Taipei

proper noun

1. 1

   The capital city of and a special municipality of Taiwan, located in the northern part of the island of Taiwan.

   In 1885 Governor LIU determined to reconstruct Taipei and make it the temporary capital until, the railway having on its way to Taiwan reached the old town of Changhua, in about the middle of Formosa, he should build a city near that place and make it, under the name of Taiwan, the capital of the province of Taiwan.

   The “Beautiful Island” wears a necklace of rails and new roads dangling from Taipei, such as the 17-mile MacArthur Expressway linking the capital to the seaport of Chilung. Taiwan has two other international seaports —recently opened Hualien, on the east coast, and Kaohsiung, facing the mainland a scant 200 miles away.

   In my bid for re-election as mayor of Taipei, I lost to Ma Ying-jeou, representing the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's ruling party. Analysis of the election results revealed that the overwhelming majority of "mainlanders"² in Taipei cast their votes for Mr. Ma.

   Years later, when I was governor, I found myself in the same hotel with Nureyev in Taipei, Taiwan.

2. 2

   A former county of Taiwan, which became New Taipei City.

   C is for Ceramics. C is for - Yingge? Well, not quite, but ‘Yingge is for ceramics’ is something almost any Taiwanese can chant. This little town in the very southern part of Taipei County lives by and for the production of high- and low-quality ceramic and pottery objects: everything from cupboard handles to Song-dynasty vases.

3. 3

   The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

   In the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972, we recognized the fact that both Beijing and Taipei viewed Taiwan as part of China but unequivocally expressed our support for a peaceful settlement of the unification issue. While we should not alter the fundamental pillars of our policy, we should consider certain steps that will raise Taiwan's international standing.

   1993 The first official governmental contacts between Taipei and Beijing take place in Singapore.

   Many Taiwanese identify with this posture and have rallied around the countries willing to support Taipei. When Beijing imposed an unofficial trade blockade to punish Lithuania for strengthening ties with Taiwan, people in Taiwan rushed to buy Lithuanian specialty products like crackers and chocolate.