X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Taiwanese identity


Spoke-hub distribution paradigm

The US-Japan Security Treaty of 1951, US-Republic of Korea Defense Treaty of 1953 or US-Republic of China Security Treaty of 1954 are some of the examples that manifests these bilateral relations.

Taiwanese identity

Of the 23 million people in Taiwan, most are descendants of immigrants from Fujian and identify themselves as Hoklo whilst 15% are descendants of Hakka from Guangdong (Canton) and also Fujian.

There are Taiwanese historians who believe that the Hoklo, especially, are 90%-100% direct descendants of pure lowland aborigines in Taiwan.

During the period of Martial Law, when the Kuomintang (KMT) was the only authorised party to govern 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 forced aboriginal communities into the mountains.

Also, due to several government factions that ruled Taiwan prior to Japanese rule, many lowland aborigines were forcefully assimilated, and it was in their incentives to pass as Hoklo.


National identity

Although the official country name is "Republic of China" and its residents have been taught that their country is "China" and self-references in the educational system, textbooks, and school public announcements refer to students as "we Chinese..." in the 1980s and 1990s, growing numbers of adults in the 2000s started identifying themselves as "Taiwanese" in the face of hostile Chinese stance and military threat in the 2000s and the Pan-Green Coalition's promotion of Taiwanese identity.


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