Taiwan is the largest island of China, known as the "treasured island of the motherland". It lies on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean and faces Fujian Province to the west across the Taiwan Strait. The people of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland share the same Chinese ancestry and cultural roots. Ninty-eight percent of people in Taiwan are Han in ethnicity, using the same language as their brothers and sisters on the mainland. And they speak southern Fujian dialect. People across the Taiwan-Strait learn from the same ancient Chinese classics and celebrate the same Chinese traditional festivals.
Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times. A large number of historical records document the development of Taiwan by the Chinese people in earlier periods. The earliest references, among others, are to be found in Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer compiled in the year 230 A.D. by scholar Shen Ying of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period. In 1335 A.D., Penghu Xunjiansi, an agency of local administration and inspection, was set up under Tong'an county (now Xiamen) of Fujian, to deal with civil affairs in Penghu and Taiwan. The Qing court set up the Taiwan prefecture in 1684 under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province. In 1885, Taiwan's status was upgraded to be the 20th province of China. Throughout the history, Taiwan was temporally colonized twice, but both were later taken back by China. In 1662, Zheng Chenggong, a national hero of China, expelled the Dutch colonists and recovered Taiwan. In 1945, the Chinese people won the great victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, ending Taiwan's half-century of humiliation under Japanese slavery.
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