Flag of Taiwan
Officially Republic of China
Locally Táiwān · 臺灣
What the flag looks like
A red field with a blue canton containing a white sun with twelve triangular rays.
What it means
The colors are linked to Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People: blue for nationalism and liberty, white for democracy and equality, and red for the people's livelihood; the sun's twelve rays represent the twelve months and twelve traditional two-hour periods of the day.
How to remember it
Taiwan
is red with a blue top-left corner holding a twelve-rayed white sun ("blue sky, white sun"); Samoa's
blue corner holds the Southern Cross stars.
Fun facts
- The blue canton with the white sun was designed by Lu Haodong in 1895.
- At the Olympic Games, Taiwan competes as "Chinese Taipei" under a special flag rather than this one.
Taiwan at a glance
- Capital
- Taipei
- Region
- Eastern Asia
- Population
- 23 million
- Area
- 36,193 km²
- Languages
- Chinese
- Currency
- New Taiwan dollar (NT$)
- Flag adopted
- 1928
Flags often confused with Taiwan
- Samoa: Taiwan and Samoa are both red with a blue canton. Taiwan's canton has a white sun; Samoa's has five white stars of the Southern Cross.