History of Taiwan: A Short Rundown

Taiwan: a country of diversity (Photo Source: Rough Guide, myself, Taipei Film Commission, 香港文匯報)

Like I said, Taiwan is more than just “small China”. In fact, We are a little bit of everything! Here’s a short rundown of the different culture that had come and stayed in the past.

The indigenous tribes who were the first inhabitants of Taiwan. They honored natural spirits with their beautiful voice and totems. Then, the European sailors began to put the island on the map during the “Age of Discovery” in the 16th century. Taiwan used to be known as “Ilha Formosa” at that time, which means “a beautiful island”. We still keep the name and use it in tourism promotion nowadays.

Fort San Domingo built by the Spanish in 1629 (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

How about the Chinese? The first wave of Chinese immigrants was mostly from the provinces by the coastline. From the 17th to the 19th century, they risked their lives crossing the Taiwan Strait (台灣海峽) in pursuit of a better future. They introduced the dialects (Taiwanese and Hakka), the folk religion and the way of living that have made lasting influences. The second wave of Chinese immigrants came with the Chinese National Party (國民黨) after WWII. Since then the Chinese tradition has been well-preserved in Taiwan.

The National Palace Museum in Taipei has a collection of Chinese imperial artworks (Photo Source: Klook)

Besides the indigenous and the Chinese, the Japanese and the Americans used to hang around on the island as well. Due to its location, Taiwan had been an important military base during wartime. During Japanese colonization (1895–1945) and U.S. aid (1949–1965), the two countries brought to this land their own values and have, in turn, made Taiwan’s culture rich and distinctive. Moreover, in recent years we continue to be a country of diversity by embracing a large amount of immigrants from South East Asia.

Eid al-Fitr celebration in Taipei (Photo Source: 台北市觀光傳播局 Travel Taipei)

I plan to cover every participant I mentioned above. Each one of them has brought something here and left some tracks. Follow me for more stories about them.

— —

This article was first published at TourMeAway Official Blog.

For those who can read Mandarin, feel free to visit my Mandarin Blog: Donna Wang, 多拿王拿很多

For those who want to explore Taipei, sign up for the walking tours provided by TourMeAway. We are the coolest people in the city.