Geography of Taiwan and has an area of (including some minor islands). The shape of the main island is similar to a sweet potato oriented in a south-to-north direction, and therefore Taiwanese, especially the Min Nan speakers, often call themselves "children of the Sweet Potato". The central point of the island is the Geographic Center of Taiwan in Puli Township, Nantou County. The southernmost point of the island is the Taiwan Southernmost Point in Hengchun Township, Pingtung County. The island of Taiwan is separated from the southeast coast of China by the Taiwan Strait, which ranges from at its widest point to at
Mainland China people often call the area of non-coastal provinces in of Mainland China as "Inland" (). In Taiwan, certain people, the Kuomintang (KMT, "Chinese Nationalist Party") and its supporters use the term "mainland" is to refer to the territory of the PRC (Hong Kong and Macau excluded). This accords with the KMT position that "China" encompasses both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Since the KMT was the ruling party in Taiwan until 2000 and the only party allowed until the late 1980s, and had set up the educational system and taught children the term since its takeover in 1945, the term