Taiwan

2011-11-09T22:58:48Z

129.44.112.181:

{{Nation
| name = Taiwan<br>台湾
| continent = ASIA
| image = Taiwan.png
| country = [[Image:TaiwanFlag.png]] [[wikipedia:Taiwan|Taiwan (Zhōnghuá Mínguó)]] (中華民國)
| gender = Female
| birthday = October 25
| hair = Brown
| eyes = Brown, Black(character identification chart)
| height = 150 cm (4'11 ft est)

| volume = [[Volume 2]] (profiled)<br>[[Volume 4]] (debut)
| strip = ''Christmas 2010''
| dramacd = [[Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol.8- China]]

| japanese = [[Yuki Kaida]]
}}
'''Taiwan''' (台湾, ''Taiwan'') is a minor character in the series '''Hetalia: Axis Powers'''. She is also referred to as ''The Republic Of China''.

==Attributes==
[[File:TaiwanChibi.png|thumb|175px|left|A 'chibi' version of Taiwan.]]
===Appearance===
Taiwan is a teenage girl who wears a peach (or bright pink)-colored qipao with gold trim and long, flowing sleeves, and a long white skirt. Her hair is long and brown, with a wild curly strand sticking out on the right side of her head. She wears pink flowers in her hair, and a chibi sketch of her by Himaruya revealed that she has a flower-shaped birthmark (or tattoo) on her left thigh.

In one earlier sketch, her qipao was drawn slightly different, and she had her hair tied into a side ponytail with some of her flowers. Another early design showed another variation on her qipao and the flowers.

===Personality and Interests===
Taiwan is described as a strong-willed, fashionable young woman, but she is also said to have become more of a nervous type in recent times, unable to stop worrying.

Though she had only few appearances in the actual manga, she was depicted in various sketches and appeared in the profile section of ''Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 2''. Her role in the drama track for the eighth Hetalia character CD predates any manga or anime appearance (as with [[Hong Kong]], who appeared in [[Hetalia Fantasia]]). There, she's portrayed as a rather smart-mouthed girl with a somewhat quick temper and a cheerful disposition.

===Name===
Since her human name has not been revealed, fans try to bypass it by nicknaming her '''Meimei''', which means ''younger sister'' in Chinese (or simply '''Mei''', which means ''plum blossom''). She is also called '''Wanwan''' or '''Wan-Chan''' by Taiwanese and some Japanese fans. Vietnamese fans call her '''Tai-chan''' as well.

==Relationships==
[[File:TaiwanChina.gif|left|thumb|Taiwan wants China to back off from Japan.]]
===China===
''Main Article: [[China]]''

She addresses him as "teacher" in the drama CD, but calls him a "bastard" in an earlier sketch. An early illustration showed that she cannot stand China, and prefers [[Japan]], ordering China to leave him alone. In the drama CD she treats him in a slightly more friendly manner, but still has very low patience towards his quirks.

===Japan===
''Main Article: [[Japan]]''

Instead of China she prefers Japan, much to China's dismay. This could stem from the real life fact of China's repeated dismissal of Taiwan's sovereignty, and the general well-being and mutual respect between the real life islands.

==Appearances==
===Manga===
Despite being profiled in volume 2 of the published manga and later making an appearance in volume 3 on the ''Hetalia'' world map, the majority of Taiwan's appearances have been on Himaruya's blog and website. She has her first lines in the 2010 Christmas event, responding to Sealand that she didn't have the sign. She also appeared in the 2011 April Fool's event, being interested in the photo she got from France and Spain. She appears in Volume 4's "Ilha Formosa ~Beautiful Island~" chapter, where her formal debut is made. In the Halloween 2011 event, she dresses up as Silverlight from Microsoft Taiwan.

===Drama CD===
She has her debut in the mini drama '''"Asian and Western Festivals"''' in [[Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol.8- China|China's character CD]]. She met China and Shinatty in the park, made fun of China, and later helped fix China's arm (however, that caused China a lot of pain). She referred to China as her "teacher" in the drama, and seemed to not care about China's bossiness, and thought of him as a "grandpa".

==Trivia==
[[Image:Taiwandesigns.gif‎|left|thumb|Himaruya's preliminary sketches of Taiwan]]
*Before he settled on her present look, [[Hidekaz Himaruya]] drafted various designs for the character, as he revealed in an illustration on his blog. Rejected concepts included: A more "mature" design for a female version, Taiwan as a young boy and as a young girl, a short-haired variation of the female design, and Taiwan as both a younger and an older man.
*Her birthday corresponds with the date of '''October 25th, 1945''', when the Japanese military surrendered control of Taiwan back to China. However, in the Chinese printing of the second volume of ''Hetalia'', her birthday was left out and the phrase "A part of China" was controversially added to her profile.
*Differently to her rare appearance in the manga and the webcomic, she seems to have a role in both [[Gakuen Hetalia]], appearing in concept art for it. But as the game is incomplete, it remains to be seen what the extent of her role is.
*Like Hong Kong, she makes her speaking debut in a drama track ('''Asian and Western Festivals''' in China's character CD). She is voiced by [[Yuki Kaida]], who also voices China.
*In a recent blog post, her name was revealed to possibly be '''Lin Yi Ling''' or '''Xiao Mei'''.

{{CharacterIndex|continent=ASIA}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female Characters]]
[[Category:Manga Characters]]
[[Category:Drama CD Characters]]
[[Category:Asian Characters]]

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Taiwan