Rebel Island: The Incredible History of Taiwan
Author: Clements, Jonathan
ISBN: 9781915590275
RM149.90
Publisher,Scribe
Publication Date,
Format, Hardcover
Weight,
No. of Pages, 320
Find this product in our store.
Shelf: General Books / Asian Studies / Asian History / Politics
Shelf: General Books / Asian Studies / Asian History / Politics
Kindly ask our staff if you cannot locate the shelf.
The gripping history of Taiwan, from the flood myths of indigenous legend to its Asian Tiger economic miracle — and the present threat of invasion by China.Once dismissed by the Kangxi Emperor as nothing but a ‘ball of mud’, Taiwan has a modern GDP larger than that of Sweden, in a land area smaller than Indiana. It is the last surviving enclave of the Republic of China, a lost colony of Japan, and claimed by Beijing as a rogue province — merely the latest chapters in its long history as a refuge for pirates, rebels, settlers, and outcasts.Jonathan Clements examines the unique conditions of Taiwan’s archaeology and indigenous history, and its days as a Dutch and Spanish trading post. He delves into its periods as an independent kingdom, Chinese province, and short-lived republic, and the transformations wrought by 50 years as part of the Japanese Empire. He examines the traumatic effects of its role as a lifeboat in 1949 for two million refugees from Communism, and the conflicts emerging after the suspension of four decades of martial law, as its people debate issues of self-determination, independence, and home rule.
