Wikijunior:Asia/Taiwan

Taiwan (traditional Chinese: 臺灣/台灣; simplified Chinese: 台湾), officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island in Eastern Asia.

Taiwan's beginnings track back to the 15th century, where European sailors passing by recorded the island’s name as Ilha Formosa ("beautiful island"). In 1624, the Dutch East India Company established a base in southwestern Taiwan, going from aboriginal grain production practices and employing Chinese laborers to working on rice and sugar plantations. In 1683, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) forces take control of Taiwan’s western and northern coastal areas and declared Taiwan as a province of the Qing Empire in 1885. In 1895, after being defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, handing over Taiwan's sovereignty to Japan, who ruled the country until 1945.

Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan and New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) is the currency of Taiwan.

Where is Taiwan?
Taiwan is in the Philippine Sea, neighboring China towards the west, Japan towards the northeast and the Philippines to the south.

How many people live in Taiwan?
Based on last national census in 2010, the population of Taiwan is estimated at 23.12 million peoples. The natives identifies themselves as Taiwanese. The population of Taiwan is composed of these ethnic or sub-ethnic groups: Groups of the Fukien Taiwanese (Fukienese [Fujianese], or Hoklo) and the Hakka (84%) and Chinese who came from mainland China (14%), aboriginal peoples (2.0%). The aboriginal people consists of sub-ethnic group such as: Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Rukai, Puyuma, Tsou, Saisiyat , Truku and Sediq.

What are the most common languages in Taiwan?
According to Taiwan National Census 2010, large majority of populations (83.5%) in Taiwan speak Mandarin (a.k.a Putonghua). Concurrently, 81,9% of population, also speaks a special dialect of Chinese known as the Taiwanese Hokkien / Minan. It is the most common language used among the population and can be seen and heard all over in public. The language form is of Southern Min (often called Taiwanese on Taiwan), which comes from southern Fukien province. 6.6% speaks Hakka and 1.4% speak indigenous languages.

Taiwanese Mandarin is the official language in Taiwan. It serves as the lingua franca of the country. While the vocabulary of the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan is still modern, the country uses the Traditional Chinese characters to write the language. This is in contrast to mainland China, which has adopted a simplified way of writing the characters (known as Simplified Chinese characters).

The mainlanders speak Mandarin Chinese, the official language of China. Most aboriginal people speak Mandarin; many speak Taiwanese, and a small number of people (mostly elders) speak Japanese. Hoklos also speak Mandarin. Most Hakka speak Taiwanese and Mandarin.

What is the most common religion in Taiwan?
The Aboriginal peoples practice animism, nature worship, and other Indigenous religious rites (18.2%). The Chinese brought Buddhism (35.3%), Daoism (Taoism) (33.2%), and Confucianism to Taiwan. The Dutch introduced Protestant Christianity and the Spanish Roman Catholicism (3.9%). The Japanese brought Shinto (9.4%). In 1949, many religious groups and religious leaders—especially Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist—fled to Taiwan from China.

What is the sport of Taiwan?
The most popular sport in Taiwan by far is baseball.

It was introduced to Taiwan by Japan after China ceded control of the island to Japan in 1895. Initially played only by Japanese colonial administrators, by the 1920s interest in the sport spread across the island with games between Taiwanese natives and Japanese immigrants becoming common

Over the decades, the local Taiwanese honed their own techniques and some of the talented players are exported to USA, Japan and South Korea.

What are some important sites?
The Taiwan is a very interesting places with there are many things to see and do in Taiwan.

Fort Santo Domingo - Fort Santo Domingo was built in 1629 by the Spanish, although the site has been home to both Dutch and British since. Situated in Xinbei, the fort has been altered by both the Dutch and British, who constructed stone walls and added the British Consulate.

Taipei 101 - Finished construction in 2004, it was once the world's tallest skyscrapper. It is located in the Xinyi District of Taipei, an area known for its financial services and vibrant shopping malls. One of the more famous attractions is a 728-ton tuned mass damper (TMD), a large spherical steel pendulum that offsets lateral movements caused by strong winds.

Yehliu Geopark - It is on Taiwan’s north coast cape in Wanli, near Keelung City, famous for its hoodoo stones, thin spires of rock formed by sedimentary stone. Many rock formations have creative names, including the most well-known “The Queen's Head.”

Night markets - Night Markets is initially began as informal vendor meetings, where merchants would get together and sell their wares. It is a local Taiwanese culture where the usually empty streets at day time will be filled with the vendors selling all sorts of goods during evening time. One of the more famous and largest night market in Taiwan is Shilin night market Hot Springs - There are many hot springs that are located in Taiwan due to its proximity location near the Ring of Fire, one of the more famous one is Beitou Hot Spring

Whale Cave - It is a natural basalt sea cave on the north side of Hsiaomen Island in Penghu, and one of the many tourist attractions in the area. According to some it looks like a whale, but that is not the true origin of its name. The actual reason for the cave's name "Whale Cave" is that, a long time ago, a whale got stuck in the cave and died. According to local legend, a bone from that whale is now inside Dayi Temple located near to the Whale Cave.

Sun Moon Lake - It is Taiwan's largest lake Taiwan's largest lake,and located in the mountains of Nantou at the geographic centre of Taiwan island. The name of the lake is inspired by the beauty of the area. The east side of the lake is round, like the sun, while the west side is long and narrow, like a crescent moon.

Cijin Wind Turbine Park - There are some wind turbines that are built there with purpose of generating electricity for the park lights.