I’m from Paraguay, the only country of South America that recognizes Taiwan instead of Communist China. Both countries have had diplomatic relations for more than 60 years.

*Another fun fact about Taiwan:* Its last dictator, Lee Teng-hui, was educated in Iowa and received a Bachelor's of Science before returning to Taiwan to be indirectly elected as President while the country was still under martial law. He later democratized the country and became its first directly elected president. Polls on historical presidents of Taiwan currently have him as the most popular Taiwanese president. I always find this kind of funny since Xi Jinping (current head of Communist China) was also educated in Iowa. As such I will forever imagine Iowa's unofficial slogan being: *"If we had a nickel for every time we made a Chinese dictator we'd have two nickels, but it was still weird that it happened twice."*

I’m from 🇹🇼 Taiwan Fun fact: In Taiwan, Taiwanese citizens on average visit the doctor 15 times a year, since our country has one of the finest Health Insurance System (like 🇨🇦 Canada), but the price is really really cheap! Great Video Btw!

As a Taiwanese person (which i guess is rare on your channel lol), I'd like to share some opinions: 1. The sign at 10:43 actually says "I will not speak dialects" which includes Taiwanese, Hakka (another group of Han people), and the aboriginal languages (yes those are considered dialects of Mandarins in the past here). And all these languages do have standardized writing systems, just not widely recognized because they are not taught in schools in the past. 2. The differences between the so called "dialects" of Chinese is actually much wider than European ones, and actually comparable to different European languages. They should really be called languages rather than dialects. I believe Taiwanese and Mandarin are not mutually intelligible if you are not pre-exposed to both of them. 3. The sad thing is, after years of "Speak Mandarin" Campaign, a lot of younger people don't speak their mother tongue anymore, and speaking Taiwanese (or Hakka, aboriginal languages) is still considered "uneducated" by some. There is still a silver lining though, the local languages are indeed gaining momentum in recent years, and more people are learning how to read the languages.

The guy who made this jigsaw obviously wasn't trying to present a sanitized version of his country--good for him.

Just a slight correction, the indigenous people of Taiwan speak Austronesian languages, not Polynesian. Polynesian languages are a subset of Austronesian, but they're only really spoken in a specific part of the Pacific, whereas the larger Austronesian family includes hundreds of highly divergent languages in places like Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and even Madagascar. Also fun fact: despite the huge spread of the Austronesian family away from Taiwan there's still a lot more divergence between the languages in Taiwan than outside it. The most accepted theory subdivides the family into 13 primary branches, 12 of which are spoken on Taiwan, with all the other ones forming the 13th Malayo-Polynesian branch.

One interesting fact about Taiwan is that Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895-1945, and in fact, Teruo Nakamura, who was the last Japanese soldier to surrender after World War II, in 1974, was an Aboriginal Taiwanese who's birthname was Attun Palalin. He had been hiding on small island in Indonesia not knowing the war was over. There was actually a whole bunch of Aboriginal Taiwanese who fought for Japan during WWII, called the Takasago Volunteers. In general, Taiwanese attitudes about Japanese colonization were complex. The Japanese could be repressive, but they had set Taiwan up as a model showplace colony, and used sort of both a carrot and stick approach in Taiwan, both going out of their way to assimilate Taiwanese, but putting a lot of money into the economy and allowing a good deal of local control. It gets more complicated because when the Nationalists took over Taiwan, they cracked down very hard on Taiwanese culture and anything they saw as dissent, and their heavy handedness led a lot of Taiwanese to look back more fondly on Japanese rule.

Taiwan is honestly such a great example of how asian countries modernizing and stepping towards the future. I hope more and more asian countries will follow its' footsteps. Also the fact that Taiwan is the ancestral homeland of all austronesian and pacific islander nation would be an awesome reason to base a diplomatic/cultural alliance for insular southeast asian and polynesian countries. 🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼

In Wales we had a similar punishment for children caught speaking Welsh at school. They would be forced to wear the ‘Welsh (k)not’, a piece of wood with WN carved into it, hung around the kneck with string. If another child was caught speaking Welsh it would be moved onto them, and so on. At the end of the day, the last child wearing the WN would be caned. This ultimately resulted with children weaponising the language against each other, with those wearing the WN trying to get others to speak Welsh within earshot of teachers so that they can avoid the caning.

JJ: “Fascinating Island Nation” China: *-100 Social Credit Points*

Taiwan is a country that I often visit because of its tolerant of diversity in culture, religion and freedom of expression. Taiwan is the beacon of Asia democracy💖💖💖

As a Taiwanese living in Canada, I’d like to point out that the population of Taiwan wasn't 95% Han Chinese despite the official document said that. In fact, most Taiwanese's ancestors are major Han Chinese and Taiwanese indigenous peoples, such like me. However, after ruled by Han Chinese and Japanese for three hundred years, many real history and cultures was buried. My indigenous ancestors are Siraya, which lost memories, cultures, and language before my grandparents’ generation.

My mom grew up in Monterey Park, California, a town of mostly Han-Taiwanese immigrants. Granted, she grew up on the more Mexican/Armenian/Jewish East LA-ward side of town, but having gone to high school in the same area, Taiwanese dishes are a staple of my teen years and I miss them dearly.

I always thought Taiwan was just the ultimate version of Home Alone

So when are we getting J.J in Taiwan?

I’m a mixed kid from Taiwan and America and I always love hearing people talk about Taiwan because it’s not really recognized in some places and some people don’t even know Taiwan existed. I find it great to learn and reflect in these moments

Being half Taiwanese I was super surprised to see this video come out from your channel! Taiwanese culture, history, and politics is more vast and complex than people realize. Thanks for covering this topic!

FUN FACT: The Tsai Ing-wen Administration is currently trying to push for the English language as one of its official languages. Also, Tsai’s name translated in English is literally “English”

Coming from taiwan, at first I saw this video as a potential landmine. Personally, the most racist and discriminatory thing one can say to a Taiwanese is to judge on its political standings while having zero idea on how the situation actually is. I'm glad that this video's outlook is mostly historical and real history rather than those redditor searching for that low-brow civil righteousness high of crticisizing something. This is probably one of the best videos on KZfaq about Taiwan now and I am really looking forward to you finishing the puzzle.

Correction: The native aboriginals are Austronesian in ethno-nationalistic terms. Polynesians are Austronesians, but only refer to a specific branch of Austronesians who settled the Pacific.

13:32 Just to clarify, Chinese doesn't have an alphabet, but rather a writing system. An alphabet (like in korean) would imply more or less a standard character for each sounds, a syllabary (as in Kana japanese or Cherokee) implies a character for each syllable, and a character system (as in Chinese and Kanji in Japanese) implies a character for each word or idea.

Currently a Belizean living in Taiwan. Taiwan still has several diplomatic relations with smaller countries around the world such as Belize, Guatemala, St. Kitts, Swaziland, and a few others. They offer these countries ICDF scholarships to the citizens of these countries to learn in Taiwan’s universities. Many of us stay here after graduation however so the international population while small is steadily growing in Taiwan.

My country doesn't officially recognise Taiwan - BUT I DO! I even bought a Taiwanese-made motorcycle that's been a lot of fun. Taiwan is cool, I hope to visit!

I lived in Taiwan for a few years. It’s a wonderful country for expats. Super friendly people, great public transportation, cheap accommodations. Etc. So nice. Thanks for making a video about this lovely country!

Small linguistic note: the family of languages originating from Taiwan are called Austronesian languages. Polynesian languages are a thing but they are a specific subbranch of this Austronesian languages. The Austronesian languages of Taiwan are collectively referred to as the Formosan languages (based on the old name of Taiwan, Formosa).

I audibly cheered when JJ said "souvenirs" . I am both mortified and unsurprised.... We always learn something interesting so it's totally normal to react this way right? Hapoy Saturday everyone!! 👍

As a Kiwi with a Taiwanese partner, I was really impressed by your comparison and insight of us embracing our indigenous cultures as a way to differentiate and juxtapose ourselves from our larger nations. Spot on!

Hi, JJ! I'm from New Taipei City, in the north of Taiwan, and I really enjoyed this video! Taiwan is such a great country and we are much more than our conflict with China. A part #2 would be great!!

JJ : “Let’s learn about this island nation” China : *Stares In censorship*

I’m currently living in Taiwan and am hoping to start a masters degree focusing on the country next year. Great to see others taking interest in Taiwan’s history.

Taiwan is a pretty underrated country.

I'm from mainland China. I’m pleased to see that finally someone has covered in depth about Taiwanese society and it’s history, rather than simply saying “Taiwan is not China”. Taiwan has a long, complicated history and politics that is hard to make sense with even for Taiwanese themselves.

This video was incredible! Hoping for part two!!

Fun fact: Taiwan is a country despite what John cena tells you

I'd love to visit Taiwan at some point. I was obsessed with Taipei 101 (former world"s tallest building) as a kid.

As a Taiwanese teenager. I'm pretty glad to see people introduce our culture to other people in the world. You even tell something that I didn't know before. I appreciate that :)

This once again convinced me, that I want to go and visit Taiwan at some point! I know a couple of Taiwanese people and their descriptions of the country have always been quite charming.

I used to date a Taiwanese girl and since then I fell in love with her country. It's a great mix of Pacific Islands, Chinese culture with some Japanese influence. I really hope to go there someday.

I'm a British National living in Taiwan (Kaohsiung, South Taiwan) now for 11 years .... please come visit and experience the fabulous hospitality and beauty of this Democratic country.

I love Taiwan ever since I studied there for one semester. Great decision to go there. Absolutely fascinating place! Thanks for this video!!!

I visited in 2015 and loved it. Great people, food and architecture. I was planning to visit again in 2020, but the borders shut the day before I was scheduled to arrive.

lol Bella (from Half Asleep Chris) at 6:57

Taiwan is awesome, I went there on a month long study trip while I was learning Mandarin and it's such a fun place. The people are awesome, the island is beautiful, the food is great, I could go on. It's amazing to think about how different the PRC and ROC are despite their similarities.

This is amazing! I live in Taiwan after several years of travelling to and from this beautiful island. The deep dive on each of the pieces while covering the history and cultural significance is enthralling. The mandarin pronunciations could be improved, but eh, as some of the phonetics are not very consistent with North American pronunciation it makes sense the way in which you read the names. From independent rule to colonization to democracy there are many interesting examples that can be learned from the Taiwanese society.

the virgin peoples republic vs the chad fascinating island nation

An interesting side effect of the rare timber part: After typhoons a lot artists and art suppliers will rush to rivers near the mountains to seek out rare wood that might have washed down after storms

love from Paraguay to all of my Taiwanese friends

When I was in Taiwan, the natives described their culture as the mix on Japanese and "new" Chinese because, at that point, both cultures had dominated the island back to back for roughly the same amount of time.

Daily reminder that Taiwan and China are separate sovereign nations

I always like JJ's plushy of Tiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen its so cute

11:37, here in Mexico we speak a dialect of Spanish that is only spoken in the southern part of Spain (specifically Seville). We do not use third person plural when speaking with groups of people like Spanish people do, we do not use "vos" like Argentinians when referring we say "you", and our S is not a retractive like the S from other Hispanic Nations.

Another fun fact about Taiwan:　Taiwan(ROC) is one of the founder of United Nation.

Yet another award winning JJ video!!! Thank you for making these. They're so much fun!!!

Visited Taiwan a few years ago. Absolutely wonderful country with wonderful people. And a really vibrant culture of democracy as well.

Sorry. The founding father of modern Taiwan is actually President Li Teng Hui. Without him, we won’t have our democracy

What I remember best from my brief stint living in Taiwan in 2014 is how safe it is. I would often ride my bike around town at 2 or 3 in the morning without a care in the world. Also, as far as I know, Taiwan has one of the lowest rates of sexual assualt in the world because of the implementation of things like CCTV-monitored "safe zones" at train stations and a relatively strict penal code for sex crimes. Also betel-nut beauties and scooters. Lots and lots of scooters.

Need to visit Taiwan one day. Always been fascinated by it ever since learning about modern Chinese history and the origin of the Austronesians.

One of my best friends is a Taiwanese nationalist and his girlfriend is Chinese nationalist. Seeing them talk politics is always a joy to watch. I remembered talking to her about how different passports are. I live in the US and we were touring Houston for the weekend. We both show each other’s passports and when my friend sat down with us, she abruptly showed me the part of her Chinese passport which claimed Taiwan as part of China’s sovereign territory. While she had a good fake laugh out of it, my friend was not amused in the slightest. Needless to say, there was another fun argument.

J.J. does a Taiwan episode!!!! Woohoo!!!! I've lived here since 2012, this country is amazing. Glad you mentioned the forestry part.

I appreciated the fact that the artist included both the good and bad aspects of their country’s history, simply presenting it as it is.

The 'I will not speak Taiwanese' sign reminds me of the Welsh Knot used by the British government to punish children for speaking Welsh. Edit: A lot of people have been telling me that it wasn't the British government that enacted this policy, and they're probably right.

Haha I hope there's something about Kenting National park. It is kinda a crazy place. You got a tiny desert, a micro-jungle, cliffs, mountains, coral reefs, AND scenic beaches all within a 30 min drive.

Thank you so much for the well-written and well-informed of Taiwanese history. As a Taiwanese-American it's great to see someone who works so hard learning about my country's culture

Great video! I'm an American living in Taiwan and you did a great job. Much of Taiwan was settled in a similar time period to the US. I live in a county with a high indigenous population. There are some county parks and hunting grounds which are run by and for the Indigenous tribes. One thing to note, many of the indigenous are Christians; this is partly because of American missionaries shortly after WW2.

Nice use of "Papers, Please" at 5:02.

6:38 As someone who’s learning kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese), I love how the white dolphin’s Chinese name adds up to “white sea pig.”

In my elementary school we had Taiwan month. Taiwanese food in the cafeteria, and we did all the hobbies they did while watching their history and stuff. That changed my life forever, and ever since as a child Taiwan was my dreamplace. Lol. Uh oh.

11:00 this sign saying 我不說方言 is more like "I will not speak dialects" or "I will not speak topolects" for those who oppose the term "dialect"

He’s back, finally always fun when JJ uploads

I'm from Victoria, BC and I run a scuba shop / bar in Taiwan called Scubar. My business partner's name is JJ McCaulla.... lol (he's from Missouri) Anyways, so happy to see this video. Taiwanese culture... well, there is a strong divide in Taiwan's democratic theology where people either want to be closer with China and others feel China is a bully. It is sad that China doesn't want warm relations with Taiwan but instead chooses intimidation. Anyways, here is safer than even Canada (except the traffic).

Man I just found your channel and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. You provide so much value with no filler. Thank you for making such great content man

I moved to Taiwan last year! Also, Taiwan recognizes every aboriginal language spoken here, Hokkien (Taiwanese), and Hakka, as well as Mandarin and English as "official languages" which is pretty cool of them!

I'm a bit obsessed with Taiwan, lol. It is the Asian nation I want to see most (yes, an independent nation) and I'm always wary about the CCPs action against them.

It was a very fascinating video. Taiwan is not a place that's talked about much in the greater Asian context except when people are talking about Chine. And it couldn't be any more further away from us... Literally. Taiwan, formerly called Formosa by Portuguese explorers, is an antipode with the Argentine province of Formosa. Taiwan is almost exactly the furthest point in the world away from my country of Argentina.

Taiwan is my second home. Love it there. Wishing it all the independence it wants.

Oh my I’m so surprised to see Taiwan showing up here in this channel! My hometown Taiwan. It is absolutely fun and interesting for foreigners and locals here r always friendly regardless ur nationality. I hope people from the world could visit here post pandemic.

JJ is making quite the strong statement by acknowledging Taiwan in the first place

Glad you did this video, the History and Culture of the current ROC is underrated.

This was really cool I've been wanting to learn more about Taiwan because my fiance's grandmother is Taiwanese and he is very close with her she doesn't talk much about it but I know her culture is important to her

This video’s so amazing 🤩 I went on exchange to Taiwan in 2016 and seeing you make a full video about its culture just makes me so happy 😆😁 I want to see more!!

Interesting thing about Taiwan’s indigenous community is that while most Chinese people get 2 votes in elections (one for districts and the other for party list) indigenous people get 3. They get one more for aboriginal candidates. Also I always found it interesting that aboriginals typically support the KMT despite the DPP’s efforts to apologize.

When I was a kid in the 80s, I remember looking at the bottom of my My Little Pony and seeing "Made in Taiwan". I think they made a lot of those plasticky toys back in the 80s.

This video is great. I can't wait for part 2. I wanna see you go over all the pieces

I don't know a lot about Taiwan, but I do know this: Taiwan #1!

One thing I've always liked about Taiwan (talking as an outsider looking in, take with a grain of salt) is how open they are about talking about the faults in their society. In both the USA and China there is a much more blinding idea of patriotism where apparently criticizing your country means you don't love it. You know the whole: "The Liberal snow flakes hate America and they want to teach our children that America is terrible" when it comes to talking about America's faults. Or with Mainland China basically saying that everyone who criticizes China is just afraid of China's progress and that they are just being racist and know nothing about China. Basically when it comes to the East Asian countries (even when compared to Japan and South Korea) Taiwan just seems like the country that is willing to do the most self reflection.

Interesting timing the day after the CCP flew some bombers into Taiwan's airspace. Really great learning about their culture beyond the conflict with the communists. Thanks for the great work JJ!

as a taiwanese, i love your introduction of taiwan ;) will love to know more of your puzzles stories 😊

Apart from all of these historical and cultural trivia, Taiwan is just a great holiday destination. Japan will probably always be my favorite, but Taiwan is a pretty close second. Good infrastructure, lots of interesting sights, visible history (including some Dutch influences) and beautiful scenery. And Food, so much glorious Food! The one thing it always does make me think: imagine how mainland China could have been right now if the Nationalists had won that war... There's only one thing about Taiwan I don't like at all: the weather....

That 'I must not speak Taiwanese' punishment by the Mandarin government also occurred in South Africa; but replace the 'Taiwanese' part with 'Afrikaans' and the 'Mandarin' part with 'British'.

Simplified Mandarin is like the bargin basement Walmart equivilent of traditional

Perfect timing. I’m actually in the process of applying to teach English in Taiwan to elementary school students, so I am always searching for more information on Taiwan.

Thanks JJ for covering Taiwan's indigenous people in this! I feel like they are too often overlooked when people talk/think about Taiwan. I'm Māori (indigenous Polynesian New Zealander) and a couple of years ago was fortunate enough to travel to Taiwan to meet with some of the indigenous people there. Despite being separated by ~3,000 years of history and 8,000km of ocean I found the prevailing cultural, linguistic and genetic similarities with them astounding. As an example, here's some basic vocabulary between Puyuma (an indigenous Taiwanese language) and Māori (indigenous language of NZ): Puyuma (left) | Māori (right) 1 - isa | tahi 2 - drua | rua 3 - telu | toru 4 - pat | whā 5 - lima | rima 6 - enem | ono 7 - pitu | whitu 8 - walu | waru 9 - iwa | iwa 10 - pulu | ngahuru (archaic) eyes - matsa | mata ears - tsangila | taringa hands - lima | ringa(ringa) fish - sikan | ika sky - langit | rangi It makes me sad to think that these people are basically our cousins, yet are typically ignored by both Polynesian communities and the world more generally whenever people talk about Taiwan. PS. As a side note, the man in the middle at 4:35 is Cudjuy Patjidres - an amazing man working on revitalising the traditional tattooing culture of the Paiwan tribe (not a typo - that's the tribe's name). I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with him and was kindly gifted some of his artwork on my own skin.

What a fantastic video! I'd love to see more of this sort of video, exploring what the world has to offer through your perspective. I remember finding your views on Japan very interesting.

I love that he called it an "Island Nation" :D I sincerely hope this doesn't get flagged

It’s interesting how international the act of tying a sign around students’ necks is for the mere speaking of a non-hegemonic language. It’s exactly the same in Wales, where the Welsh Not (or Knot) would have been wound round your neck for the ‘crime’ of speaking your mother tongue.

It really fascinates me how Taiwan went from a one-party dictatorship to one of the most free country in the world in a relatively short time

This has been a surprisingly accurate depiction of Taiwan after a few days of English-speaking people (online) talking about Taiwan facts they pulled out of their asses. Good work! You obviously have, at least, done some research on Taiwan before making this video, and I appreciate that. The only thing I can fault you on is at 11:56 where you cut the word nation (民族) in half lol

Damn now I want to know more about Taiwanese culture.

Ive been talking about trying to visit Taiwan ! This video was so informative for telling us about the foundations that make modern say Taiwan.

Please make part two of this video! Love it