Taiwan

Early history

 * Previously, a very short-lived Republic of Formosa existed in 1895.
 * After the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan was ceded to Japan by China. It was treated as part of Japan, using Japanese stamps until 1945. One set of definitives was issued by Japan at that time.
 * At the end of World War II, Taiwan issued its own provincial issues. See: Taiwan (province).



Nationalist government
In October 1949, the government of Chiang Kai-shek, some of his army and over two million refugees escaped the mainland, now held by the Communist government, and re-established itself on the island.
 * In January 1950, old Chinese Unit stamps were surcharged in boxlike form with "Taiwan" in Chinese characters.
 * Also in 1950, the Koxinga definitive series was released. This was inscribed Rep of China post.png following the style of previous mainland issues.
 * Moon gate definitives were surcharged with an inscription in vertical format.
 * In 1951, the election set was released, also inscribed Rep of China post.png. This would be followed by more issues similarly inscribed.
 * Several surcharges following included the characters "Taiwan".





 File:RoC dolls.jpg 
 * In mid-1955, stamp inscriptions became Rep of China stamp.png ("Republic of China postage stamp"), reading right to left or vertically.
 * In 1966, roman letter inscriptions were (finally) also added reading REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
 * In 1998, the Chinese inscription was generally changed to read left to right or vertically, ROC Taiwan l to r.png.