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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 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 Despite being a founding member, the ROC no longer represents China as a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead.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...)

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Clockwise from the top: A night view of Xiying Rainbow Bridge, Zhongyang Old Street, Qimei Double-Heart of Stacked Stones, Baisha Beach, Penghu Tianhou Temple, Budai Harbor

The Penghu (/ˈpʌŋˈhuː/ PUNG-HOO, Hokkien POJ: Phîⁿ-ô͘ or Phêⁿ-ô͘ ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, about 50 kilometres (25 nautical miles) west of the main island of Taiwan across the Penghu Channel, covering an area of 141 km² (54 sq mi). The archipelago collectively forms Penghu County of Taiwan and is the smallest county of Taiwan. The largest city is Magong, on the largest island, which is also named Magong.

The Penghu islands first appear in the historical record in the Tang dynasty and were inhabited by Chinese people under the Southern Song dynasty, during which they were attached to Jinjiang County of Fujian. The archipelago was formally incorporated as an administrative unit of China in 1281 under Tong'an County of Jiangzhe Province in the Yuan dynasty. It continued to be controlled by Imperial China with brief European occupations by the Dutch Empire (1622–1624) and Second French colonial empire (1885), until it was ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895. Japan’s surrender in 1945 ended its colonial rule over the Islands, which has since then been governed by the Republic of China (ROC). Under the terms of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and the subsequent Taiwan Relations Act between the ROC and the United States, Penghu is defined and geographically acknowledged as part of Taiwan. (Full article...)

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Cheng Yen in 2016

Cheng Yen or Shih Cheng Yen (Chinese: 證嚴法師, 釋證嚴; pinyin: Zhèngyán Fǎshī; Wade–Giles: Chêng⁴ Yen² Fa³-shih¹; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chèng-giâm Hoat-su; born Chin-Yun Wong; the 24th of the third Lunar month, 4 May 1937) is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. She is the founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, ordinarily referred to as Tzu Chi, a Buddhist humanitarian organization based in Taiwan. In the West, she is sometimes referred to as the "Mother Teresa of Asia".

Cheng Yen was born in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. She developed an interest in Buddhism as a young adult, ordaining as a Buddhist nun in 1963 under the well known proponent of humanistic Buddhism, master Yin Shun. After an encounter with a poor woman who had a miscarriage, and a conversation with Catholic nuns who talked about the various charity work of the Catholic Church, Cheng Yen founded the Tzu Chi Foundation in 1966 as a Buddhist humanitarian organization. The organization began as a group of thirty housewives who saved money for needy families. Tzu Chi gradually grew in popularity and expanded its services over time to include medical, environmental, and disaster relief work, eventually becoming one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world, and the largest Buddhist organization in Taiwan. (Full article...)

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Tsai Ing-wen 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 Kao Chin Su-mei 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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This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

A series of military actions and diplomatic moves were undertaken in 1635 and 1636 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Dutch-era Taiwan (Formosa) aimed at subduing hostile aboriginal villages in the southwestern region of the island. Prior to the campaign the Dutch had been in Formosa for eleven years, but did not control much of the island beyond their principal fortress at Tayouan (present-day Anping, Tainan), and an alliance with the town of Sinkan. The other aboriginal villages in the area conducted numerous attacks on the Dutch and their allies, with the chief belligerents being the village of Mattau, whose inhabitants in 1629 ambushed and slaughtered a group of sixty Dutch soldiers.

After receiving reinforcements from the colonial headquarters at Batavia, the Dutch launched an attack in 1635 and were able to crush opposition and bring the area around present-day Tainan fully under their control. After seeing that Mattau and Soulang, the most powerful villages in the area, were overpowered by Dutch force overwhelmingly, many other villages in the surrounding area came to the Dutch to seek peace and surrender sovereignty. Thus the Dutch were able to dramatically expand the extent of their territorial control in a short time, and avoid the need for further fighting. The campaign ended in February 1636, when representatives from twenty-eight villages attended a ceremony in Tayouan to cement Dutch sovereignty. (Full article...)

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

... that the Cheng Kung Senior High School, previously known as the Taihoku Prefecture Second Middle School, is renamed after Koxinga?

... that Tsungming Tu, founder of the Kaohsiung Medical College, was the first Taiwanese medical doctor?

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General images

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

Image 1Depiction of a Chinese man, woman, and soldier, by Georg Franz Müller (1646–1723) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 2The Dharmachakra represents the Noble Eightfold Path. (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 3Map of Taiwan with the western coast pointed downwards, c. 1640 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 4Sky Lantern festival in Pingxi, Taiwan (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 5Statue of Chen Di in Lianjiang County (from History of Taiwan)
Image 6Shi Lang (1621–1696) in an 18th-century painting (from History of Taiwan)
Image 7Original geographic distributions of Taiwanese aboriginal peoples (from History of Taiwan)
Image 8Entrance hall of a K-TV in Taipei (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 9Chinese depiction of Chikan (Fort Provintia), 1752 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 10Taichung Middle School in 1919 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 11The Imperial Guard Defeats the Enemy in Hard Fighting at Keelung on the Island of Taiwan, 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 12Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1734 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 13The Capture of Lin Shuangwen (from History of Taiwan)
Image 14Bird's eye view of Fort Zeelandia in Dutch Formosa in the 17th-century (from History of Taiwan)
Image 15Siege of Fort Zeelandia (from History of Taiwan)
Image 16The Qing Empire in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 17Section of a painting depicting daily life of the Taokas people, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 18Takasago Volunteers in October 1944 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 19Severed heads of Seediq rebels (from History of Taiwan)
Image 20Zheng Keshuang (from History of Taiwan)
Image 21Population density map of Taiwan in 2019 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 22Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty by 1894 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 23Photo from Savages of Formosa, a 1926 government report on tribal life in Taiwan (from History of Taiwan)
Image 24Section of Kangxi period painting of Taiwan, 1684–1722 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 25Mid-17th century portrait of Koxinga (Guoxingye or "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese), "Lord of the Imperial Surname" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 26Departure of a Ryukyuan ship bearing tribute to Beijing, 1831 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 27Conquest of Douliumen (Zhuluo) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 281901 map with red line marking approximate boundary separating territory under actual Japanese administration from "Savage District" (from History of Taiwan)
Image 29Pearl milk tea (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 30Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1685 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 31Woodcut of the mass killings which took place during the February 28 Incident (from History of Taiwan)
Image 32Two 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 33A map of the Empire of Japan including Taiwan ("barbarian land" in red) in 1895 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 34Portrait of Zheng Jing (1642–1681), possibly 17th c. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 35Map showing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673–1681) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 36Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress (1989) (from Culture of Taiwan)
Image 37Yin and Yang symbol of Taoism (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 39The original flag of the Taiwanese People's Party, 2 January 1929 – 6 October 1929 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 40Map of Asia showing the "Chinese Empire" (1892) (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 42Japanese painting of the expedition forces attacking the Mudan tribe, 1874 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 43Kagi Shrine, one of many Shinto shrines built in Taiwan. (from History of Taiwan)
Image 44Territory controlled by Koxinga, founder of the Kingdom of Tungning (from History of Taiwan)
Image 45Taiwan in the 17th century, showing Dutch (magenta) and Spanish (green) possessions, and the Kingdom of Middag (orange) (from History of Taiwan)
Image 46Depiction of Qing ships crossing the ocean to suppress the Lin Shuangwen rebellion, 1787–1788 (from History of Taiwan)
Image 47Evacuation of Keelung by the French forces, image created 1887 (from History of Taiwan)

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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

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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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