The Eastern Sea Route as Depicted in a Chinese Historical Geographical Description of Foreign Lands of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) Daoyi zhilüe (“A Brief Description of the Island Barbarians”, 1349/1350): Chapters 1–4, Translation with Commentary

This article is the first in the series of planned publications with translations of separate chapters from a Chinese historical-geographical description of foreign lands Daoyi zhilüe (“A Brief Description of Island Barbarians”, 1349/1350) written during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). The first four chapters of the treatise which describe policies on the eastern sea route from China are included in this work. The article offers the first translation of these chapters into Russian, accompanied by detailed historical commentary. Apart from that, in the research part of the article the author has briefly analyzed the order of the chapters in the treatise and compared it with the previous sources of similar nature. The translations are an important source for studying various aspects of the history of the Penghu islands, Taiwan and the Philippines in the 14th century AD.

A Case Study of Tourist Perceptions and Revisit Intention Regarding Qingwan Cactus Park in Penghu, Taiwan

In recent years, the citizens of Taiwan have exhibited an increasing demand for domestic tourism and travel options. Due to their relatively early development as a domestic tourism destination, the Penghu Islands are well known for their rich natural and cultural resources. The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing tourists’ visits to Qingwan Cactus Park, including their reasons for visiting and their perceptions of their visits. With principal component analysis serving as the basis for an IPA methodology, and using the visiting destination as a reference point, the results obtained can provide a basic guideline for tourism planning. The visitors’ reactions and demands were re-examined through IPA analysis. The results could be used by national park managers to develop constructive suggestions on implementing sustainable development in Taiwan’s tourism industries. This study presents valuable data on Penghu and provides analyses of residents’ and tourists’ opinions, as well as their reactions. The study’s conclusions can be extrapolated to research on other destinations outside of Taiwan.

Adjustment of bus departure time of an electric bus transportation system for reducing costs and carbon emissions: A case study in Penghu

As a response to the worldwide problems of global warming and environmental pollution, electric vehicles have become the main direction of development in the automobile industry. Taking the bus system of Penghu Islands as the subject, this study explores the switching of all the original diesel buses to electric buses, and it adjusts the departure time of all the buses, with the purpose of reducing the costs of the construction and electricity used in an electric bus system. Plug-in and battery-swapping buses are used as examples in the study, and the Genetic Algorithm (GA), the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Simulate Anneal Arithmetic (SA) algorithms, as well as an algorithm that combines the above, is used to optimize the departure times, in order not to affect the volumes and passenger demands in units of five minutes, the shift starts within the range of 15 minutes before or after the scheduled time. After each new schedule is prepared, batteries are used to optimize the daytime charging schedule of electric buses, to ensure the lowest cost of each new schedule. The results show that, regardless of which algorithm is used to optimize the departure time, all the minimum costs are lower than the best results before the adjustment, especially for the PSO-GA algorithm. Hence, the proper adjustment of the departure time can really reduce the construction and electricity costs and carbon emissions of the electric bus system.

Research on the Coastal Marine Environment and Rural Sustainable Development Strategy of Island Countries—Taking the Penghu Islands as an Example

In this study, we examined the keelboat industry on Penghu Island in Taiwan as an example to discuss sustainable development strategies for the marine environment and villages. First, three experts were consulted to compile questionnaires. A snowball sampling method was used to collect 278 samples of residents and tourists living in the coastal area. Opinions were collected from 8 residents, crew members, tourists, and scholars. The data were finally summarized and compared by triangulation method and then examined. We found that introducing the keelboat industry could preserve maritime culture, increase local popularity and leisure options for people, create business opportunities, and improve the economy. It could also lead to a loss of coastal architectural features, increased the amount of trash in the community, around the harbor, and on the sea, no improvement in public facilities and medical care, and decreased the willingness of young people to return to their hometowns. Encouraging men to work in tourism-related industries, assisting in balancing job opportunities, strengthening villagers’ communication, improving tourists’ environmental literacy, adding onboard guides, improving women’s professional knowledge of marine ecology and working opportunities for boat maintenance, as well as actively participating in community development planning, can improve the current situation and achieve the goal of sustainable development.

Survey of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) in the Penghu Islands with two new records and descriptions of two new species

Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) is a well-known mite family, and more than 2,700 species have been recorded worldwide. Prior this study, 64 phytoseiid species had been recorded in main island of Taiwan and its neighboring islands. Nevertheless, many areas are still unexplored and need further investigation, such as the Penghu Islands. The present study was based on phytoseiid mite materials collected from the Penghu Islands in 1989 and 2020. A list of identified phytoseiid mites is provided herein, 16 species, eight genera, and three subfamilies. Proprioseiopsis penghuensis sp. nov. and Neoseiulus xiaomenensis sp. nov. are new to science, and Amblyseius cinctus Corpuz-Raros & Rimando, A. fletcheri Schicha, Phytoseius rachelae Swirski & Shechter are new records for the country. The further comprehensive phytoseiid investigation in Penghu Islands is needed for exploring the relationships among environmental and agricultural changes, and phytoseiid mites.

Evaluating a Suitable Aquaculture Site Selection Model for Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) during Extreme Events in the Inner Bay of the Penghu Islands, Taiwan

Despite numerous studies on the effect of a cold weather disaster on fisheries in 2008, no operational systems have been developed to monitor the threat of such an event to mariculturists in the Penghu Islands (PHI) region of Taiwan. The present study employed a suitable aquaculture site selection map of the inner bay of the PHI to reduce aquaculture losses and mortality rates of cobia (Rachycentron canadum) during extreme events. Daily marine environmental data, including sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a), and wind speed in the winter, were collected. An extreme event was defined as a period of over 11 days in a month of strong winds (>6 m/s). Four parameters in the PHI inner bay, including SST, cold-water intrusion days, chl-a, and offshore distance to the PHI coastline, were used to evaluate suitable aquaculture sites for cobia culture. The results indicated that La Niña events could not be used as a factor to detect cold-water intrusion events and select suitable aquaculture sites in the PHI. The evaluated suitable aquaculture site selection map, obtained using an arithmetic mean model and a geometric mean model, revealed that the avoidance sites during extreme events were concentrated in the northern and northwestern PHI. Suitable areas were concentrated in the southeastern areas. We further suggested that commercial cobia aquaculture operations in the PHI inner bay could be moved to the suitable sites in southeastern PHI during extreme events.