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Portal:Taiwan

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Introduction

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 Dutch colonial rule 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 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, assumed control following the surrender of Japan in World War II. But with the loss of mainland China to the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, the government moved to Taiwan in 1949 under the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT).

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 Despite being a founding member, the ROC no longer represents China as a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead.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 to be 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 the Pan-Blue Coalition, who favors eventual Chinese unification under the ROC and promoting a pan-Chinese identity, contrasted with the Pan-Green Coalition, which favors eventual Taiwanese independence and promoting a Taiwanese identity; in the 21st century, both sides have moderated their positions to broaden their appeal. (Full article...)

The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as Formosa, was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Formosa to trade with the Ming Empire in neighbouring China and Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, and to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.

The Dutch were not universally welcomed, and uprisings by both aborigines and recent Han arrivals were quelled by the Dutch military on more than one occasion. With the rise of the Qing dynasty in the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company cut ties with the Ming dynasty and allied with the Qing instead, in exchange for the right to unfettered access to their trade and shipping routes. The colonial period was brought to an end after the 1662 siege of Fort Zeelandia by Koxinga's army who promptly dismantled the Dutch colony, expelled the Dutch and established the Ming loyalist, anti-Qing Kingdom of Tungning. (Full article...)

Selected biography

Wu Zhaonan in 2012.

Wu Zhaonan (Chinese: 吳兆南; Wade–Giles: Wu Chao-nan; 14 January 1926 – 14 October 2018) was a Chinese xiangsheng comedian based in Taiwan. He was officially recognized by the government of Taiwan as a "national treasure". He was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lincoln Center and the Golden Melody Award for Lifetime Contributions. Before becoming a comedian, he ran a food stall in Taipei where he created and popularized the dish Mongolian barbecue. (Full article...)

Selected picture - show another

Yehliu
Yehliu
Yehliu in Wanli, New Taipei is a Miocene formation stretching 1,700 meters into the Ocean resulting from geological forces pushing the Datun Mountains out of the sea.

Photo credit: User:Chensiyuan

Good article - show another

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

Hsu Tain-tsair (Chinese: 許添財; pinyin: Xǔ Tiāncái; Wade–Giles: Hsu3 Tien1-tsai2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khó͘ Thiam-châi; born 23 January 1953) is a Taiwanese politician who served as the mayor of Tainan City from 2001 to 2010.

Born in Tainan County (now part of Tainan City), Hsu earned two degrees from Chinese Culture University and studied for a PhD in economics in the United States, where he started participating in the independence movement of Taiwan. He was placed on the blacklist of the Kuomintang and was not allowed to return to Taiwan until 1990. (Full article...)

General images

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

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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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