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 Taiwan, with the PRC referring to itself as "the mainland side" (as opposed to "the Taiwan side"). But in its relations with Hong Kong and Macau, the PRC government refers to itself as "the Central People's Government", and Mainland China excluding Hong Kong and Macau is referred as "Nèidì". "Mainland area" is the opposing term to "free area of the Republic of China" used in the ROC Constitution. In the 1930s the region faced Japanese invasion. By 1949, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) People's Liberation Army had largely defeated the Kuomintang (KMT)'s National Revolutionary Army in the Chinese Civil