As early as the ancient times in our country, there were all kinds of beautiful and moving myths and legends about "overseas fairy mountains".As recorded in "Liezi·Tang Wen Pian", at the end of the Xia Dynasty, a man named Xia Ge told Cheng Tang (the leader of the Shang tribe) such a magical "secret story": it was said that it was in the boundless sea. On the sky, in that very distant place, there are five wonderful fairy mountains, which are called "Daiyu", "Yuanqiao", "Fanghu", "Yingzhou" and "Penglai".These fairy mountains are inhabited by "seeds of immortal saints"."Yugong", the oldest important geographical document in my country written in the Warring States period, mentioned "Daoyi Huifu" when talking about Yangzhou, which means: in the era of Dayu, the islands in the southeast lived in clothes. "Island Yi" of linen clothes (flower clothes).These stories and legends full of mythology show that as early as the ancient times when the navigation technology was very primitive and backward, our ancestors already had a vague understanding of the existence of many islands along the east and south coasts of our country.

These touching myths and legends have attracted the ancients to try to find traces of these mysterious fairy islands again and again regardless of risks.According to Sima Qian's "Historical Records Fengchan Shu", King Qiwei, King Qixuan, and King Yanzhao of the Warring States Period sent people into the sea to search for "Penglai" and "Yingzhou" in myths and legends, but none of them disappeared; as for Qin Shihuang The story of sending alchemist Xu Fu to lead thousands of boys and girls (one said 500) into the sea to search for "Penglai Immortals" and the elixir of life is well known to all women and children.It is said that Xu Fu and others "did not dare to return" because they could not seek immortality, and finally drifted to "Yizhou" to settle down ("Book of the Later Han" Volume 85).

Where do the "Penglai", "Yingzhou", "Fanghu" and "Daoyi" refer to in ancient myths and legends?There have always been different opinions. Some say it refers to Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, some say it refers to Zhoushan in Zhejiang, or Hainan Island, or Ryukyu, or the Philippine Islands, and some say it refers to Japan. In the history books of our country, the name of Taiwan has changed several times.It was called "Yizhou" or "Dongyu (ti Ti)" in the Han Dynasty, "Yizhou" in the Three Kingdoms period, and "Liuqiu", "Liuqiu", "Liuqiu (qiuqiu)" and "Liuqiu" from the Sui Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty. Leave a grudge (qiuqiu)" or "瑠球".In the early Ming Dynasty, Chadu, the king of Zhongshan on Okinawa Island, sent an envoy to pay tribute and was granted the title of vassal.The Ming Dynasty thought that they came from the southeast sea of ​​Fujian, which should be the "Liuqiu" recorded in the history books, so they called the island "Ryukyu".Later, it was discovered that they did not come from the "Liuqiu" which is larger and closer to the mainland on the southeast coast. In order to make a distinction, they renamed the Ryukyu, which has a tribute relationship, as the "Great Ryukyu", and called Taiwan, which had actually had contact for a long time. It is called "Little Liuqiu".In the official books of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of appellation of referring to the small by the big and calling the big by the small is not true, and has been used for a long time.

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, with the advancement of navigation technology and the development of maritime transportation, more and more Fujian people went to Taiwan to make a living, and the folks called Taiwan very complicated.Based on what they have seen and heard, they have given Taiwan various names.For example, when sailors on a merchant ship sail from Fujian to Japan and cross the Taiwan Strait, they must use a high mountain in northern Taiwan as a sign of orientation. Because the shape of this mountain resembles a chicken cage, it is called "" Chicken cage mountain".At first it was just a mountain name, and later it gradually became a general name for the northern coast of Taiwan.Another example is when Fujian fishermen went fishing in the western seas of Taiwan, they often repaired their fishing nets and repaired their boats in a sheltered port. They called this port "香〔wangwang〕port" and later changed it to "stupid port". , "Beigang", and gradually became a general name for the central coast of Taiwan.In addition, there are different names such as Dajicage, Dayuan, Dayuan, Dayuan, Taiwan Yuan, Dawan, Taiwowan, Taiwan, etc., while the official name is "Dongfan", "Dongfan Zhushan" or "Dongfan Zhushan" or "Dongfan Zhushan". "East Fan Islands" to distinguish them from "West Fan Islands" in Sichuan.After Zheng Chenggong expelled He to occupy Taiwan, he called Taiwan "Eastern Capital". After his son Zheng Jing succeeded to the throne, he renamed it "Dongning".

So, how did the name "Taiwan" come to be used and finally determined?According to Lian Heng's "Taiwan General History", "Taiwan's original name was 'Buying Yuan', which was named by people from Zhangquan." In the Ming Dynasty, the Hokkien people entered Taiwan for reclamation. It was transported back to his hometown for burial, "so it was named 'Buried Yuan'", and later because "Buried Yuan" is unlucky, and "Buried Yuan" in Hokkien has the same pronunciation as "Taiwan", so it was renamed "Taiwan".This kind of statement is far-fetched and not credible, but it also shows that the people of the mainland have indeed gone through untold hardships in order to develop Taiwan.

At present, most scholars believe that the name "Taiwan" evolved from "Taiwan Wowan".Taiwowan was originally the name of an ethnic group among the aboriginal Pingpu people in Taiwan. They lived in Anping, Tainan today, with many bays nearby. Mainland merchant ships often came here to exchange goods with them. Over time, people called their ethnic group name as a place name. It was called "Taiwan" for short, and later gradually became the general name of the whole island.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, even official documents began to use the name "Taiwan", but it was the Qing government that officially confirmed the use of the title "Taiwan". In 1683 (the 22nd year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty), the Zheng regime fell, and the Qing government unified Taiwan. The following year, the "Taiwan Government" was established, which was under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province.Since then, Taiwan has been officially named, and it has been used to this day. In 1885 (the eleventh year of Guangxu), the Qing government decided to upgrade Taiwan to a province, and appointed Liu Mingchuan as the first governor of Taiwan.Thus, Taiwan became China's 20th province.

Obviously, the evolution and determination of Taiwan's place names are closely related to the increasingly close relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and the continuous development of the island's socio-economic culture. Before it was officially named, foreigners used to call Taiwan our country in various ways.For example, in the middle of the 16th century, Japanese Japanese pirates once ran into southern Taiwan to harass activities. Seeing the white sand and green pines on the island, the scenery is beautiful and the climate is pleasant, which is similar to the scenery of Takasago on the coast of Bozhou Bay in Japan. The transliteration is "high mountain", so ancient Japan called Taiwan of our country "high sand country" or "high mountain country".In addition, it is also known as "Dahuiguo", "Duo Jia Zuo Gu" and so on. In 1544 (the 23rd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty), a group of Portuguese merchant ships set off from Macau to Japan to do business. When they passed through the Taiwan Strait, they saw the verdant forests, waterfalls and beautiful scenery on Taiwan Island. They exclaimed as "Ilha Formosa!", which means "beautiful island".Since then, the title of "Formosa" (Formosa, Beautiful Island) has spread like wildfire, and has spread all over the world with the footprints of Western navigators.Even today, some Western scholars and publications are still accustomed to calling Taiwan "Formosa".However, as the legal name of the Chinese government, "Taiwan" has always been recognized by countries all over the world.