Republic of China

The Republic of China (Taiwan) (ROC (Taiwan)) (Traditional Chinese: 中華民國, Simplified Chinese: 中华民国, Pinyin: Zhonghua Minguo) is a democratic island country in East Asia that is known around the world by most people as Taiwan. It located southeast of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

1 Territory
2 History
3 Politics
4 Language

[change] Territory

The ROC (Taiwan) is known by most people as the the island of Taiwan. Most places on Taiwan Island are called "Taiwan Province" by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for official business, except the two largest cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung. West of Taiwan Island, there are three small groups of islands that also belong to ROC (Taiwan). They are:

The Pescadores (Penghu, 澎湖列島): They also are part of Taiwan Province.
Quemoy (Kinmen, 金門): called Lienchiang County, part of Fujian province
Matsu (馬祖列島): the smallest county, also part of Fujian province
Diaoyutai Islands:The Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚臺列嶼|Diàoyútái Lièyû) are a group of islands where nobody lives that the Republic of China (Taiwan) claims it belong to them, but also claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Japan. In Japanese, the islands are known as the Senkaku Islands (尖閣諸島, Senkaku Shotō?). The islands are now under the control of Japan.
Dong-Sha Islands:The Pratas Islands or Dong-Sha Islands (東沙羣島) consists of three islands located in northeastern South China Sea, 340 km southeast of Hong Kong.
TaipingTaiping (Traditional Chinese: 太平島|Tàipíng), also known as Itu Aba, is the largest of the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) in the South China Sea.

The ROC used to govern Mainland China too. Now it is owned by the Communist People's Republic of China see History and Political problems of China.

[change] History

The Nationalists, led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, got rid of the Qing Dynasty ruled by the Manchus, then they established the ROC and ended Imperial Dynastic Rule in late-1911. The ROC at that time had Mainland China and all of what is now called Mongolia.

After the Japanese were defeated by the Allies during World War II, Taiwan was controlled by the ROC.

In 1949, the Chinese Communists fought a war against the Nationalists and won. They established the People's Republic of China. The Nationalists left mainland China while having the lands they control now.

[change] Politics

After the ROC created a base on Taiwan, it hoped one day to capture the Mainland. But Chinese Communists grew stronger, so the Nationalists never did go back. The Communists say they replaced the ROC as the only government of China and also calls Taiwan their own.

There are those people in Taiwan who want to never be a part of the People's Republic of China. They believe in complete Taiwan independence and want to rename the ROC (Taiwan) to "Republic of Taiwan" so Taiwan can no longer have any ancestral connection to China or Chinese culture. Some other people (about 10%) wishes to unite with the People's Republic of China; they want Chinese unification. But most Taiwanese (over 70%) want the status quo: for the Republic of China (Taiwan) to remain an independent democratic country like it is now, without changing the name to Republic of Taiwan.

[change] Language

Most Taiwanese speak Chinese, and others speak Taiwanese or Hakka . A small percentage of the population is aboriginal, and these people have their own languages, although unfair treatment exerted by the Chinese population have been bad, and many of these people, and their languages, struggle to survive. Some older Taiwanese who went to school before 1947 can speak Japanese. After the Nationalist government fled the Mainland in 1948-49, they brought their language, Mandarin with them, and made Mandarin the only official language. Thereafter everyone in the ROC had to learn Mandarin. In the past, students were prohibited from speaking their mother tongue in school and were expected to speak only Mandarin. Taiwanese, Hakka, and native languages were considered bad until the early 1990s, when education in these languages began to be taught in some school systems. They were promoted, but by this time, many young people could speak only Mandarin. The Cantonese language, spoken in parts of southern China (for example, the province of Guang Dong, and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong), is not spoken in Taiwan.

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