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Y1C Problem

The Y1C Problem may soon be faced by many computers and computer systems in Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China.^[1]

Similar to the Y2K problem faced by much of the world in the lead-up to 2000, the Y1C problem is a side effect of Taiwan's use of the Minguo calendar for official purposes. This calendar is based on the founding of the Republic of China in 1911, so the year 2011 on the Western Gregorian calendar will correspond to year 100 on Taiwan's official calendar, which may cause problems for any program that only treats years as two-digit values.

Likely severity

As generally speaking only governmental offices use the official system, impact on the private sector should be minimal. The potential to affect government systems is another matter. However, a large number of governmental computers are already using a three-digit system for dates, with a zero being used as the first digit for years below 100 (Gregorian 2010 or earlier).

Some government documents such as driver’s licenses already refer to years over 100; fortunately, nothing more than minor glitches have so far been reported.

See also

• Time formatting and storage bugs

References