50 free Taiwan trivia questions with answers. Taiwan trivia for travellers, expats, students and quiz nights. The history round runs from the Portuguese sailors who wrote 'Ilha Formosa' on their maps in 1542, through Dutch Fort Zeelandia, Koxinga's Kingdom of Tungning, Qing annexation, fifty years of Japanese rule, the 228 incident, the KMT's 1949 retreat, 38 years of martial law and the first direct presidential election in 1996, right up to Asia's first same-sex marriage law and President Lai. Then the island itself: why Yushan makes Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island, the marble of Taroko Gorge, Sun Moon Lake, the Tropic of Cancer, typhoons and the 921 earthquake, plus Kinmen and Penghu. There are rounds on the economy (TSMC, Acer, Foxconn and the 'Taiwan Miracle'), on food (bubble tea, night markets, beef noodle soup, stinky tofu, Din Tai Fung) and on culture from Teresa Teng and Jay Chou to Ang Lee and Cloud Gate. Easy questions first, then ones only someone who has ridden the high-speed rail to Zuoying will get. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year did the ROC begin adding 'Taiwan' beside its official name to avoid confusion?
2005
'Chinese Taipei' is the compromise name used at the Olympics and APEC.
Q 02Portuguese sailors gave Taiwan the name 'Ilha Formosa' in 1542. What does it mean?
Beautiful island
The name stayed in common English use well into the 20th century.
Q 03Which European trading concern built Fort Zeelandia on a sandbar called Tayouan in 1624?
The Dutch East India Company
The name 'Taiwan' itself comes from 'Tayouan', originally the name of a local indigenous people.
Q 04Which Ming loyalist, also known as Zheng Chenggong, expelled the Dutch and founded Tungning?
Koxinga
Tungning was the first predominantly Han Chinese state in Taiwan's history; the Qing conquered it in 1683.
Q 05In which year was Taiwan ceded to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War?
1895
Pro-Qing officials briefly proclaimed a 'Republic of Formosa' in May 1895 to resist the handover.
Q 06On what date did the Republic of China government evacuate to Taiwan and make Taipei its capital?
7 December 1949
About two million soldiers, officials and elites came with him, joining a population of roughly six million.
Q 07The February 28 incident of 1947 began with what event?
The shooting of a civilian
The date is now a public holiday, Peace Memorial Day.
Q 08Martial law was declared on Taiwan in May 1949. In which year did Chiang Ching-kuo finally lift it?
1987
The Democratic Progressive Party had been founded, illegally, as the first opposition party the year before.
Q 09Who became the first Taiwan-born ROC president in 1988 and won the first direct election in 1996?
Lee Teng-hui
Chen Shui-bian of the DPP followed in 2000 as the first non-KMT president.
Q 10In 1971 the United Nations voted to recognise which government in place of the ROC?
The People's Republic
Taiwan now has formal diplomatic ties with 11 UN member states and the Holy See.
Q 11Under what name does Taiwan compete at the Olympic Games?
Chinese Taipei
A 2018 referendum on competing as 'Taiwan' at Tokyo 2020 failed to pass.
Q 12On 17 May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalise what?
Same-sex marriage
The Constitutional Court had ruled in 2017 that the old marriage law was unconstitutional and set a two-year deadline.
Q 13Who won Taiwan's presidential election in January 2024?
Lai Ching-te
He has stated that the ROC and PRC 'are not subordinate to each other'.
Q 21Taroko Gorge is one of only three river-carved gorges in the world cut entirely through which stone?
Marble
The Liwu River carved it; veterans built the Central Cross-Island Highway through it in the 1950s.
Q 22Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan's largest body of water, is home to which indigenous people?
The Thao
Swimming is normally banned, except for a 3 km mass swim held each year around the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Q 23Taiwan's indigenous peoples are the originators of which language family, spread across the Pacific?
Austronesian
Indigenous peoples make up about 2.5% of the population today.
Q 14Taiwan's government is divided into how many branches, or Yuan?
Five
The Legislative Yuan has 113 seats; students occupied it in the 2014 Sunflower Movement.
Q 15What did the Japanese call Taiwan's highest peak, a name later used in the coded order to attack Pearl Harbor?
Mount Niitaka
'Jade Mountain' gets its name from the snow that makes its peak look like polished jade in winter; before the Japanese it was Mount Morrison.
Q 16Yushan's height makes Taiwan which-highest island in the world?
Fourth
Mountain ranges cover the eastern two-thirds of the island; most people live on the western plains.
Q 17Which line of latitude passes through Taiwan?
The Tropic of Cancer
Typhoons are most common in July, August and September.
Q 18The '921 earthquake' that killed more than 2,400 people struck on 21 September of which year?
1999
The tectonic boundary that built Taiwan's mountains is still active.
Q 19Taipei 101 was the world's tallest building from 2004 until overtaken by which tower?
Burj Khalifa
Its Toshiba lifts were then the fastest in the world, reaching the 89th floor in 37 seconds.
Q 20How tall is Taipei 101?
508 metres
In 2011 it became the world's tallest LEED Platinum green building.
Q 24Around 70% of Taiwan's population belong to which ethnic group, native speakers of Taiwanese Hokkien?
Hoklo
The Hakka make up another 14-18%; the ROC has no legally designated official language.
Q 25Which chipmaker, founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, was the world's first dedicated semiconductor foundry?
TSMC
It holds about 70% of the global foundry market and its market cap once equalled roughly 90% of Taiwan's GDP.
Q 26In which science park is TSMC headquartered?
Hsinchu
It supplies Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom and Qualcomm; the ROC government is its largest single shareholder.
Q 27Along with Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea, Taiwan's rapid growth earned it membership of which group?
Four Asian Tigers
The boom from the 1960s is called the 'Taiwan Miracle'.
Q 28Which two Taiwanese companies named in the Wikipedia article are personal computer manufacturers?
Acer and Asus
Foxconn, the contract manufacturer behind the iPhone, is Taiwanese too.
Q 29Bubble tea originated in Taiwan in which decade?
The 1980s
The chewy pearls were originally made from cassava starch.
Q 30Taiwan's famous red-braised beef noodle soup was first created by veterans from which Chinese province?
Sichuan
The clear-broth Lanzhou version, by contrast, dates to the Tang dynasty.