www.taiwan-database.net
About this website
- Origins and objective
- Remarks on sources, accuracy and more
- Copyright issues
- Acknowledgements
- The author/chief researcher
===== ===== ===== ===== =====
◆ Origins and objective
++++++++++ TOP HOME [next section] ++++++++++
The origins of this website go back to the book "Politicians in the Republic of China. Register and explanations" (ISBN: 978-957-43-0827-9), self-published in September 2013 by Tilman Aretz who subsequently kept updating, revising and extending the book as a Taiwan politics database in PDF format. In August 2018 Swiss sinologist and entrepreneur Andy Grünberg suggested to the author the establishment of this website based on the contents of the database as an open access publication for cutting-edge research in the field of Taiwan politics. Mr Grünberg also created the logo "Taiwan politics database" and holds that logo's copyright.
This website is dedicated to the democratic Taiwan and its incredible transition from a martial
law dictatorship to a full-fledged democracy. It is also a tribute to the legendary one-and-only band
這是什麼 & the 沒有's that rocked Taipei in the late 1980s and has been
a wellspring of invaluable inspiration.(The image above right shows the band performing in F+M Station, Taipei 1988; click on it to enlarge.)
The purpose of this website is also explained on its welcome page, click here.
❤️
❤️
❤️
❤️
Contact information
Taiwan Politics Database 台灣政治資料庫
✉ P. O. Box 952
Taipei Qingtian, Taipei City 10699, Taiwan ROC
[10699 台北青田郵局第 952 號信箱]
===== ===== ===== ===== =====
◆ Remarks on sources, accuracy and more
++++++++++ TOP HOME [next section] [previous section] ++++++++++
(Remarks by the chief researcher)
The main sources of information used to collect the material presented in this website include the Republic of China Yearbooks which were published by the ROC government on a regular basis for decades until 2016. Another reference book I occasionally used was the Directory of Taiwan (Taiwan zhinan 台灣指南) published annually since 1951 by the China News (renamed "Taiwan News" in May 1999). I also often referred to the websites of ROC government agencies (e. g. the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, cabinet-level agencies, local governments etc.), and in several cases when available data were insufficient wrote to respective agencies directly to ask for information.
Data shown in the menu about ROC democratic elections were gathered from the ROC Central Election Commission; additional information came from Taiwanese newspapers and from Taiwan Communique (published since December 1980). For cross-reference I used websites like Wikipedia or Google.
For this reason no lengthy list of reference literature/further reading can be presented here. Please note that although I collected the data and information for this website with utmost care and checked the material equally vigilantly, I cannot completely rule out that the website may still contain errors and/or misprints. In case a user discovers details including facts deemed faulty, he/she is welcome to notify me by email (address as listed in my blog) so that I can look into the matter in question and make necessary corrections.
Personal names are presented in their official English spelling as they are found in ROC Yearbooks and popular Taiwanese media, plus traditional Chinese characters. An alphabetical index which gives those names' pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin 漢語拼音—which was adopted as standard Romanization system for modern Chinese by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1979—is placed under "Name Index" in the tool menu bar. Hanyu Pinyin is also used for the Chinese version of organization names and other terms in this website.
Please note that
complete information about an individual politician's official English spelling, biographical data and home
province is not always available, especially regarding the first decades of the ROC. In some cases information
listed in reference books published by the ROC government, directories like "Who's Who in China" in the
National Central Library (NCL) or on the internet
(e. g. websites of ROC government agencies) is inconclusive.
Example: The birth year of Wu Hua-peng 吳化鵬, MTAC head from 1986
to 1993, was 1921 according to the MTAC website but 1925 according to the yearbook "Republic of China 1988". As
for the home province, the borders of some Chinese provinces like Sichuan, Gansu or those in Manchuria were redrawn
after the establishment of the ROC, therefore in several cases data provided by official ROC government sources do
no longer match the administrative zones in the provinces of today's China. All said, I cannot guarantee that the
data shown in this website are 100 percent error-free.
Tilman Aretz (chief researcher, Taiwan Politics Database)
Taipei, June 4, 2021
===== ===== ===== ===== =====
◆ Copyright issues
++++++++++ TOP HOME [next section] [previous section] ++++++++++
This website contains more than 600 image files, the majority being logos of agencies, institutions, organizations, and companies. Naturally, their respective copyright belongs to the entity which the logo represents. As for the portrait images and other pictures with miscellaneous contents on this website, a copyright notice is usually added directly above or below the image(s).
Maps on this website
Most of the maps used on
this website are sketches created by the chief researcher based on various
sources, intended for practical information and orientation purposes only. The depiction of boundaries and related
data shown on these maps are not warranted to be error free as minor inaccuracies cannot be completely ruled out.
Unless otherwise indicated, all maps are oriented with North at the top.
In addition to creating his own maps, the chief researcher also took the liberty using maps from outside sources. In particular, maps used for the illustration of earthquakes and typhoons were taken from the website of the Central Weather Administration (CWA).
The following table lists the nineteen maps on this website which were not created by the CWA or the chief researcher.
Please note that Ludao 綠島 (Green Island) is sometimes referred to in English as Lyudao or Lüdao.
For an overview of all maps on this website please refer to the relevant index on the page Maps.
Marquee images
The 16 images in the scrolling marquee on the top of each page are based on photos taken by the chief researcher, edited with Irfanview (effects: Oil paint, Rock). The following list provides details about the images, including a description, location and the date when the original photo was taken.
| No. | Image description | Photo taken on (date) |
|---|---|---|
| Image 1 | Taroko Gorge 太魯閣 (Hualien County) | 2012, April 12 |
| Image 2 | Guishan Island 龜山島 (Yilan County) | 2015, March 3 |
| Image 3 | Formosan Blue Magpie 台灣藍鵲 (Taipei City) | 2024, May 16 |
| Image 4 | Aboriginal motive, Sandimen 三地門 (Pingtung County) | 2018, Aug. 20 |
| Image 5 | Fort San Domingo 紅毛城, Tamsui (New Taipei City) | 2014, March 15 |
| Image 6 | Statue of Koxinga 鄭成功 (Tainan City) | 2010, Aug. 3 |
| Image 7 | Fort Provintia 赤嵌樓 (Tainan City) | 2010, Aug. 4 |
| Image 8 | Confucius Temple 孔廟 (Tainan City) | 2010, Aug. 3 |
| Image 9 | Lungshan Temple 龍山寺, Lugang (Changhua County) | 2008, July 15 |
| Image 10 | Eluanbi Lighthouse 鵝鑾鼻燈塔 (Pingtung County) | 2014, March 4 |
| Image 11 | East Gate 東門 (Taipei City) | 2013, May 25 |
| Image 12 | Presidential office building 總統府 (Taipei City) | 2013, May 25 |
| Image 13 | Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂 (Taipei City) | 2013, June 1 |
| Image 14 | National Concert Hall 國家音樂廳 (Taipei City) | 2013, June 1 |
| Image 15 | 228 Memorial Monument 二二八紀念碑 (Taipei City) | 2022, April 26 |
| Image 16 | Taipei 101 台北一零一 (Taipei City) | 2007, April 21 |
All 16 images listed in above table Copyright © Tilman Aretz.
===== ===== ===== ===== =====
◆ Acknowledgements
++++++++++ TOP HOME [next section] [previous section] ++++++++++
The assistance of the following persons in information gathering and other contributions to the database are sincerely appreciated:
Brian Aiello, Pierre-Yves Baubry, Thomas V. Biddick, Hans Braxmeier, Simon Chang San-cheng 張善政, Lydia Chen 陳曉卿, Chen Yi-shen 陳儀深, Schive Chi 薛琦, Chiu Bihui 邱璧輝, Luis M. Chong L. 何其忠, Yami Chou 周雅菁, Andy Grünberg, Christoph Henke, Edwin Hsiao 蕭世仁, Joanne Hsiao 蕭育娟, Hu Ru-yu 胡如瑜, Huang Song-lih 黃嵩立, Alex Kunz, Lee Jui-yi 李瑞儀, L. F. Lee, C. Joanna Lei 雷倩, Anja Liao 廖琇琬, Jennifer Lu 陸璟萍, William Lue 呂禧鳴, Sven Meier, Neal Moore, Kurt Multhaup, Nagayoshi Miyuki 永吉 美幸, Jacques Oberson, Ou Yin-shi 歐茵茜, Robert Parker, Claudius Petzold, Qiu Daiyu 邱岱玉, Don Shapiro, Courtney Donovan Smith, Fred Steiner, Bo Tedards, Ace F. Trask, Tsai Chih-yuan 蔡芝苑, Alexander G. Tsverianishvili (Александр Германович Цверианишвили), Michael Turton, Silvia Villalobos, Wang Shih-lin 汪錫麟, Thomas Weyrauch, and Günter Whittome.
Furthermore, the chief researcher would like to thank the following professors and teachers for their guidance and contributions to his academic education in the 1980s and 1990s:
Peter Ackermann, Manfred Alexander, Wilhelm Blassen, Bernd Bonwetsch, Hsiu-fen Chou-Vetter 周秀芬, Géza S. Dombrády, Charlotte Dunsing, Peter Greiner, Hermann Halbeisen, Stefan Hase-Bergen, Suishū Tomoko Klopfenstein-Arii クロッペンシュタイン翠秀, Lee Song-gen 李松根, Li Zhaochu 李肇礎, Tienchi Liao-Martin 廖天琪, Gudula Linck, Heinz-Dietrich Löwe, Helmut Martin, Wolfgang Ommerborn, Andreas Pigulla, Peter Weber-Schäfer, and Konrad Wegmann.
===== ===== ===== ===== =====
◆ The Author / Chief researcher
++++++++++ TOP HOME [previous section] ++++++++++
Tilman Aretz (b. 1965) is a sinologist from Meerbusch
(Germany) with an M. A. in Chinese Literature. He has been living in Taipei since
September 1994 and works as an editor for an ROC government agency since January 1997.
For a more detailed CV click here.
Favourite quote:
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to
twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
Selected previous publications
The Greater China Factbook (大中華百科全書). 668 pages, published in August 2007
in Taipei by Taiwan Elite Press 時英出版社, ISBN-10: 9867762975, ISBN-13: 978-986-7762-97-9,
OCLC: 264977502.
Table of contents Preface
Part 1 Part 2
Part 3 Part 4
Errata
Frühe taiwanesische Heimatliteratur. Zhong Lihe (1915-1960). Master thesis (in German),
97 pages, completed in November 1993. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für
Ostasienwissenschaften, Sprache und Literatur Chinas, supervised by Prof. Dr. Helmut
Martin 馬漢茂 教授.
Additional file (in English) containing images pertaining to the master thesis.
The two ISBN bar codes presented below are for "The Greater China Factbook" (left) and "Politicians in the Republic of China" (right).
===== ===== ===== ===== =====
 |
 |