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• Examination Yuan
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Introduction Taiwan / ROC

1. Disambiguation: Taiwan, ROC, China
2. Basic facts about the Republic of China (ROC)
• The political system of the ROC today—a brief description
• Taiwan Who's Who—an overview of current top politicians in the ROC
• Territory and jurisdiction
• A glance at the ROC's historical background
• The ROC Constitution and its amendments
• National day, national symbols and national anthem
• Major orders and decorations in the ROC
3. Essential information on Taiwan I—population and languages
• Ethnic makeup of Taiwan's population
• Languages in modern Taiwan
4. Essential information on Taiwan II—history
• Taiwan's history—much more than just the ROC
• Colonization acknowledged as historical fact
• The Republic of Formosa (May to October 1895)
• Facts about Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan
• 2-28, White Terror and a soured relationship
• Cross-Strait relations since the late 1970s—an overview
• NCCU polls in connection with Cross-Strait relations
5. The indigenous peoples and their marginalization
• The indigenous peoples in contemporary Taiwan
• Taiwan's colonization—implications, impact and consequences

Additional background information like data on geography and climate, selected statistics and more is available on the page Tools.

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◆ Disambiguation: Taiwan, ROC, China

For decades, there has been some confusion and controversy about the proper denomination of Taiwan that has been caused by political factors. In common usage, Taiwan is referred to as Taiwan or the ROC, and since 1949 it gradually has become a prevalent habit to use the two terms as substitutes for each other. However, it should not be forgotten that the ROC between its foundation in 1912 and the end of WWII in 1945 did not include Taiwan, and Taiwan had its own rich, colourful history before 1945. The following explanations are helpful to reduce possible misconceptions.

• Taiwan 台灣 is basically a geographical term for the island in the Western Pacific. It is not the official name of the state which administers it.
• ROC stands for the Republic of China (Zhonghua minguo 中華民國) which was formally established in 1912 on the Chinese mainland. At that time, Taiwan was a colony of Japan. Taiwan was incorporated into the ROC following the defeat of Japan at the end of WWII, and ROC has been used as the official state name there since.
• China (Zhongguo 中國) is the name of the country in East Asia. Politically, it usually refers to the People's Republic of China (Zhonghua renmin gongheguo 中華人民共和國, abbrev. PRC) that was set up in Beijing in 1949, but Taiwan has never been under the control of the PRC. As states, the ROC and the PRC are two separate sovereign, independent entities. In the ROC/Taiwan, the PRC is often referred to as "mainland" (dalu 大陸) or "mainland China" (Zhongguo dalu 中國大陸). In a historical context, China may also refer to the ROC (1912-1949), the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and so on.

Please note that terms like "Taiwan, China" or "Taiwan, province of China" are regarded in Taiwan as being part of a scheme pursued by the PRC to downgrade Taiwan's status in the international arena, and they are not sanctioned or approved by the ROC government.

In modern Taiwan, it has become fashionable using the name "Formosa" when referring to Taiwan, especially among young supporters of Taiwan independence. In Chinese, both the phonetic equivalent Fuermosha 福爾摩沙 as well as meilidao 美麗島 (i. e. the Chinese translation of the whole original Portuguese term "Ilha Formosa", meaning "beautiful island" in English) are popular. On the negative side of the spectrum, some pro-independence hardliners refer to China using the old Japanese term "Shina" (Chinese pronunciation zhina 支那, in Japanese hiragana: shina しな) which is perceived as highly derogatory and offensive as well as an unmistakable marker of anti-China sentiment, therefore that term is generally considered inadmissible in civilized, academic discourse.

The relations between Taiwan and China are one of the most important aspects of ROC politics, therefore Cross-Strait issues are covered extensively on this website. A selection of links is shown directly below.

• Cross-Strait relations since the late 1970s—an overview [Introduction Taiwan/ROC]
• Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) [Ministries and cabinet agencies]
• Handling of the Cross-Strait relations [Other central government agencies]
• Incessant threat—the PRC [Other central government agencies]
• ROC vs. PRC since the 1970s [Foreign relations of the ROC]

Why mention "native province"?

Due to the nature of Taiwan's political landscape which is characterized by the persistent rivalry between "mainlanders" (waishengren 外省人) on the one side and "Taiwanese" (Taiwanren 台灣人)/"locals" (benshengren 本省人) on the other side as well as the deep rift between the "blue" and "green" political camps, the origin and background of a politician in the ROC is still regarded a significant factor. For this reason, lists showing the heads of government agencies and other organizations in this file feature a column labelled "Native Province" on the right side of the respective table.

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◆ Basic facts about the Republic of China (ROC)

• The political system of the ROC today—a brief description
• Taiwan Who's Who—an overview of current top politicians in the ROC
• Territory and jurisdiction
• A glance at the ROC's historical background
• The ROC Constitution and its amendments
• National day, national symbols and national anthem
• Major orders and decorations in the ROC

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The political system of the ROC today—a brief description

• ROC central level
• Local level
• Democratic elections, political parties

The ROC today is a sovereign, independent and self-ruled democratic state. Modern democracies in general uphold the principle of separation of powers, and most democratic states have a system with three branches (legislature/parliament, executive/government, and judiciary/court system) according to the trias politica principle. By definition, a state consists of all administrative agencies belonging to those three branches, but in Taiwan’s case the political system of the ROC features five branches (Yuan 院) on the central level:
 ✿ Executive Yuan (xingzhengyuan 行政院) [est. 1928]—i. e. central government/cabinet,
 ✿ Legislative Yuan (lifayuan 立法院) [est. 1928]—i. e. parliament,
 ✿ Judicial Yuan (sifayuan 司法院) [est. 1928],
 ✿ Control Yuan (jianchayuan 監察院) [est. 1928/1931], and
 ✿ Examination Yuan (kaoshiyuan 考試院) [est. 1930].
As head of state the president (zongtong 總統) of the ROC is not part of one particular branch but represents all of them as their combination constitutes the state as a whole. Furthermore, there is a distinction between the central level and the local levels of ROC administrative agencies, the five Yuan and the presidency being part of the central level.

The most important elements of the ROC’s political system are as follows.

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ROC central level

Institution	Logo	Description
Presidential Office (總統府) 🌏 – Web link		The ROC's head of state and commander-in-chief is the popularly elected President (see page "ROC Presidency"). The ROC president appoints the Premier, i. e. the head of the Executive Yuan, as well as the heads of the Judicial Yuan, the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan—but not of the Legislative Yuan.
Executive Yuan (行政院) 🌏 – Web link		The Executive Yuan is the cabinet of the ROC, i. e. the central government. Its agencies implement the policies devised by the ROC president and the laws approved by the legislature. (See page "Executive Yuan [Cabinet]")
Legislative Yuan (立法院) 🌏 – Web link		The popularly elected parliament of the ROC is called the Legislative Yuan. (See page "Legislative Yuan [Parliament]") The ROC Constitution that went into force on Dec. 25, 1947 stipulated a bicameral system with the Legislative Yuan and a National Assembly (NA). Since the abolition of the NA in 2005 the ROC's representation of the people has been unicameral.
Judicial Yuan (司法院) 🌏 – Web link		The Judicial Yuan directs the ROC's court system on all levels, up to the ROC Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. The head of the Judicial Yuan is appointed by the ROC president. (See page "Judicial Yuan")
Control Yuan (監察院) 🌏 – Web link		The Control Yuan executes impeachment and audit functions (see page "Control Yuan"). The head of the Control Yuan is appointed by the ROC president.
Examination Yuan (考試院) 🌏 – Web link		The Examination Yuan manages the civil service system of the ROC (see page "Examination Yuan"). The head of the Examination Yuan is appointed by the ROC president.

As for the central government, its superordinate organization—the Executive Yuan—is headed by the ROC Premier (xingzheng yuanzhang 行政院長) who is appointed by the ROC president. The Executive Yuan directs the cabinet agencies, i. e. ministries (bu 部), councils/commissions (weiyuanhui 委員會), directorate-generals (zongchu 總處) and two others: the Central Bank (zhongyang yinhang 中央銀行) and the National Palace Museum (gugong bowuyuan 故宮博物院, abbrev. NPM).

Please note that in contrast to most states, not all ministries in the political system of the ROC are cabinet agencies. While most ministries of the ROC are under the Executive Yuan (cabinet), two other Yuan have ministries as well—the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan (see the following list).

TO BE OR NOT TO BE—Since the early 2000s there has been an ongoing debate whether the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan should be abolished. Critics argue that both Yuan are relics of imperial China, neither appropriate nor necessary in a modern democratic system. While the functions of the Examination Yuan could indeed be performed by agencies like the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration (DGPA) and the MOE, the Control Yuan could play a truly valuable role as independent watchdog institution if its head was not appointed by the ROC president but elected by the ROC citizens.

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Local level

On the local level, the ROC today formally consists of two provinces—Taiwan and Fujian—plus 6 special municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the central government. In practical administrative reality, the two provincial governments were streamlined since 1998, and by the end of 2018 the positions of provincial governors were abolished. Counties and county-level cities are nominally still listed under the provinces; Taiwan Province has 14 county-level local governments, Fujian Province has 2.

The following diagram presents the ROC's overall system of local administration in a nutshell.

Local administration consists of 22 units—6 special municipalities, 3 county-level cities (which are sometimes also called "provincial municipalities"), and 13 counties. (Two useful maps in JPG format show the 22 cities and counties of the ROC as well as Taiwan and its outlying islands.)

The heads of county-level governments and the mayors of special municipalities are elected by direct popular vote. (See page "Local administration")

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Democratic elections, political parties

Following the lifting of martial law in 1987 the ROC underwent a period of democratization, and the Taiwanese people have now been directly electing their own president and parliament in free and fair elections since more than a quarter of a century. City mayors and county magistrates are also popularly elected, and since 2004 referendums have been held on major public issues. (See page "Democratic elections")

Since 1987 the ROC evolved from a one-party dictatorship to a multi-party democracy. In today’s Taiwan, political parties play important roles as stakeholders, they contribute to the formation of political opinions, and leading administrative positions are usually (but not necessarily) occupied by members of the party currently in power. As the ROC president has been directly elected by the people from the year 1996 on, the presidency has been in the hands of either the KMT or the DPP. (See page "Political parties")

For more detailed descriptions and explanations please refer to the respective pages of this website.

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Taiwan Who's Who—an overview of current top politicians in the ROC

 ● Presidential office
 ● Executive Yuan (Cabinet)
 ● The four other Yuan of the ROC
 ● Provincial governors, city mayors, county magistrates
 ● Leaders of major political parties

Presidential office

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Executive Yuan (Cabinet)

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The four other Yuan of the ROC

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Provincial governors, city mayors, county magistrates

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Leaders of major political parties

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Territory and jurisdiction

 ● ROC today = the Taiwan area
 ● Taiwan area: Geographic margin points (dry land) and their coordinates
 ● Mongolia
 ● The South China Sea
 ● Just a "small country"?

ROC today = the Taiwan area

The territory under the jurisdiction and control of the ROC today comprises the following.

• Taiwan proper (Taiwan bendao 台灣本島) and smaller islands in its vicinity (including Orchid Island/Lanyu 蘭嶼, Green Island/Lyudao 綠島, Liuchiu Island 琉球嶼, Guishan Island 龜山島, the Three Northern Islands 北方三島)
• Penghu 澎湖 (aka the Pescadores)
• Kinmen 金門 (aka Quemoy)
• Matsu 馬祖 (administrative name: Lienchiang County 連江縣)
• Pratas Islands and Taiping Island in the South China Sea (disputed)

Another (politically less sensitive) term used for the territories as described above is "Taiwan area" (Taiwan diqu 台灣地區 or Taiwan quyu 台灣區域), but in common understanding that term does not include the disputed islands in the South China Sea. As Taiwan proper, Penghu, Kinmen und Matsu constitute the bulk of the ROC’s territory, it is also referred to in Chinese as Tai Peng Jin Ma 台澎金馬.

Map A shows Taiwan's position in East Asia with continental China in the west/northwest, Japan in the northeast, the Korean peninsula in the north, and the Philippines in the south. Map B provides more details and presents Taiwan proper in grey, the outlying islands of Taiwan/the ROC in black and the territory controlled by the PRC in red; the outlying islands are specially highlighted in Map C.  [Additional maps can be found under the page "Local administration" as well as under Smaller islands in the Taiwan area on the page "Tools" and the page "Maps" in the toolbar.]

— — — Map A — — —	— — — Map B — — —	— — — Map C — — —

According to official ROC statistics, the territory under ROC jurisdiction today (Taiwan and its outlying islands) has an area of 36,197 km². The table below shows figures provided by the MOI listing the size of the territory actually controlled by the ROC government in the Taiwan area since WWII.

PAST GAINS AND LOSSES—Since the end of WWII few countries in the world experienced greater changes in the area and size of the territory under their jurisdiction than the ROC did due to civil war and foreign invasion. From its establishment in 1912 up to the recurring civil war between Nationalist government forces and Communist rebels which began shortly after the surrender of Japanese invaders, Mainland China constituted the area under ROC jurisdiction. On Oct. 25, 1945 the ROC formally took control of Taiwan and Penghu which until then had been under Japanese colonial rule for five decades. Between early 1946 and late 1949 the ROC suffered the most dramatic losses when its forces were driven from the Chinese mainland by the Chinese Communists. Since the retreat from the Dachen Islands off Zhejiang province in February 1955, the territory under ROC control has been limited to the Taiwan area. (The only two areas which have been continuously under ROC control since 1912 to this day are the counties Kinmen and Lienchiang belonging to the ROC’s Fujian province.)

However, decades went by until the loss of the mainland was appropriately reflected in official ROC publications. For example, up until the early 1990s maps in the ROC Yearbooks showed that the ROC territory comprised not only Taiwan but also the Chinese mainland and even included Outer Mongolia. According to those sources China (= the ROC) had an area of 11,418,174 km² (ROC Yearbook 1995, p. 15). That stance was mitigated to a certain extent later in the 1990s, and although the ROC has never formally given up its claim to be the legitimate ruler of China as a whole, it has finally acknowledged the reality that the ROC government exercises de facto control over the Taiwan area only and has no jurisdiction over Mainland China.

MISLEADING TERM—Taiwan’s official state name (“Republic of China”) has been causing considerable confusion for decades and is profoundly misleading because it suggests that the ROC’s jurisdiction includes Mainland China which is no longer the case. While the authorities in Taipei are very aware of this predicament, they also know that they cannot unilaterally change their official state name, their national flag or national anthem. That is because the PRC, upholding its “one China principle” and thus insisting that Taiwan has eventually to become a part of the PRC, has repeatedly stressed that a move like giving up “ROC” as a state name by Taipei would be regarded a declaration of independence, providing Beijing with an excuse to launch an attack and annex Taiwan by military force, a threat that was reiterated in the PRC’s so-called “Anti-Secession Law”. Democratic Taiwan not being able to adopt a different national flag due to pressure by the authoritarian PRC is especially ironic because the PRC authorities wouldn’t even allow the display of the ROC national flag in their jurisdiction (or anywhere else in the world).

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Taiwan area: Geographic margin points (dry land) and their coordinates

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Mongolia

Older maps published in Taiwan up to the 1990s show the ROC in boundaries which included Outer Mongolia. In fact, Outer Mongolia, incorporated into the Qing empire in 1691, had declared independence in 1911, aligned itself with the USSR in 1924 as Mongolian People's Republic and was renamed Mongolia in 1992.

It was not before Feb. 26, 2002 that the ROC indicated it had dropped its claim of Mongolia being Chinese territory by excluding that country's citizens from the coverage of the "Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area" (Taiwan diqu yu dalu diqu renmin guanxi tiaoli 台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), and on May 21, 2012 Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) confirmed that Mongolia was not included in the ROC territory. A dedicated cabinet agency—the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (mengzang weiyuanhui 蒙藏委員會, abbrev. mengweihui 蒙委會 in Chinese and MTAC in English)—was disbanded on Sept. 15, 2017. (A timeline about the relations of the ROC with Mongolia can be found here.)

The numbers as shown on the map above right stand for the ROC provinces and ROC municipalities which are explained in detail on the page "Maps", please click here. That page also includes a map of the PRC without Mongolia.

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The South China Sea

Formally, the ROC continues to uphold its claim over the largest part of the South China Sea (nanhai 南海) demarcated by the so-called "nine-dash line" (jiuduanxian 九段線) which is identical with the PRC's claim over that area. Other countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam) reject those claims.

In comparison, the PRC follows a much more aggressive approach in its attempts to enforce its claim than Taiwan. For years, the PRC has taken to expanding existing islands or even building artificial islands in disputed areas there, and the PRC has also increased its military presence in the waters of the South China Sea—measures which are strongly criticized by the US seeking to uphold freedom of navigation (FON) in international waters.

Islands in the South China Sea which are currently controlled by the ROC include the Pratas Islands (dongsha qundao 東沙群島) and Taiping Island (taiping dao 太平島).

— — — Map of disputed areas in the South China Sea — — —

Source: Wikimedia © Creative Commons, author: Goran tek-en (Jan. 23, 2014) For another map of unclear origin circulating on social media of the internet which illustrates the PRC's claims in the South China Sea (and highlights their absurdity) please click here.

Please note that this website's page "Other texts and documents" contains three documents pertaining to the South China Sea controversy:
 • Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982),
 • Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (2002), and
 • South China Sea Arbitration—PCA Press Release (2016).

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Just a "small country"?

Because Taiwan/the ROC has large and powerful regional neighbours like China and Japan, it is in general often perceived by the international community as a small country. However, it should be taken into consideration that not only is the ROC the most populous country not represented in the United Nations (UN), but also that today more than half of the countries and territories in the world each have a population which is significantly smaller than that of the ROC, e. g. Chile, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cuba, Greece, Sweden, Israel, Austria, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and many others. Regarding Taiwan's economic strength (especially in the areas of semiconductors and ICT products), its GDP and per-capita-income, calling Taiwan a small country seems inadequate as well.

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A glance at the ROC's historical background

• Major periods of ROC history
• The ROC before 1945—the Chinese mainland without Taiwan
• Interlude with fundamental changes (plus Taiwan, minus mainland)
• The ROC since 1949—Taiwan without the Chinese mainland
• Selected timelines and chronologies
• Capitals in the history of the ROC

(Jump to Taiwan's history—much more than just the ROC)

Major periods of ROC history

 ⚬ Early ROC—the era Yuan Shikai (1912–1916)
 ⚬ Warlord period (1916–1928): China fragmented
 ⚬ Unified ROC before the end of WWII
  • Setting up the five-branch state system (1928–1931)
  • Fighting Japanese invasion (1931/1937–1945)
 ⚬ The Chinese Civil War (1945–1949)
 ⚬ The ROC on Taiwan
  • Consolidation and White Terror under CKS
  • The CCK presidency (1978–1988)
  • Transition to democracy under Lee Teng-hui
  • Modern democratic Taiwan since 1996

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The ROC before 1945—the Chinese mainland without Taiwan

The ROC, established on Jan. 1, 1912 after the Hsinhai Revolution (xinhai geming 辛亥革命) which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was Asia’s first republic and has been a sovereign, independent state to this day. In its early period the ROC was plagued by internal strife, civil war-like conditions and division, and between the death of president Yuan Shikai in 1916 and 1928 there was no uncontested central government with real authority when much of the mainland was controlled by local warlords (junfa 軍閥). After the 1926–1928 Northern Expedition (beifa zhanzheng 北伐戰爭) against the warlords was successfully concluded under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek (“CKS”), most of today’s ROC government agencies and institutions were established in the capital Nanjing. The ROC Political Tutelage Period Act (Zhonghua minguo xunzheng shiqi yuefa 中華民國訓政時期約法), promulgated on June 1, 1931, stipulated that the central government was to be led by the Chinese Nationalist Party/Kuomintang (KMT).

Later in 1931 Japanese forces began invading the ROC, first advancing into the Manchurian provinces where a Japanese puppet regime called “Manchukuo” led by former Qing emperor Pu Yi was installed in 1932. An incident at the Marco Polo Bridge (Lugouqiao 蘆溝橋) in Beiping (as Beijing was called between 1928 and 1949) in 1937 was followed by a massive Japanese offensive into the Chinese heartland, and another Japanese puppet regime was installed in Nanjing under Wang Ching-wei in 1940 while the ROC government retreated to Chongqing. After Japan’s eventual defeat at the end of WWII, Taiwan—ceded to Japan by the Qing in the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki (maguan tiaoyue 馬關條約) marking the end of the First Chinese-Japanese War (jiawu zhanzheng 甲午戰爭, 1894–1895)—was returned to China’s territory in 1945 according to the agreements by the Allies.

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Interlude with fundamental changes (plus Taiwan, minus mainland)

The same year civil war broke out on the mainland between forces led by the Chinese Communist Party (Zhongguo gongchandang 中國共產黨, abbrev. Zhonggong 中共 in Chinese and CCP in English) and troops loyal to the KMT. (An instructive animated sequence of historical maps—researched and produced by Yan Xishan 閻錫山—showing the progression of the Chinese Civil War since 1945 can be viewed on YouTube, please click on the image on the right.) The victorious Chinese Communists founded the People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua renmin gongheguo 中華人民共和國, abbrev. PRC) on the mainland on Oct. 1, 1949 while the KMT-led ROC government retreated to Taiwan, along with more than a million refugees. Since 1955, the ROC has been in control only of the Taiwan area. (More information about Taiwan's specific history can be found here.)

Directly after the termination of Japan's colonial period (Riju shidai 日據時代, also called Rizhi shiqi 日治時期) in Taiwan the ROC's new provincial administration arrived on the island, but soon tensions mounted with the local population, which was regarded as "hostile overseas Chinese" (diqiao 敵僑) by the government. Clashes triggered by the bloody 1947 "Incident of the 28^th February" (ererba shijian 二二八事件/"2-28") in Taipei resulted in an islandwide violent uprising and a brutal crackdown carried out by hastily deployed government troops from the mainland. In response to the insurgency in Taiwan and civil war raging on the mainland, CKS imposed martial law over the ROC on May 20, 1947. The following period is often referred to as the "White Terror" (baise kongbu 白色恐怖) in Taiwan, during which any opposition activity was mercilessly suppressed by the regime, thousands of people were executed and even more were incarcerated as political prisoners. Members of the Japanese-educated elite were especially targeted, and mentioning 2-28 or advocating Taiwan independence could be enough to earn a death warrant from the authorities.

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The ROC since 1949—Taiwan without the Chinese mainland

In the decades of Cold War between the ROC and the PRC, the Taiwan area was ruled with an iron fist by CKS's military dictatorship. After CKS's death in 1975 things started to change. His son and successor Chiang Ching-kuo ("CCK") gradually initiated political reforms, and martial law was lifted in 1987 (in Taiwan and Penghu; 1992 in Kinmen and Matsu). While in many countries the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy is marred by chaos and bloodshed, CCK accomplished this feat with comparatively minimal disruption. Another important trend that took shape under CCK's presidency was localization (bentuhua 本土化), increasingly more Taiwan-born politicians were appointed as top cabinet officials or obtained other major positions of political leadership in the ROC. These had almost exclusively been reserved for mainlanders when CKS was in command.

Under CCK's successor Lee Teng-hui the "Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion" (dongyuan kanluan shiqi linshi tiaokuan 動員戡亂時期臨時條款)—imposed in 1948—were abolished in 1991, and reforms were continued and extended significantly. Over time, the ROC evolved into the vibrant, fully-fledged multi-party democracy it is today. The first opposition political party—the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)—was founded in 1986, elections for all seats of the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan took place in 1991 and 1992, respectively, the first direct presidential election was held in 1996, and 2000 saw the first peaceful transition of political power to an opposition party when DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian was elected ROC president.

The consolidation of the ROC's democratic development has been confirmed with the subsequent peaceful transitions of political power—the victories of KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou in the 2008 presidential election and of DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 presidential election as well as the DPP winning an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan in 2016. Those events clearly indicate that change of political power decided by ballot and a subsequent smooth handover of administration has become a normal, established feature in Taiwan politics.

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Selected timelines and chronologies

Please note that for additional historical information this website offers several different detailed chronologies, see list directly below.

• Complementary timeline Taiwan/ROC
• Capitals in the history of the ROC
• Chronology of the ROC Constitution
• Milestones of the ROC presidency since 1947
• Chronology of democratic elections in the ROC since 1987
• Republic of Formosa chronology (1895)
• Japanese colonial period (1895-1945): Timeline of important events
• Events at the end of WWII concerning the Japanese theater (1945)
• White Terror chronology (1947-1987)
• Milestones of transitional justice in Taiwan
• Development of Cross-Strait relations since the 1970s
• Chronology of the ROC diplomatic relations since 1970
• Milestones in the ROC–US bilateral relations
• Japan and China/Taiwan/the ROC since the 19th century—a retrospective
• Timeline ROC–Mongolia
• Taiwan’s Olympic medals timeline (summer games)
• Major earthquakes during Japan’s colonial era in Taiwan
• Major earthquakes in the Taiwan area since WWII
• Major air incidents in the Taiwan area since WWII
• A chronology of the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan since 2020

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Capitals in the history of the ROC

The ROC capital (Zhonghua minguo shoudu 中華民國首都) was moved several times due to internal strife, civil war or attack by foreign forces.

Please note that Luoyang was referred to as "administrative capital" (xingdu 行都), Chongqing was called "provisional capital" (peidu 陪都), and Taipei's official status is "seat of the central government" (zhongyang zhengfu suozaidi 中央政府所在地). Between June 29, 1928 and Sept. 27, 1949 Beijing was called Beiping 北平.

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The ROC Constitution and its amendments

• Chronology of the ROC Constitution
• Chapters and sections of the ROC Constitution

The current Constitution of the ROC (Zhonghua minguo xianfa 中華民國憲法) was devised when the territory controlled by the ROC government still comprised mainland China and Taiwan. While the constitution nominally went into effect on Dec. 25, 1947, it could factually not be implemented as martial law (jieyanfa 戒嚴法) was imposed over the ROC on May 25, 1947. Until martial law was finally lifted on July 15, 1987, the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion (dongyuan kanluan shiqi linshi tiaokuan 動員戡亂時期臨時條款)—short "Temporary Provisions"—were the real legal foundation of the regime. Between 1991 and 2005 the ROC Constitution was amended seven times in order to make it more relevant to the country's current condition, but a debate on whether the old constitution should be scrapped altogether and replaced with a new one has been going on for years.

Chronology of the ROC Constitution

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Chapters and sections of the ROC Constitution

• Chapter I [Article 1-6]: General Provisions (第一章：總綱)
• Chapter II [Article 7-24]: Rights and Duties of the People (第二章：人民之權利與義務)
• Chapter III [Article 25-34]: The National Assembly (第三章：國民大會)
• Chapter IV [Article 35-52]: The President (第四章：總統)
• Chapter V [Article 53-61]: Administration (第五章：行政)
• Chapter VI [Article 62-76]: Legislation (第六章：立法)
• Chapter VII [Article 77-82]: Judiciary (第七章：司法)
• Chapter VIII [Article 83-89]: Examination (第八章：考試)
• Chapter IX [Article 90-106]: Control (第九章：監察)
• Chapter X [Article 107-111]: Powers of the Central and Local Governments (第十章：中央與地方之權限)
• Chapter XI [Article 112-128]: System of Local Government (第十一章：地方制度)
• Section 1 [Article 112-120]. The Province (第一節：省)
• Section 2 [Article 121-128]. The Hsien (第二節：縣)
• Chapter XII [Article 129-136]: Election, Recall, Initiative, and Referendum (第十二章：選舉 罷免 創制 複決)
• Chapter XIII [Article 137-169]: Fundamental National Policies (第十三章：基本國策)
• Section 1 [Article 137-140]. National Defense (第一節：國防)
• Section 2 [Article 141]. Foreign Policy (第二節：外交)
• Section 3 [Article 142-151]. National Economy (第三節：國民經濟)
• Section 4 [Article 152-157]. Social Security (第四節：社會安全)
• Section 5 [Article 158-167]. Education and Culture (第五節：教育文化)
• Section 6 [Article 168-169]. Frontier Regions (第六節：邊疆地區)
• Chapter XIV (Article 170-175): Enforcement and Amendment of the Constitution (第十四章：憲法之施行及修改)

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National day, national symbols and national anthem

 ● ROC national flag
 ● ROC national emblem
 ● ROC national flower
 ● Controversial symbols
 ● ROC national anthem

The ROC's national day (guoqingri 國慶日) is celebrated annually on Oct. 10 and therefore also called "Double Tenth" (shuangshijie 雙十節). It commemorates the 1911 Wuchang Uprising (Wuchang qiyi 武昌起義) that heralded the Hsinhai Revolution which in turn eventually led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the ROC.

The three most important national symbols in the ROC today are the ROC national flag (Zhonghua minguo guoqi 中華民國國旗), the ROC national emblem (Zhonghua minguo guohui 中華民國國徽), and the ROC national flower (Zhonghua minguo guohua 中華民國國花).

ROC national flag

The design of today's national flag as shown on the right is called "Blue Sky, White Sun and a Wholly Red Earth" (qingtian bairi mandihong 青天白日滿地紅). The flag's three colours of blue, white and crimson collectively signify the Three Principles of the People (sanmin zhuyi 三民主義): blue—liberty, justice and democracy (minquan 民權); white—equality, brightness and social well-being (minsheng 民生); and crimson—fraternity, sacrifice and nationalism (minzu 民族). The Three Principles of the People are the political philosophy of Dr. Sun Yat-sen 孫逸仙, and they are mentioned in Article 1 of the ROC Constitution: 'The Republic of China, founded on the Three Principles of the People, shall be a democratic republic of the people, to be governed by the people and for the people.' (中華民國基於三民主義，為民有民治民享之民主共和國。)

The canton of the flag consists of the "Blue Sky with a White Sun flag" (qingtian bairiqi 青天白日旗) which was first used for the "Revive China Society" (xing Zhong hui 興中會) in February 1895, designed by Lu Haodong 陸皓東 (1868-1895) around 1893 and still used as KMT party flag to this day. The red portion of today's national flag was added by Sun Yat-sen in 1906, but Sun's design didn't become the ROC national flag until after his death when it officially replaced the five-coloured flag (wuseqi 五色旗) in December 1928.

The five-coloured flag, adopted as ROC national flag in January 1912, had represented the principle of five races under one union (wuzu gonghe 五族共和) with five horizontal stripes—(from top to bottom) red for the Han, yellow for the Manchus, blue for the Mongols, white for the Hui/Chinese Muslims, and black for the Tibetans.

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ROC national emblem

The current national flag also contains the national emblem: the circular Blue Sky with a White Sun (qingtian bairi 青天白日). It was designed by Ho Ying-chin 何應欽 in 1924 and adopted as national emblem on Dec. 17, 1928. The twelve points of the white sun represent the traditional twelve two-hour periods of the day (shichen 時辰), and together they stand for the spirit of unceasing progress.

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ROC national flower

The plum blossom (Prunus mei), called meihua 梅花 in Chinese, was officially designated as national flower by the ROC Executive Yuan on July 21, 1964. The triple grouping of stamens (one long and two short) represents the Three Principles of the People. The five petals symbolize the five branches of government (Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Control Yuan, and Examination Yuan).

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Controversial symbols

The ROC national flag has become a rare sight outside the ROC. As a result of pressure applied by the PRC globally, most states in the world have adopted a ‘One-China’ policy, and therefore showing the ROC national flag in the public sphere and at international sporting events has been banned in most countries except those maintaining formal diplomatic relations with the ROC. And of course showing the ROC national flag is prohibited in the PRC.

In the ROC itself, attitudes concerning the display of the flag are considerably different among the supporters of the respective political camps. Quite often, supporters of the blue camp are happy to show the flag on ROC soil but hesitate to do so abroad in order not to unnecessarily anger the PRC. In contrast, supporters of the green camp often do the opposite—reluctant to show the flag at home because it is regarded as a symbol of the old KMT one-party state and oppression, they eagerly display the flag in other countries as an act of defiance, to set themselves apart from the PRC.

Many supporters of Taiwan independence reject the design of flag, national emblem and national flower as not appropriate for Taiwan since these symbols came from China and don't reflect the Taiwanese. Especially the design of the national flag and the emblem are controversial as they contain the symbol of the KMT party flag, while in a modern democracy national symbols are supposed to be non-partisan.

In this context the Taiwanese Popular Party (Taiwan minzhongdang 臺灣民眾黨) should be mentioned. The Taichung-based political organization was established on July 10, 1927 by Chiang Wei-shui 蔣渭水 (1891-1931) et. al. and banned by the Japanese colonial authorities on Feb. 18, 1931. The original flag of the party, used between Jan. 2 and Oct. 6, 1929, contained the white sun in the same shape, size and position like in the KMT party flag, while the background colour in the flag's upper half was blue and in the lower half red, using the same hues as the ROC national flag. The design of the Taiwanese Popular Party flag, called shang qing xia hong zhongyang bairi 上青下紅中央白日 in Chinese, clearly indicates that the white sun symbol was not considered as being foreign in Taiwan before the island came under ROC control. Please note that the Taiwanese Popular Party is not identical with the Taiwan People's Party (Taiwan minzhongdang 台灣民眾黨, abbrev. TPP) which was established on Aug. 6, 2019.

Displayed below are the logos of the ROC presidential office and the five Yuan. Please note that following the return of the DPP to power in 2016, the original logos of the ROC Presidential Office, the ROC Legislative Yuan and the ROC Examination Yuan which were based on the national flower have been replaced with new designs.

Presidential Office 總統府 (old logo on the left, current logo on the right)
Executive Yuan 行政院
Legislative Yuan 立法院 (old logo on the left, current logo on the right)
Judicial Yuan 司法院
Control Yuan 監察院 (old logo on the left, current logo on the right)
Examination Yuan 考試院 (old logo on the left, current logo on the right)

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ROC national anthem

The text of the ROC national anthem (Zhonghua minguo guoge 中華民國國歌), written by Sun Yat-sen, was first introduced on June 16, 1924. Its music was composed in 1928 by Cheng Mao-yun 程懋筠 (1900-1957), the song was then adopted as the KMT anthem. On June 16, 1937 the KMT Central Standing Committee suggested to make the song the ROC national anthem, and on April 16, 1947 the approval of the proposal was announced.

The text of the ROC national anthem was translated by Tu Ting-hsiu 杜庭修 (b., d. N/A), and the musical accompaniment is attributed to Huang Tzu 黃自 (1904-1938).

The ROC national anthem is yet another bone of contention in Taiwan. It is regarded as unsuitable by many supporters of the green camp, not only for its origin as party anthem of the KMT but also because the beginning of the second phrase in the first line "wu dang" (吾黨, meaning "our party" in English) is interpreted by them as standing for the KMT and therefore rejected. Strictly speaking, the term could be also interpreted as standing for any political party/parties. The full text—comprising 48 Chinese characters—is as follows:

Click here to listen to the ROC National Anthem in MP3 format.

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Major orders and decorations in the ROC

The ROC currently has a number of orders and medals that can be bestowed on merited persons from home or abroad. (Images courtesy ROC presidential office—civilian orders, military orders)

Selected civil decorations

① Grand Cordon of the Order of Brillant Jade (caiyu da xunzhang 采玉大勳章), created on Dec. 2, 1933
② Order of the Brillant Star (jingxing xunzhang 景星勳章), created on Feb. 12, 1941
③ Order of Propitious Clouds (qingyun xunzhang 卿雲勳章), created on Feb. 12, 1941
④ Grand Cordon of the Order of Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan xunzhang 中山勳章), created on Feb. 12, 1941
⑤ Grand Cordon of the Order of Chiang Kai-shek (Zhongzheng xunzhang 中正勳章), created on Jan. 11, 1980

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Selected military decorations

① Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun (qingtian bairi xunzhang 青天白日勳章), created on May 15, 1929
② Order of the Precious Tripod (baoding xunzhang 寶鼎勳章), created on May 15, 1929
③ Order of the Resplendent Banner (yunhui xunzhang 雲麾勳章), created on June 15, 1935
④ Order of National Glory (guoguang xunzhang 國光勳章), created on Oct. 10, 1943
⑤ Order of Loyalty and Valour (zhongyong xunzhang 忠勇勳章), created on Sept. 23, 1944
⑥ Order of Loyalty and Diligence (zhongqin xunzhang 忠勤勳章), created on Sept. 23, 1944

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◆ Essential information on Taiwan I—population and languages

• Ethnic makeup of Taiwan's population
• Languages in modern Taiwan

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Ethnic makeup of Taiwan's population

Taiwan's population today consists of several distinct groups, including Taiwanese, Mainlanders, Hakka, indigenous peoples (aka Aborigines) as well as new immigrants from Southeast Asian countries.

Indigenous peoples

Taiwan's indigenous peoples (yuanzhu minzu 原住民族) were the earliest human inhabitants of the island and can be categorized as ethnic Austronesians. A majority of historians, anthropologists and ethnologists believes today that the ancestors of the Austronesian peoples in Taiwan have lived there for at least 6,000 years.

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Ethnic Han ("Taiwanese", Hakka, "Mainlanders")

Those who today insist on that they are Taiwanese (Taiwanren 台灣人) actually are in most cases descendants of Han Chinese immigrants from the mainland who had arrived on the island in the 17^th to 19^th centuries. They are also called "Holo" (heluo 河洛/helao 河老) or "Hoklo" (fulao 福佬)—a term which is used to describe both the people and their language—and hailed from the area of Fujian province. Today, they account for approximately 70 percent of Taiwan's population.

The Hakka (kejiaren 客家人) are considered ethnic Han Chinese and arrived in Taiwan about the same time as the Holos. They had set off from Guangdong province on the mainland and now account for about one fifth of Taiwan's population.

While the majority of Hakka arrived in Taiwan as families, the early Holo immigrants, typically male and single, often married women of the indigenous Austronesian population, so now many local Taiwanese indeed also have aboriginal DNA. However, offspring of those interethnic unions was usually brought up with an education and cultural identification which was clearly Chinese and had no attributes of aboriginal socialization, especially the later generations. Those who can be identified as aborigines today make up less than 3 percent of Taiwan's total population (according to MOI statistics 611,674 individuals at the end of 2024).

"Mainlanders" (waishengren 外省人) usually refers to the group of Han Chinese immigrants who moved to Taiwan from all parts of China after WWII. Most of them were soldiers and ROC government officials who came as refugees when the mainland was overrun by Communist troops—as many as 1.2 million fled to Taiwan then. Their offspring, including the second and third generation, are commonly regarded as mainlanders as well.

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New Immigrants

The term "new immigrants" (xin zhumin 新住民) refers to a group of people who have emigrated from a foreign country into Taiwan and settled down. Most of the new immigrants in the ROC came from the PRC, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and other countries, in many cases as spouse of an ROC citizen. Others have taken up residence in Taiwan in pursuit of advanced education or job opportunities. The ROC government encourages offspring of mixed marriages to take cultural exchange and language trips to their parents' native countries during school breaks, promoting related activities with subsidies and scholarships.

Since the 1990s, the population of the new immigrants continues to rise considerably. According to statistics from the National Immigration Agency (NIA) under the ROC MOI, there were more than 533,000 new immigrants (including more than 338,000 spouses hailing from the PRC) living in the ROC at the end of March 2018.

The NIA publishes monthly figures for the number of foreign residents by nationality (residents from the PRC not included). At the end of 2024, the number of residents from five selected countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) living in the ROC stood at 880,862.

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Languages in modern Taiwan

There are a number of different languages in the Taiwan area which are spoken by local inhabitants as first language, including the following:

• Holo (heluoyu 河洛語) aka Hoklo (fulaoyu 福佬語) or Taiwanese Hokkien (Taiwan minnanyu 台灣閩南語)
• Hakka (kejiahua 客家話)
• Mandarin Chinese (guoyu 國語) = the Peking dialect (Beijinghua 北京話), the official language of the ROC
• Several indigenous Austronesian languages

While Mandarin Chinese, Holo and Hakka belong to the family of Sinitic languages and dialects, the Austronesian languages do not. However, this seemingly simple categorization of languages in modern Taiwan has been complicated for political reasons in connection with cross-strait relations and an evolving national identity.

Today, about 70 percent of Taiwan's population speak Holo, and it has become common to refer to Holo as 'Taiwanese' (taiyu 台語 or Taiwanhua 台灣話), with the both terms being interchangeable. An intense ideological debate has been going on in Taiwan about the proper categorization of Holo, in particular whether that language should be considered being a variety of the Southern Min dialect (minnanhua 閩南話)—prevalent in the southern part of Fujian province—or not.

Most linguists accept that Holo is indeed a variety of the Southern Min dialect as both languages are mutually intelligible. (Southern Min itself belongs to seven to ten dialect groups—depending on classification—of spoken Chinese, which also include Mandarin, but it should be noted that Chinese features an extraordinarily high degree of internal diversity, and in most cases these dialect groups are mutually unintelligible.) Other varieties of Southern Min include Hokkien (Fujianhua 福建話), Amoy (Xiamenhua 廈門話) and Teochew (Chaozhouhua 潮州話).

Migrants from Fujian (most of them hailing from Quanzhou 泉州 and Zhangzhou 漳州) started to settle in Taiwan since the 17^th century, and over time the Hokkien of their descendants began to deviate from their original dialect spoken in mainland China due to influences from and interaction with Taiwan's indigenous peoples, the Dutch and later the Japanese. Over the centuries, several local variants of Holo developed. Holo as spoken in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taitung is regarded the prestige accent. Distinct Holo variations include the accents spoken in Yilan, in Lukang, in Taipei/Hsinchu, in Taichung/Changhua/Chiayi as well as on Penghu. In general, the term 'Taiwanese' is now applied to all of these Holo variations.

Hardliners in the camp of pro-independence advocates deny any connection between Taiwan and China. As they regard Mandarin a 'colonizer's language', the name Southern Min dialect is loathed and rejected because the term views Holo as a variant of the Chinese variety spoken in Fujian province on the mainland.

On the other hand, it is an undeniable fact that the Holo variations common in today's Taiwan and the Southern Min dialect are mutually intelligible, while Holo and other languages which influenced its development to some degree like Japanese, Dutch or indigenous tongues are mutually unintelligible. When a native Holo speaker from Taiwan with no foreign language skills travels to Kinmen or Xiamen 廈門, he or she would have little trouble communicating with residents there in their local dialect. Furthermore, the same person would not be able to have a conversation with any Taiwanese aborigines who only speak their indigenous tribal language, or with Dutch or Japanese people without foreign language proficiency.

It could be argued that using the term 'Taiwanese' exclusively for Holo can be misleading for at least two reasons. First, there is not one single language predominantly spoken in Taiwan today but several. Second, just 500 years ago Holo wasn't even a native language in Taiwan's population—at that time only Austronesian languages were spoken by the island's inhabitants, and the indigenous peoples have resided on Taiwan much longer than any other ethnic group. (This page offers more information about Taiwan's indigenous peoples and their marginalization.) All said, it would be more appropriate and fair to use the term 'Taiwanese' for a group of languages, including Holo, Hakka and the Austronesian languages.

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Endangered languages

After the 1987 lifting of martial law, restrictions which had been imposed against the use of all Chinese dialects except Mandarin as well as the Austronesian languages of Taiwan's indigenous peoples were completely removed in the 1990s, and today Holo is omnipresent in Taiwan as spoken language and in the media. Meanwhile, most of the languages of the indigenous peoples and also Hakka are considered endangered as the numbers of their speakers in younger generations are declining dramatically. The phenomenon of young Taiwanese not learning the local dialect of their ancestors and speaking mostly Mandarin Chinese instead can even be observed in the Holo segment, so efforts for preserving native languages in Taiwan have been extended to Holo as well.

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◆ Essential information on Taiwan II—history

• Taiwan's history—much more than just the ROC
• Colonization acknowledged as historical fact
• The Republic of Formosa (May to October 1895)
• Facts about Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan
• 2-28, White Terror and a soured relationship
• Cross-Strait relations since the late 1970s—an overview
• NCCU polls in connection with Cross-Strait relations

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Taiwan's history—much more than just the ROC

• Preliminary remarks
• Complementary timeline Taiwan/ROC

(Jump to History of the ROC)

Preliminary remarks

Taiwan has been inhabited for millennia by non-Chinese indigenous peoples which are categorized as Austronesian. In general, Taiwan's indigenous peoples did not set up states in the Western sense but lived in tribal societies which had no written history or recorded interaction with other countries or peoples overseas.

Taiwan was first sighted by Western explorers in the 16^th century. After the onset of Taiwan's colonization, the indigenous population was decimated and marginalized, and a succession of various political entities controlled either parts of the island or all of Taiwan.

• Dutch Formosa (1624–1662: 38 years) controlled parts of Taiwan in the south and later also in the north with the United East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, abbrev. VOC).
• Spanish Formosa (1626–1642: 16 years), maintained a presence in northern Taiwan that was terminated by the Dutch through military intervention.
• Kingdom of Tungning (1661–1683: 22 years), set up in southern Taiwan by Ming dynasty loyalist Koxinga and his followers who defeated and expelled the Dutch.
• Qing dynasty Taiwan (1683–1895: 212 years), defeated the Kingdom of Tungning and expanded control over most of Taiwan's plains.
• Republic of Formosa (1895: ca. 5 months), a short-lived enterprise by Qing dynasty loyalists to fend off Japanese rule.
• Japanese colonial period (1895–1945: 50 years), the first political entity to gain control over Taiwan in its entirety.
• Taiwan/ROC (since October 1945: more than 79 years and counting).

Displayed below are the flags which were officially flown in Taiwan during the various historical periods since 1624.

VOC			Republic of Formosa
Spain (Cross of Burgundy)			Japan
Kingdom of Tungning			War flag of Japan's army
Qing dynasty			ROC

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Complementary timeline Taiwan/ROC

The following chronology lists events that the chief researcher deems helpful for a better understanding of the history of the ROC and/or Taiwan, especially in terms of political status and changes thereof. Please note that the timeline shows no events prior to the 16^th century because before that no affairs with international relevance took place in the Taiwan area.

Note: The origin of the terms Jiawu zhanzheng and Hsinhai Revolution is explained in the page "Tools" under the headline "The ROC calendar" (see The Ganzhi cycle and its terminology).

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Colonization acknowledged as historical fact

 ● Go Dutch
 ● The Koxinga interlude
 ● Taiwan's plains occupied by the Qing
 ● Japan takes charge
 ● Returned to the Han

The dominance of Han Chinese in Taiwan's population and mainstream culture is conspicuous and yet a relatively recent phenomenon. Modern historians and anthropologists agree that before the 16^th century—less than 500 years ago—there was no noteworthy Chinese population on the island, while indigenous Austronesian peoples are known to have populated Taiwan for at least 6,000 years; according to the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), archeological evidence confirms the presence of Malayo-Polynesian peoples on the island dating back 12,000 to 15,000 years.

The Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) which preceded the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) did not show any interest in Taiwan. Between 1405 and 1433 Admiral Zheng He 鄭和 (1371-1433), the most famous explorer of the Ming, undertook seven large-scale expeditionary voyages and reached the shores of Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Arab peninsula and even the east coast of Africa. None of these seven expeditions had Taiwan listed on their itineraries. Zheng He did make a brief, unplanned visit to Taiwan in 1430 when he was shipwrecked while returning to China from Southeast Asia, and while he found it inhabited by aborigines, he evidently did not encounter any Chinese settlements there. The Ming's indifference towards Taiwan is also clearly indicated by their dealings with the Dutch—when the Dutch in 1622 tried to establish a base on Penghu, Ming China immediately intervened and warned them that Penghu was Chinese territory. The Dutch were eventually expelled from there in 1624 but were allowed to withdraw to Taiwan where the presence of the Dutch drew no objections from the Ming.

Whereas Taiwan was ignored by the Ming government, a certain amount of trade took place between Chinese merchants and aborigines on Taiwan in the 16^th century. The Chinese bought products such as coal, sulfur and gold, and they sold iron and textiles to the aborigines. Similarly sought after by the Chinese were mullet fish as well as deer products—venison, skins, and antlers. In the early 17^th century there was a small network of Chinese traders living on the island, according to estimates less than 2,000 persons. Also, Chinese pirates appear to have found Taiwan an amenable base in the first half of the 17^th century.

DISAMBIGUATION—In the context of Taiwan's history, the term 'colonization' has more than one connotation. For information about an alternative use of that term please click here.

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Go Dutch

The period of Taiwan's history which began in the 17^th century was unquestionably a history of colonization. The first foreign power to gain a colonial foothold on Taiwan was the Netherlands which established a base called Fort Zeelandia (relanzhe cheng 熱蘭遮城) in present-day Anping District of Tainan (southern Taiwan) in 1624. Parts of northern Taiwan came under Spanish sway in 1626, with two settlements—one around Fort Antonio (hongmao cheng 紅毛城) aka Fort San Domingo (sheng duomingge cheng 聖多明哥城) at Tamsui and one around Fort San Salvador (sheng saerwaduo cheng 聖薩爾瓦多城) on Heping Island off Keelung. The Dutch drove the Spanish out of Taiwan in 1642, and while the presence of the Spanish remained a small footnote in history, the activities of the Dutch in Taiwan set in motion a development that would thoroughly change the island. (A detailed account on the era of the Dutch in Taiwan can be found in Tonio Andrade's "How Taiwan Became Chinese", published in 2005; click here.) Map 1 shows the areas where the two European colonist powers were active on Taiwan, marked in grey—the Dutch in the south (1624-1662) and the Spanish in the north (1626-1642).

Dutch governors on Taiwan 1624–1662

Spanish governors on Taiwan 1626–1642

In order to turn their Taiwanese possession into a profitable enterprise, the Dutch and their United East India Company (VOC) sought to encourage agricultural production of rice and sugar cane. Unfortunately for the Dutch, the indigenous residents were mostly content to plant just enough for themselves and their families and had no interest in raising crops for sale. For this reason, Chinese immigration was encouraged. Rules, laws and regulations imposed and implemented by the Dutch created a calculable economic and social environment, making Taiwan a safe place for Chinese to move to and invest in. Under the influx of the Chinese since the early 1630s the Dutch colony prospered—as Dutch governor Nicolaas Verburgh (in office 1649-1653) then put it: 'The Chinese are the only bees on Formosa that give honey.' Towards the end of the Dutch era in Taiwan, estimates put the number of Chinese living in Taiwan in a range between 10,000 and 60,000.

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The Koxinga interlude

The presence of the Dutch in Taiwan ended when they were expelled by forces led by Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong 鄭成功 (1624-1662, also known as "Koxinga" [guoxingye 國姓爺]). After the Dutch surrendered at their main base in southern Taiwan in 1662, they retreated to the former Spanish base in northern Taiwan but were attacked there by Koxinga's troops as well and eventually withdrew from Keelung in the second half of 1668.

Koxinga's "Kingdom of Tungning" (dongning wangguo 東寧王國) covered only a territory of modest size (see grey area in Map 2), and it also did not last long—just a little over two decades. In 1683 the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty turned to Taiwan because the island and Penghu were the hideout of rebels under Koxinga's leadership, the last stronghold of anti-Qing resistance they sought to eliminate. Qing forces led by Admiral Shi Lang 施琅 (1621-1696) first took the Penghu archipelago in July 1683, the Tungning Kingdom of Koxinga's descendants finally surrendered on Sept. 5 that year.

Rulers of the Tungning Kingdom (1662–1683)

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Taiwan's plains occupied by the Qing

The Qing made Taiwan a prefecture (fu 府) under Fujian province, the administrative seat was established at Tainan. The first Qing official in charge of the local administration based in Tainan was prefectural magistrate ("prefect", zhifu 知府) Jiang Yuying 蔣毓英. In the first decades of Qing rule over Taiwan, the authorities tried to limit immigration to the island and barred families from traveling there to ensure the immigrants would return to their families and ancestral graves in China. Illegal migration to Taiwan continued in spite of that, and the restrictions were relaxed following the 1760s. By 1811 there were more than 1.9 million Chinese immigrants on Taiwan.

Although the Qing never controlled Taiwan in its entirety, they nonetheless regarded Taiwan as a whole as their possession. The development of administrative subdivisions as shown below reflects how control of Qing forces over the island gradually advanced (the red asterisk [*] indicating newly established subdivisions).

• 1684–1875: Taiwan Prefecture 臺灣府 under Fujian Province

It should be noted that the additions of new counties on Taiwan proper represented the encroachment of ethnic Han settlers and Qing administration on previously indigenous territory. On the other hand, when Penghu became a subprefecture under Fujian’s Taiwan Prefecture in 1727, it was merely an administrative transfer as Penghu had been considered part of the Chinese empire since the Southern Song dynasty (1126-1279), and it had been listed under Fujian’s Quanzhou Prefecture (Quanzhou fu 泉州府) in the dynasties of Yuan (1279-1368) and Ming (1368-1644).

• 1875–1887: Two prefectures on Taiwan under Fujian Province

Following the 1871 Mudan Incident (Bayaowan shijian 八瑤灣事件) and the punitive military action Japan subsequently took against Taiwan in 1874, as well as the 1884-1885 French blockade of northern Taiwan, the Qing became aware of the growing strategic importance of Taiwan and in 1885 decided to upgrade it to a province in its own right, a measure that was implemented in 1887.

• 1887–1895: Taiwan Province, with four prefectures

Prefectures	14 subdivisions	[Map of Taiwan's subdivisions under Qing rule, ca. 1894]
Taipei Prefecture 臺北府	① Hsinchu County ② Tamsui County ③ Yilan County ④ Keelung Subprefecture
Taiwan Prefecture 臺灣府	⑤ Changhua County ⑥ Miaoli County 苗栗縣 * ⑦ Taiwan County 臺灣縣 * ⑧ Yunlin County 雲林縣 * ⑨ Pulishe Subprefecture
Tainan Prefecture 臺南府 *	⑩ Anping County 安平縣 * ⑪ Chiayi County ⑫ Fengshan County ⑬ Hengchun County ⑭ Penghu Subprefecture
Taitung Prefecture 臺東直隸州 *	⑮ [no further subdivisions!]

Notes: While many of the Qing's administrative subdivisions (Changhua County, Chiayi County, Hsinchu County, Keelung Subprefecture, Miaoli County, Penghu Subprefecture, Yilan County, and Yunlin County) are roughly corresponding to the respective ROC's cities and counties at the beginning of the 21^st century, others no longer exist in their original form.

Ⓧ Anping County (Anping xian 安平縣)—set up in 1887 based on former Taiwan County; centered around the area of today's Tainan City.
Ⓧ Fengshan County (Fengshan xian 鳳山縣)—set up in 1685, covering parts of today's Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County.
Ⓧ Hengchun County (Hengchun xian 恆春縣)—set up in 1875 at the southern tip of the island in today's Pingtung County.
Ⓧ Kavalan Subprefecture (Gamalan ting 噶瑪蘭廳)—set up in 1812, covered roughly the area of today's Yilan County and renamed in 1875.
Ⓧ Pulishe Subprefecture (Pulishe ting 埔里社廳)—set up in 1875, covered roughly the area of today's Puli Town in Nantou County.
Ⓧ Puyuma Subprefecture (Beinan ting 卑南廳)—set up in 1875, upgraded to Taitung Prefecture in 1887.
Ⓧ Taiwan County (Taiwan xian 臺灣縣)—first set up in 1684 on the territory of the former Kingdom of Tungning, roughly covering the area of today's Tainan City; renamed "Anping County" in 1887. That year the Qing established a new Taiwan County which covered parts of today's Taichung City and Nantou County.
Ⓧ Tamsui Subprefecture (Danshui ting 淡水廳)/Tamsui County (Danshui xian 淡水縣)—set up in 1730, covered large parts of today's Taipei City and New Taipei City. The subprefecture was reorganized as county in 1875.
Ⓧ Zhuluo County (Zhuluo xian 諸羅縣)—set up in 1685 as northernmost area controlled by the Qing. When the Qing subsequently advanced further north, Zhuluo County was expanded correspondingly until Changhua County was established as a separate administrative unit in 1721. The remaining Zhuluo County was renamed Chiayi County in 1787.

Qing governors of Taiwan Province (1885-1895)

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Japan takes charge

By the time the Qing ceded Taiwan and Penghu to Japan in 1895 after the lost First Sino-Japanese War, Han Chinese settlers and their descendants were already dominating Taiwan's plains and had driven the majority of surviving Austronesian aborigines into the sparsely populated mountainous regions of the island, areas where the Qing authorities had no real control. (The grey areas in Map 3 represent parts of the island which were fully controlled by the Qing authorities around 1894.) The most fierce resistance which advancing Japanese forces encountered was from the indigenous peoples in the mountains, and it was broken with brutal force. When rule over Taiwan was handed to the ROC in 1945 after Japan was defeated in WWII, effective local administration had already been established in all parts of the Island.

In addition to military suppression against armed resistance, approaches of the Japanese towards the aborigines also included anthropological study and assimilation. Initially the Japanese had only two categories for Taiwan's indigenous peoples: "domesticated" aborigines (shoufan 熟蕃 / jukuban, literally: 'cooked savages') and "wild" aborigines (shengfan 生蕃 / seiban, literally: 'raw savages'). Japanese anthropologist Ino Kanori 伊能 嘉矩 (1867-1925) was the first scientist who undertook systematic research about Taiwan's indigenous peoples, and in 1899 his book "Notes on Taiwan Barbarians" (Taiwan fanren shiqing 台灣蕃人事情 / Taiwan Banjin Jijō 台湾蕃人事情) was published where eight groups were identified—Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Puyuma, Tsalisen (zelixian zu 澤利先族, i.e. Rukai), Tsao 曹族 (= Tsou), Vonum (= Bunun), and Pepo (= Pingpu). Assimilation saw some members of the indigenous peoples recruited as soldiers for Japan's imperial army during WWII in a unit called Takasago Volunteers (gaosha yiyongdui 高砂義勇隊 / Takasago Gyūtai).

A concise general description of Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan can be found here.

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Returned to the Han

After the handover of Taiwan's administration from Japan to the ROC, the new government enacted the "Regulations on Restoration of Original Names of Citizens of Taiwan" (Taiwan shengmin xingming huifu banfa 台灣省民姓名回復辦法) on Dec. 9, 1945, and although the law's main purpose was to reverse measures imposed by Japan's colonial government encouraging the Taiwanese to adopt Japanese names (for example, Lee Teng-hui called himself "Iwasato Masao" [岩里政男] in the colonial era), it resulted in many aborigines being forced by uncooperative civil servants in household registration offices to adopt Chinese names, disrupting their culture and societies.

Further explanations about the situation of the indigenous peoples in today's Taiwan can be found here.

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The Republic of Formosa (May to October 1895)

 ● Abstract of events
 ● Still relevant
 ● Major figures of the Republic of Formosa (1895)
 ● Republic of Formosa chronology
 ● Full text of the Declaration of Independence

Contemporary advocates of Taiwan independence sometimes cite the Republic of Formosa (Taiwan minzhuguo 台灣民主國) aka "Democratic Republic of Taiwan" as a precedent underscoring the legitimacy of an independent Taiwan, an early manifestation of a Taiwanese national identity. The events in connection with the advent of Taiwan being a Japanese colony for half a century do indeed deserve a closer look.

Abstract of events

After the Qing dynasty (1644-1911)—the Manchu rulers of China—was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Qing court agreed in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (maguan tiaoyue 馬關條約) to cede Taiwan, Penghu and the Liaodong peninsula to Japan 'in perpetuity'. The Qing notified the authorities on the other side of the Taiwan Strait that the islands were no longer Chinese territory, and they ordered the officials and troops stationed there to return to the mainland.

When the news spread in Taiwan, an outpouring of public indignation there decried the abandonment by Beijing. The general perception of Taiwan's Chinese residents was that China had sold them out, and local intellectuals feared Chinese culture and civilization were in jeopardy. Qiu Fengjia, a Hakka and leading member of the landed gentry from Changhua, urged Tang Jingsong (Taiwan provincial governor [xunfu 巡撫] since September 1894) to fend off a Japanese takeover by declaring Taiwan an independent republic. The political calculation was that one or more of the European powers like the UK or France would come to Taiwan's aid against Japan. Tang reluctantly agreed. Chen Jitong was picked for the position of FM to promote the republic abroad.

On May 25, 1895 the Republic of Formosa's Declaration of Independence (Taiwan minzhuguo duli xuanyan 台灣民主國獨立宣言) was proclaimed, and "Forever Qing" (yong Qing 永清) was chosen as the newly established republic's era name (nianhao 年號). Tang Jingsong made it clear that his government recognized Chinese suzerainty, with the republic having the status of a vassal state. A parliament comprising members of the gentry, merchant class, and literati was appointed. Although the Republic of Formosa was in name a democracy, its leadership was not recruited by application of regular democratic mechanisms.

For the Western powers, however, Taiwan was of much less strategic interest than the Liaodong peninsula (Liaodong bandao 遼東半島) in northeast China, and they did not intervene on behalf of Taiwan or Qing China. Taiwan's transfer to Japanese rule under the Treaty of Shimonoseki was regarded as legitimate, and the Western powers therefore did not recognize the Republic of Formosa. Furthermore, the Qing government in Beijing was anxious not to offend Japan, fearing the Japanese might change their minds about giving the Liaodong peninsula back to China.

Consequently, when the Japanese arrived to take possession of their new colony, the republicans were on their own. Available resistance forces included remnant regular Qing troops as well as local militias and volunteer fighters. The fighting motivation of the Qing troops was limited, and following the fall of Keelung less than a week after the Japanese landed, most of the Chinese soldiers left Taiwan and returned to China, among them Tang Jingsong, Qiu Fengjia and many others. After that, local militias under the command of Liu Yongfu (who never formally assumed the title of president) kept up the resistance, but they were no match for the Japanese units who were not only well-trained, disciplined and equipped with modern weapons but also received necessary reinforcements. Guerrilla attacks by local groups of insurgents and partisan bands did little to slow down the Japanese advance but provoked brutal reprisals. Given the conditions, the collapse of the republic could not be averted. Today, the military campaign which lasted from May 29 to Nov. 18 is known as "Yiwei War" (yiwei zhanzheng 乙未戰爭); yiwei 乙未 was the denomination of the year 1895.

Article 5 of the Treaty of Shimonoseki granted registered inhabitants of ceded territories a grace period until May 8, 1897 to sell their property and leave, after that date they would be regarded Japanese subjects. Some 6,400 persons, including many members of the upper gentry, moved from Taiwan to China in those two years. (Taiwan's population in 1895 stood at ca. 3 million.)

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Still relevant

Due to the enormous significance of the topic "independence" in today's Taiwan, interest in the circumstances and motivations for the establishment of the Republic of Formosa in 1895 is justified. Obviously, the aspirations and reasons for the founding of the republic back then are not identical with those of contemporary activists for Taiwan independence. The biggest difference is that today's advocates strive for true independence from China, whereas the republicans in 1895 wanted independence only from Japan but not from China—the recognition of China's suzerainty and the era name are all strong indications that the independence move was not a sign of a national identity separate from China but a desperate measure by local politicians to ward off foreign rule. Essentially, the republic's leaders had remained loyal Chinese subjects. They had no intention to sever ties to China completely but wished to keep a connection of some kind. Naturally, most of them returned to the motherland after their enterprise failed.

On the other hand, the manner how quickly the Qing court was willing to abandon Taiwan and hand it over to a hostile power could very well have sown the seeds of bitterness and alienation in Taiwan's ethnic Han population and over time given rise to a distinctive Taiwanese identity on the island. In consequence of the 1895 cession, Taiwan and its inhabitants grew inevitably more and more detached from China during 50 years of Japanese rule.

The Republic of Formosa's national flag has been cherished by activists as a potent symbol for Taiwan independence to this day, its design showing a yellow tiger on a blue background. It should be noted that tigers, like giant pandas, are an endemic species on the Chinese mainland but not in Taiwan's wildlife—Taiwan’s most iconic endemic species include the Formosan Black Bear (Taiwan heixiong 台灣黑熊, Ursus thibetanus formosanus), the Formosan Landlocked Salmon (Taiwan yinghua gouwengui 台灣櫻花鉤吻鮭, Oncorhynchus masou formosanus), the Formosan Blue Magpie (Taiwan lanque 台灣藍鵲, Urocissa caerulea), the Taiwan Blue Pheasant aka Swinhoe’s Pheasant (lanxian 藍鷳, Lophura swinhoii), and the Formosan Sambar Deer (Taiwan shuilu 台灣水鹿, Cervus unicolor swinhoei).

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Major figures of the Republic of Formosa (1895)

• Tang Jingsong 唐景崧 (1841-1903, Guangxi): president, May 25—June 6
• Qiu Fengjia 丘逢甲 (1864-1912, Taiwan): military commander-in-chief
• Liu Yongfu 劉永福 (1837-1917, Guangxi): leader of the republic, June 26—Oct. 20
• Chen Jitong 陳季同 (1851-1907, Fujian): foreign minister

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Republic of Formosa chronology

Please note that all dates in the timeline below refer to the year 1895.

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Full text of the Declaration of Independence

The text of the official declaration of independence as issued on May 25, 1895 is shown directly below.

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Facts about Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan

 ● Historical prelude
 ● Governor-generals
 ● Government structure
 ● Administrative division
 ● Demographic development
 ● Timeline of important events
 ● Major earthquakes between 1895 and 1945
 ● POW camps

Between 1895 and 1945 Taiwan was under Japanese control as a colony, a period known as Japanese colonial period (Riju shidai 日據時代 / Rizhi shiqi 日治時期). The image on the right shows the emblem of Japan's colonial government in Taiwan.

Historical prelude

The process which led to the Qing losing Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan began in 1885 when Japan declared that Korea was henceforth to be considered as falling under the joint sphere of influence of Japan and China. That was not a small issue as China’s suzerainty over Korea had been unchallenged until then. When the Qing in May 1894 sent troops to Korea at the request of the Korean emperor to help suppress a massive peasant uprising, Japan regarded that as a challenge and sent troops to Korea as well. Japan installed a new government in Korea in June 1894, the legitimacy of which the Qing rejected, and by August 1894 the two countries were officially at war. In that conflict, dubbed Sino-Japanese War (jiawu zhanzheng 甲午戰爭), Japan’s armed forces proved to be superior to the Qing’s army, and in April 1895 the Qing were forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki (maguan tiaoyue 馬關條約). According to the conditions of the treaty, Qing China had to cede Taiwan, the Pescadores (Penghu) and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, recognize Korea’s independence, among other painful concessions. A "Republic of Formosa" established in Taiwan by pro-Qing loyalists to fend off the Japanese takeover collapsed within five months.

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Governor-generals

The following list shows Japan's Governor-generals of Taiwan (Taiwan zongdu 台灣總督 / Taiwan sōtoku 台湾総督) for the five decades of colonial rule.

Please note that the first seven and the last three of Japan's Governor-generals in Taiwan were high-ranking military officers (army generals or navy admirals), the Governor-generals between 1919 and 1936 were civilians.

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Government structure

After its establishment the agency of the Governor-general had three departments—Department of Civil Affairs (minzhengju 民政局 / Minsei Kyoku), Department of Army (lujunju 陸軍局 / Rikugun Kyoku), and Department of Navy (haijunju 海軍局 / Kaigun Kyoku); the army and navy departments were merged to the Department of Military Affairs (junwuju 軍務局 / Gunmu Kyoku) in April 1896. The Department of Civil Affairs was renamed minzhengbu 民政部 / Minseibu in June 1898, and by November 1901 its authority was expanded with six subordinate agencies:

▶ Department of Communications (tongxinju 通信局 / Tsūshin Kyoku), was renamed Department of Postal Affairs (dixinju 遞信局 / Teishin Kyoku 逓信局) in June 1919,
▶ Department of Engineering (tumuju 土木局 / Doboku Kyoku),
▶ Department of Finance (caiwuju 財務局 / Zaimu Kyoku),
▶ Department of General Affairs (zongwuju 總務局 / Sōmu Kyoku 総務局), was renamed Department of Internal Affairs (neiwuju 内務局 / Naimu Kyoku) in October 1909,
▶ Department of Production (zhichanju 殖産局 / Shokusan Kyoku); and
▶ Police Headquarters (jingcha benshu 警察本署 / Keisatsu Honsho), abolished in October 1909 and reorganized as Aboriginal Affairs Headquarters (fanwu benshu 蕃務本署 / Banmu Honsho).

In 1945 subordinate agencies of the Governor-general included the following:

▶ Department of Agriculture and Commerce (nongshanju 農商局 / Nōshō Kyoku),
▶ Department of Education (wenjiaoju 文教局 / Bunkyō Kyoku),
▶ Department of Finance (caiwuju 財務局 / Zaimu Kyoku),
▶ Department of Mines and Industry (kuanggongju 礦工局 / Kōkō Kyoku 鉱工局),
▶ Department of Police (jingwuju 警務局 / Keimu Kyoku);
▶ Bureau of Foreign Affairs (waishibu 外事部 / Gaiji Bu),
▶ Bureau of Judicial Affairs (fawubu 法務部 / Hōmu Bu); and
▶ Secretariat to the Governor-general (zongdu guanfang 總督官房 / Sōtoku Kanbō 総督官房).

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Administrative division

In the first years when the Japanese colonial authorities were in the process of establishing and consolidating their administration, the administrative divisions frequently changed. Regions in the mountain ranges of central Taiwan were not covered by Japan's administrative units before 1920 (see grey areas in maps below). In November 1901 twenty local administrative offices (ting 廳 / chō 庁) were established.

① Taihoku (Taibei ting 台北廳 / Taihoku chō 台北庁);
② Kirun (Jilong ting 基隆廳 / Kīrun chō 基隆庁);
③ Shinko (Shenkeng ting 深坑廳 / Shinkō chō 深坑庁);
④ Giran (Yilan ting 宜蘭廳 / Giran chō 宜蘭庁);
⑤ Toshien (Taoziyuan ting 桃仔園廳 / Tōshien chō 桃仔園庁);
⑥ Shinchiku (Xinzhu ting 新竹廳 / Shinchiku chō 新竹庁);
⑦ Byoritsu (Miaoli ting 苗栗廳 / Byōritsu chō 苗栗庁);
⑧ Taichu (Taizhong ting 台中廳 / Taichū chō 台中庁);
⑨ Shoka (Zhanghua ting 彰化廳 / Shōka chō 彰化庁);
⑩ Nanto (Nantou ting 南投廳 / Nantō chō 南投庁);
⑪ Toroku (Douliu ting 斗六廳 / Toroku chō 斗六庁);
⑫ Kagi (Jiayi ting 嘉義廳 / Kagi chō 嘉義庁);
⑬ Ensuiko (Yanshuigang ting 鹽水港廳 / Ensuikō chō 鹽水港庁);
⑭ Tainan (Tainan ting 台南廳 / Tainan chō 台南庁);
⑮ Hozan (Fengshan ting 鳳山廳 / Hōzan chō 鳳山庁);
⑯ Banshoryo (Fanshuliao ting 蕃薯寮廳 / Ban­sho­ryō chō 蕃薯寮庁);
⑰ Ako (Ahou ting 阿猴廳 / Akō chō 阿猴庁);
⑱ Koshun (Hengchun ting 恆春廳 / Kōshun chō 恆春庁);
⑲ Taito (Taidong ting 台東廳 / Taitō chō 台東庁); and
⑳ Hoko (Penghu ting 澎湖廳 / Hōko chō 澎湖庁).

In October 1909 the administrative subdivisions in Taiwan were redesigned into twelve local administrative offices.

① Taihoku (Taibei ting 台北廳 / Taihoku chō 台北庁);
② Giran (Yilan ting 宜蘭廳 / Giran chō 宜蘭庁);
③ To'en (Taoyuan ting 桃園廳 / Tōen chō 桃園庁);
④ Shinchiku (Xinzhu ting 新竹廳 / Shinchiku chō 新竹庁);
⑤ Taichu (Taizhong ting 台中廳 / Taichū chō 台中庁);
⑥ Nanto (Nantou ting 南投廳 / Nantō chō 南投庁);
⑦ Kagi (Jiayi ting 嘉義廳 / Kagi chō 嘉義庁);
⑧ Tainan (Tainan ting 台南廳 / Tainan chō 台南庁);
⑨ Ako (Ahou ting 阿猴廳 / Akō chō 阿猴庁);
⑩ Taito (Taidong ting 台東廳 / Taitō chō 台東庁);
⑪ Karenko (Hualiengang ting 花蓮港廳 / Karenkō chō 花蓮港庁); and
⑫ Hoko (Penghu ting 澎湖廳 / Hōko chō 澎湖庁).

In August 1920 the administrative subdivisions were rearranged according to the system used in Japan, and by 1926 the Japanese had subdivided their colony into eight prefectures:

① Taihoku Prefecture (Taibei zhou 台北州 / Taihoku shū) = Taipei—included today's Keelung City, New Taipei City, Taipei City, Yilan County;
② Shinchiku Prefecture (Xinzhu zhou 新竹州 / Shinchiku shū) = Hsinchu—included today's Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Taoyuan City;
③ Taichu Prefecture (Taizhong zhou 台中州 / Taichū shū) = Taichung—included today's Changhua County, Nantou County, Taichung City;
④ Tainan Prefecture (Tainan zhou 台南州 / Tainan shū) = Tainan—included today's Chiayi City, Chiayi County, Tainan City, Yunlin County;
⑤ Takao Prefecture (Gaoxiong zhou 高雄州 / Takao shū) = Kaohsiung—included today's Kaohsiung City, Pingtung County;
⑥ Karenko Prefecture (Hualiangang ting 花蓮港廳 / Karenkō chō 花蓮港庁) = Hualien—included today's Hualien County;
⑦ Taito Prefecture (Taidong ting 台東廳 / Taitō chō 台東庁) = Taitung—included today's Taitung County; and
⑧ Hoko Prefecture (Penghu ting 澎湖廳 / Hōko chō 澎湖 庁) = Penghu—included today's Penghu County.

Please note that between September 1920 and July 1926 Hoko was not a prefecture in its own right but a district (jun 郡 / gun) under Takao prefecture.

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Demographic development

Shortly after the Japanese took over Taiwan, the island had an estimated population of 2.7 million in 1897. During the Japanese colonial period the authorities conducted censuses seven times which yielded the following population figures for Taiwan (source: Japanese Wikipedia).
  • 1905—3,039,751;
  • 1915—3,479,922;
  • 1920—3,655,308;
  • 1925—3,993,408;
  • 1930—4,592,537;
  • 1935—5,212,426; and
  • 1940—5,872,084.
In 1905, Taiwan's population included 57,335 Japanese and 82,795 Aborigines, the respective numbers for 1935 were 270,674 Japanese and 207,900 Aborigines (source: George Watson Barclay, Colonial Development and Population in Taiwan, p. 16).

The table below shows official population figures of 1941. Accordingly, the total population in Taiwan's eight prefectures then stood at 6,249,468. (Source: World War II Database)

After the end of WWII more than 300,000 Japanese left the island which—according to statistics available on the website of the MOI—had 6,090,860 inhabitants in 1946 and 7,554,399 inhabitants in 1950. (For Taiwan's population statistics since 1946 please click here.)

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Timeline of important events

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Major earthquakes between 1895 and 1945

Several earthquakes were recorded in Taiwan during Japan’s colonial rule as shown in the table directly below (locations are referred to with their current names in today’s ROC cities/counties).

Please note that before the beginning of the Japanese colonial period, there was no monitoring of seismic activity based on modern scientific methods on the island. More precise details concerning earthquakes in the Taiwan area have been recorded since 1935, and the website of the ROC Central Weather Administration contains exact data or maps of events from that year on.

The 1920 temblor was presumably the strongest earthquake ever to hit the Taiwan area, but equipment necessary for accurately assessing the power and depth of the jolts was not yet available at the time. The magnitude of the 1920 quake has been estimated to be between 7.7 and 8.3. A brief chronology outlining the history of earthquake observation in Taiwan can be found here.

More information about early earthquake observation in Taiwan can be found in the following two research papers:

• Sin Mei Ng, Jacques Angelier, Chung-Pai Chang—"Earthquake cycle in Western Taiwan: Insights from historical seismicity". Published on Aug. 1, 2009 in: Geophysical Journal International, Volume 178, Issue 2, August 2009, Pages 753–774
• Thomas Theunissen, Yvonne Font, Serge Lallemand, Wen-Tzong Liang—"The largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in Taiwan: Revised location and magnitude, and tectonic significance of the 1920 event". Published on Dec. 1, 2010, in: Geophysical Journal International, Volume 183, Issue 3, December 2010, Pages 1119–1133

For information about Taiwan's geology, fault lines, major earthquakes since the end of WWII and more click here.

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POW camps

During WWII Japan occupied large parts of Asia under its imperialist concept called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" (da dongya gongrongquan 大東亞共榮圈), and some of the empire's prisoners of war (POW) were held in Taiwan. On May 1, 1999 the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society (Taiwan zhanfuying jinian xiehui 台灣戰俘營紀念協會, abbrev. TPCMS) was set up based on the work of Canadian expat Michael Hurst. The TPCMS website lists more than a dozen POW camps (zhanfuying 戰俘營).

Churon and Maruyama are listed as evacuation camps. In addition, a Taiwan Hellships Memorial (erci dazhan zhanfuchuan jinianpai 二次大戰戰俘船紀念牌) was dedicated on Jan. 26, 2006 in Qijin District (Kaohsiung City).

Background information pertaining to that subject as well as additional contents about Japan's relations with Taiwan after WWII and China/the ROC since the 19th century can be found on the following pages of this website.

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2-28, White Terror and a soured relationship

 ● Crucial date: February 28, 1947
 ● White Terror chronology (1947-1987)
 ● A topic no longer taboo
 ● Still unreconciled
 ● KMT reformed?

Crucial date: February 28, 1947

The victory of the Allies over Japan in WWII paved the way for the ROC to take over Taiwan, an explicit war goal since the 1943 Cairo Declaration. The ROC leadership under Chiang Kai-shek was wary of Taiwan since the island had been ruled by their enemies for half a century, so Taiwan was regarded to some degree as hostile territory. Chiang Kai-shek commissioned Chen Yi—a man who had gained some notoriety for his harsh rule as provincial governor of Fujian between 1934 and 1941—to head the ROC's new Taiwan provincial government because Chen could be expected to reliably set up the KMT-led administration, enforce its rule and crack down hard against any possible resistance on Taiwan.

When troops and administration personnel of the ROC arrived in Taiwan in October 1945, they received an enthusiastic welcome by locals who were happy to see Japan's colonial rule coming to an end. The joy did not last long because locals were largely excluded from administrative posts, and the new rulers who were fighting a civil war against the Chinese Communists on the mainland drained resources from the island, with negative consequences for the living conditions in Taiwan. The province also experienced unprecedented inflation. The resulting discontent and growing tensions eventually led to a violent uprising in February 1947 ("2-28") by locals against the ROC administration.

The 2-28 Incident was triggered by a clash between government officials and local bystanders after agents working for the government's Taiwan Provincial Monopoly Bureau (Taiwansheng zhuanmaiju 台灣省專賣局) on Feb. 27, 1947 confiscated contraband cigarettes from a 40-year-old widow named Lin Jiang-mai 林江邁 at the Tianma Tea House (tianma chafang 天馬茶房), located in today's Datong District of Taipei City. During the ensuing dispute and scuffle the officials fired shots and killed one person. The following day a large crowd gathered in front of the building previously used by the Japanese Governor-general in Taipei and demanded the monopoly agents to be brought to justice. Security personnel opened fire, resulting in several deaths. Protesters then seized a radio station, and news of the revolt was broadcast to the entire island, causing the uprising to spread. When open rebellion broke out at many locations on the island, the KMT-led central government in Nanjing deployed troops to suppress the insurrection with brutal force. According to an investigation conducted by a commission of the ROC government in 1992, an estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the crackdown, which lasted into early May 1947. Martial law, imposed on May 25, 1947, remained in place for four decades.

The bloody campaign unleashed to exterminate the rebellion especially targeted the elite of Taiwanese intellectuals educated in Japan and wiped out a sizable portion of that group. It left the opposition traumatized and decimated, and in the White Terror period no serious attempts were made by organized opponents to overthrow the government. By and large, rare oppositional activity was non-violent, except for an assassination attempt against Chiang Ching-kuo in 1970 and another one against Shieh Tung-min in 1976. The following chronology lists a selection of major events in the aftermath of 2-28 until the end of martial law in July 1987.

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Notes
The Chinese term "dangwai" (黨外) means "outside the party" (i. e. the then-ruling KMT) and refers to an oppositional movement in the 1970s, a loose alliance and melting pot for political activists whose goals were quite diverse—the most important objectives were democratization (minzhuhua 民主化) and Taiwan independence (Taiwan duli 台灣獨立, abbrev. Taidu 台獨) as well as full civil and human rights. The founders of the DPP were mostly members of the dangwai movement.

The release dates of the "Kaohsiung Eight" who were incarcerated in connection with the Kaohsiung Incident were as follows (in chronological order):
  • Lin I-hsiung 林義雄—1984, Aug. 15;
  • Annette Lu 呂秀蓮—March 1985;
  • Lin Hung-hsuan 林弘宣—December 1985;
  • Chen Chu 陳菊—1986, Feb. 4;
  • Yao Chia-wen 姚嘉文—1987, Jan. 20;
  • Huang Hsin-chieh 黃信介 and Chang Chun-hung 張俊宏—1987, May 30;
  • Shih Ming-teh 施明德—1990, May 20.

All guilty sentences for Formosa Incident defendants were removed by the Transitional Justice Commission (TJC) by May 23, 2022.

Please note that the events in connection with the death of Deng Nan-jung 鄭南榕 (also known under the name Nylon Cheng) are not included in above chronology as they took place in April 1989, i. e. after martial law was lifted.

For additional information about the events around and after Taiwan was put under ROC rule the chief researcher recommends the classic "Formosa Betrayed" by George H. Kerr, published in 1965. Another noteworthy account about the events is the book "Taiwan 1947: The Uprising against the Kuomintang", written by German-British sinologist, translator and linguist Günter Whittome and published in 1991 by the Institut für Asienkunde (Institute for Asian Studies, abbrev. IfA) in Hamburg, available in English and German. (The IfA was renamed German Institute for Global and Area Studies—abbrev. GIGA—in 2006.)

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A topic no longer taboo

Since the lifting of martial law, many facts about 2-28 and the White Terror have been revealed in countless publications, and the ROC government has changed its official attitude towards those events. The developments since July 1987 can be distinguished as belonging to two categories—establishment of monuments, memorial sites and protection/maintenance of historical sites as well as laws and administrative measures.

Monuments and historical sites

The first 228 Peace Memorial Monument (Jiayishi mituolu ererba jinianbei 嘉義市彌陀路二二八紀念碑) was completed on Aug. 29, 1989 in Chiayi City. On Feb. 28, 1996, the 228 Memorial Monument (ererba heping jinianbei 二二八和平紀念碑) in the Taipei New Park (xingongyuan 新公園) was unveiled and the park renamed 228 Peace Memorial Park (ererba heping jinian gongyuan 二二八和平紀念公園), and on Feb. 28, 1997, the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum (Taibei ererba jinianguan 台北二二八紀念館) was opened.

Two prisons which held political prisoners in the White Terror period have been transformed into human rights memorial sites—the New Life Correction Center (xinsheng xundaochu 新生訓導處) and the Green Island Reform and Reeducation Prison (Lüdao ganxun jianyu 綠島感訓監獄) became the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park (Lüdao renquan wenhua yuanqu 綠島人權文化園區) on Dec. 10, 2002; and the former Chingmei Military Detention Center (Jingmei junshi kanshousuo 景美軍事看守所) became the Jing-mei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park (Jingmei renquan wenhua yuanqu 景美人權文化園區) on Dec. 10, 2007.

Another military prison in the martial law era that should be mentioned was the Production and Education Experiment Institute (Taiwan shengchan jiaoyu shiyansuo 臺灣生產教育實驗所) in Tucheng (today's New Taipei City), a camp where political prisoners underwent re-education. It was established in 1954 and renamed Taiwan Renai Education Experiment Institute (Taiwan ren'ai jiaoyu shiyansuo 台灣仁愛教育實驗所) in 1972.

The National Human Rights Museum (guojia renquan bowuguan 國家人權博物館, abbrev. NHRM) was inaugurated with a ceremony at the Green Island White Terror Memorial Park (baise kongbu Lüdao jinian yuanqu 白色恐怖綠島紀念園區) on May 17, 2018 by ROC President Tsai Ing-wen and another one the following day at Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park (baise kongbu Jingmei jinian yuanqu 白色恐怖景美紀念園區) by ROC Premier William Lai Ching-te.

Laws and administrative measures

While the "Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion" (dongyuan kanluan shiqi linshi tiaokuan 動員戡亂時期臨時條款)—short "Temporary Provisions", in force between May 10, 1948 and May 1, 1991—were the legal foundation for authoritarian rule in the Martial Law Period, other laws were important tools of suppression as well. The "Punishment of Rebellion Act" (chengzhi panluan tiaoli 懲治叛亂條例) was promulgated on June 21, 1949 and abolished on May 22, 1991; the "Suppression of the Communist Rebellion Act" (kanluan shiqi jiansu feidie tiaoli 戡亂時期檢肅匪諜條例) was promulgated on June 13, 1950 and abolished on June 3, 1991. Furthermore, Article 100 of the ROC Criminal Code (Zhonghua minguo xingfa 中華民國刑法) which criminalized peaceful advocacy of Taiwan independence, was amended on May 15, 1992.

(Please note that two laws mentioned above are also known under alternative names in English—
◉ "Punishment of Rebellion Act" = Statutes for the Punishment of Insurrection / Statutes for the Punishment of Rebellion / Rebellion Punishment Provision / Act for the Control and Punishment of Rebellion / Act Governing the Punishment of Rebellion / Betrayers Punishment Act / Suppressing Rebellion Act / Anti-Insurgency Law;
◉ "Suppression of the Communist Rebellion Act" = Statutes for the Purging of Communist Agents / Temporary Anti-Espionage Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion / Act Governing Espionage in the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion / Espionage Laws of the Period of the Communist Rebellion.)

On Nov. 29, 1990 the ROC Executive Yuan established the "Ad Hoc Research Group into the 228 Incident" (xingzhengyuan yanjiu ererba shijian zhuan'an xiaozu 行政院研究二二八事件專案小組) which on Feb. 22, 1992 published the "February 28 Incident Research Report" (ererba shijian yanjiu baogao 二二八事件研究報告). On Feb. 28, 1995 Lee Teng-hui, doubling as ROC president and KMT chairman, expressed a formal apology to the families of the victims of the 2-28 Incident, and on April 7, 1995 the ROC Legislative Yuan promulgated the February 28 Incident Disposition and Compensation Act (ererba shijian chuli ji peichang tiaoli 二二八事件處理及賠償條例). On Feb. 27, 1997, the MOI designated the Peace Memorial Day (heping jinianri 和平紀念日)—observed annually on Feb. 28—a national holiday from 1998 on.

The Organizational Act of the National Human Rights Museum (guojia renquan bowuguan zuzhifa 國家人權博物館組織法) was approved by the Executive Yuan on July 20, 2017 and passed by the Legislative Yuan on Nov. 28 that year, stipulating that both former detainment centers for political prisoners will be combined into "White Terror Memorial Parks" (baise kongbu jinian yuanqu 白色恐怖紀念園區).

On Dec. 5, 2017 the Legislative Yuan passed the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (cujin zhuanxing zhengyi tiaoli 促進轉型正義條例) which aims at addressing injustices perpetrated by then-KMT led ROC government between Aug. 15, 1945, when the Japanese government announced it had surrendered, and Nov. 6, 1992, the last day of martial law on the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu. The bill also provided for the establishment of a Transitional Justice Commission (cujin zhuanxing zhengyi weiyuanhui 促進轉型正義委員會, abbrev. cuzhuanhui 促轉會 in Chinese and TJC in English), with its nine members nominated by the premier and confirmed by the Legislature. That commission was formally set up on May 31, 2018 and dissolved on May 30, 2022.

On April 18, 2024 the ROC Executive Yuan confirmed the establishment of May 19 as White Terror Memorial Day (baise kongbu jiyiri 白色恐怖記憶日), to be observed annually but not as a day off.

MOC’s National Human Rights Museum (guojia renquan bowuguan 國家人權博物館) and Academia Sinica’s Institute of Taiwan History (zhongyang yanjiuyuan Taiwanshi yanjiusuo 中央研究院臺灣史研究所) worked together to create the Taiwan Human Rights Memory Bank (guojia renquan jiyiku 國家人權記憶庫) which was completed in February 2024 and went online that year.

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Still unreconciled

Despite the improved official stance, the alienation between local Taiwanese and mainlanders who arrived in Taiwan after 1945 still heavily influences politics in Taiwan today, and true reconciliation has yet to be achieved as great bitterness prevails, notably among the descendants of victims who lost their freedom or their lives between 1947 and 1987. Comments of older-generation mainlanders like former ROC Premier Hao Pei-tsun downplaying the extent of the White Terror are contributing to the problem, highlighting the fact that more disclosures concerning the events in question, sincere reflection and open-minded discussions are necessary to advance the process of transitional justice and help healing the wounds which are still aching Taiwan's society. Although leading KMT politicians have repeatedly offered apologies for 2-28 atrocities and the White Terror, those are often perceived by Taiwanese as not genuine and therefore rejected, especially since the same KMT politicians keep honouring Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.

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KMT reformed?

The period of democratization was certainly a result of constant pressure by dissidents and the dangwai movement, but it was set in motion by Chiang Ching-kuo and massively expedited by Lee Teng-hui with the support of the KMT. Yet many members of the green camp (DPP et. al., Taiwanese and 'pro-Taiwan') are not convinced that the KMT has really embraced democracy, and they believe that the blue camp (KMT et. al., mainlanders and pro-China) still prefers a one-party state. In this context the Chinese term dangguo weiquan 黨國威權 (= authoritarian party state) is often used.

Note: Some Western observers regard the term "2-28 Incident" as not appropriate and use the English term "2-28 Massacre" instead.

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Cross-Strait relations since the late 1970s—an overview

• Crossing the line
• Taiwanese NGOs for PRC minorities

The conflict between the KMT-led ROC and the Chinese Communists before and after the establishment of the PRC was primarily a military confrontation for decades. When the PRC was founded in October 1949, the regime in Beijing was resolved to 'liberate' the remaining territories under ROC control by force. The PRC captured the Dachen Islands off Zhejiang province in February 1955, and the shelling of Kinmen since August 1958 continued even after the deaths of the respective dictators Chiang Kai-shek in April 1975 and and Mao Zedong in September 1976.

The PRC puts pressure on Taiwan/the ROC in different ways:

• Beijing refuses to rule out the use of force to achieve unification (wutong 武統) and has even passed an “Anti-Secession Law” (fan fenlie guojiafa 反分裂國家法), which in case of ‘[secessionist forces] act ... to cause the fact of Taiwan’s secession from China’ stipulates that the PRC ‘shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’—in other words: invading and annexing Taiwan.
• Under its “wolf warrior diplomacy” (zhanlang waijiao 戰狼外交) approach, the PRC uses its global power and influence to limit Taiwan’s international space and isolate the ROC, e. g. by pressing countries to submit to the “One China” scheme and making them pledge not to officially recognize the ROC/Taiwan diplomatically.
• PRC objection keeps Taiwan from being admitted to the United Nations (UN) and any of its affiliated agencies, thus preventing the World Health Organization (WHO) from inviting Taiwan to the annual sessions of the World Health Assembly (WHA); Taiwan is also barred from joining the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) or participating in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Other global organizations like the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) that have statehood as requirement have been excluding Taiwan as well.
• The PRC keeps forcing international corporations to change the name they use in referring to Taiwan, e. g. to “Taiwan, China” or “Taiwan, province of China”.
• Due to PRC pressure, Taiwan has for decades been forced to use the degrading moniker “Chinese Taipei” when participating in the Olympics and other activities on the world stage, and likewise the use of the official state name “Republic of China” and its national flag is banned at most international venues.
• There are indications that the PRC is trying to influence public opinion in Taiwan by paying Taiwanese media groups for positive coverage as well as by spreading misinformation and fake news via channels like Facebook and the Line messaging app, thus abusing freedom of expression in Taiwan.

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The portraits below show the successive paramount leaders of the PRC's authoritarian regime (i. e. CCP CMC chairmen).

1936–1976	1976–1981	1981–1989	1989–2004	2004–2012	2012—
Mao Zedong 毛澤東 (1893-1976, Hunan)	Hua Guofeng 華國鋒 (1921-2008, Shanxi)	Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平 (1904-1997, Sichuan)	Jiang Zemin 江澤民 (1926-2022, Jiangsu)	Hu Jintao 胡錦濤 (b. 1942, Anhui)	Xi Jinping 習近平 (b. 1953, Shaanxi)

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Crossing the line

The Taiwan Strait (Taiwan haixia 台灣海峽) is the part in the Western Pacific that separates Taiwan from continental China. In international shipping, it is regarded a critical corridor connecting the East China Sea (donghai 東海) to the South China Sea (nanhai 南海).

The shortest straight line between the two sides can be drawn from Taiwan’s Zhonghe Borough 中和里 (Houlong Town 後龍鎮, Miaoli County) to China’s Wan'an Village 萬安村 (Dongshan Town 東瀚鎮, Fuqing City 福清市, Fuzhou City 福州市, Fujian Province), and according to Google Earth that line has a length of 136.34 km. From Taiwan’s northern tip, the Taiwan Strait is at least 198 km wide, from the southern tip of the island at least 361 km, the average width is about 180 km. The Taiwan Strait is relatively shallow with an average depth of 60 m, in the Penghu channel it reaches a maximum depth of 177 m, while above the Taiwan Shoal aka Taiwan Bank (Taiwan qiantan 台灣淺灘) near the center of the Taiwan Strait’s southern mouth it is merely 25 m deep.

Since the end of the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949) and the establishment of the PRC there has been a tacit agreement between Taipei and Beijing not to violate the median line (haixia zhongxian 海峽中線) of the Taiwan Strait which is also known as Davis Line (Daweisi xian 戴維斯線). The median line never had official status but was observed by both the ROC and the PRC starting in the 1950s, and crossing it as a deliberate provocation has been rare and remains uncommon, although an increased number of such incursions was reported following the high-profile visit of US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in early August 2022.

The ROC government considers the Taiwan Strait to be international waters, except for the 12-nautical-mile strip defined as territorial waters. The US considers the Taiwan Strait to be international waters as well. In contrast, the PRC government claims that the waterway falls within its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

More relevant contents pertaining to that subject can be found on the following pages of this website.

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Taiwanese NGOs for PRC minorities

Taiwan's civil society has produced numerous NGOs working in fields of all kinds. Some of them are dedicated to improving the plight of people living in regions of the PRC where a majority of the population is non-Chinese and subjected to restrictions and oppression, e. g. Tibet and Xinjiang.

Selected Taiwanese NGOs with a focus on Tibet:

• Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation (Taiwan Xizang jiaoliu jijinhui 台灣西藏交流基金會), established on Jan. 20, 2003 in presence of then-ROC president Chen Shui-bian;
• Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association (zai Tai Xizang ren fuli xiehui 在台西藏人福利協會), a non-profit social group established on May 9, 2004 to promote the interaction and solidarity of Tibetans in Taiwan;
• Taiwan Friends of Tibet (Taiwan tubo zhi youhui 台灣圖博之友會, abbrev. TFOT), a non-profit NGO of Taiwanese residents who are concerned about the human rights of Tibet. According to some online sources that group was founded in 2006; and
• Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (Xizang Taiwan renquan lianxian 西藏台灣人權連線, abbrev. Zang Tai lianxian 藏台連線 in Chinese and HRNTT in English), a non-profit NGO which held its founding assembly on June 19, 2017.

Selected Taiwanese NGOs with a focus on Xinjiang/the Uyghur ethnic group:

• Taiwan Friends of Uyghurs (Taiwan weiwuer zhi youhui 台灣維吾爾之友會), a preparatory group of which was formally set up on Sept. 29, 2012, its Facebook page was created on March 1, 2013; and
• Taiwan East Turkistan Association (Taiwan dong tujuesitan xiehui 臺灣東突厥斯坦協會, abbrev. TETA), its Facebook page was created on June 13, 2019, the group had its first public appearance on July 5, 2019.

— — — Flag of East Turkestan — — —

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NCCU polls in connection with Cross-Strait relations

Foreign observers following the political events in contemporary Taiwan soon discover that common categories used for political evaluation—left versus right, conservative versus liberal, or socialist versus capitalist—don't really apply in Taiwan. That is due to the fact that the most controversial, defining political issue in today's Taiwan is the relationship with China, which is much more passionately debated than other pressing issues like the death penalty, nuclear energy or marriage equality. In Taiwan, the two sides of the political spectrum can be described as China-friendly and leaning towards pro-unification (blue camp) on the one side and China-sceptical and leaning towards pro-independence (green camp) on the other side.

Surveys conducted from time to time analyzing whether Taiwan's inhabitants see themselves as Taiwanese, Chinese or both indicate that the number of people in Taiwan considering themselves as Taiwanese only and not Chinese is steadily on the rise, now exceeding more than half of the island's total population. A smaller but still sizeable portion of respondents to said surveys identify themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese, while the smallest group (single-digit percentage) consider themselves as Chinese only.

The following two tables show the results of surveys conducted regularly by the Election Study Center (xuanju yanjiu zhongxin 選舉研究中心, abbrev. ESC) of the National Chengchi University (guoli zhengzhi daxue 國立政治大學, abbrev. zhengda 政大 in Chinese and NCCU in English) in Taipei. [ESC home page ⇒ Data Archives ⇒ Trends of Core Political Attitudes]

• Table 1—Changes in the Taiwanese/Chinese Identity of Taiwanese (since 1992), see ESC graphic
• Table 2—Changes in the Unification-Independence Stances of Taiwanese (since 1994), see ESC graphic

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Table 1

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Table 2

①: Unification as soon as possible; ②: Maintain Status Quo, move towards Unification; ③: Maintain Status Quo, decide at later date; ④: Maintain Status Quo indefinitely; ⑤: Maintain Status Quo, move towards independence; ⑥: Independence as soon as possible; ⑦: No response.

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◆ The indigenous peoples and their marginalization

• The indigenous peoples in contemporary Taiwan
• Taiwan's colonization—implications, impact and consequences

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The indigenous peoples in contemporary Taiwan

 ● 16 indigenous groups in 2 categories
 ● Population and distribution
 ● Increasing official recognition
 ● Indigenous communities
 ● Overall demographic development
 ● Revitalization of Aboriginal languages

Although the population of modern Taiwan is ethnically dominated by Han of Chinese descent, large-scale migration from China to Taiwan began only after the 1600s, a colonization process resulting in the thorough marginalization of the island’s original inhabitants who belong to the category of ethnic Austronesians.

While archeological evidence confirms the presence of Malayo-Polynesian peoples on the island dating back 12,000 to 15,000 years, recent discoveries indicate that other populations had lived in Taiwan since the Pleistocene. Legends of the indigenous peoples have mentioned ‘little black people’ (hei airen 黑矮人), and skeletal remains recovered from the Xiaoma Caves (xiaomadong 小馬洞) in Taitung County are being explained by researchers as belonging to non-Austronesian small-stature individuals that might have continued to live in the remote mountains as late as the 1800s. A relevant study of scientists led by archeology professor Hung Hsiao-chun 洪曉純 titled “Negritos in Taiwan and the wider prehistory of Southeast Asia: New discovery from the Xiaoma Caves” can be found here.

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16 indigenous groups in 2 categories

Taiwan's indigenous peoples (yuanzhumin 原住民 or yuanzhu minzu 原住民族) are usually divided into two categories:
 ◉ mountain aborigines (gaoshanzu 高山族), and
 ◉ plains aborigines (pingpuzu 平埔族).
Today, the ROC government recognizes 16 distinct indigenous groups (as listed below), the Kavalan currently being the only officially recognized tribe in the plains aborigines category.

• Amis (amei zu 阿美族),
• Atayal (taiya zu 泰雅族),
• Bunun (bunong zu 布農族),
• Hla'alua (la'aluwa zu 拉阿魯哇族),
• Kanakanavu (kanakanafu zu 卡那卡那富族),
• Kavalan (gamalan zu 噶瑪蘭族),
• Paiwan (paiwan zu 排灣族),
• Puyuma (beinan zu 卑南族),
• Rukai (lukai zu 魯凱族),
• Saisiyat (saixia zu 賽夏族),
• Sakizaya (saqilaiya zu 撒奇萊雅族),
• Sediq (saideke zu 賽德克族),
• Thao (shao zu 邵族),
• Truku (tailuge zu 太魯閣族),
• Tsou (zou zu 鄒族 ), and
• Yami (yamei zu 雅美族) aka Tao (dawuren 達悟人).

The Yami are living on Orchid Island/Lanyu 蘭嶼 off Taitung's coast, the only of the 16 officially recognized indigenous groups not being based on Taiwan proper.

Please note that some indigenous groups are at times referred to with alternative names: Kavalan = Kavarawan; Puyuma = Pinuyumayan; Sakizaya = Sakiraya (shaqilaiya zu 沙奇萊亞族); Sediq = Seediq; Thao = Sao; and Truku = Taroko. The Amis call themselves "Pangcah" (bangcha 邦查), the Yami refer to themselves as "Iranmeylek".

In addition to the 16 officially recognized tribes, population statistics [二. 歷月人口統計資料（括弧內為資料起始年月）, 04. 縣市原住民人口按性別及身分 (96)] compiled by the MOI also list "undeclared" persons (shangwei shenbao 尚未申報), i. e. persons who identify as indigenous but not belonging to one of the 16 tribes—including offspring of parents belonging to different tribes, or persons belonging to indigenous groups not officially recognized by the ROC government.

The main ROC government agency in charge of aboriginal affairs is the cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP).

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Population and distribution

The following two tables show the current population and main distribution areas (city/county) of Taiwan's indigenous groups as well as their totals for the main categories, the respective data were provided by the MOI.

All population figures are for end of December 2024.

Figures and statistics concerning Taiwan's general population can be found here.

The following two maps show the distribution of indigenous peoples—the map on the left was provided by the Council of Indigenous Peoples/CIP (source: ROC Yearbook 2015, p. 49), the alternative map on the right is the reproduction of a map created by the National Chiayi University (guoli Jiayi daxue 國立嘉義大學).

— — — Maps of Taiwan's current 16 indigenous groups' distribution — — —

(Source/copyright notice see above)

The table below (created with MOI statistics) shows that the two counties of Taitung and Hualien in eastern Taiwan have by far the highest proportion of indigenous residents.

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Increasing official recognition

After Taiwan was incorporated into the ROC in 1945, the government for decades officially recognized only 9 indigenous groups: Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Tsou, and Yami; the map on the right (source: ROC Yearbook 2000, p. 29) showing their distribution.

The table below contains data provided by the ROC MOI and shows population figures of Taiwan's nine major Aboriginal tribes at the end of 1988. Taiwan's indigenous population then totalled 335,603 persons, among them 180,990 mountain dwellers and 154,613 plains dwellers. (Source: ROC Yearbook 1990-91, p. 26-27)

Note: Amis was spelled "Ami" in the ROC/Taiwan Yearbooks from the 1986 edition up to the 2003 edition.

Seven groups won recognition since the year 2001 (see the following chronology):

Except for the Kavalan, the members of the newly recognized groups had been listed under other indigenous groups before their recognition—the Hla'alua, Kanakanavu and Thao under the Tsou; the Sediq and Truku under the Atayal; and the Sakizaya under the Amis.

TOO ASSIMILATED?—Please note that several groups of Plains Aborigines like the Ketagalan (kaidagelan zu 凱達格蘭族), the Siraya (xilaya zu 西拉雅族), the Babuza (babusa zu 巴布薩族), the Makatao (makadao zu 馬卡道族), the Pazeh (bazehai zu 巴則海族) and others continue fighting for official recognition. During a one-day hearing held at the Constitutional Court on June 28, 2022, CIP Minister Icyang Parod expressed opposition to granting the Siraya and other Pingpu tribes constitutionally-protected Indigenous status, citing "big differences" between the recognized indigenous people and the Pingpu people regarding the degree of assimilation into Han society and warning that if Pingpu tribes were given Indigenous status, the rights of the indigenous peoples would be greatly affected.

On Oct. 28, 2022 the Constitutional Court ruled that legal provisions invoked to reject applications by members of an indigenous Pingpu tribe for formal Indigenous status were unconstitutional, and it ordered new rules to be drafted to address the issue, including amendments to the Status Act for Indigenous Peoples (yuanzhumin shenfenfa 原住民身分法).

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Indigenous communities

The CIP website lists 55 indigenous communities (yuanxiang 原鄉) in 12 Taiwanese cities and counties, 30 of which belong to the category of Mountain Aborigines communities (shandixiang 山地鄉/Ⓜ), 25 to the category of Plains Aborigines communities (pingdixiang 平地鄉/Ⓟ)—Chiayi County: 1 Ⓜ; Hsinchu County: 2 Ⓜ, 1 Ⓟ; Hualien County: 3 Ⓜ, 10 Ⓟ; Kaohsiung City: 3 Ⓜ; Miaoli County: 1 Ⓜ, 2 Ⓟ; Nantou County: 2 Ⓜ, 1 Ⓟ; New Taipei City: 1 Ⓜ; Pingtung County: 8 Ⓜ, 1 Ⓟ; Taichung City: 1 Ⓜ; Taitung County: 5 Ⓜ, 10 Ⓟ; Taoyuan City: 1 Ⓜ; and Yilan County: 2 Ⓜ. In the following list, a ⒰  represents an urban township (zhen 鎮), an ⒭  represents a rural township (xiang 鄉).

• 55 indigenous communities with their 3-digit postal codes and area

(Source for the area figures: Chinese Wikipedia)

More information about the ROC postal codes can be found here.

The following maps show the distribution of the 55 indigenous communities (highlighted with torquoise colour) in 12 cities/counties on Taiwan proper.

Taiwan proper—posted here for orientation purposes, indigenous areas highlighted in grey (left), all 55 indigenous communities (right)

New Taipei City (left), Taoyuan City (middle), Hsinchu County (right)

Miaoli County (left), Taichung City (right)

Nantou County (left), Chiayi County (middle), Kaohsiung City (right)

Pingtung County (far left), Yilan County (second left), Hualien County (second right), Taitung County (far right)

Please note that the ROC’s cities of Taipei, Keelung, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Tainan as well as the counties of Changhua, Yunlin, Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) have not designated any indigenous communities.

Altogether, the 55 indigenous communities cover an area of 19,223.3976 km², which is 53.566 percent of Taiwan proper’s total area (all cities and counties of Taiwan proper combined have an area of 35,886.8685 km²). The two offshore islands of Taitung county (Lanyu Township 蘭嶼鄉 and Ludao Township 綠島鄉) are included in this calculation. The percentage of the area indigenous communities cover in their respective city/county is listed in the table below.

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Overall demographic development

The table below shows population data of Taiwan's indigenous peoples as provided in the ROC Yearbooks/Taiwan Yearbooks published by the central government, the column marked "%" referring to the percentage of Aborigines in Taiwan's total population at the time. Please note that before the 2013 edition, disclosure of precise figures for the total population of the ROC was the exception; and older editions of those Yearbooks up to the early 1980s did not contain any details about Taiwan's aborigines at all.

The following table contains figures provided by the MOI's Department of Household Registration Affairs and shows the number of all indigenous residents in the Taiwan area in relation to the total population.

Statistics about Taiwan's indigenous population compiled by the ROC MOI usually also contain a category with the denomination "undeclared" (shangwei shenbao 尚未申報), referring to persons who are listed as aborigines but do not belong to a specific indigenous group for various reasons—the two parents might not belong to the same indigenous group, or the person might belong to an indigenous group that has not been officially recognized by the ROC government, among others. The table below shows detailed figures for all categories since 2014.

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Revitalization of Aboriginal languages

The ROC government actively promotes the development of indigenous languages. After the Indigenous Languages Development Act (yuanzhu minzu yuyan fazhanfa 原住民族語言發展法) was promulgated on June 14, 2017, the Foundation for the Research and Development of Indigenous Languages (yuanzhumin yuyan yanjiu fazhan jijinhui 原住民語言研究發展基金會) was established on Feb. 22, 2020.

The numerous indigenous languages in the Taiwan area belong mostly to the category of Austronesian languages and can be subdivided in several groups—a selection is listed below.

• Atayalic: Atayal/Tayal (Taiya yu 泰雅語), Sediq/Seediq (Saideke yu 賽德克語), Truku/Taroko (Tailuge yu 太魯閣語);
• Northwest Formosan: Saisiyat (Saixia yu 賽夏語), Kulon/Kulun (Guilun yu 龜崙語), Pazeh/Pazih (Bazai yu 巴宰語/Bazehai yu 巴則海語), Kahabu/Kaxabu (Gehawu yu 噶哈巫語);
• Western Plains: Thao (Shao yu 邵語), Babuza (Babusa yu 巴布薩語), Favorlang (Huweilong yu 虎尾壟方言 Huweilong fangyan 虎尾壟方言, Taokas (Daokasi yu 道卡斯語), Papora (Babula yu 巴布拉語), Hoanya (Hongya yu 洪雅語);
• Tsouic: Tsou (Zou yu 鄒語), Kanakanavu/Kanakanabu (Kanakanafu yu 卡那卡那富語), Saaroa (La'aluwa yu 拉阿魯哇語);
• South Formosan: Paiwan (Paiwan yu 排灣語), Rukai (Lukai yu 魯凱語), Bunun (bunong yu 布農語), Puyuma/Pinuyumayan (Beinan yu 卑南語);
• East Formosan (Northern): Kavalan/Kbalan (Gemalan yu 噶瑪蘭語), Ketagalan/Ketangalan (Kaidagelan yu 凱達格蘭語), Basay/Basai (Basai yu 巴賽語/Basai fangyan 巴賽方言);
• East Formosan (Central): Amis (Amei yu 阿美語), Sakizaya (Saqilaiya yu 撒奇萊雅語), Nataoran (Doulan yu 荳蘭語);
• East Formosan (Sirayaic): Siraya (Xilaya yu 西拉雅語), Makatau/Makatao (Makadao yu 馬卡道語), Taivoan (Dawulong yu 大武壠語).