National language
During Japanese rule (1895 to 1945), the promoted the Japanese language. After their defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Kuomintang regime of the Republic of China retreated to the island of Taiwan, where they introduced Standard Chinese, which was spoken by few of the island population at the time, to be the "national language". Today however, the "National languages development act" recognises languages of all people groups of Taiwan to be national languages.