Capital ofTaiwan and largest city in the country, located in northern Taiwan.

Note: In 1949, Taipei became the headquarters ofChiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalists, who had been forced to flee mainlandChina.

China definition

Nation in easternAsia, bordered byRussia andNorth Korea to the east; Russia andMongolia to the north; Russia andAfghanistan to the west; andPakistan,India,Nepal, Bhutan,Burma,Laos, andVietnam to the south. Its capital isBeijing, and its largest city isShanghai.

Note: China is the most populous country in the world and the third largest, afterRussia andCanada.

Note: The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 grew out of strong resentment of foreign influence in China.

Note: A revolution in 1911 overthrew the Qing dynasty, ending the two-thousand-year-old imperial system.

Note:Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Chinese Nationalists, established the government ofNationalist China in 1928 inNanjing.

Note: The Second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted from 1937 to 1945 (merging withWorld War II in 1941), grew out of Japanese encroachments on Chinese land.

Note: The Chinesecommunists, withMao Zedong as their leader, defeated Chiang's Nationalists in 1949, proclaiming thePeople's Republic of China. The Nationalists withdrew to the island ofTaiwan.

Note: In 1950, Chinese forces joined the North Korean army in theKorean War.

Note: In 1958, Mao undertook the “Great Leap Forward” campaign, a crash program of industrialization, but none of its goals were reached, and the effort collapsed.

Note: In 1960, the ideological split between theSoviet Union and China widened, and the Soviets withdrew all aid.

Note: In the mid-1960s, Mao's wife, acting on his behalf, and three colleagues, later known as theGang of Four, advanced the goals of the Great ProletarianCultural Revolution, aimed at eliminating old ideas and customs. Mobs attacked schools and cultural centers, brutally disrupting the entire nation. With the death of Mao in 1976 and the trial of the Gang of Four in 1980, the Cultural Revolution came to an end.

Note: In 1972, President RichardNixon visited China, reopening relations between mainland China and the United States.

Note: In 1989, the government brutally suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations inTiananmen Square.

Note: Although China remains officially communist, its government encouragescapitalism in designated areas, especially in its southeastern provinces. China has experienced considerable economic development in recent decades. Relations with the United States remain tense, especially overTaiwan, but the United States supported China's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Taiwan definition

Island nation in thePacific Ocean near the mainland of southernChina; seat of theRepublic of China. Its capital and largest city isTaipei.

Note: When the Chinesecommunists came to power on the mainland, the Nationalist government ofChiang Kai-shek and some of his army took refuge on Taiwan.

Note: The United States long supported the Nationalists but broke relations in 1979 to establish relations with thePeople's Republic of China.

Note: With its first free elections in the 1990s, Taiwan has become ademocracy. Its economy is among the strongest in the world.

Note: China refuses to accept Taiwan's independence as a nation, viewing it instead as merely a renegade province of China. This issue continues to complicate relations between the United States and China.