SPACEPHOTOS

The island of Taiwan (National Republic of China) has a population of more than 21 million in an area the size of Switzerland; this photograph shows the northern half of the island. Most of the inhabitants live along the plains that extend along the entire west coast. T’ai-pei, the capital with a population of almost 3 million, is located near the northern tip of the island. The small scale of the photograph and the gross resolution allow only identification of the general location of the urban area at the northern end of the island. Many short rivers that drain east and west arise in the Chungyang Mountains that extend for almost the entire length of the country. The mountains of Taiwan, with some of the central ranges rising to altitudes of more than 10 000 feet (3000 meters), are young and still actively undergoing tectonic movement. Taiwan is bordered on the west by the Taiwan Strait, which separates the country from mainland China (People’s Republic of China), and on the east by the Pacific Ocean. Taiwan is an amazing economic success story; along with Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore, it is considered to be one of the Pacific Rim Economic Tigers.