Taiwan

Discover Taiwan

Fun Foods

Beef Noodle Soup, Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings), Scallion Pancake, Oyster Omelet, Pineapple Cake, Shaved Ice, Bubble Tea

Look at the phone, computer, or game console nearest you. The tiny "brain" that makes it work, called a microchip, was probably made on one small island: Taiwan.

It sounds unbelievable, but it's true. Companies in Taiwan make more than 90% of the world's most advanced microchips.

Almost every powerful gadget on the planet depends on this island of about 23 million people.

But Taiwan's story started long before computers. The first people here were Indigenous tribes who arrived thousands of years ago.

Scientists believe Taiwan is the original homeland of the Austronesian peoples, whose descendants later sailed across the oceans to settle islands as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.

When Portuguese sailors passed by in the 1500s, they were so struck by the green mountains that they called it Ilha Formosa, meaning "beautiful island."

Over the centuries, Taiwan was ruled by different powers, including Japan, which controlled the island for 50 years until the end of World War II in 1945. Then came one of the biggest turning points in its history.

After a long civil war in China, the side that lost moved its entire government across the sea to Taiwan in 1949. The winning side set up a separate country, the People's Republic of China, on the mainland. The two have been run separately ever since.

China still considers Taiwan part of its territory, while Taiwan governs itself. The question of Taiwan's future is one of the most sensitive issues in the world today.

For many years Taiwan was ruled by a single party, but it slowly became a lively democracy where people vote freely.

In the capital, Taipei, you can ride a super-fast elevator up Taipei 101, which was the tallest building in the world when it opened. Hidden near the top is a giant steel ball that swings back and forth to keep the tower steady during earthquakes and typhoons.

At night, head to a night market like Shilin, where stalls sell sizzling street food under bright lights.

The most famous drink to try is bubble tea, invented right here in the 1980s, with chewy tapioca balls you slurp up through a fat straw.