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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. It is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The territories controlled by the ROC consist of 168 islands with a combined area of 36,193 square kilometres (13,974 square miles). The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 square miles), with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanized population is concentrated. The capital, Taipei, forms along with New Taipei City and Keelung the largest metropolitan area. With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries.

Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years. Ancestors of Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the island around 6,000 years ago. In the 17th century, large-scale Han Chinese immigration began under a Dutch colony and continued under the Kingdom of Tungning, the first predominantly Han Chinese state in Taiwanese history. The island was annexed in 1683 by the Qing dynasty of China and ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895. The Republic of China, which had overthrown the Qing in 1912, took control following the surrender of Japan in 1945. Japan renounced sovereignty over Taiwan in 1952. The immediate resumption of the Chinese Civil War resulted in the loss of the Chinese mainland to Communist forces, who established the People's Republic of China, and the flight of the ROC central government to Taiwan in 1949. The effective jurisdiction of the ROC has since been limited to Taiwan, Penghu, and smaller islands.

In the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization called the "Taiwan Miracle". In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ROC transitioned from a one-party state under martial law to a multi-party democracy, with democratically elected presidents since 1996. Taiwan's export-oriented industrial economy is the 21st-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the 20th-largest by PPP measures, with a focus on steel, machinery, electronics, and chemicals manufacturing. Taiwan is a developed country. It is ranked highly in terms of civil liberties, healthcare, and human development.

The political status of Taiwan is contentious. The ROC no longer represents China as a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead. The ROC maintained its claim of being the sole legitimate representative of China and its territory until 1991, when it ceased to regard the CCP as a rebellious group and recognized its control over mainland China. Taiwan is claimed by the PRC, which refuses to establish diplomatic relations with countries that recognise the ROC. Taiwan maintains official diplomatic relations with 11 out of 193 UN member states and the Holy See. Many others maintain unofficial diplomatic ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates. International organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate on a non-state basis. Domestically, the major political contention is between parties favoring eventual Chinese unification and promoting a pan-Chinese identity, contrasted with those aspiring to formal international recognition and promoting a Taiwanese identity; into the 21st century, both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. (Full article...)

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Percentage of Taiwanese aged 6 and above who spoke Mandarin at home in 2010; darker blue corresponds to a greater density of Mandarin speakers

Taiwanese Mandarin, frequently referred to as Guoyu (Chinese: 國語; pinyin: Guóyǔ; lit. 'National language') or Huayu (華語; Huáyǔ; 'Mandarin language'), is the variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Taiwan. A large majority of the Taiwanese population is fluent in Mandarin, though many also speak a variety of Min Chinese known as Taiwanese Hokkien, commonly called Minnanyu (Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnányǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-lâm-gú), Southern Min, or Hokkien. This language has had a significant influence on Mandarin as spoken on the island.

Mandarin was not a prevalent spoken language in Taiwan before the mid-20th century. Early Chinese immigrants who settled in Taiwan before Japanese rule mainly spoke other varieties of Chinese languages, primarily Hakka and Hokkien. By contrast, Taiwanese indigenous peoples speak unrelated Austronesian languages. Japan annexed Taiwan in 1895 and governed the island as a colony for the next 50 years, introducing Japanese in education, government, and public life. With the defeat of Imperial Japan in World War II, Taiwan was handed to the Republic of China, ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT), which by 1950 had been expelled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) out of the Chinese mainland. The KMT promulgated Standard Mandarin as the national language — Guoyu — while suppressing non-Mandarin languages in the public sphere in Taiwan. At the same time, in the People's Republic of China on the mainland, Putonghua (traditional Chinese: 普通話; simplified Chinese: 普通话; pinyin: Pǔtōnghuà; lit. 'common speech') was likewise promoted as the national language. (Full article...)

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Chiau Wen-yan (Chinese: 邱文彥; pinyin: Qiū Wényàn: born 17 July 1953) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the member of Legislative Yuan, a professor and the former director of the Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management at National Taiwan Ocean University. (Full article...)

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Tsai Ing-wen Cheng Yen Chen Yi (Kuomintang) Teresa Teng Tsai Wan-lin Wang Jinping (scholar and activist) Jay Chou Ang Lee S.H.E Lee Teng-hui Justin Huang Kao Chin Su-mei Latisha Chan Wu Nien-jen Wu Zhaonan

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Dream Mall in Qianzhen, Kaohsiung is the biggest shopping mall in Taiwan and the 12th largest in the world by gross leasable area.

Photo credit: User:小鄧

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A sample of pe̍h-ōe-jī text

Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Taiwanese Hokkien: [pe˩ˀ o̯e̞˩ d͡ʑi˧] ^ⓘ, English approximation: /ˌpɛɔɪdʒiː/ PEH-oy-JEE; abbr. POJ; lit. 'vernacular writing'), sometimes known as Church Romanization, is an orthography used to write variants of Hokkien Southern Min, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien, and it is widely employed as one of the writing systems for Southern Min. During its peak, it had hundreds of thousands of readers.

Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the 19th century and refined by missionaries working in Xiamen and Tainan, it uses a modified Latin alphabet and some diacritics to represent the spoken language. After initial success in Fujian, POJ became most widespread in Taiwan and, in the mid-20th century, there were over 100,000 people literate in POJ. A large amount of printed material, religious and secular, has been produced in the script, including Taiwan's first newspaper, the Taiwan Church News. (Full article...)

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Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa Chen Chi-mai EVA Air Chai Trong-rong Taiwan High Speed Rail Mei-Ann Chen Hsu Tain-tsair You Are the Apple of My Eye

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Did you know - show different entries

... that the Formosan black bear (pictured) is an endangered and endemic species of bear that can only be found in Taiwan?

... that Jade Mountain, at 3,952 meters (13,114 feet), is the tallest mountain in Taiwan. Did you also know that it stands 176 meters taller than Mount Fuji in Japan, and that it was named Niitakayama, or 'new tall mountain' during Japanese rule?

... that Gueishan Island is an islet formed by the only active volcano in Taiwan?

More did you know...

General images

The following are images from various Taiwan-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Two 7-Eleven stores opposite each other on a crossroad. Taiwan has the highest density of 7-Eleven stores per person in the world (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 2Photo from Savages of Formosa, a 1926 government report on tribal life in Taiwan (from History of Taiwan)
Image 31901 map with red line marking approximate boundary separating territory under actual Japanese administration from "Savage District" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 4Map of Asia showing the "Chinese Empire" (1892) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 5The Qing Empire in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 6Zheng Keshuang (from History of Taiwan)
Image 7The Dharmachakra represents the Noble Eightfold Path. (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 8Woodcut of the mass killings which took place during the February 28 Incident (from History of Taiwan)
Image 9Original geographic distributions of Taiwanese aboriginal peoples (from History of Taiwan)
Image 10Yin and Yang symbol of Taoism (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 11Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1685 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 12Japanese painting of the expedition forces attacking the Mudan tribe, 1874 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 13Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1734 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 14Kagi Shrine, one of many Shinto shrines built in Taiwan. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 15Sky Lantern festival in Pingxi, Taiwan (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 16Mid-17th century portrait of Koxinga (Guoxingye or "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese), "Lord of the Imperial Surname" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 17Statue of Chen Di in Lianjiang County (from History of Taiwan)
Image 18The Capture of Lin Shuangwen (from History of Taiwan)
Image 19Population density map of Taiwan in 2019 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 20Depiction of a Chinese man, woman, and soldier, by Georg Franz Müller (1646–1723) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 21Territory controlled by Koxinga, founder of the Kingdom of Tungning (from History of Taiwan)
Image 22Map of Taiwan with the western coast pointed downwards, c. 1640 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 23Chinese depiction of Chikan (Fort Provintia), 1752 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 24Taichung Middle School in 1919 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 25Shi Lang (1621–1696) in an 18th-century painting (from History of Taiwan)
Image 26A map of the Empire of Japan including Taiwan ("barbarian land" in red) in 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 27Conquest of Douliumen (Zhuluo) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 28Takasago Volunteers in October 1944 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 29The Imperial Guard Defeats the Enemy in Hard Fighting at Keelung on the Island of Taiwan, 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 30The original flag of the Taiwanese People's Party, 2 January 1929 – 6 October 1929 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 31Pearl milk tea (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 32Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress (1989) (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 33Siege of Fort Zeelandia (from History of Taiwan)
Image 34Depiction of Qing ships crossing the ocean to suppress the Lin Shuangwen rebellion, 1787–1788 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 35Portrait of Zheng Jing (1642–1681), possibly 17th c. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 36Bird's eye view of Fort Zeelandia in Dutch Formosa in the 17th-century (from History of Taiwan)
Image 37Evacuation of Keelung by the French forces, image created 1887 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 38Severed heads of Seediq rebels (from History of Taiwan)
Image 39Map showing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673–1681) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 40Departure of a Ryukyuan ship bearing tribute to Beijing, 1831 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 41Apo Hsu and the NTNU Symphony Orchestra on stage in the National Concert Hall in Taipei and Play Saint-Saens's Organ Symphony No. 3 (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 42Entrance hall of a K-TV in Taipei (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 43Section of a painting depicting daily life of the Taokas people, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 44Section of Kangxi period painting of Taiwan, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 45Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty by 1894 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 46Taiwan in the 17th century, showing Dutch (magenta) and Spanish (green) possessions, and the Kingdom of Middag (orange) (from History of Taiwan)

On this day...

More June anniversaries

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In the news

28 May 2024 – 2024 Taiwanese legislative reform protests: The Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party pass amendments granting the Legislative Yuan greater powers to oversee the executive and to question officials and citizens, despite claims that these amendments violate civil liberties and could reduce the powers of president Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party. (The Guardian)
23 May 2024 – Cross-Strait relations: China's People's Liberation Army begins two days of military drills around Taiwan. In response, Taiwan mobilizes its military. (BBC News) (Reuters)
20 May 2024 –: Lai Ching-te is sworn in as President of Taiwan, with Hsiao Bi-khim as his Vice President. (Al Jazeera)
17 May 2024 –: A brawl breaks out in the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's parliament, following disagreements over draft reforms between the Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang. (The Independent)

Topics

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Administrative divisions

The Republic of China government governs 22 administrative divisions
The administrative divisions presently consist of 13 counties, 6 special municipalities and three cities.


Chiayi City	Chiayi County	Changhua County	Hsinchu City	Hsinchu County

Hualian County	Kaohsiung City	Keelung City	Kinmen Country	Lienchang County

Miaoli County	Nantou County	New Taipei City	Penghu County	Pingtung County

Taichung City	Tainan City	Taipei City	Taitung County	Taoyuan City

Yilan County	Yunlin County

Related portals

East Asia

Southeast Asia

Portals listed here are related to Taiwan by way of history, Asian region, diplomatic relations with ROC, and significant diaspora of overseas Taiwanese

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