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 The ROC no longer represents China as a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the PRC instead.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... )
Tainan (), officially Tainan City , is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "prefectural capital" for its over 260 years of history as the capital of Taiwan under the Dutch rule , the Kingdom of Tungning and later Qing dynasty rule until 1887. Tainan's complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname "the Phoenix City". Tainan is classified as a "Sufficiency"-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network .
As Taiwan's oldest
urban area , Tainan was initially established by the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a ruling and trading base called
Fort Zeelandia during
the Dutch colonial rule on the island . After
Koxinga seized the Dutch fort in 1662, Tainan remained as the capital of the
Tungning Kingdom ruled by
House of Koxinga until 1683 and afterwards the capital of
Taiwan Prefecture under the
Qing dynasty until 1887, when the new provincial capital was first moved to present-day
Taichung , and then to
Taipei eventually. Following the
cession of Taiwan , Tainan became the second capital of the short-lived
Republic of Formosa from June to October in 1895 until the
Capitulation of Tainan by the invading forces of
Japanese empire . Under
Japanese rule , the city was the seat of
Tainan Prefecture . After the
surrender of Japan in World War II, the
Republic of China took control of Taiwan in 1945 and reorganized the city as a
provincial city in
Taiwan Province ; a role that would remain in place until 2010 when the city was merged with nearby
Tainan County into a new special municipality. (
Full article... )
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You Are the Apple of My Eye (Chinese : 那些年,我們一起追的女孩 , lit. 'Those Years, The Girl We Went After Together') is a 2011 Taiwanese coming of age romance film . It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Taiwanese author Giddens Ko , who also made his directorial debut with the film. The film stars Ko Chen-tung as Ko Ching-teng, a prankster and a mischievous student who eventually becomes a writer. Michelle Chen stars as Shen Chia-yi, an honor student who is very popular amongst the boys in her class.
You Are the Apple of My Eye was filmed almost entirely on location in
Changhua County , including at the high school which Giddens attended. The lyrics of "Those Years", the film's main theme, were written by Giddens. The song, which was well received by the public, was nominated for Best Original Film Song at the
48th Golden Horse Awards . (
Full article... )
Distribution of aborigines.
... 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?
The following are images from various Taiwan-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Portrait of
Zheng Jing (1642–1681), possibly 17th c. (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 2 The Imperial Guard Defeats the Enemy in Hard Fighting at Keelung on the Island of Taiwan , 1895 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 3 1901 map with red line marking approximate boundary separating territory under actual Japanese administration from "Savage District" (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 4 Map of Asia showing the "Chinese Empire" (1892) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 5 The Capture of
Lin Shuangwen (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 6 Bunun dancer in traditional aboriginal dress (1989) (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 8 Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty by 1894 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 9 Conquest of Douliumen (
Zhuluo ) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 11 Evacuation of
Keelung by the French forces, image created 1887 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 13 A map of the
Empire of Japan including Taiwan ("barbarian land" in red) in 1895 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 14 Kagi Shrine , one of many Shinto shrines built in Taiwan. (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 15 Population density map of Taiwan in 2019 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 16 Departure of a
Ryukyuan ship bearing tribute to
Beijing , 1831 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 17 Original geographic distributions of Taiwanese aboriginal peoples (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 18 Depiction of a Chinese man, woman, and soldier, by Georg Franz Müller (1646–1723) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 19 Sky Lantern festival in
Pingxi , Taiwan (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 20 The original flag of the
Taiwanese People's Party , 2 January 1929 – 6 October 1929 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 21 Section of
Kangxi period painting of Taiwan, 1684–1722 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 22 Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1734 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 23 Entrance hall of a K-TV in Taipei (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 24 Administrative units of Taiwan under the Qing dynasty in 1685 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 25 Pearl milk tea (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 26 Photo from
Savages of Formosa , a 1926 government report on tribal life in Taiwan (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 27 The Qing Empire in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange. (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 28 Yin and Yang symbol of
Taoism (from
Culture of Taiwan )
Image 29 Woodcut of the mass killings which took place during the February 28 Incident (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 30 Bird's eye view of
Fort Zeelandia in
Dutch Formosa in the 17th-century (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 31 Japanese painting of the expedition forces attacking the Mudan tribe, 1874 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 32 Decapitated heads of
Seediq rebels (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 33 Shi Lang (1621–1696) in an 18th-century painting (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 34 Section of a painting depicting daily life of the
Taokas people , 1684–1722 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 35 Apo 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 36 Depiction of Qing ships crossing the ocean to suppress the
Lin Shuangwen rebellion , 1787–1788 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 40 Territory controlled by
Koxinga , founder of the
Kingdom of Tungning (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 41 Two
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 42 Map of Taiwan with the western coast pointed downwards, c. 1640 (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 43 Mid-17th century portrait of
Koxinga (
Guoxingye or "Kok seng ia" in southern Fujianese), "Lord of the Imperial Surname" (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 44 Taiwan in the 17th century, showing Dutch (magenta) and Spanish (green) possessions, and the
Kingdom of Middag (orange) (from
History of Taiwan )
Image 45 Chinese depiction of Chikan (
Fort Provintia ), 1752 (from
History of Taiwan )
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