In Taiwan, some of the most popular sports include baseball, basketball, badminton, football, softball, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball. Martial arts such as tai chi and taekwondo are also practiced by many people. Baseball is the most popular sport in Taiwan, followed by basketball and association football.
Internationally known athletes include Hsieh Su-wei, Kuo Hsing-chun, Tai Tzu-ying, Yani Tseng, and Yang Chuan-kwang, who were among the best in their sport at the peak of their career.
Due to the political status, the organisations or national teams from Taiwan have been competing as Chinese Taipei in international sporting events, such as the Olympic Games.
History
Westernization during the Qing dynasty (1858–1895) The Treaty of Tientsin opened up the Taiwanese border to the western countries, and many missionaries came to Taiwan for missionary, medical, and education work. The missionaries promoted the education of intelligence, morality, and physical, and started to include physical education class in the system. At the time, Han Chinese did not have habits of exercise, so the missionaries encouraged students to swim, play, and run after class. Sports like gymnastics, racing, high jump, and hiking were brought to the Han Chinese.
Japanese colonial era (1895–1945) As part of the Japanization and the Kōminka movement, modern physical education and sports became universal systematically in Taiwan. Through physical education, Japan's goal is to assimilate the Taiwanese, improve their physical ability and health and sanitary, and upright the ideas. In the book "Taiwan’s Tradition", Tōhō Takayoshi described Han Chinese's physical appearance in Taiwan at the time as "rich people have a body like pigs, while laborers have a body like mantises." To promote sports in Taiwan, the Japanese leader in Taiwan encouraged the establishment of different sports clubs, including martial arts, equestrian, shooting, bicycle, tennis, badminton, soccer, bowling, and gymnastics.
As school enrollment rates got higher and sports competition became popular, sports became universal from students to social classes, establishing a favorable foundation for sports in Taiwan.
Kuomintang-led government (1946–1987) When the Kuomintang-led government took back Taiwan from Japan in 1949 and started the national-wide martial law, freedom was restricted and life was strictly regulated under the party-state system. The economy was severely damaged by World War II and the Chinese Civil War, and many sports clubs were dissolved due to the sensitive political environment. Although the sports environment had a setback, Japanese colonial era left a crucial foundation in Taiwan that allowed the passion for sports to grow in this difficult time. Moreover, sports in Taiwan at the time were mainly government-driven, and the government devoted itself to developing sports in Taiwan.
In 1968, the government implemented the national-wide nine-year compulsory education and enforced physical education in every public school. In the same year, the government required government-operated enterprises and some private-sector companies to sponsor local sports teams to prosper the sports industry. Sports teams such as basketball, baseball, and tennis teams were branded by Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation, Bank of Taiwan, and other major state-owned companies, and the sponsorship model between sports teams and government-own companies lasted till the present. In addition, television became universal in Taiwan during the 1950s and the number of home TV increased drastically. The government commanded major TV stations in Taiwan to live broadcast national team competitions, which successfully drew nationwide attention to sports. In July 1968, defeated the visiting champion team from Japan with a score of 7–0. This historic game and the rise of television made the popularity of baseball skyrocket, and baseball eventually became Taiwan's national sport.
Post-martial law (1987–present) After martial law, many athletes flew abroad seeking better training and opportunities. To retain talented athletes, prosper the sports industry, and foster future athletes, the government invested in many short-term and mid-term plans. The "National Sports Development Mid-term Plan" proposed in 1989 proposed the project to refocus local sports development, review athletes training programs, construct sports facilities, invest in sports science and research, and support the lifetime career of athletes. In addition, the multiple versions of the "Sports and Physical education Strategy White Paper" published since 1999 highlighted the dedication of the Taiwanese government to develop local sports and promote physical education in public. To present, sports industry development in Taiwan is primarily funded and strategized by the government under the Ministry of Sports.
Team sports Baseball
Baseball is one of the country's most popular spectator sports. It is commonly considered the national sport in Taiwan.Taiwan Baseball a new rallying point for national pride . Culture.tw (30 September 2008). Retrieved on 4 February 2013. Baseball was first introduced during Japanese rule. The colonizing Japanese sought to use baseball as one of its mechanisms to make Taiwan's population more like Japanese.
Taiwan already had its first baseball team in 1906, during the period of Japanese rule. Only the Japanese played baseball initially, but gradually more and more Taiwanese players joined. In 1931, the Kagi Agricultural and Forestry School (now National Chiayi University) baseball team won second place in the 17th Japanese High School Baseball Championship (Summer Koshien), which shocked the whole of Japan. Since then, a number of Taiwanese baseball players have joined Japanese professional baseball teams. A notable example is, Shosei Go (Wú Chāngzhēng), nicknamed "The Human Locomotive", whose mastery of both pitching and batting won him election to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995 after his retirement.
After World War II in 1945, baseball remained popular in Taiwan. In 1968, Red Leaves from the remote mountainous area in Taitung County defeated the visiting all-star little-league team from Japan, touching off a "little-league baseball craze" in Taiwan. The following year, , an all-star team, participated in Little League World Series for the first time and won the championship, which launched the "golden age" of Taiwan's "" program comprising the little league, senior league, and big league.謝仕淵、謝佳芬，《台灣棒球一百年》，果實，2003年8月。 With regard to little league baseball, Taiwan has won 15 championships from 1969 to 1991. For senior league baseball, Taiwan joined in Senior League World Series held by Little League Baseball at Gary, Indiana in 1972, and won the championship in that inaugural effort. Within 20 years, Taiwan has won 17 championships as of 1991. For big league baseball, Taiwan began entering the Big League World Series held by Little League Baseball at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1974, and won 13 championships within 18 years (until 1991).
The professional baseball league is the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), and the main playoff competition is the Taiwan Series. Taiwan has been "exporting" baseball talents to Japan and United States over the past few decades, such as Tai-Yuan Kuo (Taigen Kaku) to the Seibu Lions, Chien-Ming Wang to the New York Yankees/Washington Nationals, and Wei-Yin Chen to the Baltimore Orioles. The Chinese Taipei national baseball team and the Chinese Taipei women's national baseball team are currently second best in the world.WBSC Rankings. WBSC.org
Taiwan's dominance in international baseball was demonstrated when the men's team won top three medals across all levels of baseball in 2022, including the U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23, and Baseball5 competitions, the only team to do so in baseball history. Taiwan's men's baseball team, women's baseball team, and baseball5 team are world No.2 on the WBSC Rankings as of December 2022.
Basketball
Basketball is the second most popular sport in Taiwan. In 1954, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) was founded as a non-governmental organization that works closely with the government to regulate the basketball industry in Taiwan. In 1993, four individual basketball teams formed the very first professional basketball league in Taiwan called the "Chinese Basketball Association", but the association only lasted 5 years before it was resolved due to the under fulfillment of 6 teams. In 2003, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) founded a semi-professional basketball league "Super Basketball League" (SBL) that continued the basketball industry in Taiwan. However, the viewership and audience for SBL had contracted throughout the year which resulted in only four teams participating in the year 2022, the lowest number of teams participating in the history of SBL. In 2022, the second professional basketball league "P. LEAGUE+" (Plus League) was founded by a former basketball player Charles "Blackie" Chen. The following year, a third professional basketball league "T1 League" was established by the former manager of the American basketball alliance NBA in the Taiwan area Guang-Zhong Guan. The two newly established professional basketball leagues sparks competition in players and resources but were said to have pushed the basketball industry in Taiwan to a new peak. While teams in both leagues were dedicated to recruiting the best local players, they were both eyeing and investing in recruiting foreign players. In 2022, renowned NBA star Dwight Howard was recruited by the team Taoyuan Leopards within T1 League, marking history in Taiwan's basketball.
Internationally, the Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team won the silver medal at the Asian Championship in 1960 and 1963 and bronze in 1973 and 1989. The Chinese Taipei women's national basketball team won the silver medal at the 1972 Asian Basketball Championship for Women. The team won bronze at the event in 1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1988, 1999 and 2005. Further, the women's team won silver at the 2006 Asian Games.
Football
Football was introduced to Taiwan in 1916 by the British Presbyterian missionary Edward Band, who moved to Taiwan to serve as the principal of Tainan's Chang Jung High School. The Chang Jung High School team is considered to be the first football team in Taiwan with all current teams being in some way descendent of it.
Due to Japanese (long before the J. League made football popular in Japan) and American influence, football has not been as popular as baseball or basketball in Taiwan, although it has a history of success at the Asian level. Football is run by the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), which in turn runs the national teams for men and women and several domestic competitions.
The top league of football, the Taiwan Football Premier League (former Intercity Football League), is relatively semi-professional and dominated by two teams, Tatung F.C. from Taipei and Taipower F.C. from Kaohsiung. As an incentive, the Asian Football Confederation runs the AFC President's Cup continental club competition for countries where football is relatively undeveloped, and these two clubs often take turns representing Taiwan in it.
There are many amateur football clubs run by foreign expatriates within Taiwan, but they run their own amateur competitions. An example is 100 Pacers F.C. in Kaohsiung. At youth level, there are Highschool Football League, National Youth Cup, and football program in the National High School Games.
Softball Taiwan also has a strong women's softball team. The Chinese Taipei women's national softball team is currently ranked no.3 in the world based on the WBSC Rankings. The team recently won bronze medal at the 2022 World Games.
Volleyball