What are the popular names in Taiwan?

In the documentary records after the Ming Dynasty, Taiwan was called "Jilong Mountain", "Jilong", "Beigang", "Kundao", "Dongguan", "Taiwan" or "Dayuan". Member" etc.

When the Dutch ruled Taiwan, they called Taiwan "Taioan", which is the transliteration of the Hokkien pronunciation of "Da Yuan". During the Ming and Zheng Dynasties, the name "Da Yuan" used during the Dutch rule was abandoned, and the entire island of Taiwan was called "Dongdu", which was later renamed "Tongning". After it was incorporated into the territory of the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan Prefecture was established instead, and "Taiwan" became the name for the entire island.

Da Yuan

The word "Da Yuan" comes from "Taian" or "Tayan" of the Siraya tribe, the aboriginal people of southern Taiwan, which is a name for "outsiders"; During the Dutch rule, Taiwan was called "Taioan", which was transliterated into the Chinese characters "Da Yuan", "Tai Yuan", "Da Wan" or "Tai Wo Wan". These names originally referred to the vicinity of the Anping area in Tainan today. During the Qing Dynasty, it evolved into "Taiwan" pronounced in Beijing Mandarin.

Takasago

In ancient times, Japan once called Taiwan "Takasago", "Takasago Country" or "High Mountain Country". The Japanese changed the sound of "Dagoyama" to "Takasegun". In the "Oshu Seal Book of the Foreign Sea Crossing the Sea" collected by Gemachi Institute in Kyoto, Taiwan is called "Takasago Country". The katakana of both is "タカサグン" ".

Burying the Wrong

Local literary historian Lian Yatang said that the Han immigrants to Taiwan in the Ming Dynasty mostly came from Fujian across the Taiwan Strait, which has a black water ditch. It is said that the weather, currents, and walruses made it difficult for early immigrants to cross the sea, and they almost died. After coming to Taiwan, they may also die from unaccustomed acclimatization and plague, and they may not be able to return to their hometown. Therefore, the name "Burial of Wrongs" was originally used to record the hardships of the ancestors in reclamation. Later, because the name was unlucky, it was changed to "Taiwan" with the same pronunciation as the Hokkien language.

However, according to the verification of historians, the word "Taiwan" first appeared in public documents as early as the first year of Taichang in the Ming Dynasty (1620). "The Complete Works of Jingshan" written by He Qiaoyuan in the late Ming Dynasty "Taiwan" also appears in the name "Taiwan", but the large number of immigrants who formed a place to "bury grievances" occurred in the early Qing Dynasty, so this statement is not correct.

Formosa

Taiwan is also called "Formosa". In 1544, when Portuguese ships passed through the waters of Taiwan in the 16th century, sailors looked at Taiwan from the sea. , found that Taiwan was very beautiful, so he shouted "Ilha Formosa!" In Portuguese, "Formosa" means "beautiful" and "Ilha" means "island", so it is translated as beautiful island, so "Formosa" "Mosa" is transliterated from the Portuguese "Formosa" and was the main name for Taiwan in European countries before the 1950s.

Other names

Taiwan is also called the Treasure Island because of its rich products. Scholars like to refer to the sacred mountains and fairy islands on the sea, Penglai and Yingzhou, etc. in ancient books such as "The Classic of Mountains and Seas". As an elegant name for Taiwan.