Understanding Taiwan, or Recognizing Taiwan, (Chinese: 認識臺灣; pinyin: Rènshì Táiwān) is the junior high school textbook which has been used since 1997 in Taiwan (Republic of China). The book consists of three sections, social studies, history and geography (社會篇、歷史篇、地理篇).
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Under the administration of the Kuomintang (KMT), or the Chinese Nationalist Party, students in Taiwan had been taught the history of China instead of Taiwanese local history in the postwar period. After Chiang Kai-shek's demise, his son Chiang Ching-kuo began to liberalize Taiwan's political system and he lifted martial law in Taiwan in 1986. After Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Lee Teng-hui, the first native Taiwanese President, continued to carry out the policy, and held the first direct presidential election in 1996.
Understanding Taiwan was released in 1996 and adopted as the junior high school textbook in 1997. This text book aroused much interest in Asia. The history section is presented as "history of Taiwan", and the era of Taiwan under Japanese rule was introduced positively with objective facts and surveys.