Events in Taiwan History
- 1661-04-29 Chinese Ming dynasty occupies Taiwan
- 1683-10-03 The Qing Dynasty naval commander Shi Lang reaches Taiwan (under the Kingdom of Tungning) to receive the formal surrender of Zheng Keshuang and Liu Guoxuan after the Battle of Penghu.
- 1892-10-10 Entire Hong Kong national cricket team dies in shipwreck off Taiwan
- 1895-05-08 China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki
Wuchang Uprising
1911-10-10 Chinese revolutionaries begin an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty in Wuchang, causing the Viceroy of Huguang to flee the city (Taiwan National Day)
- 1945-09-09 Japanese in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Indochina surrender to Allies
Retrocession Day
1945-10-25 Japanese surrender Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek
- 1946-12-25 Constitution accepted in Taiwan
February 28 Massacre
1947-02-28 February 28 Massacre: Anti-government uprising in Taiwan is violently put down by Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang-led Republic of China government with the loss of 18,000-28,000 lives. Marks the beginning of the White Terror.
- 1947-12-25 Taiwan passes Human Rights laws (Day of Earth Law)
- 1949-10-01 Republic of China (Taiwan) forms on island of Formosa
- 1949-11-29 Nationalist regime of China leaves for Taiwan/Formosa
- 1949-12-07 Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan
- 1950-03-01 Chiang Kai-shek resumes the presidency of the Republic of China on Taiwan
- 1950-07-27 US President Harry Truman promises aid to Taiwan
- 1954-12-02 Taiwan (ROC) & US sign the Mutual Defense Treaty, preventing Mainland China (PRC) from taking Taiwan between 1955-1979
- 1957-05-24 Anti-American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
- 1958-08-23 People's Republic of China resumes bombardment of the Quemoy and Matsu islands in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
- 1963-09-11 Typhoon Gloria strikes Taiwan killing 330, with $17.5 million damage
- 1964-02-11 Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France
- 1971-10-25 United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People's Republic of China
- 1971-10-26 UN votes to replace Taiwan with China
- 1974-02-28 Taiwan police shoots into crowd
- 1978-12-31 Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with US
- 1981-02-28 People's Republic of China throws out the Netherlands ambassador due to Dutch sales of submarines to Taiwan
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1986-10-15 Yuan T. Lee is the first Taiwanese Nobel Prize winner, for Chemistry, alongside Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi for work on the "dynamics of chemical elementary processes" [1]
- 1987-07-14 Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law
- 1987-07-15 State of siege ends in Taiwan
- 1991-08-24 Taiwan captures its 15th Little League World Series, 11-0
- 1991-12-29 Boeing 747-200F freight plane of China Airlines crashes into mountain shortly after takeoff from Chiang Kai-shek International Airportat Taipei, Taiwan, killing 5-member crew
- 1992-09-14 1st subway car completed to be exported from US (to Taiwan)
- 1994-04-26 Taiwan Airbus A-300 crashes at Nagoya Japan, 262 killed
- 1996-03-23 Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.
- 1998-06-02 The CIH computer virus is discovered in Taiwan
- 1998-10-28 An Air China (Mainland China) jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.
- 1999-09-21 Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead
- 2000-10-31 A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members
- 2002-01-01 Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
- 2002-05-25 China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people
- 2003-03-02 The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.
- 2004-01-26 A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.
- 2004-02-28 Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
- 2004-03-19 Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
- 2005-01-29 The first direct commercial flights from the mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrives in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier lands in Beijing.
- 2006-12-26 The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hits Taiwan
- 2007-02-13 Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted by Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzlement when mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for 2008 presidential election.
LPGA Championship
2008-06-08 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Bulle Rock GC: 19-year old tour rookie Yani Tseng of Taiwan wins a 4th hole playoff over Swede Maria Hjorth
Taiwan Adopts Hanyu Pinyin
2009-01-01 The government of the Republic of China adopts Hanyu Pinyin as its official Chinese romanization (before this time, the most commonly used was Tongyong Pinyin.
- 2009-01-13 Global shipping experiences a drop in trade, as exports from South Korea dropping an annualised 30%, with Taiwan and Japan experiencing a 42% and 27% drop respectively
- 2009-02-18 The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced that the Taiwanese economy has contracted an unprecedented 8.36% in the fourth quarter of 2008; thus placing the country in a technical recession
- 2010-02-22 Taiwan's economy exits from the recession with 9.22% growth in the last quarter of 2009 after increased demand from China and other key markets in the region
- 2010-08-01 British Open Women's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: 21-year-old Yani Tseng of Taiwan becomes youngest-ever winner of 3 major championships, 1 stroke ahead of Katherine Hull of Australia
- 2012-01-14 Ma Ying-jeou wins re-election as President of the Republic of China with 51% of the vote
- 2012-08-01 Typhoon Saola kills 82 people and displaces over 150,000 in the Philippines, Taiwan and China
- 2012-09-25 50 Taiwanese ships clash with the Japan Coast Guard in waters off the Senkaku Islands
- 2012-10-23 12 people are killed and 40 are injured in a hospital fire in Tainan, Taiwan
- 2012-12-09 13 people are killed and 10 are injured after a bus rolls of a cliff and falls 100 meters in Taiwan
- 2013-01-24 A Japanese Coast guard ship engages a Taiwanese activist ship in the Senkaku Islands dispute
- 2013-04-10 Japan and Taiwan sign an agreement on fishing rights around the Senkaku Islands
- 2014-07-23 44 people are killed after TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashed into buildings in Taiwan
- 2015-08-23 12-year-old boy trips and rips 17th-century painting "Flowers" by Paolo Porpora worth $1.5m at exhibition in Taiwan
- 2019-04-10 Four tiny sweat bees removed alive from a woman's eye in world's first operation of its kind at Fooyin University Hospital, Taiwan
- 2019-05-17 Taiwan's parliament votes to legalize same-sex marriage, the first Asian country
Tsai Ing-wen Re-Elected
2020-01-11 Taiwan re-elects Tsai Ing-wen for a second term as president in a landslide result
- 2021-05-16 Taiwan imposes tough restrictions against COVID-19 as a recent spike in cases threatens their up-to-now pandemic success [1]
- 2021-10-10 Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen says country won't bow to Chinese pressure in defiant speech on Taiwanese National Day, day after Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to "fulfil reunification"
Event of Interest
2022-05-23 US President Joe Biden says for the first time he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion
Pelosi Visits Taiwan
2022-08-02 US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the first speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, prompting condemnation from the Chinese Communist Party [1]
- 2022-09-18 Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Taiwan’s southeastern coast, north of Taitung [1]
- 2023-04-28 Taiwanese political TV drama "Wave Makers" debuts on Netflix - goes on to ignite a #Me Too movement in Taiwan [1]
- 2023-09-03 Typhoon Haikui makes landfall in eastern Taiwan, forcing the evacuation of 400,000 people [1]
- 2024-01-13 Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party is re-elected for the third time led by vice president Lai Ching-te, amid Chinese warnings their election would increase conflict with China [1]
Ang Lee
Constance Wu
David Ho
Momofuku Ando
Tsai Ing-wen
Yani Tseng