A solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and the Earth.
Yesterday's full eclipse was the longest this century,lasting more than six minutes.
Taiwan's partial eclipse started around 8:23 a.m. and reached its largest expanse more than one hour later, around 9:40 a.m., before disappearing shortly after 11:00 a.m.
Crowds gathered at large expanses such as Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and at dozens of schools and universities across Taiwan. Free special viewing spectacles were distributed.
Taiwan was located just south of the area where the full eclipse could be observed, with a level of 80 percent in the north of the country, and 70 percent in the south.
The island of Matsu, close to the coast of China's Fujian Province, saw the most thorough echpse, with the sun being covered for 86.8 percent.
The Taipei City Government set up observation points at four sites across the capital,including the Taipei Zoo in Muzha. The Taipei Astronomical Observatory, which usually can welcome up to 2,000 people, was full with space amateurs, some of whom had asked the day off from work, reports said.
Through its website, the observatory also offered views of the full eclipse in the Chinese cities of Chongqing, Suzhou and Shanghai, but the site broke down several times under the number of hits.
The Taipei Zoo said its animals had not reacted to the eclipse because the sky had not turned dark, making this Wednesday just a normal partly overcast day.
Some Taiwanese who had traveled to China to see the full eclipse felt disappointed because cloudy skies in some parts of the country prevented them from witnessing the historic event, reports said.
