Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (review)

430 China Review International: Vol. 2, No. 2, Fall 1995 6.Peter G. Stillman, "Introduction to Political Theory," Political Science Course Syllabi Collection (Washington D.C.: The American Political Science Association, 1991), pp. 1-17. 7.Almond, A Discipline Divided, pp. 40-43. John F. Copper. Historical Dictionary ofTaiwan. Asian Historical Dictionaries , no. 12. Metuchen and London: The Scarecrow Press, 1993. xxx, 179 pp. Hardcover $27.50. This is actually only a dictionary ofpolitical developments in Taiwan after World War II. Less than 10 percent ofthe four hundred or so terms in the glossary are related to the history ofTaiwan before 1945. For the period after 1945, its coverage of governmental agencies and policies, leading political figures, major political groups and events, and major dissident groups and their members is quite comprehensive. However, it offers us little on the social, cultural, and economic aspects ofTaiwan. In general, the coverage ofthe dictionary is much too narrow in terms ofboth time span and subject matter. Nevertheless, a chronology of events (twenty pages) and a briefintroduction (twenty-four pages), both tracing the history ofTaiwan back to very early times, may provide college students taking a beginning course on East Asian societies with a rough sketch ofTaiwan's geography and history. Its bibliography is also a helpful guide for those who would like to know more about Taiwan. Since the political situation in Taiwan has changed rapidly, some of the explanations in the glossary are now out of date. Readers are advised to consult the most recent Yearbook ofthe Republic ofChina, especially for the current positions of major political figures. In addition, some minor mistakes have to be pointed out. "Hou Yuan Hui," a term borrowed from the Japanese, can be used to refer to any group of supporters of a candidate in a political campaign. One particular organization that supported "Tangwai" (non-KMT) candidates (p. 31) in the first half of the 1980s was known as the "Dan Wai Hou Yuan Hui." Chinese Public Television (p. 41), which has yet to function fully, is one of the four, rather than three, major television broadcasting systems in Taiwan. Three other systems established before it are CTV (p. 39), CTS (p. 39), and TTV (p. 107)."Dai Wan" (p.© 1995 by University 48) is a native term for aborigines in Taiwan. It is sometimes regarded as the oriofHawaii Pressgin ofthe term "Taiwan." However, it has not been confirmed that its actual meaning is "big bay," as the Chinese characters tai and wan imply. The city of Hsinchu (p.60) is dominated by Fukien Taiwanese, rather than Hakkas. Hakkas Reviews 431 dominate Hsinchu County, which surrounds the city. There have been two Houses ofLin in Taiwan; the one in Wufeng, Taichung County, has been even more important in the history ofTaiwan than the one in Panchiao (p. 61). These two families each built a spectacular Chinese garden in the late nineteenth century. The garden ofthe Lin family at Panchiao has been donated to Taipei County, not to the city ofTaipei. Ying-hwa Chang Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica Arthur Cotterell. EastAsia: From Chinese Predominance to the Rise ofthe Pacific Rim. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. xii, 339 pp. Hardcover $25.00. Arthur Cotterell has produced a small miracle—a highly readable history of East Asia in 339 pages. He has accomplished this in a volume that is relatively small in page size as well, a mere five and three-eighths by eight and a quarter inches. And he has incorporated all of Southeast Asia in his definition of the region. Quite an accomplishment! This accomplishment invites comparison with the familiar one-volume history of East Asia by John Fairbank, Edwin Reischauer, and Albert Craig. In its first edition in 1973, that work ran to 969 pages, was printed in a relatively large format on pages ofgreater size, and ventured no further south than Vietnam. Indeed , the principal distinction ofthe Cotterell volume, other than its brevity, is its redefinition ofEast Asia, departing from the traditional formulation of"the Chinese culture area" and looking to the new definition of "the Pacific rim" ofits subtitle. China is nevertheless at the center of this volume, Cotterell explains...