500 Dollars 2005, Taiwan
| in Krause book | Number: 1996 |
| Years of issue: | 20.07.2005 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | no signature |
| Serie: | 2004 (Year 93 after 1911) Issue |
| Specimen of: | 2004 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 155 х 70 |
| Printer: | Central Printing Factory, Taipei |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Bamboo Phyllostachys makinoi and denomination 500.
About this bamboo, please, read reverse description!
Avers:
In Taiwan, 500-dollar bills carry the image of Little League baseball players in a moment of glory. That's how serious the island is about its favourite game.
In the background, you see a player with an baseball trap.
On March 17, 1990, in Taiwan, following Japan and South Korea, the third professional baseball league in Asia was founded. From 1990 to 1995, professional baseball in Taiwan experienced the highest fame and recognition. This was facilitated by the presence of strong teams, high sports results, powerful sponsors, loyal fans and constant media attention, including the cable television that appeared on the island.
However, after 1995, professional baseball in Taiwan entered a period of severe crisis. In 1997, a very scandal broke out, related to fixing the results of matches, in the interests of business gamblers. The result of this scandal was the creation in the same year, in Taiwan, of the second professional league. The problems of "fixed matches" and "strife between the two professional leagues" have emerged consistently in other "baseball" countries, such as the US and Japan. Although these scandals had very negative consequences, but thanks to the resolutely taken constructive measures and the goodwill of all parties, the baseball's crisis did not shake the bases of baseball's popularity among fans in these countries. But in Taiwan, unlike the US and Japan, both scandals broke out not consistently, but almost simultaneously and with great force. Their settlement was prolonged, and the participants in the conflict did not show goodwill towards reconciliation. All these reasons radically undermined the confidence of fans, and, along with it, the former popularity of baseball on the island. We can say that the next 5 years, after 1996, was the time of the deepest decline of Taiwan's baseball. Suffice it to say that at the 1998 World Cup in Italy, Taiwan took only 13th place. And after the "Olympic" silver won in 1992, the national team of Taiwan was not awarded the right to participate in the Olympics in 1996 and 2000.
Thus, the internal crisis of professional baseball on the island led to bad performances by Taiwanese professionals on the world stage, the indifference of local fans and a general decline in the level of Taiwan's baseball.
Which sport is the most popular in Taiwan?
The answer to this question is simple and unambiguous.
Hefty stitched 108 stitches, a 150-gram leather ball, a glove and a round bit - that's basically all you need to play baseball. Although all these details have nothing to do with the traditional culture of Taiwan, and were imported to the island from behind the seas, today, baseball is the most popular team sport in Taiwan. How did baseball appear in Taiwan and won so wide popularity, allowing to call it truly a national sport?
The appearance of baseball in Taiwan.
The answer to this question is both simple and difficult. The first victorious phenomenon of Taiwanese baseball players in the international arena happened in 1968, when the youth team of the Red Leaves caused an unexpected defeat to the world champions in the junior league, the Wakayama team from Japan.
But if we talk about the history of the appearance and development of baseball in Taiwan, then the countdown of this story since the victory of the "Red Leaf" would not be entirely correct. In a rough comparison with the approximately one hundred year history of Taiwanese cinema, it would be tantamount to the assertion that Taiwanese cinema began with the film "Hidden Tiger, the Hidden Dragon", which won world recognition and won 4 Oscars in 2000.
We can say that baseball appeared in Taiwan from Japan, in the late 19th century, after the island was turned into a Japanese colony. Under the influence of a sudden wave of baseball's popularity in Japan, in the early 20th century, Japanese baseball fashion spread to Taiwan. The first baseball team in Taiwan was officially founded in 1906. And the first players in baseball in Taiwan were, in overwhelming majority, employees of Japanese banks and Japanese military. It is no accident that the way of spreading baseball in Taiwan, from north to south, and then, to the east, also repeated the way of territorial conquest of the island by the Japanese. Japanese influence manifested itself even in the name of this sport, which, until 1945, was designated by the Japanese term "yaku" (ball in the field).
In terms of composition, the first baseball teams consisted of 99% of the Japanese and, perhaps, only 1% of the inhabitants of Taiwan itself. Such a weak popularity of baseball among the locals can be explained by two simple reasons. Firstly, the Japanese "did not teach" local residents to play baseball, giving it the character of an ethnically selected, elite sport. Secondly, the Taiwanese themselves "did not learn" to play this game, because of the same ethnic alienation, as well as traditional Chinese ideas about the "perniciousness" and "obscenity" of such gambling in the ball. To this misunderstanding could be added the natural caution of the inhabitants of the island, who were afraid of being hit hard to death by a heavy, like a core, baseball.
"Taiwanization" of baseball on the island.
However, over the years, the old ideas about the "perniciousness" and "obscenity" of baseball gradually disappeared. After the establishment of the famous school of agriculture and forestry (Jia Nun) in the Chiayi district in 1919, the most talented students of the Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese aborigines began to be selected to the school's team. As a result, at the beginning of the 1930s, the Jia Nun Agro-Forestry School team became one of the strongest youth teams in Taiwan, and in 1931, even entered the final of the Taiwan championship, having the right to represent Taiwan at international competitions. In the same year, this team reached the final of the all-Japanese championship among junior teams in Osaka, and won an honorable second place on it.
The conquest of the prize-winning place at the Japanese baseball championship was a moment of glory for all the people of Taiwan. It had a special significance, as it showed that the situation when "Taiwanese defeat the Japanese" is quite possible, in conditions of "fair" rivalry. Despite the fact that the team of the Chiayi school did not receive the title of champion, the players of this school, after its graduation, traveled all over the island and sowed the first seeds in all its corners, which served to further spread and recognize baseball in Taiwan.
Unfortunately, during the Second World War, baseball temporarily lost its popularity, both in Japan and Taiwan, and even artificially confined itself as a hostile "symbol of American culture."
"Deepanization" and the development of baseball in the postwar years.
After the end of the war and the return of Taiwan under the authority of the Chinese government, baseball was not subjected to bans, but remained a "colonial product" and incomprehensible to the Chinese sports. The anti-Japanese policy of the Kuomintang government was manifested in the measures of "activization" in the sphere of culture, education and everyday life. These changes have not bypassed baseball, even when changing the Japanese name of baseball ("kyaku") to the Chinese term "bansu" (bit and ball). In fact, "activity" was manifested not only in the Chinese government's unwillingness to develop baseball, but also in changing the "geography" of distribution and in the ethnic aspect of baseball. If in the past, baseball was prevalent mainly among the Japanese, in the north of the island, then after 1945, the urban areas of Taipei were flooded with immigrants from mainland China. As a result, in the first post-war years, this led to a slowdown in the development of baseball in the north, compared to other parts of the island. Taiwan's baseball was not only marginalized under the influence of official policy, but also reflected a new ethnic division between the island's inhabitants.
In the fifties and sixties, the spread of baseball in Taiwan was facilitated by the presence and influence of Americans, especially the US military, who were largely based on the island. However, despite the growing popularity and growing number of competitions held on the island, baseball was still an elitist sport. One of the main reasons was the poverty of the people of Taiwan. For example, buying only one baseball glove required half of the average monthly salary of an ordinary worker. Baseball fields were in a deplorable or primitive state, as their equipment and maintenance was also too expensive for local residents. And yet, the charms of this game contributed to its further spread among the inhabitants of the island.
Democratization and access to the international arena.
In 1968, the world champions in the youth league, the Japanese team Kansai and Wakayama came to Taiwan to hold 5 friendly matches. To everyone's surprise, during their tour, the Japanese won only two victories, and suffered three defeats. Especially crushing defeat, with a score of 7: 0, was inflicted on the Japanese during the second match held in Taipei against the Red Leaf team from Taitung. As a result, these legendary matches not only glorified the "Red Leaf" team, but also helped the establishment of the youth baseball of Taiwan, at the level of the strongest world teams. A year later, in 1970, Taiwan officially joined the American youth league, successfully performed at the youth championship of the Far East in Japan and won the first title of "world champion" among junior teams. Between 1969 and 1982, Taiwan won 13 World Minor League championships.
Thus, the successes of Taiwanese young baseball players in the 60s and 70s served as the main impetus for the "baseball fever" that swept the whole island. Annually, with the onset of the next championship, the inhabitants of the island forgot about sleep and rest. Numerous neighbors, from small to large, gathered and sat up late at night, then still rare TV sets.
Three local television companies arranged countless live coverage of matches on crowded spectators baseball stadiums. The attention of the authorities to the champions and the enthusiasm of the fans contributed to the growth of national pride. In a sense, the successes of Taiwanese baseball players helped overcome ethnic strife on the island and a crisis of self-belief, after the expulsion of the Republic of China from the UN and the deepening of Taiwan's diplomatic isolation. As a result, the general interest in baseball has become a broad social phenomenon, firmly linked with the warmest memories of Taiwan's life in those years.
A decade of "triumph" and world recognition.
On September 4, 1982, the 27th World Baseball Championship was held in South Korea, where the Taiwanese took the 4th place, and firmly established themselves among the strongest teams in the world. In 1983, they not only won the 6th transcontinental championship, but also dealt a crushing defeat to the multiple world champions, the Cuban team, with a score of 13:1. At the 12th Asian Championships held in September of the same year, Taiwanese baseball players won the title of champions and got the right to participate in the Olympic Games.
We can say that the decade from 1982 to 1992 was the time of the highest triumph for Taiwan's baseball. There were no major international competitions, from which Taiwanese baseball players would return empty-handed. There was not one strongest team that would not be defeated by players from Taiwan. Even the multiple world champions, the Cuban baseball players, have often known the bitter taste of defeat at the hands of Taiwanese rivals. At the 1984 and 1986 world championships, Taiwan's baseball players twice took second place, and in 1988 they repeated the success of 1973, taking third place. In the same year, during the show competitions at the Olympic Games in Seoul, the Chinese Taipei team won bronze, and at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the Taiwanese won an honorable silver medal.
The eighties became not only the time of world recognition of Taiwan baseball, but also the time of accelerated outflow of the best Taiwanese players abroad, into professional and amateur teams of other countries. Particular attention was paid to the Japanese masters by the Japanese. However, young talents quickly appeared on the site of Taiwan's abandoned players, and Taiwan baseball continued its active development.
Denominations in numerals are in top and lower left corners. In words - lower, right.
Revers:
The Formosan sika deer (Chinese: 台灣梅花鹿; pinyin: Táiwān méihuālù; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân hoe-lo̍k), is a subspecies of sika deer endemic to the island of Taiwan. Formosan sika, like most of the terrestrial fauna and flora of Taiwan, arrived on the island during Pleistocene glacial periods when lower sea levels connected Taiwan to the Asian mainland.
Sika stand 90-120 cm. at the shoulder. Males are larger and bear deciduous antlers. The summer coat is light brownish, with obvious white spots, while in winter their coat is darker and the spots fade.
The natural distribution of sika on Taiwan was in the woodlands from sea level up to about 300 m elevation. Sika, like many deer, prefer areas of mixed forest, scrub, and open land. Under natural conditions the low-lying alluvial plain that stretches from present-day Taipei along the west coast almost to the southern tip of the island were prime deer habitat and natural populations would have been quite dense. 
On background is Dabajian Mountain (Elevation - 3,492 m. (11,457 ft.).
Dabajian Mountain (Chinese: 大霸尖山; pinyin: Dàbàjiān Shān; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-pà-chiam san, Atayal:Babo Papak, Saisiyat:Kapatalayan ) is located in the northern section of the Shei-Pa National Park in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. It is surrounded by numerous other peaks, the most predominant including Mount Nanhuda, Mount Yize, Central Range Point, Mt. Pintian, and Mt. Mutule. It is also near the Madala River.
The first half of Dabajian Mountain is a medium grade hill with about a 35° incline. The top half is an almost straight up rock face. The mountain's steep grade and unique features were mainly formed by wind. The mountain is composed mainly of greywacke.
Greywacke or Graywacke (German grauwacke, signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found in Paleozoic strata. The larger grains can be sand- to gravel-sized, and matrix materials generally constitute more than 15% of the rock by volume. The term "greywacke" can be confusing, since it can refer to either the immature (rock fragment) aspect of the rock or its fine-grained (clay) component.
Dabajian Mountain is known for its steep grade, beautiful surroundings, and rugged terrain, making it a popular rock climbing mountain. There are many companies in the area that offer rock climbing tours to the mountain. The Atayal and Saisiyat people, which are two groups of Taiwanese aborigines, believe that this mountain is their holy mountain. Tourists are recommended to visit in the spring and summer because of the beautiful weather in the mountain. When there is snow on the mountain, it can become extremely hazardous to hike.
On right and left sides are the Bamboo Phyllostachys makinoi.
Max Height: 60 feet, avg. 35 to 45 feet.
Diameter: 2-3 inches.
A large and hardy timber bamboo. New culms are covered with a pastel blue powder for several months before fading to an olive green. Named for Tomitaro Makinoi, a Japanese botanist.
At the bottom is an inscription, which says, that this banknote was printed in 2004, 93 years after 1911 - the year of proclamation the Republic of China.
Denomination in numerals is in top left corner. In words - in lower right corner.
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