Flag: Taiwan Emoji

The flag of the Republic of China (ROC), commonly called the Qīngtiān Bái Rì Mǎndì Hóng (青天白日滿地紅), literally "blue sky, white sun, red earth." A red field with a blue canton in the upper hoist corner, and a white twelve-rayed sun centered inside the blue canton.

Almost everyone outside Taiwan reads 🇹🇼 as "the flag of Taiwan." Technically it's the flag of the Republic of China, the same republic founded in 1912 on mainland China and since 1949 governed only over Taiwan and its outlying islands. The distinction matters: this flag predates the People's Republic of China's flag by over two decades and carries the symbols of Sun Yat-sen's 1911 revolution, not the island's indigenous or settler history.

🇹🇼 is one of the most politically charged emoji on the Unicode set. Its use signals identity and geopolitical position. Apple replaces it with a missing-character placeholder on iPhones set to mainland China, and hides it from the keyboard picker on iPhones set to Hong Kong or Macau, though it still renders via copy-paste there. Domestically in Taiwan, it's a standard patriotic emoji. Abroad, it's the primary diaspora-identity marker and a standard reference in geopolitical posts.

The emoji is a regional indicator sequence: U+1F1F9 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER TU+1F1F9 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER T + U+1F1FC REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER WU+1F1FC REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER W. Platforms that support flag emoji render it as the Qīngtiān Bái Rì Mǎndì Hóng. Added in Emoji 1.0 (2015). Taiwan's ISO 3166 alpha-2 code is TW (listed as "Taiwan, Province of China" in ISO, a label Taiwan disputes but that the Unicode flag system inherited).

A neutral note on status. Taiwan is governed by the Republic of China under its own democratically elected government. It is recognized as a sovereign state by 12 UN member states and the Vatican; the People's Republic of China claims Taiwan as a province and most countries, including the US, maintain unofficial relations. This page covers the flag and its usage; it does not take a position on the sovereignty question.

🇹🇼 is dominated by two communities: Taiwanese citizens posting about home, and the global Taiwanese diaspora (roughly 50 million people of Hoklo, Hakka, and indigenous Taiwanese descent in the US, Canada, Japan, and Southeast Asia) posting about identity.

Identity posts drive the biggest slice. Unlike 🇯🇵, which signals a fandom aesthetic, 🇹🇼 leans hard toward identity. Bios, heritage posts, and diaspora content use 🇹🇼 as a deliberate statement, particularly for young Taiwanese Americans and Taiwanese Canadians who actively distinguish their identity from generic "Chinese."

Double Ten Day (October 10). National Day of the ROC commemorates the start of the 1911 Wuchang Uprising. Single biggest 🇹🇼 window of the year. In 2026, the national holiday lands on a Saturday, observed as a bridge holiday. Peak flag-raising ceremonies, firework displays in Taipei, and diaspora Double Ten parades in Chinese Taipei-flagged California, New York, and Vancouver communities.

Olympics and international sport. Taiwan competes as "Chinese Taipei" (中華台北) since 1981 under an IOC naming compromise. The country cannot display this flag, its name "Taiwan," or its anthem at the Games. Taiwanese fans on social compensate by posting 🇹🇼 heavily whenever a Taiwanese athlete wins, as happened repeatedly with Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin winning back-to-back badminton gold in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

Bubble tea and night-market food. Taiwan's cultural export to the world. Bubble tea was invented in Taichung in 1986, and Taiwanese-founded chains (Chatime, Gong Cha, The Alley, Kung Fu Tea) now operate in over 50 countries. 🇹🇼🧋 is one of the stickier combos on TikTok food videos.

Political and news cycles. Taiwan's 2024 and 2028 presidential elections, China's military exercises around the island, and every major US-Taiwan policy statement drive 🇹🇼 spikes on news accounts and geopolitics Twitter.

Typhoon season and earthquakes. Taiwan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The April 2024 Hualien earthquake and seasonal typhoons (July through October) generate 🇹🇼 solidarity posts from regional neighbors.

• 🏙️
  Capital: Taipei (25.03°N, 121.57°E)
• 👥
  Population: ~23.4 million (2025)
• 🏝️
  Area: 36,197 km² (main island + outlying)
• 💵
  Currency: New Taiwan dollar (TWD, NT$)
• 🗣️
  Languages: Mandarin (official), Taiwanese Hokkien (~70% speak), Hakka, indigenous Austronesian languages
• 📞
  Calling code: +886
• ⏰
  Time zone: National Standard Time (UTC+8), no DST
• 🌐
  Internet TLD: .tw (also .台灣 and .台湾 Chinese-script)

Foods that show up next to 🇹🇼

Landmarks that anchor travel content

The design is older than the country that currently uses it. The blue sky and white sun motif was created in 1895 by revolutionary Lu Haodong for the Revive China Society, the anti-Qing movement led by Sun Yat-sen. Lu was executed by Qing authorities later that year; Sun Yat-sen kept the design.

In 1906, Sun Yat-sen added the red background ("red earth") to represent the people's blood and livelihood, and the three-color composition became the flag of the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party). After the 1911 Wuchang Uprising and the founding of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912, different flags were used in the early years, including a five-colored stripe flag. The blue-sky-white-sun-red-earth design became the official national flag on December 17, 1928, after the KMT's Northern Expedition reunited mainland China under Nationalist rule.

1945 and the move to Taiwan. When Imperial Japan surrendered in August 1945, Taiwan (a Japanese colony since 1895) was placed under ROC administration. This flag was raised over Taipei on October 25, 1945, a day now commemorated as Retrocession Day. After the ROC government lost the Chinese Civil War to Mao Zedong's Communists in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek relocated the ROC government to Taipei, bringing the flag with him. Since then it has flown only over Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and the Pratas Islands.

Symbolism. The blue sky stands for nationalism and liberty; the white sun for democracy and equality; the red earth for the people's livelihood and fraternity. The sun's 12 triangular rays symbolize 12 two-hour traditional time units (shichen), meaning the nation's progress continues around the clock. The rays are spaced at exact 30-degree angles.

Flag at international events. Taiwan cannot fly this flag at the Olympics, UN agencies, or in many international sporting federations. Under the 1981 Nagoya Resolution, Taiwan competes as "Chinese Taipei" using a white flag with a plum-blossom emblem and Olympic rings. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, a spectator's "Let's go Taiwan" sign was torn up and green "Taiwan" towels were confiscated during the men's badminton doubles final.

Illegal in mainland China. The flag cannot be publicly displayed in the PRC outside historical museums and war cemeteries. The PRC sees it as a symbol of continued "opposition to communism."

• 🇹🇼
  January 1: ROC Founding Day: Zhōnghuá Mínguó kāiguó jìniàn rì. Marks the 1912 founding of the Republic of China on mainland China. Flag-raising ceremonies at government offices.
• 🧧
  February 17, 2026: Lunar New Year: Chūnjié. Seven-day holiday in 2026 (Year of the Fire Horse). Family reunions, red envelopes, dumpling-making. The quietest public-social window of the year (everyone's with family).
• 🕊️
  February 28: Peace Memorial Day: 2.28 Jìniàn Rì. Commemorates the 1947 February 28 Incident, the anti-government uprising violently suppressed under KMT martial law. Flag at half-mast.
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  April 4 or 5: Qingming / Children's Day: Combined tomb-sweeping and children's day. Families visit ancestral graves; kids get gifts. A quieter, reflective long weekend.
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  June 19, 2026: Dragon Boat Festival: Duānwǔ Jié. Dragon-boat races, zongzi dumplings, commemorates poet Qu Yuan. Hot-summer coastal festival energy.
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  September 25, 2026: Mid-Autumn Festival: Zhōngqiū Jié. Mooncakes, pomelo-fruit peeling, outdoor barbecues (a distinctly Taiwanese twist on the holiday, not observed this way in mainland China).
• 🎆
  October 10: Double Ten Day: Shuāngshí Jié. National Day. Commemorates the 1911 Wuchang Uprising. Fireworks over the Presidential Office Building, military flyover, and the single biggest 🇹🇼 window globally, including Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver diaspora parades.

• •The blue-sky-white-sun emblem was designed by revolutionary Lu Haodong in 1895. Lu was captured and executed by Qing authorities the same year; Sun Yat-sen carried the design forward.
• •The flag was raised over Taipei on October 25, 1945, a day commemorated as Retrocession Day, marking Taiwan's return to Chinese administration after 50 years as a Japanese colony.
• •Apple has blocked 🇹🇼 on iPhones set to mainland China since 2017. Hong Kong and Macau iPhones got the keyboard-hidden restriction in 2019.
• •At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Taiwan's flag, name, and anthem are banned from venues. A green towel reading 'Taiwan' was confiscated during the men's badminton doubles final.
• •Bubble tea was invented in Taichung in 1986 by Tu Tsong-he at a teahouse. 🇹🇼🧋 has since become one of the top food combos on TikTok.
• •Taiwan's TSMC produces over 60% of the world's logic chips and is the sole mass producer of the most advanced sub-5-nanometer nodes. The company alone drives most finance-Twitter 🇹🇼 posts.
• •The flag is one of only five flags in the world to use a 2:3 ratio with a canton in the upper hoist, alongside the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.