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Taiwan before 1945 was referred to as Formosa which is Portuguese for "beautiful island". After World War 2, China became embroiled in a civil war between Nationalist forces and Communist forces. In the end, the Communist forces under Mao Zedong were victorious and so the Nationalists were forced to leave mainland China and instead moved to Formosa which they referred to as "The Republic of China" as opposed to mainland China which is the "Peoples' Republic of China".

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13y ago

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