When it comes to YouTube videos about Taiwan, I often start rolling my eyes before I even press the play button. This one was no exception: With the title “Why didn’t China Conquer Taiwan” and a “China vs Taiwan” thumbnail, I didn’t expect historical accuracy. I was however mistaken.
My interest in Taiwan is purely personal, and I have no relevant academic qualifications whatsoever. However, having watched many similar videos, I can say this is as good an introduction to Taiwan’s history as you’re likely to get in under 11 minutes, sponsor segments included.
If you like animated videos and would like to learn more about Taiwan, I highly recommend this playlist from the “Taiwan Bar” YouTube channel. Their most recent video goes into further detail on the Qing rule of Taiwan:
The Strategy Stuff channel also has an excellent and very detailed video, but even though it only covers 1624 to 1683, it is over 40 minutes long:
Bonus: AI accuracy rating experiment
I fed the transcript of the first video to ChatGPT 5, Google Gemini 2.5 Pro (with “grounding” through Google search), Claude Sonnet 4 (research mode) and Kimi K2 (researcher) and asked for a historical accuracy rating:
| Model | Accuracy rating | Justification |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT 5 | 8/10 | “a solid, broadly accurate historical narrative with strong emphasis on major events—from Koxinga to the Cold War—though it leans into dramatic language and a few embellishments.” |
| Google Gemini 2.5 Pro | 9/10 | “accurately presents the main sequence of Taiwan’s complex history, […] with only minor simplifications for the sake of a brief narrative.” |
| Claude Sonnet 4 | 7.5/10 | “while it gets the vast majority of facts, dates, and major events correct with impressive precision, it contains one significant error (claiming Taiwan’s Republic of Formosa was “Asia’s first republic” when the Lanfang Republic predated it by over a century)” |
| Kimi K2 | 8/10 | “a generally accurate, albeit simplified, overview of Taiwan’s complex history, [,,,] but simplifies complex socio-political dynamics into a more digestible, conflict-driven storyline” |
Note: Because it’s a Chinese model, I didn’t expect Kimi.com to answer the question. To my surprise, it gave me not only the longest and most pleasant-to-read evaluation, but also a neat “interactive report,” which you can see here. I made only minor edits: added and embedded a link to the video, replaced a photo and description for copyright reasons, and changed the footer from “© 2025 Historical Accuracy Evaluation” to “generated by Kimi AI.
