Republic of Formosa
The Republic of Formosa (), was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and it being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan, established in 1869.
Taiping Rebellion
In 1865, Liu Yongfu escaped in command of a splinter group known as the Black Flag Army (; ), which mainly recruited soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, and left Guangxi and moved into Upper Tonkin in the Empire of Annam, where his forces engaged in combat against the French. He later became the second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa (5 June–21 October 1895).