Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. Neighbouring countries include the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The main island of Taiwan has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 sq mi), with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanised population is concentrated. Taipei is the capital as well as the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Other major cities include New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan and Taoyuan. With 23.57 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries, and is the most populous country and largest economy that is not a member of the United Nations (UN).
Taipei, officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of Taiwan. Located in northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about 25 km (16 mi) southwest of the northern port city of Keelung. Most of the city lies on the Taipei Basin, an ancient lakebed. The basin is bounded by the relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung and Xindian rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border.
Taiwan Province is a nominal province of the Republic of China without administrative function. Its administrative powers have been transferred to the central and county governments.
Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), is divided into multi-layered statutory subdivisions. Due to the complex political status of Taiwan, there is a significant difference in the de jure system set out in the original constitution and the de facto system in use today.
The Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center (臺北國際金融中心), is a supertall skyscraper designed by C.Y. Lee and C.P. Wang in Xinyi, Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2010 completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE.
"Chinese Taipei" is the name used in some international organizations and competitions for Taiwan. This name was first proposed in the Nagoya Resolution whereby the ROC/Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC) recognize the right of participation to each other when it comes to the activities of the International Olympic Committee and its correlates. The ROC participates under this name in various international organizations and events, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Metre Convention, and international pageants.
New Taipei City is a special municipality and the most populous city in Taiwan. Located in northern Taiwan, the city includes a substantial stretch of the island's northern coastline and surrounds the Taipei Basin, making it the second largest special municipality by area, behind Kaohsiung. New Taipei City is bordered by Keelung to the northeast, Yilan County to the southeast, and Taoyuan to the southwest. It completely surrounds Taipei. Banqiao District is its municipal seat and biggest commercial area. Until 2010, the area that roughly corresponds to the present New Taipei City was known as Taipei County.
Taipei Main Station is a railway and metro station in Taipei, Taiwan. It is served by Taiwan High Speed Rail, the Taiwan Railways Administration, and the Taipei Metro. It is also connected through underground passageways to the terminal station of Taoyuan Airport MRT and the Taipei Bus Station. In 2017, it was the busiest station on all three rail systems, with a total of 190 million entries and exits.
The Chinese Taipei national football team represents the Republic of China (Taiwan) in international football and is controlled by the Chinese Taipei Football Association, the governing body for football in Taiwan.
The Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area also commonly known as Greater Taipei Area is the largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. One-third of Taiwanese people live and work in Taipei metropolitan areas.
Retrocession Day is the name given to the annual observance and unofficial holiday and former public holiday in Taiwan to commemorate the end of Japanese rule of Taiwan and Penghu, and the claimed retrocession ("return") of Taiwan to the Republic of China on October 25, 1945. However, the idea of "Taiwan retrocession" is in dispute.
Tsai Ing-wen is a Taiwanese politician and academic serving as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan), since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She has served as Chair of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2020, and previously from 2008 to 2012 and 2014 to 2018.
Islam is a slowly growing religion in Taiwan and it represents about 0.3% of the population. There are around 60,000 Muslims in Taiwan, in which about 90% belong to the Hui ethnic group. There are also more than 180,000 foreign Muslims working in Taiwan from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as other nationalities from more than 30 countries. As of 2018, there are eleven mosques in Taiwan, with the most notable being the Taipei Grand Mosque, the oldest and largest one.
The Chinese Taipei baseball team is the national team of Taiwan. It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The team is ranked fourth in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, behind Japan, the United States, and South Korea respectively. The team is usually made up of professionals from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball from the United States.
The Republic of China currently competes as "Chinese Taipei" at the Olympic Games. The ROC first participated at the Summer Olympic Games in 1932. After the Chinese Civil War the ROC retreated to the island of Taiwan and only Taiwan-based athletes have competed in its team since then. The ROC boycotted the Olympics starting from the 1976 Summer Games until it returned to the 1984 Winter Games, and started participating as Chinese Taipei.
Taiwan competed as Chinese Taipei at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where it sent 80 competitors in a record 15 sports. Since 1984, athletes from Taiwan have competed at the Olympics as "Chinese Taipei", not as the "Republic of China (ROC)", due to opposition from the People's Republic of China.
A special municipality is an administrative division unit in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the administrative structure of the ROC, it is the highest rank of division and is equivalent to a province. Since the streamlining of provinces in 1998, the special municipalities along with provincial cities and counties have all been directly under the central government. Currently there are six special municipalities in Taiwan: Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan.
The 2017 Summer Universiade, the XXIX Summer Universiade, commonly known as the Taipei 2017 Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Taipei, Taiwan from 19 to 30 August 2017.
