* This is a revised and expanded version of a paper prepared for the panel “Research Perspectives on the Geography of China” held at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting in New York City, 27 March 1977.

1. Kuei-sheng, Chang “The geography of contemporary China: inventory and prospect,”. The Professional Geographer XXVII (February 1975), 2–6;Google ScholarBoxer, Baruch “The geography of China: a report on a seminar,” Social Science Research Council, Items, 28 (September 1974)1–3;Google ScholarMurphey, Rhoads, “The geographic study of China” Marvin, W, Mikesell, (ed.), Geographers Abroad: Essays on the Problems and Prospects of Research in Foreign Areas (Chicago: University of Chicago, Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 152, 1973);Google ScholarJack, F, Williams, “American geographers and China,” The Professional Geographer,XXI(September 1969), 354–57.Google Scholar

2. Ginsburg, Norton, “Taiwan: a resource analysis of an oriental society,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. I (March–June, 1952), pp.37–56 and 110–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar. These ideas were expanded upon in The Economic Resources and Development of Formosa (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1953).Google Scholar

3. No social scientists have carried out more research on Taiwan than have anthropologists. Beginning with Gallin's, BernardHsin Hsing, Taiwan: A Chinese Village in Change in 1966, more than a half dozen books and a larger number of articles relating to Taiwan have been published by anthropologists. These mainly emphasize family, kinship and folk religion, and offer the geographer insights into spatial organization and man-land relationships. Full treatment of these would produce a separate essay.Google Scholar

4. Among the statements which call attention to the special opportunities offered by Taiwan studies are Gordon, Leonard H.D.(ed.),Taiwan – Studies in Local History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970);Google ScholarJames, L.Watson, “Anthropological analyses of Chinese religion,” The China Quarterly, 66 (June 1976), 355–64;Google ScholarCroizier, Ralph,“Symposium: Taiwan in Chinese history,” Journal of Asian Studies,XXXIV(February 1975), 387–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Professor Croizier's report resulted from a 1972 conference at which two unpublished papers not only reviewed Taiwan studies but suggested topics worthy of study: Myers, Ramon H., “Some reflections on Taiwan economic history” and William Speidel, “Ch'ing Taiwan: the state of the field.” An outgrowth of this conference was the formation of a Committee for Taiwan Historical Studies within the Association for Asian Studies. The committee has issued a periodic newsletter since January 1974.Google Scholar

5. Chinese geographers on Taiwan have carried out research on many aspects of the island, much of it dealing with physical geography. Many of these studies have been reported in Chinese with English abstracts in T'ai-wan ta-hsueh, ti-li hsueh-hsi yen-chiu pao-kao (National Taiwan University. Department of Geography and Meteorology, Science Reports, nine issues since 1962), Ti-hsueh hui-k'an (Annals of the Association of Chinese Geographers), and Ti-li hsueh yen-chiu (Geographical Studies), published since 1966. by the Department of Geography at Taiwan Normal University.Google ScholarRelevant materials without English abstracts frequently appear in T'ai-wan wen-hsien (Report of Historico-geographical Studies of Taiwan), issued quarterly since 1950 by the Historical Research Commission of Taiwan Province.Google Scholar

6. Hsieh, Chiao-minTaiwan-Ilha Formosa: A Geography in Perspective (Washington: Butterworths, 1964).Google ScholarHsieh's other publications on Taiwan include “The physical setting of Taiwan” in Sih, Paul K. T.Taiwan in Modern Times (New York: St John's University Press, 1973);Google Scholar“Taoyuan and Chianan: two irrigation systems in Taiwan” in Thomas, Richard S. and Pattern, Donald J.Focus on Geographic Activity: A Collection of Original Studies (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company 1964)Google Scholar; “History of Taiwan” in The Far East and Australia (London: Europa Publications Ltd, 1970);Google Scholar“Formosa: a rich island of the Far East,” Journal of Geography II 1952).Google ScholarIn addition, maps and text concerning Taiwan appear in Hsieh's Atlas of China (New York: McGraw-Hill 1973).Google Scholar

7. Cheng-hsiang, Ch'en, Taiwan: A Economic and Social Geography (Taipei: Fu-min Geographical Institute of Economic Development, 1963)Google Scholar. A. O. Lee has reviewed some of Professor Ch'en's early work in “Research reports of Fu-min Geographical Institute of Economic Development,” Geographical Review, 49(October 1959), 575–77.Google ScholarAmong the basic reference works on Taiwan are his Atlas of Land Utilization in Taiwan (Taipei: Fu-min Geographical Institute of Economic Development, 1959);Google ScholarT'ai-wan ti-ming shou-ts'e (Handbook of Taiwan Place Names) (Taipei: Taiwan Historical Research Commission, 1959). These are but a few of the approximately 100 reports issued by the Fu-min Geographical Institute under Professor Ch'en's name.Google Scholar

8. Among Professor Ch'en's publications in western language journals are: “The changing economy of Taiwan,” Pacific Viewpoint, No. 6 (September 1965), pp. 179–90;Google Scholar“Land utilization in Formosa,” Geographical Review, No. 41 (1951), pp. 438–56;CrossRefGoogle Scholar“The Pescadores,” Geographical Review, No. 43 (1953), pp. 77–88;CrossRefGoogle Scholar“Population and settlement in Formosa,” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geographie, Nos 9/10 (September/October 1954), pp. 176–80.Google Scholar

9. Van Alstyne, Arthur J., Jr, Urban Influences on Rural Communities: A Taiwanese Example, University of Pittsburgh, 1967;Google ScholarKnapp, Ronald G., Spatial Aspects of Economic and Social Behavior in T'ai-wan, University of Pittsburgh, 1968;Google ScholarSalter, Christopher L., The Geography of Marginality: A Study of Migration, Settlement, and Agriculture in the Rift Valley of Eastern Taiwan, University of California at Berkeley, 1970;Google ScholarMark Selya, Roger, The Industrialization of Taiwan: A Geographic Analysis, University of Minnesota, 1971;Google ScholarPannell, Clifton W., T'ai-chung, T'ai-wan: Structure and Function, University of Chicago, 1972;Google ScholarVander Meer, Paul, Farm Plot Dispersal: Luliao Village, 1967, University of Michigan, 1973;Google ScholarWilliams, Jack F., The Conflict Between Peasant and Public Interest in a Developing Country: A Case Study of the Taiwanese Sugar Industry, 1950–1970, University of Hawaii, 1973;Google ScholarChao, Thomas K., The Spatial Distribution of Urban Land Values in the City of Taipei, Taiwan, China, 1964–1972, University of Kentucky, 1975;Google ScholarGraff, Michael A., Changing Urban Population Density Gradients in Taipei, Michigan State University, 1976.Google Scholar

10. Lin, Gong-yuh,“The historical trend of urbanization in Taiwan,” Philippine Chinese Historical Association Annals, 1 (1970), 33–56Google Scholar; Pannell, Clifton W.,“Outlanders on the island: some historical notes on form and function in the Taiwanese city.”Journal of the China Society (Taipei),VI(1969), 61–78.Google ScholarEspecially useful studies are those by Chiang Tao-chang: “T'ai-wan te ku-ch'eng: i-ko li-shih ti-li hsueh te yen-chiu” (“Walled towns of Taiwan”), Ti-li-hsueh yen-chiu (Geographical Studies), No. 1 (1966);Google Scholar“Shih-pa shih-chi chi shih-chiu shih-chi T'ai-wan ying-ch'ien li ku-ch'eng” (“Taiwan's walled towns during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries”), Nanyang University Journal, 1 (1967).Google ScholarAn English-language treatment of these is forthcoming in a volume titled China's Island Frontier: Studies in the Historical Geography of Taiwan, edited by Knapp, Ronald G..Google Scholar

11. Chang, Sen-dou, “The historical trend of Chinese urbanization,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, XLIII(June 1963), 109–43Google Scholar; “Some aspects of the urban geography of the Chinese hsien capital,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, XLI(March 1961), 23–45Google Scholar; “Some observations on the morphology of Chinese walled cities,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, 60 (1970), 68–89.Google Scholar

12. Lamley, Harry, “The formation of cities: initiative and motivation in building three walled cities in Taiwan,” Skinner, G. William (ed.), The City in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1977).Google Scholar

13. PannellM, Clifton W., T'ai-chung, T'ai-wan: Structure and function (Chicago: The University of Chicago, Department of Geography Research Paper No. 144, 1973); “Changing space use and the retail market in T'ai-chung's urban structure,” Proceedings, Association of American Geographers, No. 6 (1974), pp. 153–57; “City morphology in T'ai-wan: a variation on a Chinese theme,” Proceedings, Association of American Geographers, No. 5 (1973), pp. 210–16; “Urbanization and city growth in Taiwan,” The Journal of Geography, No. 72 (January 1973), pp.11–21; “Urban land consolidation and city growth in Taiwan,” Pacific Viewpoint, No.15 (September 1974), pp. 111–22; “City and Regional Growth in Taiwan,” Journal of the China Society (Taipei), No. VII (1970), pp. 1–17; “Development of the middle city in Taiwan,” Growth and Change, No. 5 (August 1974), pp.21–29.Google Scholar

14. Pannell, Clifton W., “Cities east and west: comments on theory, form and methodology,” The Professional Geographer, No. XXVIII (August 1976), pp. 233–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15. Van Alstyne, Arthur J., “Urban influences on rural communities: Taiwanese example,” The Chung Chi Journal, No. 7(May 1968), pp. 197–245;Google Scholar“The role of the city in social change: some methodological and theoretical problems,” The Chung Chi Journal, No. 8 (November 1968) pp. 93–106.Google Scholar

16. Chang, Sen-dou, “Land use and intra-urban travel in Taipei,” Proceedings, Association of American Geographers, No. 2, (1970), pp. 40–45.Google Scholar

17. Yi-rong Hsu, Ann, “Intra-urban movement and the spatial structure in a developing economy: the case of Taipei,” under James O. Wheeler at the University of Georgia.Google Scholar

18. Chao, Thomas K., “The spatial distribution of urban land values in the city of Taipei, Taiwan, China, 1964–1972,” at the University of Kentucky, 1975.Google Scholar

19. Gossette, Franklin, “Social and spatial neighborhood change in expanding Taichung,” under Christopher L. Salter at UCLA; Su-chang Wang, “Preference and choice of residences in southeast Taipei,” under Mei-ling Hsu at the University of Minnesota.Google Scholar

20. Mark Selya, Roger. The Industrialization of Taiwan (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Academic Press, 1974);Google Scholar“Taiwan's new international port: the conflict between planning, politics and physical reality,” Asian Profile, No. 2 (February 1974), pp. 15–30;Google Scholar“Water and air pollution in Taiwan,” The Journal of Developing Areas, No.9 (January 1975), pp. 177–202.Google Scholar

21. Williams, Jack, “Taiwan's development strategy since 1949; prospects and problems,” in The Taiwan Issue (East Lansing: Michigan State University, Asian Studies Center, 1976).Google Scholar

22. The geographically relevant work by economists and economic historians include: Ho, Samuel P. S., “The economic development of colonial Taiwan: evidence and interpretation,” The Journal of Asian Studies, No. 34 (1975), pp. 417–39;CrossRefGoogle ScholarMyers, Ramon H., “Taiwan's agrarian economy under Japanese rule,” The Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, No. 7 (December 1974), pp. 451–75;Google ScholarLee, Teng-hui, Intersectoral Capital Flows in the Economic Development of Taiwan, 1895–1960 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1971);Google ScholarHo, Samuel P. S., “The development policy of the Japanese colonial government in Taiwan, 1895–1945,” in Ranis, Gustav (ed.), Government and Economic Development (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971);Google ScholarMyers, Ramon H., “Agrarian policy and agricultural transformation: mainland China and Taiwan, 1895–1945,” The Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, No. 3 (September 1970), pp. 521–44;Google ScholarHo, Samuel P. S., “Agricultural transformation under colonialism: the case of Taiwan,” The Journal of Economic History, No. 28 (1968), pp. 315,–40;Google ScholarPatricia Tsurumi, E., “Taiwan under Kodama Gentaro and Goto Shimpei,” Papers on Japan – Harvard University, No. 4 (1967), pp. 95–146;Google ScholarHo, Yhi-min, Agricultural Development of Taiwan, 1903–1960 (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1966);Google ScholarMyers, Ramon H. and Adrienne Ch'ing, , “Agricultural development in Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule,” Journal of Asian Studies, No. 23 (1964), pp. 555–70;CrossRefGoogle ScholarHan-yu Chang, Ramon H.Myers, , “Japanese colonial development policy in Taiwan, 1895–1906; a case of bureaucratic entrepreneurship,” The Journal of Asian Studies, No. 22 (1963), pp. 433–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23. Batkins, Donald L., “Toward a geographic model of economic development: a study of Hainan and Taiwan,” under Jack F. Williams at Michigan State University.Google Scholar

24. Wheeler, James O. and Pannell, Clifton W., “A teaching model of network diffusion: the Taiwan example,” The Journal of Geography, No. 72 (May 1973), pp. 21–31;CrossRefGoogle ScholarYi-rong, Ann Hsu, Pannell, Clifton W. and Wheeler, James O., “The development and structure of transportation networks in Taiwan, 1600–1972” (forthcoming); Yi-rong Ann Hsu, “The development and structure of transportation networks in Taiwan,” unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, 1974.Google Scholar

25. Mei-ling Hsu, , “Taiwan population distribution, 1965,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, No. 59 (September 1969), Map. Supplement No. 11. Suggestive of the studies of Taiwan's population by non-geographers are:Google ScholarBarclay, George W., Colonial Development and Population in Taiwan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954);Google ScholarAlden Speare et al., “Urbanization, non-familial work, education and fertility in Taiwan,” Population Studies, No. 27 (July 1973), pp. 323–34;Google ScholarLi, W. L., “Temporal and spatial analysis of fertility decline in Taiwan,” Population Studies, No. 27 (March 1973), pp. 97–104; the work of Ronald Freedman.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

26. Wang, I-shou., “Mountain people in the lowlands: a preliminary report on the migration of Formosan aborigines,” Proceedings, Association of American Geographers, No. 7 (1975), pp. 264–68.Google Scholar

27. Huang, Nora C., “The spatial mobility of the female population and the modernization process in Taiwan,” under Sen-dou Chang at the University of Hawaii at Manoa;Google ScholarWang, I-shou., “The recent pattern of internal migration in T'ai-wan,” The China Geographer, No. 6 (Winter 1977), pp. 32–47Google Scholar. Publications on this topic by other social scientists include Alden Speare, “Urbanization and migration in Taiwan,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, No. 22 (January 1974), pp. 302–19;Google ScholarAlden Speare, , “A cost-benefit model of rural to urban migration in Taiwan,” Population Studies, No. 25 (March 1971), pp. 117–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

28. Paul Vander Meer, , “Land consolidation through land fragmentation: case studies from Taiwan,” Land Economics, No. LI (1975), pp. 275–83;CrossRefGoogle Scholar“Pacifying space in a Chinese village,” The China Geographer, No. 2 (1975), pp. 27–37Google Scholar. Paul Vander Meer and Canute Vander Meer have described the available source materials for studying rural land use in Taiwan in “Land property data on Taiwan,” Journal of Asian Studies, No. XXVIII (November 1968), pp. 144–50.Google Scholar

29. Williams, Jack F., “The problem of land consolidation: a case study of Taiwan,” The Journal of Geography, No. 75 (October 1976), pp. 419–26;CrossRefGoogle ScholarNumerous articles of his have appeared in Taiwan Sugar.Google Scholar

30. Jen-hu Chang, , “Sugarcane in Hawaii and Taiwan: contrasts in ecology, technology and economy,” Economic Geography, No. 46 (June 1970), pp. 39–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31. Canute Vander Meer, , “Changing water control in a Taiwanese rice-field irrigation system,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, No. 58 (1968), pp. 720–47;Google Scholar“Water thievery in a rice irrigation system in Taiwan,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, No. 61 (March 1971), pp. 156–79;Google ScholarBurton Pasternak, an anthropologist, has published “Social consequences of equalizing irrigation access,” Human Organization, No. 27 (Winter 1968), pp. 332–43.Google Scholar

32. Knapp, Ronald G., “Marketing and social patterns in rural Taiwan,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, No. 61 (March 1971), pp. 131–55.Google Scholar

33. Crissman, Lawrence W., “Marketing on the Changhua Plain, Taiwan,” Willmott, W. E. (ed.), Economic Organization in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972);Google Scholar“Specific central place models for an evolving system of market towns on the Changhua Plain, Taiwan,” Smith, Carol A. (ed.), Regional Analysis, Volume I, Economic Systems (New York: Academic Press, 1976);Google Scholar“Spatial aspects of marriage patterns as influenced by marketing behavior in West Central Taiwan,” Smith, Carol A. (ed.), Regional Analysis, Volume II, Social Systems (New York: Academic Press, 1976)Google Scholar. Other studies concerned with marketing include Shu-min Huang, “Peasant marketing network in Taiwan,” The Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica (Taipei), No. 32 (1971), pp. 191–215, andGoogle ScholarKnapp, Ronald G., “Itinerant merchants in T'ai-wan,” The Journal of Geography, No. LXIX (September 1970), pp. 344–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34. Adams, John W. and Alice Bee Kasakoff, , “Central place theory and endogamy in China,” Smith, Carol A. (ed.), Regional Analysis, Volume II, Social Systems (New York: Academic Press, 1976).Google Scholar

35. Bruce Jacobs, J., “The cultural bases of factional alignment and division in a rural Taiwanese township,” Journal of Asian Studies, No. XXXVI (November 1976), pp. 79–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36. Most of these settlement studies are in Chinese and Japanese. Those accessible in English include: Yosiro Tomita, “On the rural settlement forms in Taiwan (Formosa), Japan,” Fifth Pacific Science Congress, Proceedings, II (1933), pp. 1391–95;Google ScholarCh'en Cheng-hsiang, , “Population and settlement in Taiwan,” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geographie (Rotterdam), Nos. 9/10 (September/October 1954), pp. 176–80;Google Scholaridem, “Scattered settlements in the Taipei basin,” National Taiwan University, Faculty of Agriculture, Memoirs, No. 3 (1953), pp. 45–48;Google Scholaridem, “Hsiao Hsin Ying: A typical compact village in southern Taiwan,” Research Report No. 41Google Scholar, Geographical Research Center, Graduate School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1971.Google Scholar

37. Salter, Christopher L., “Analyses of a contemporary settlement frontier,” Salter, Christopher L. (ed.),The Cultural Landscape (Belmont: Duxbury Press, 1971). Other articles by Salter on eastern Taiwan appear in Industry of Free China.Google Scholar

38. Knapp, Ronald G., “The frontiers of China,” Comparative Frontier Studies – An Interdisciplinary Newsletter, No. 4 (Autumn 1976), pp. 3–4;Google Scholar“Land tenure in eighteenth century Taiwan,” The China Geographer, No II (Autumn 1975), pp. 39–48;Google Scholar“Chinese frontier settlement in Taiwan,” Annals, Association of American Geographers, No. LXVI (March 1976), pp. 43–59;Google Scholar“Dutch-aboriginal interaction in New Netherland and Formosa: an historical geography of empire,” American Philosophical Society Proceedings, Nos. 121/2 (April 1977), pp. 44–57 (with L. Hauptman)Google Scholar. A volume is forthcoming entitled China's Island Frontier: Studies in the Historical Geography of Taiwan, and includes contribu-tions by anthropologists, geographers and historians. Studies by other social scientists include: Burton PasternakGoogle Scholar, “The role of the frontier in Chinese lineage development,” Journal of Asian Studies, No. 28 (May 1969), pp. 551–61;Google ScholarCho-yun Hsu, , “I-lan in the first half of the 19th century,” The Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, No. 33 (1972), pp. 51–71;Google ScholarWickberg, Edgar B.,“Late nineteenth century land tenure in north Taiwan,” Gordon, Leonard H. D (ed.), Taiwan: Studies in Chinese Local History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970)Google Scholar. , Ramon H. Myers has written on many aspects of Taiwan's development including three articles that deal with frontier Taiwan from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries: “Taiwan under Ch'ing imperial rule, 1684–1895: the traditional economy,” The Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, No. 5 (1972), pp. 373–411;Google Scholar“Taiwan under Ch'ing imperial rule, 1684–1895; the traditional order,” The Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, No. 4 (1971), pp. 495–521;Google Scholar“Taiwan under Ch'ing imperial rule, 1684–1895; the traditional society,” The Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chiness University of Hong Kong, No. 5 (1972), pp. 413–453.Google Scholar

39. Wen-hsiung Hsu, , “Chinese colonization of Formosa,” under Ping-ti Ho at the University of Chicago, 1975.Google Scholar

40. Available maps of Taiwan are varied and numerous. In addition to the two atlases compiled by Ch'en Cheng-hsiang mentioned in note 7, the maps of Chiao-min Hsieh indicated in note 6, and Mei-ling Hsu's map noted in note 25, several other sources should be cited. These include Chang Chi-yun, (ed.), Atlas of Taiwan (Yangmingshan: The National War College, 1963);Google ScholarSocial Base Maps of Taipei City (Taipei: The Department of Sociology, National Taiwan Univer-sity, 1965);Google ScholarWang, I-shou,A Demographic Atlas of Taiwan (1974) (Taipei: Urban Planning DepartmentGoogle Scholar, Economic Planning Council, Executive Yuan, 1976). The preceding three atlases have bilingual Chinese and English texts. An examin-ation of Taiwan's representation in maps at many scales and for a variety of purposes isGoogle ScholarWilliams, Jack F., China in Maps, 1890–1960: A Selective and Annotated Cartobibliography (East Lansing: Michigan State University, 1974. Asian Studies Center, East Asia Series, Occasional Paper No. 4). This list could be lengthened by including useful small-scale maps which appear in many atlases published around the world.Google Scholar