Taiwanese people
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Taiwanese is a term refering to people originating from or inhabiting Taiwan. It emcompasses people who are citizens of the Republic of China (ROC) since 1949. As Taiwan is not an independant nation but is officially governed by the ROC, the official nationality of the people from Taiwan is Chinese.
[edit] Identity problem
The people of Taiwan to some extent suffer from an identity problem due to their history and differing backgrounds. This identity problem does not affect more recent Chinese immigrants who migrated to Taiwan since 1949 as they clearly identify themselves as Chinese (中國人 Zhōngguórén)
[edit] Chinese
Of the 23 million Taiwanese, 98% are descendants of ethnic Han Chinese. Of these, around 70% are descended from immigrants from Fujian and identify themselves as Hoklo whilst 15% are Hakka from Guangdong (Canton) and also Fujian. The ancestors of these people were laborers that crossed the Taiwan Strait to work on plantations for the Dutch. It is believed that these male laborers married local aborigine women, creating a new ethnic group of mixed Chinese and aborigine people. It is these descendants who identify themselves as Taiwanese and increasingly reject their identity as Chinese. The reason for this lies to a great extent with the authoritarian rule of the foreign Kuomintang (KMT) which fled mainland China during the Chinese Civil War and set up government in Taiwan. There was martial law that lasted four decades and was discriminatory against the existing inhabitants of Taiwan. Mandarin, a foreign language, was imposed as the national language (國語 Guóyǔ) and all other languages were made illegal. The harsh rule over Taiwan was lifted in 1988 and began a new era in Taiwanese history when Lee Tenghui, a Taiwanese, became president. The first transition of power from the China-centric KMT occurred in 2000 when Taiwanese Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidential elections. He has been making efforts to push for Taiwanese independence with statements that there are two nations across the Taiwan Strait; a push for plebiscite on independence; and the abolishment of the National Unification Council. Taiwanese opinion on independence is split between the northern and southern half of Taiwan which interestingly also divides the "mainlander" (外省人 Wàishěngrén; Person from outside the Taiwan province) in the north from the "Taiwanese" (本省人 Běnshěngrén; Person native to Taiwan province) in the south.
[edit] Japanese
Taiwan was once a colony of Japan for half a decade between 1895-1945. The Japanese made great efforts to build a model colony as a showcase to the world. During this time, both Chinese and the aborigines were all called Taiwanese. Under the Japanese, Taiwan became the second most advanced territory in Asia after Japan itself. During the last decade of Japanese rule, there was a policy of Kōminka (皇民化 Transformation into Imperial subjects) to instill the "Japanese spirit" (大和魂 Yamato damashī) to turn Taiwanese into Imperial subjects of the Japanese Emperor, in essense making them Japanese. This process was stopped when Japan was defeated in World War II and also prevented the complete integration of Taiwan as an integral part of Japan such as Okinawa and Hokkaido. During Japanese rule, Taiwanese were encouraged to adopt Japanese names. Many older generation Taiwanese have fond memories of Japan when compared to KMT rule. Even former president Lee Tenghui who has the Japanese name 岩里政男 (IWASATO Masao) had stated he is Japanese.
The Taiwanese people may refer to the people originating from or inhabiting Taiwan (including Taiwanese aborigines (1-2% of the population are pure aborigines), the Hoklo (65-70%) or Hakka ethnicity (15-20%). Taiwanese sometimes refers to more recent immigrants to Taiwan from mainland China), but usually refers to the three ethnic groups mentioned, who lived in Taiwan under Japanese occupation prior to the Mainlanders who came with Chiang Kai-shek.
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Taiwanese is often associated with those who speak the Taiwanese language associated with the Hoklo the largest ethnic group in Taiwan). The Hoklo communities in Taiwan, however, originated from single Hoklo male laborers from Fujian (hired by the Dutch) who married into Lowland Taiwanese aborigine communities. When statistics show that aborigines make less than 2% of Taiwan's population, they are often referring to pure-blooded aborigines, who are primarily highland aborigines of Taiwan's east coast. There are fragmented populations of lowland aborigines who still acknowledge their identity and heritage throughout Taiwan. Others have assimilated to a degree where their descendants speak Taiwanese and identify with the Hoklo majority, and it is possible to find a family where the grandparent still identifies as lowland aborigine, while the rest of his family identify as Hoklo. The Taiwanese Hakka communities, although arriving later to Taiwan from Eastern Guangdong and Fujian, may have also mixed through intermarriage with lowland aboriginal women as well. Hakka family trees are known for identifying the male ancestors by their ethnic Hakka heritage while leaving out information on the identity of the female ancestors. Also, during the process of intermarriage and assimilation, many of the lowland aboriginal women and their families took on the sinicized Hoklo and Hakka family names. Much of this happened in Taiwan prior to the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, so that by the time of Japanese occupation, most of the population that the Japanese classified as "Chinese" Hoklo and "Chinese" Hakka were in truth already of mixed ancestry. Physical features of both Taiwanese aborigine and Chinese can be found amongst the Taiwanese mainstream today.
The descendants of mainlanders (sometimes called the "New Taiwanese") live within the heart of large urban centers in Taiwan such as Taipei, Taichung, or Kaohsiung. Unlike, the Hoklo and Hakka of Taiwan, the mainlanders and their families are often distinguished as the "Pure" Chinese people of Taiwan. They live primarily in Taipei County where they make up almost half of Taipei City's population. Taiwanese of Hakka heritage live in communities such as Hsinchu, Chungli, Miaoli, Meinung, Pingtung, and Taitung in Taiwan. Taiwanese of Taiwanese aborigine heritage are primarily highland aborigines who live in the Central Mountain and Pacific Coastal regions of Eastern Taiwan. The Cities of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung are known for their aboriginal communities. Taiwanese of Hoklo heritage are the most widespread of the peoples and are spread out all over Taiwan.
During the period of Martial Law, where the Kuomintang (KMT) government was the sole party who governed Taiwan. The KMT government has "modified" Taiwan's history from a Greater China perspective and lump the pre-existing Hoklo and Hakka with the Mainlanders as Chinese, who came to Taiwan and pushed aboriginal communities into the mountains. This is a fallacy, because as mentioned earlier, the early Hoklo and Hakka who arrived in Taiwan have mixed with lowland aborigines in Taiwan. Also, due to several government factions that ruled Taiwan prior to Japanese occupation, many lowland aborigines were forcefully assimilated, and it was in their incentives to pass as Hoklo. There are Taiwanese historians who believe that the Hoklo, especially, are 90%-100% direct descendants of pure lowland aborigines in Taiwan. However, this is politically driven as well by Taiwanese who are extreme in their opposition to the KMT party.
