Matsu Islands in the context of "Geography of Taiwan"

The Taiwan Area, also called the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China, the free area of the Republic of China, and the "Tai-Min Area (Taiwan and Fuchien)", is a term used to refer to the territories under the effective control of the Republic of China (ROC, commonly known as "Taiwan"). It has been in official use since the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China took effect, ending temporary anti-communist provisions on 1 May 1991. The term is also used in the 1992 Cross-Strait Act.

The area currently under the definition consists of the island groups of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and some minor islands. The collective term "Tai-Peng-Kin-Ma" is literally equivalent except that it only refers to the geographical areas of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu Area, to the exclusion of Wuqiu, Dongsha Island, and Taiping Island.

Wade–Giles (/weɪd ˈdʒaɪlz/ wayd JYLZ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's A Chinese–English Dictionary (1892).

The romanization systems in common use until the late 19th century were based on the Nanjing dialect, but Wade–Giles was based on the Beijing dialect and was the system of transcription familiar in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century. Both of these kinds of transcription were used in postal romanizations (romanized place-names standardized for postal uses). In mainland China, Wade–Giles has been mostly replaced by Hanyu Pinyin, which was officially adopted in 1958, with exceptions for the romanized forms of some of the most commonly used names of locations and persons, and other proper nouns. The romanized name for most locations, persons and other proper nouns in Taiwan is based on the Wade–Giles derived romanized form, for example Kaohsiung, the Matsu Islands and Chiang Ching-kuo.

Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only 10 km (6 mi) east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from which they are separated by Xiamen Bay. Kinmen is also located 187 km (116 mi) west from the closest shoreline of the island of Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait.

The county consists of the major island of Kinmen along with several surrounding islets, as well as Wuqiu Township remotely located 133 km (83 mi) northeast from the rest of the county. Kinmen is one of two counties that constitute Fuchien Province; the other is Lienchiang County (Matsu).

Fuchien (Mandarin pronunciation: [fǔ.tɕjɛ̂n] ), formerly romanized as Fukien, is a de jure administrative division of Taiwan (ROC), whose constitution retains provinces as a titular division with no practical administrative function.

It includes three small archipelagos off the coast of Fujian Province of the People's Republic of China, namely the Matsu Islands, which make up Lienchiang County, and the Wuqiu Islands and Kinmen Islands, which make up Kinmen County. Its administrative center is the Kinmen-Matsu Joint Services Center in Jincheng, Kinmen, serving as its de facto capital. The province is also known as the Golden Horse (Chinese: 金馬; pinyin: jīnmǎ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kim-bé), after the literal reading of the Chinese character abbreviation for "Kinmen-Matsu".