted in rapid escalation in degradation of the island’s fragile air, water, and land, and produced some of the worst environmental pollution to be found anywhere in Asia This book examines the causes of Taiwan's environmental predicament, engaging in Taiwan's unique geological, geographical, demographical, political, industrial, historical and economic circumstances. In addition, Jack Williams and Ch'ang-yi David Chang assess the efforts of the government, NGOs and private citizens to create a "green" environmentally sustainable island, with a high tech economy based on the silicon chip, the backbone of Taiwan’s highly successful IT industry. Finally the authors discuss what can be done to improve Taiwan's environmental future. As the first commercially available book in English on Taiwan’s environmental problems this is an invaluable read for students and scholars interested in environmental studies, sustainable development and the island of Taiwan.