Taiwan: Church Chronology

April 27–June 22, 1853 • Hong KongHosea Stout, James Lewis, and Chapman Duncan spent about two months in Hong Kong preaching the restored gospel but were unsuccessful.

August 1955 • Hong KongH. Grant Heaton and Luana Carter Heaton arrived at mission headquarters in Hong Kong to preside over the newly created Southern Far East Mission, which included Taiwan.

June 3, 1956 • Taipei, TaiwanThe first four missionaries to Taiwan, Duane W. Degn, Keith A. Madsen, Weldon J. Kitchen, and Melvin C. Fish, arrived after nine months of studying Mandarin Chinese in Hong Kong.

September 26, 1956 • TaipeiChin Mu-tsung (Richard) 金穆宗 encountered the Church through a group of Latter-day Saint servicemen and was baptized.

September 26, 1956 • TaipeiThe first literature printed in Chinese, a tract containing the Joseph Smith story from the Pearl of Great Price, was received by missionaries.

1956 • TaipeiA Chinese hymnal was compiled and 500 copies were printed.

September 28, 1957 • TaipeiChen Lin Shu-liang 陳林淑良 was baptized and shortly thereafter became the first local Relief Society president in the Taipei Branch, eventually serving as a district and stake Relief Society president for 25 years.

October 1, 1957 • TaipeiChurch members began meeting in a large, rented building in the center of the city. It also served as mission headquarters and provided housing for 12–16 missionaries.

January 1959 • TaiwanBetty Johnson arrived from Hong Kong and became the first sister missionary to serve in Taiwan. Her companion, Chiu Siou-ping (Donna) 邱秀平, became the first local missionary from Taiwan.

1959 • TaipeiLiang Jun-sheng 梁潤生 was called as the first local branch president of the Taipei Branch.

September 1960 • TaiwanChen Kun-huang (Charles) 陳坤煌 became the first local male missionary to serve in Taiwan.

March–August 1962 • TaiwanThe Church’s registration as an ecclesiastical body was approved, followed by registration as a corporation (a requirement in order to buy land) in August 1962.

November 2, 1963 • TaipeiLocal Saints broke ground for the first meetinghouse in Taiwan at Chin Hua Street in Taipei, contributing funds and donating labor. Elder Gordon B. Hinckley traveled there for the event.

December 20, 1965 • Hong Kong

The Book of Mormon was published in Chinese through the efforts of Hu Wei-i 胡唯 and Larry K. Browning.

October 16, 1966 • TaipeiThe first Church-owned meetinghouse in Taiwan was dedicated.

1968 • TaipeiA group of Latter-day Saints produced a music CD titled Voice of the Saints and sold it to raise funds to travel to the temple in Hawaii.

1974 • Hong Kong and TaiwanThe Doctrine and Covenants was published in Chinese by both the Hong Kong and Taiwan mission offices.

August 9, 1975 • Tokyo, JapanAt an area conference, Church President Spencer W. Kimball announced the construction of a temple in Tokyo that would serve members in Taiwan.

April 1976 • TaipeiThe Pearl of Great Price was published in Chinese.

April 22, 1976 • TaipeiThe Taipei Taiwan Stake was created with Chang I-ch’ing 張漪清 serving as first stake president.

1979–89 • TaipeiThe Church and the University of Chinese Culture conducted a collaborative project to microfilm Chinese family records throughout Taiwan, eventually collecting more 16,000 Chinese family records.

November 6, 1981 • Kaohsiung, TaiwanThe Kaohsiung Stake was organized with Ho Tung-hai 何東海 as stake president.

November 1984 • TaipeiChang I-ch’ing 張漪清 was called as a regional representative to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

November 17–18, 1984 • Taipei

The Taipei Taiwan Temple was completed. Gordon B. Hinckley, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, attended gatherings of the Saints to dedicate it.

February 27, 1988 • TaipeiThe Taiwan Missionary Training Center began classes for missionaries called from Taiwan.

April 3–8, 1989 • TaipeiThe Taipei West Stake and Taipei East Stake organized a Genealogy Exhibition at the National Library in Taipei, attracting 6,000 visitors.

July 1992 • Hong KongTai Kwok-yuen 戴國源 was called as a member of the Seventy, the first Chinese General Authority.

1993 • TaipeiWang Wei 王偉 and his wife, Wang Tan Hsiao-feng 王譚筱鳳, became the first Chinese members to preside over the Taipei Taiwan Temple.

December 18, 1994 • Taichung, TaiwanThe Taichung Stake was organized with Chou Wen-tsung 周文宗 as stake president.

August 15, 1995 • TaipeiLiang Shih-an (Kent) 梁世安 was called as an Area Authority Seventy.

October 31, 1997 • Tainan, TaiwanAn island-wide young single adult conference was held in Tzeng Wen Dam, with 350 members attending.

September 21, 1999 • TaiwanA major earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit Taiwan.

February 2000 • TaipeiLeaders in Taipei created an Employment Resource Service Center to help members secure employment opportunities through training and other support.

August 1, 2005 • TaipeiThe new Church Administration Building in Taipei, which was built on the site of the Chin Hua Chapel (the first Church-owned meetinghouse in Taiwan), was dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

2006 • TaiwanMembers celebrated the Church’s 50th anniversary and nearly-50,000-strong membership in Taiwan with a bicycle race, firesides, member-missionary reunions, and other special events.

March–April 2006 • TaiwanLocal Church units hosted genealogy exhibitions in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung.

January 2009 • TainanUnder the coordination of Chyou Shu-min 邱淑敏, a Church family history specialist, the Tainan City government and Tainan Taiwan Stake co-hosted a genealogy fair attended by nearly 5,000 people during the Chinese New Year holiday.

July 16–26, 2009 • KaohsiungIn conjunction with the city of Kaohsiung hosting 4,600 athletes and coaches from 103 countries along with international visitors for the World Games, Latter-day Saint missionaries provided language teaching, hosting, and translation services.

August 2009 • TaiwanAfter Typhoon Morakot hit southern Taiwan with the heaviest rainfall in 50 years, displacing thousands and killing hundreds, truckloads of relief supplies were shipped from the Church’s headquarters in Taipei. Members and missionaries from throughout Taiwan put on Helping Hands vests and spent several days cleaning mud from homes and businesses.

October 2016 • TaiwanSeveral thousand Latter-day Saints gathered to celebrate the Church’s 60th anniversary in Taiwan with events such as a family discovery day and a missionary reunion.

February 2017 • TaiwanTaiwanese Latter-day Saint women gathered for the visit of Linda K. Burton, General President of the Relief Society, and Bonnie H. Cordon, Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency.

June 30, 2018 • TaipeiThe first Taiwan Sisters Conference was held on June 30, 2018, with 510 Latter-day Saint women attending keynote and breakout sessions.