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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 Sea 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.

From the early 1960s, Taiwan saw rapid economic growth and industrialization known as 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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The Kingdom of Tungning, also known as Tywan, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly ethnic Han state in Taiwanese history. At its zenith, the kingdom's maritime power dominated varying extents of coastal regions in southeastern China and controlled the major sea lanes across both China Seas, and its vast trade network stretched from Japan to Southeast Asia.

The kingdom was founded by Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) after seizing control of Taiwan from Dutch rule. Zheng hoped to restore the Ming dynasty in Mainland China, when the Ming remnants' rump state in southern China was progressively conquered by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. The Zheng dynasty used the island of Taiwan as a military base for their Ming loyalist movement which aimed to reclaim China proper from the Qing dynasty. Under Zheng rule, Taiwan underwent a process of sinicization in an effort to consolidate the last stronghold of Han Chinese resistance against the invading Manchus. Until its annexation by the Qing dynasty in 1683, the kingdom was ruled by Koxinga's heirs, the House of Koxinga, and the period of rule is sometimes referred to as the Koxinga dynasty or the Zheng dynasty. (Full article...)

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Kao Chin Su-mei (traditional Chinese: 高金素梅; pinyin: Gāo Jīn Sùméi; born September 21, 1965), also known as Chin Su-mei, May Chin and Ciwas Ali, is a Taiwanese politician and retired actress and singer. She is of Manchu and Atayal descent, Ciwas Ali being her Atayal name.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she starred in many popular TV series and films including Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet (1993). She also released several Mandopop albums. She retired from showbiz in 1999 following her diagnosis of liver cancer which she recovered from. (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 Chiau Wen-yan Latisha Chan Wu Nien-jen Wu Zhaonan

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Chen Cheng-po was a Taiwanese painter whose oil painting Street of Chiayi was the first painting of a Taiwanese artist displayed in the Empire Art Exhibition in Japan. Chen was captured and killed by the Kuomintang government as a result of the 228 Incident.

Illustration credit: Chen Cheng-po

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A sample of Pe̍h-ōe-jī text

Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Taiwanese Hokkien: [pe˩ˀ o̯e̞˩ d͡ʑi˧] ^ⓘ, English approximation: /peɪweɪˈdʒiː/ pay-way-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

... there are thirteen officially recognized Taiwanese aboriginal tribes (pictured) in Taiwan comprising 2% (458,000) of Taiwan's population. Did you also know that the Ami tribe are the most populous (37.5%) and that pop-singer A-mei is from the Puyuma tribe?

... that Ketagalan Boulevard was originally named Chiehshou Road in honor of Chiang Kai-shek but was renamed on March 20, 1996 by president Chen Shui-bian after the Ketagalan tribe in honor of aboriginal history and culture?

... that the Sakizaya people, a Taiwanese aboriginal tribe, has been recognized by the government of Taiwan since January 2007?

More did you know...

General images

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

Image 1Map of Asia showing the "Chinese Empire" (1892) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 2Shi Lang (1621–1696) in an 18th-century painting (from History of Taiwan)
Image 3Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1734 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 4Depiction of Qing ships crossing the ocean to suppress the Lin Shuangwen rebellion, 1787–1788 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 5Yin and Yang symbol of Taoism (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 6Statue of Chen Di in Lianjiang County (from History of Taiwan)
Image 7Departure of a Ryukyuan ship bearing tribute to Beijing, 1831 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 8Photo from Savages of Formosa, a 1926 government report on tribal life in Taiwan (from History of Taiwan)
Image 9Woodcut of the mass killings which took place during the February 28 Incident (from History of Taiwan)
Image 10Severed heads of Seediq rebels (from History of Taiwan)
Image 11Apo 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 12Teresa Teng (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 13The original flag of the Taiwanese People's Party, 2 January 1929 – 6 October 1929 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 14Taiwan in the 17th century, showing Dutch (magenta) and Spanish (green) possessions, and the Kingdom of Middag (orange) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 15Mid-17th century portrait of Koxinga (Guoxingye or "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese), "Lord of the Imperial Surname" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 16Zheng Keshuang (from History of Taiwan)
Image 17Depiction of a Chinese man, woman, and soldier, by Georg Franz Müller (1646–1723) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 18Taichung Middle School in 1919 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 19Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty by 1894 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 20A map of the Empire of Japan including Taiwan ("barbarian land" in red) in 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 21Territory controlled by Koxinga, founder of the Kingdom of Tungning (from History of Taiwan)
Image 22Portrait of Zheng Jing (1642–1681), possibly 17th c. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 23Entrance hall of a K-TV in Taipei (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 24Chinese depiction of Chikan (Fort Provintia), 1752 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 25Takasago Volunteers in October 1944 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 26Siege of Fort Zeelandia (from History of Taiwan)
Image 27Section of a painting depicting daily life of the Taokas people, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 28Evacuation of Keelung by the French forces, image created 1887 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 29The Capture of Lin Shuangwen (from History of Taiwan)
Image 30Original geographic distributions of Taiwanese aboriginal peoples (from History of Taiwan)
Image 31Conquest of Douliumen (Zhuluo) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 32The Imperial Guard Defeats the Enemy in Hard Fighting at Keelung on the Island of Taiwan, 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 33Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1685 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 34The Qing Empire in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 35Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress (1989) (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 36Map of Taiwan with the western coast pointed downwards, c. 1640 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 37Pearl milk tea (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 38Generalissimo 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 39Map showing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673–1681) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 40The Dharmachakra represents the Noble Eightfold Path. (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 41Section of Kangxi period painting of Taiwan, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 42Population density map of Taiwan in 2019 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 43Sky Lantern festival in Pingxi, Taiwan (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 44Japanese painting of the expedition forces attacking the Mudan tribe, 1874 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 45Kagi Shrine, one of many Shinto shrines built in Taiwan. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 461901 map with red line marking approximate boundary separating territory under actual Japanese administration from "Savage District" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 47Bird's eye view of Fort Zeelandia in Dutch Formosa in the 17th-century (from History of Taiwan)
Image 48Two 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)

On this day...

More February anniversaries

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In the news

13 February 2025 – 2025 Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi gas explosion: Four people are killed and thirty-two others are injured by a gas explosion at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store in Taichung, Taiwan. (Central News Agency)
2 February 2025 – South Africa–Taiwan relations: South Africa orders Taiwan to relocate its liaison office from Pretoria by the end of March, citing diplomatic policies favoring China. (Reuters)
16 January 2025 – Capital punishment in Taiwan: Taiwan carries out its first execution in five years on a man who was convicted of the 2013 murder of his former girlfriend and her mother. (Yahoo! News)
4 January 2025 –: The Taiwanese Coast Guard intercepts the Cameroon-registered container ship Shunxin39 after it was suspected of damaging an undersea cable north of Taiwan yesterday. (Taiwan News)

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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