The program maintained its number of participants and its program structure throughout the 1990s but this changed after the 1999 Jiji earthquake . As a result , many parents were hesitant of sending their children to Taiwan . As a result , the number of participants in the year 2000 tour dropped to 800 as anyone who applied was accepted . Further problems for the Study tour continued . The Study tour had historically been funded and supported by Taiwan 's Kuomintang party since its inception in 1967 . After the 2000 Taiwan election , the incoming change of administration of the Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) did not fully support the aims or goals of the study tour . As a result , funding was drastically cut and enrollment for the tour of 2001 was limited to 800 students . To cut costs , most students of that year were removed from the traditional Jiantan building and moved to a smaller adjacent one that historically hosted the " Baby Boat " , a much younger study tour , where participants were aged between 12 – 18 . The cuts did not end there . In 2002 , due to lack of government support , the China Youth Corps which usually ran the program announced that it could no longer support a sizable number of students at Jiantan for its 2002 Study tour and that other organizations would have to pick up the slack
1999 Jiji earthquake
1999 Jiji earthquake
Love Boat (study tour)