Taiwan's flag history is short and unusually direct compared to its neighbors: seventeenth-century Dutch and Spanish trading outposts, Qing Chinese annexation, a half-century as a Japanese colony, and then, since 1945, first the returning Republic of China's normal provincial rule and then, from 1949, the ROC central government's own relocation to the island after losing the Chinese Civil War on the mainland — bringing with it the same Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth flag it had flown since 1928, still flying today.
Taiwan's political status is a live, disputed question: Taiwan has governed itself since 1949 under the Republic of China's own constitution, with its own elected government, military, and currency, while the People's Republic of China claims Taiwan as its own territory. This page states that dispute as an ongoing, unresolved fact without characterizing either government's claim as correct — see this atlas's China page for the mainland's own separate lineage since 1949.
Scope of this page: the island of Taiwan (and its offshore territories), c. 1624–present, seven political periods. This page covers the Republic of China's flag lineage as it continues on Taiwan after 1949; the People's Republic of China's mainland lineage, and China's own pre-1949 imperial and republican history, are covered on this atlas's separate China page. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.
One island, seven periods
Taiwan's own real coastline, traced whole — the same island shape across the same seven periods as the timeline below. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who administered it, era to era.
This map draws no line inside Taiwan, and no line implying a claim about Taiwan's relationship to any other government. As the lede above states, Taiwan's present political status is an active, unresolved dispute that this atlas does not take a side on. The map below simply traces the island's own coastline — the same one bounded shape, no internal partition — and colors it by whichever administration held it in a given period, exactly like the other single-region pages in this atlas (see North Macedonia's page for the same approach).
before 1624
Indigenous Austronesian Taiwan
Real traced border, no internal partition — see the rule box above for why.
How we know this. 7 of 7 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (2 attested, 1 placeholder image, 4 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so.
Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth — unchanged since 1928
1949 – present
Republic of China (on Taiwan)
RepublicChiang Kai-shekNo official state religion
Migration & conquest:Immigration: mainland Chinese relocation (1949)
Who & why: after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party on the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government relocates to Taiwan in 1949, bringing roughly two million mainland refugees and the ROC's full constitutional government with it. Chiang rules under martial law (lifted only in 1987) until his death in 1975; Taiwan then democratizes through the late 1980s and 1990s, holding its first direct presidential election in 1996 and its first peaceful transfer of power between rival parties in 2000. The same flag, unchanged, flies throughout — Taiwan has governed itself continuously since 1949, while the People's Republic of China maintains its own claim to the island.
What it represents: the identical flag adopted by the Nationalist government in 1928 (see China's own page for its origin under Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement); no design change accompanies the 1949 relocation, only a change in the territory the flag actually governs.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia's Flag of the Republic of China says the flag was made the national flag by the Nationalist government in 1928 and, after the defeat in the civil war and the 1949 founding of the PRC, has remained in official use in the Taiwan Area. FOTW's Taiwan page dates the flag to 1928 (Decree No. 47, 19 December 1928) and its Chinese Republic history says the Nationalist government took residence in Taiwan from 1949, retaining the flag.
Not established: Design and swatch colours were not checked against a specification. FOTW's contributors stress that Taiwan had been ROC-ruled since 1945, so 1949 marks the government's retreat, not the flag's arrival.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3.
LayoutRed field; blue canton with a white sun bearing twelve triangular rays.
Red#FE0000
Blue#000095
White#F4EFE1
the same ROC flag, newly raised over a retroceded island
1945 – 1949
Retrocession to the Republic of China
Republic (province)Chen YiNo official state religion
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Japanese repatriation (1946)Immigration: mainland Chinese administrators & troops (1945–)
Who & why: Japan's defeat in World War II ends its 50-year colonial rule over Taiwan; Republic of China forces accept the Japanese surrender on the island on 25 October 1945, an event Taiwan still marks as Retrocession Day. The following years bring friction between mainland-appointed administrators and the local population, culminating in the February 1947 uprising and crackdown (the 228 Incident) — a traumatic episode in Taiwan's own history, stated here factually. The ROC's full national government then relocates to the island in 1949 as the mainland falls to the Communists.
What it represents: the same Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth flag already flown by the Republic of China since 1928, now raised over Taiwan as an ordinary ROC province for the first time. Wikipedia says Taiwan passed from Japan to the ROC in 1945; the sources read do not cover the 'ordinary province' framing.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia's infobox gives 25 October 1945 for adoption in Taiwan (flag law of December 1928 on the mainland). FOTW gives 1928 (Decree No. 47, 19 December 1928) and, in a contributor's comment, says Taiwan has been under ROC rule since 1945.
Not established: 'Ordinary province for the first time' is not covered; FOTW's 1945 support is a contributor comment, not the page text.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3.
LayoutSame as above.
the Hinomaru, flown over Taiwan as a Japanese colony
1895 – 1945
Japanese colonial Taiwan
Colonial territoryKabayama SukenoriState Shinto
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Japan (1895)Immigration: Japanese settlers (1895–1945)
Ruling house:Imperial House of Japan
Who & why: defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War, Qing China cedes Taiwan to Japan under the April 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki. Local resistance briefly declares the short-lived Republic of Formosa that same year — it lasts about five months before Japanese forces suppress it. Japan then governs Taiwan as a colony for exactly half a century, building railways, schools, and administrative infrastructure alongside suppressing Taiwanese and Indigenous resistance and pursuing wartime assimilation policy, until its surrender ends colonial rule in 1945.
What it represents: Japan's own Hinomaru sun-disc flag (see this atlas's Japan page for its own history), flown as the flag of the colonizing power rather than any flag of Taiwan's own. The sources read do not state that the Hinomaru flew in Taiwan; Flags of the World lists a 1895 Democratic Republic of Taiwan only as a link.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia's Taiwan under Japanese rule shows the 1870 Japanese merchant flag as the infobox flag and the Yellow Tiger flag of the 1895 Republic of Formosa as predecessor; FOTW lists Government-General flags of 1898-1945 (ensigns, police, post) and, for the 25 May-7 June 1895 Democratic Republic, a yellow tiger on a blue or black field.
Not established: Neither source's text says the Hinomaru was the flag raised over colonial Taiwan; the page's drawing rests on the infobox image only. The 1895 republic's tiger flag and the Government-General's own flags are not drawn here.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3.
LayoutWhite field, red disc slightly toward the hoist of center.
White#F4EFE1
Red#BC002D
the Yellow Dragon Flag, extended to a newly annexed Taiwan
1683 – 1895
Qing Dynasty Taiwan
Imperial territoryKangxi EmperorConfucianism (state orthodoxy), with imperial patronage of Tibetan Buddhism
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Qing Dynasty (1683)Immigration: Han Chinese settlers from Fujian & Guangdong
Ruling house:Qing dynasty (Aisin Gioro)
Who & why: the Qing conquer the Zheng family's Kingdom of Tungning in 1683, formally annexing Taiwan as a prefecture (later, from 1885, a full province) of the Qing Empire. Qing administration remains relatively light for much of this period, concentrated on the western coastal plain, before the island is ceded to Japan in 1895 at the close of the First Sino-Japanese War.
What it represents: the same Qing Yellow Dragon Flag flown across the wider empire (see China's own page for its full history and 1889 formal adoption), extended to Taiwan as ordinary Qing territory rather than any flag distinct to the island. The sources read do not cover Qing Taiwan or the Yellow Dragon Flag.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia's Taiwan under Qing rule shows the Qing flag of 1889-1895 as its infobox flag (with a 'Flag' caption for 1889-1895 only) and gives no flag text; FOTW's Imperial Dragon Flag page shows yellow dragon flags of 1872 and 1890 for China without mentioning Taiwan.
Not established: Nothing read says which flag flew in Taiwan 1683-1889, or that the yellow dragon flag was the Taiwan flag before 1889; the page's 1889 formal adoption is not stated by the sources read.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3 (from 1889).
LayoutImperial yellow field, blue five-clawed dragon, red flaming pearl.
Imperial yellow#FFDE00
Dragon blue#1E2F96
Ming-loyalist red and gold — no attested flag
1661 – 1683
Kingdom of Tungning
Independent kingdomKoxinga (Zheng Chenggong)Confucianism and Chinese folk religion (no distinct establishment)
Who & why: Ming-loyalist military leader Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) expels the Dutch from Taiwan in 1662 and establishes a base on the island for continued resistance against the newly established Qing Dynasty on the mainland, styling it a Ming-loyalist regime. His descendants rule Taiwan as a functionally independent kingdom until the Qing conquest of 1683 ends it.
What it represents: no state flag is documented for this brief, militarized regime; shown here with the Ming's own dynastic red-gold color reference, since Tungning styled itself the Ming's loyalist continuation. The sources read do not cover the Kingdom of Tungning or any Ming red-gold reference.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia's Kingdom of Tungning article lists a 'Ming Cheng' flag image against its rulers and mentions a junk flying Koxinga's flag arriving at Fort Zeelandia on 9 July 1656; it describes neither. FOTW's Taiwan pages do not mention Tungning.
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Han Chinese laborers recruited by the VOC
Who & why: the Dutch East India Company establishes a fortified trading base at Fort Zeelandia in southwestern Taiwan in 1624, the first sustained European colonial presence on the island, used mainly to support trade with China and Japan. Spain separately holds a smaller, shorter-lived northern outpost around Keelung and Tamsui from 1626 until the Dutch expel it in 1642. Both are aimed at coastal trade rather than governing the island's Indigenous Austronesian population, which the outposts never fully control. Koxinga's 1662 conquest ends Dutch rule.
What it represents: Wikipedia's Dutch Formosa article shows the Dutch East India Company flag as the colony's flag and says the Dutch gave village leaders a Prinsenvlag (Prince's Flag) to display in their villages. The orange-white-blue Prince's Flag drawn here, flown over the fort, is not stated by the sources read; before the Dutch, Taiwan's Indigenous communities had no unified flag or polity of their own to record.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia's Dutch Formosa shows the Dutch East India Company flag as its infobox flag and says village leaders were given a Prince's Flag (Prinsenvlag, the flag of William the Silent) to display; FOTW's Taiwan page does not cover the Dutch period.
Not established: That the Prince's Flag flew over Fort Zeelandia itself is not stated; the infobox gives the VOC flag, so the flag over the fort may have been the VOC's. Spanish Formosa (1626-42) has a Cross of Burgundy infobox flag in Wikipedia, not drawn here.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for this era.
LayoutThree equal horizontal bands, red (originally orange), white, blue.
placeholder green field — pre-colonial era, no flag survives
before 1624
Indigenous Austronesian Taiwan
Fragmented, no single polityNo single ruler documentedTraditional Austronesian beliefs (no state establishment)
Who & why: before sustained European contact, Taiwan is home to numerous distinct Indigenous Austronesian peoples — the island is now understood as one likely origin point for the broader Austronesian language family that spread across the Pacific and Indian Oceans — organized into separate villages and tribal groups rather than any single island-wide government.
What it represents: no securely documented flag or unified territorial symbol survives from this era; shown here honestly blank rather than invented.
Placeholder imagehow we know this
This page's own caption calls the image a placeholder: «placeholder green field — pre-colonial era, no flag survives».
Not established: Whether a flag, banner or standard existed in this period was not checked. The colour shown is not evidence of one.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.
Reading the tags
Fragmented / colonial outpost — no single sovereign island-wide government
Kingdom / imperial territory — ruled under a monarch or emperor
Republic — sovereign or self-governing under a republican constitution
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's
Find the records
Family history research for Taiwan lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.