Taiwan is an island country that gained independence in the 1950s. It is east of China and South of Japan. Taiwan occupies a total area of 35, 980 square kilometers, with land area of 32, 260 square kilometers and water area of 3,720 square kilometers. The tropical climate of Taiwan makes it a fertile land for agriculture purposes, and thus Taiwan is also named Formosa, which means beautiful island in Portuguese, and 寶島 (bǎodǎo), which means treasure island in Chinese.

The population of Taiwan is 23,508,428 people as of July 2017 estimate. More than 95% of the population in Taiwan is Han Chinese, and about 2.3% indigenous Malayo-Polynesian people. There are currently 16 officially recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan, which accounts for about 70% of the indigenous population.

The official spoken language currently use in Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese and the official written language is traditional Chinese characters. In addition to Mandarin Chinese, other dialects such as Taiwanese (Southern Min dialect) and Hakka dialects are also widely use in Taiwan.

The capital of Taiwan is Taipei, which is the most populous city in Taiwan. There are 12 counties, 3 cities, and 6 special municipalities in Taiwan. Taiwan runs on a semi-presidential republic government  and has five political parties. The National Day of Taiwan is October 10th.