Taiwanese localization movement
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Localization or Taiwanization (Chinese: 本土化; pinyin: Běntǔ huà; Pe̍h-oē-jī: pún-thó͘-hòa) is a political term used within Taiwan to emphasize the importance of Taiwan's culture rather than to regard Taiwanese as solely an appendage of China. This involves the teaching of history of Taiwan, geography, and culture from a local perspective, as well as promoting languages locally established in Taiwan, including Hoklo, Hakka and aboriginal languages.
Originally part of the Taiwan independence movement, its aims are now endorsed by some supporters of Chinese reunification on Taiwan. In its rejection of a monolithic officially sponsored Han Chinese identity in favor of one rooted in local culture, it bears some resemblance to the Xungen movement in mainland China.
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[edit] Effects
The localization movement has been expressed in forms such as the use of dialect in the broadcast media and entire channels devoted to aboriginal and Hakka affairs.
Textbooks have been rewritten by scholars to more prominently emphasize Taiwan. The political compromise that has been reached is to teach both the history of Taiwan and the history of mainland China and to avoid as much as possible the issue of whether Taiwan is or is not part of China.
Some companies or organisations established in earlier times have names containing the words "China" or "Chinese". They are encouraged to change the word "China" in their names to "Taiwan", as an act of localization. The campaign for changing the names is known as "the Campaign for the Correction of Names" (正名運動, zhèng míng yùn dòng). However due to cost associated with it, not many companies actually complied.
[edit] History
The roots of the localization movement began during the Japanese occupation on Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, when groups organized to lobby the Imperial Japanese government for greater Taiwanese autonomy and home rule. Before the Kuomintang (KMT) entirely retreated to Taiwan, the Taiwan home-rule groups were decimated in the wake of the 228 Massacre of 1947. The Kuomintang viewed Taiwan primarily as a base to retake the mainland and quickly tried to subdue potential political opposition on the island. The Kuomintang did little to promote a local identity; often mainlanders working in administrative positions lived in neighborhoods where they were segregated from the Taiwanese. Others, especially poorer refugees, were shunned by the Hoklo Taiwanese and lived among aborigines instead. The mainlanders often did not adopt the Taiwanese dialect, since Mandarin was enforced as the official language of the Republic of China. The promotion of Chinese nationalism within Taiwan and the fact that the ruling group on Taiwan were considered outsiders by some were the reasons cited for both the Taiwanese independence movement and localization.
In the 1970s and 1980s there was a shift in power away from mainlanders to local Taiwanese. This, combined with cultural liberalization and the increasing remoteness of the possibility of retaking the mainland, led to a cultural and political movement which emphasized a Taiwan-centered view of history and culture rather than one which was China-centered. Localization was strongly supported by President Lee Teng-hui.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, the trend toward localization was also co-opted by pro-unification groups who, while supporting Chinese nationalism, also began to regard the actions of Chiang Kai-shek in the 1950s and 1960s as excessive. Morever, many prominent pro-unification politicians, most notable James Soong, former head of the Government Information Office, who once oversaw the limitation of local dialects in the media, began taking the habit of speaking in Hoklo on semi-formal occasions.
[edit] Support
There is no significant opposition to the concept of localization on Taiwan. Prior, there has been resistance from the Pan-Blue coalition, which advocates retaining a strong link to mainland China, especially over such issues as what histories to teach. Nonetheless both of the two major political forces have since then reached a consensus, and the movement have a popular base.
On the mainland, the PRC government has officially adopted a relatively neutral policy on Taiwanese localization movement and does not consider the localization movement to be either a violation of its One China Policy or equivalent to the independence movement.
[edit] Dispute
There is, however, a deep dispute between the three main political groups of Taiwan independence, Chinese reunification, and supporters of Chinese culture. Pro-independence supporters argue that Taiwan is and should be enhancing an identity which is separate from the Chinese one, and in more extreme cases advocates the removal of Chinese "imprints". Meanwhile, some would argue that Taiwan should create a distinctive identity that either exists within a broader Chinese one or link strongly back to the original Chinese one. Those who support Chinese reunification call for a policy of enhancing the Chinese identity. Groups that support Chinese reunification and Chinese nationalism have emphasized the distinction between localization and what some perceive as desinicization and argued that they do not oppose the promotion of a Taiwanese identity, but rather oppose the use of that identity to separate itself from a broader Chinese one. On the other hand, a few apolitical groups have pointed out that most of the political factions merely use these points to win support for elections.
