City and Nation-From the Past, Toward the Future

The ROC government moved to Taipei in 1949, and the nation was blessed to endure. The results of its history in Taiwan can be seen in microcosm in the space of the city.

Taipei and Kaohsiung, the first cities to be promoted to the status of special municipalities, became the nation's "double arrow," seeking survival abroad and stability at home. Early on, they were assigned great responsibilities: Taipei with government, commerce, and education; and Kaohsiung with heavy industry and shipping. This strategy of division of labor helped Taiwan earn the honor of becoming one of the four "Asian Tiger" economies, and the third largest holder of foreign reserves in the world.

As of late last year, there are five special municipalities, and each of them is writing a new page of

its hundred-year history. Kaohsiung, once a dirty factory town, is now actively redefining itself by transforming its industries, while Taipei is looking back to the western part of town that was forgotten as the city developed commercially.

Cities and the nation can be compared to parts and the whole machine, or the way fish are beneficial to water as they depend on it to live. They share a fate. A century of city and nation, from the past and toward the future.

The hundred-year glory of Taipei, reflected in the sunset over Dadaocheng Wharf along the Danshui River.