Taiwan

Population: 22,920,946

Capital City: Taipei (population: 2,622,933)

Area: total: 35,980 sq km (compared to Canada : 9,984,670 sq km)

land: 32,260 sq km (compared to Canada: 9,093,507 sq km)water: 3,720 sq km (compared to Canada: 891,163 sq km)

Government: Multiparty democracyPresident is Ma Ying-Jeou

Ethnic Groups

Religion

Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official)

Taiwanese (minority)

Hakka Dialects

Less than 1% of population is below poverty line

96.1% literacy rate(Ages 15 and over can read and write)

Culture:Food - Bubble tea (now popular in North America)

Recreation -Karaoke - Hot Springs

-Majhong-Anime

Sports -Baseball (little league)-Badminton -Table Tennis-Basketball

-Poultry (duck)-Meat(beef noodles)-Seafood (steamed grouper)

Important Dates: -The Chinese New Years (Last Day of Lunar Year-15 days)-The Dragon Festival (5th day of 5th lunar month)-The Lantern Festival (15th day of New Years) -Lover’s Day (7th day of 7th lunar month)-The Hungry Ghost Festival (7th month)-Republic Day (October 10th)

GDP per Capita: $30,100

GDP Composition per Sector:

GDP: $383.3 Billion

Imports: $219.3 Billion

Import Commodities: electronic and electrical products, machinery, petroleum, precision instruments, organic chemicals, metals

Import Partners:

Exports: $246.5 Billion

Export Commodities: Electronic and electrical products, metals, textiles, plastics, chemicals, auto parts

Export Partners:

- Never give letters in white envelopes or presents in white paper.In Taiwan white represents death.

- Always have your business cards on you and present it to your business acquaintances with both hands as a sign of respect.

-Avoid talking about death or accidents because it implies that it might occur

-Give a gift as a sign of appreciation if having been invited into someone's house for a dinner or get together. EX: box of chocolates, bottle of wine etc.

-When opening a gift, do not rip wrapping paper. Remove it carefully then fold it up instead of throwing it away like we do in North America

-Do not whistle at night