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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, lies between 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. It 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 combined territories under ROC control consist of 168 islands in total covering 36,193 square kilometres (13,974 square miles). The largest metropolitan area is formed by Taipei (the capital), New Taipei City, and Keelung. 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 under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen, took control following the surrender of Japan in 1945. 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.

The early 1960s saw 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 beginning in 1996. Taiwan's export-oriented 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. Despite being a founding member, the ROC no longer represents China as a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead.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 Chinese Communist Party as a rebellious group and acknowledged 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; in the 21st century, both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. (Full article...)

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Iron egg (Chinese: 鐵蛋; pinyin: tiědàn) is a special version of soy egg, a snack from Taiwan. They are considered a delicacy and originated in the Tamsui District of New Taipei City.

The dish consists of small eggs that have been repeatedly stewed in a mix of spices and air-dried. The resulting eggs are dark brown on the outside, chewy in texture, and very flavourful compared to standard boiled eggs. It has been said to taste "sweet, spicy and slightly salty with a concentrated egg flavour—a great snack with drinks". (Full article...)

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Chen Yi as pictured in The Most Recent Biographies of Chinese Dignitaries

Chen Yi (Chinese: 陳儀; pinyin: Chén Yí; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June 18, 1950) was a Chinese military officer and politician who served as the chief executive and garrison commander of Taiwan Province after the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Republic of China. He acted on behalf of the Allied Powers to accept the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Taipei Zhongshan Hall on October 25, 1945. He is considered to have mismanaged the tension between the Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese which resulted in the February 28 Incident in 1947, resulting in the deaths of 18,000 to 28,000 people, and was dismissed. In June 1948, he was appointed Chairman of Zhejiang Province, but was dismissed and arrested when his plan to surrender to the Chinese Communist Party was discovered. He was sentenced to death and executed by shooting in Taipei in 1950. (Full article...)

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

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The view of the Alishan National Scenic Area from the peak of the mountain in Chiayi County.

Photo credit: User:Taiwantaffy

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Official portrait, 2019

Chen Chi-mai (Chinese: 陳其邁; pinyin: Chén Qímài; Wade–Giles: Ch'ên² Ch'i²-mai⁴; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Kî-māi; born December 23, 1964), also known as Comay Chen, is a Taiwanese politician and the current mayor of Kaohsiung since August 24, 2020. He has served as spokesperson of the Democratic Progressive Party and the chief executive officer of its Policy Research and Coordinating Committee. A physician from Keelung, Chen started his political career by becoming member of the Legislative Yuan in 1996 and served as legislator for almost eight years before becoming the spokesperson of the Executive Yuan.

In 2005, Chen succeeded to the mayoralty of Kaohsiung after Frank Hsieh's appointment as premier. Chen became the deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office in 2007 and served until the inauguration of President Ma Ying-jeou. Following his December 2018 loss in the Kaohsiung mayoral election, Chen was appointed Vice Premier of the Republic of China by President Tsai Ing-wen. Chen yielded the vice premiership to Shen Jong-chin in June 2020, and won the Kaohsiung mayoralty in a by-election on August 15, 2020 after previous mayor Han Kuo-yu was recalled. (Full article...)

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

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Acer's logo since 2011.

... that Acer (pictured) is ranked as one of the world's top five branded PC vendors and has a history dating to 1976?

... that Taipei was the first city in the world to roll out a city-wide Wi-Fi network with 4,000 hot spots serving a city population of 2.6 million?

... that the 2006 Hengchun earthquake (6.7 Richter scale) off the southwest coast of Taiwan damaged several submarine communications cables resulting in severe disruptions to telecommunication services including Internet access to many East and Southeast Asian countries?

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General images

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

Image 1Section of Kangxi period painting of Taiwan, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 2Depiction of a Chinese man, woman, and soldier, by Georg Franz Müller (1646–1723) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 3Map of Taiwan with the western coast pointed downwards, c. 1640 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 41901 map with red line marking approximate boundary separating territory under actual Japanese administration from "Savage District" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 5Original geographic distributions of Taiwanese aboriginal peoples (from History of Taiwan)
Image 6The original flag of the Taiwanese People's Party, 2 January 1929 – 6 October 1929 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 7Shi Lang (1621–1696) in an 18th-century painting (from History of Taiwan)
Image 8Woodcut of the mass killings which took place during the February 28 Incident (from History of Taiwan)
Image 9Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty by 1894 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 10Portrait of Zheng Jing (1642–1681), possibly 17th c. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 11Map of Asia showing the "Chinese Empire" (1892) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 12Statue of Chen Di in Lianjiang County (from History of Taiwan)
Image 13Taiwan in the 17th century, showing Dutch (magenta) and Spanish (green) possessions, and the Kingdom of Middag (orange) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 14Population density map of Taiwan in 2019 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 15Yin and Yang symbol of Taoism (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 16Bird's eye view of Fort Zeelandia in Dutch Formosa in the 17th-century (from History of Taiwan)
Image 17Conquest of Douliumen (Zhuluo) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 18Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1685 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 19Teresa Teng (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 20Apo 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 21Depiction of Qing ships crossing the ocean to suppress the Lin Shuangwen rebellion, 1787–1788 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 22Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Cairo Conference in Cairo, 25 November 1943. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 23Evacuation of Keelung by the French forces, image created 1887 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 24Pearl milk tea (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 25Chinese depiction of Chikan (Fort Provintia), 1752 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 26Territory controlled by Koxinga, founder of the Kingdom of Tungning (from History of Taiwan)
Image 27Entrance hall of a K-TV in Taipei (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 28Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress (1989) (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 29Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1734 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 30The Capture of Lin Shuangwen (from History of Taiwan)
Image 31Section of a painting depicting daily life of the Taokas people, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 32Kagi Shrine, one of many Shinto shrines built in Taiwan. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 33Severed heads of Seediq rebels (from History of Taiwan)
Image 34Takasago Volunteers in October 1944 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 35Mid-17th century portrait of Koxinga (Guoxingye or "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese), "Lord of the Imperial Surname" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 36Zheng Keshuang (from History of Taiwan)
Image 37Siege of Fort Zeelandia (from History of Taiwan)
Image 38The Qing Empire in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 39Japanese painting of the expedition forces attacking the Mudan tribe, 1874 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 40A map of the Empire of Japan including Taiwan ("barbarian land" in red) in 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 41Photo from Savages of Formosa, a 1926 government report on tribal life in Taiwan (from History of Taiwan)
Image 42Sky Lantern festival in Pingxi, Taiwan (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 43The Dharmachakra represents the Noble Eightfold Path. (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 44Two 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 45Taichung Middle School in 1919 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 46Departure of a Ryukyuan ship bearing tribute to Beijing, 1831 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 47Map showing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673–1681) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 48The Imperial Guard Defeats the Enemy in Hard Fighting at Keelung on the Island of Taiwan, 1895 (from History of Taiwan)

On this day...

More December anniversaries

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In the news

19 December 2024 –: Nine people are killed during a fire at a warehouse building of PX Mart under construction in Taichung, Taiwan. (AP)
7 December 2024 – Cross-strait relations, Chinese intelligence activity abroad: Prosecutors in Taiwan charge four soldiers with espionage, accusing the soldiers of passing photographs of Taiwan's military capability to Chinese agents in exchange for money between 2022 and 2024. (DW) (The Standard)
16 November 2024 – APEC Peru 2024: At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping for their final meeting before Biden leaves office on January 20th. During the meeting, Biden and Xi talk about topics like cyber crime, trade, Taiwan, and Russia. Xi also said that his team will work with the incoming Trump administration. (Reuters)

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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