Taiwan

Taiwan (台灣, Taiwan) is a minor character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. She is also referred to as The Republic Of China.

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 yet to make an appearance 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 is portrayed as a rather smart-mouthed girl with a somewhat quick temper and a cheerful disposition.

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
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. It is also possible that this is a reference to Japan's colonial rule over Taiwan before WWII.

Recently, in Chapter 42 of Hetalia: World Stars, she gave chocolates to Japan on Valentine's Day.

Vietnam
Taiwan and Vietnam appear to get along well, despite their clashing personalities. Taiwan has taken Vietnam out to get their pictures taken together, to her initial dismay, and has lended Vietnam an undersized costume for Halloween.

Hong Kong
Taiwan once had a bet with Hong Kong and Macau on what will China wear, on which she lost. She also once asked Hong Kong's help to clean her room. In the Taiwan's Lantern Festival strip, she confronted Hong Kong to not wish for money this year and wish for something else instead. Hong Kong had a surprised face as he asked out in disbelief that other people wished for other things beside money. Taiwan persuaded him to wish for something else and Hong Kong decided to wish that China won't see-through.

Name
In a 2010 blog post, Himaruya listed possible names for Taiwan to be Lin Yi-Ling (林乙玲) or Hsiao-Mei / Xiao-Mei (曉梅)*.


 * 曉梅 (Hsiao-Mei or Xiao-Mei) is a given name suggested by Himaruya, he did not suggest a family name to go with this name.

Character Songs
Poi Poi Poi♪

Trivia

 * 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 25, 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.
 * Taiwan's original height used to be 1.50 cm but ever since Hetalia☆Collezione was released, she is now 160 cm. Whether this means she grew up during the series or if this was merely a retcon is unknown.
 * 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.
 * It is hinted that Taiwan might very well be homosexual due to the fact she always appears to admire Vietnam's beauty, and the fact that she also may as well begun to sweat when she mentioned about westerner's girls breasts being "disturbing" to her. In addition, she also appears to be flirtatious towards Belarus in the 2009 Halloween Special. Taiwan is the first country in Asia to have legalized same-sex marriage. However, she is also very open around Japan and is most likely a friendly character in general.