POPULATION 22,603,001
CHINESE RELIGION (BUDDHIST, TAOIST, CONFUCIAN, AND CHINESE FOLK RELIGION) 89.1 percent
I-KUAN TAO 3.9 percent
PROTESTANT 2.6 percent
ROMAN CATHOLIC 1.3 percent
OTHER 3.1 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

Taiwan is an island located nearly 100 miles from the southeast coast of mainland China. It is bordered on the south by the Bashi Channel; on the north by the East China Sea; on the east by the Pacific Ocean; and on the west by the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from mainland China. In addition to the main island, the Taiwanese government (called the Republic of China) has jurisdiction over the P'eng-hu, Quemoy, and Matsu archipelagos and about 20 other remote islets.

From the end of the sixteenth century C.E. to the beginning of the seventeenth, the first Europeans (such as Portuguese, Dutch, and Spaniards) went to the island; the latter two introduced Protestant Christianity and Roman Catholicism, respectively. Though Taiwan was known to...