Kim Byung-Hyun, Park Chan-Ho, and Ryu Hyun-jin. Taiwan See: :Category:Baseball in Taiwan. Baseball has been played in Taiwan for more than 100 years. It was introduced by the Japanese who ruled the island from 1895 to 1945. In the days of Japanese colonial rule, baseball was known by its Japanese name, yakyu, and was initially played only by Japanese. Later, the sport was promoted around the island to improve the people's physical and mental health. The first official game played on the island was in March 1906 in Taipei City. Two local schools, precursors of today's Jianguo High School and the Taipei Municipal University of Education drew a 5–5 tie, opening the first page in the history of Taiwan baseball. Soon, other schools and business all over the island started to form teams. During its budding stage, however, most of the stronger baseball teams were from northern Taiwan, especially Taipei, which was the birthplace of the sport and home to several prominent schools and companies. The turning point came in 1931 when a team of students from southern Taiwan's Chiayi School of Agriculture and Forestry beat a team from northern Taiwan. The Chiayi team was made up of Japanese and Taiwanese students. Their victory meant that baseball had become a sport of the entire island. They also made Taiwan qualify for a national high school tournament at the Koshien Stadium in Japan where they won Second place over 600 high schools around Japan. The groundbreaking victory not only earned the Taiwanese baseball players greater respect from their Japanese counterparts, but also encouraged more people in Taiwan to play baseball, eventually making it Taiwan's national sport. The Little Leagues After the Second World War, the baseball fever continued to spread even faster under the Kuomintang government. The sport gradually turned into a national symbol that united the country. What first brought Taiwan baseball worldwide fame was a bunch of little leaguers between the ages of 11 and 13. The Little League teams had done amazingly well and had dominated in the world competition held annually in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for decades. In the 27 years from 1969 to 1996, Taiwan won 17 Little League World Series Championships—an overall number second only to the United States and almost three times in comparison with the third place, Japan. As of 2009, Taiwan has participated in 20 Little League World Series Championships. The birth of