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PS 111 Taiwan Lecture

The document discusses the history and politics of Taiwan. It describes how Taiwan was originally inhabited by indigenous tribes and then saw migration from China in the 1600s. It outlines the ethnic divide between those with ancestry from mainland China and the original Taiwanese inhabitants. It also details the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang government after it retreated to Taiwan following the Chinese civil war and its repression of Taiwanese people and promotion of export-led industrialization.

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Jim Manao
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20 views

PS 111 Taiwan Lecture

The document discusses the history and politics of Taiwan. It describes how Taiwan was originally inhabited by indigenous tribes and then saw migration from China in the 1600s. It outlines the ethnic divide between those with ancestry from mainland China and the original Taiwanese inhabitants. It also details the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang government after it retreated to Taiwan following the Chinese civil war and its repression of Taiwanese people and promotion of export-led industrialization.

Uploaded by

Jim Manao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TAIWAN

-Originally inhabited by aboriginal, hunting ang gathering tribes


- Migrants from Fukien (Fujian) and Kwangtung ( Guangdong) settled in 1600s pushing the
natives back to the mountains.
- Today, 70% are descendants of the migrants and call themselves ethnic Taiwanese.
- Migrants from central and North China and retreating Nationalist Army (Kuomintang) in 1940s
are called mainlanders.
- This ethnic split is a key element of political tensions in Taiwan politics.
Kuomintang (KMT)
- After WW2, KMT was defeated by the Communist Party (China) and retreated and eventually
dominated and ruled Taiwan.
- They built a government in-exile resting and hoping to retake China soon again.
- KMTs rule in Taiwan (Post-war) was repressive.
- February 28, incident- KMT crushed natives protest calling for social reform
- KMT’s iron rule consolidated its power through terror and socially engineered Taiwan’s
society.
KMTs re-engineering of Taiwan focused on:
1) Anti-communist war mobilization: by imposing martial law and restricted social protests or
suspicious gatherings
2) Export-led Industrialization: By favoring compatriot mainlanders to lead new industrial
enterprises of Taiwanese to small business
* This arrangement limited the opportunities of Taiwanese to small business, further intensifying
ethnic tensions.
- In 1970s, Taiwanese intellectuals opposed the KMT (dominated by mainlanders) thru the
Formosa magazine.
-Opposition grew and demanded democratic reforms.
- In 1979, crackdown ended the intellectual fermentation. Many intellectuals and opposition
leaders were arrested.

KMT NEO-CONFUCIANISM
- KMT’s revival of Confucian values in Taiwan resulted to: relatively loose control over society
and efficiency in promoting economic growth.
- KMT catered {new} conservative cultural policy out of traditional cultural elements.
- Chinese Nationalism, Political loyalty, and Chiang Kai-shek cult personality were
propagandized through state-controlled communications and education channel to combat
cosmopolitan liberalism and local political culture.
SUNISM
- KMT’S official ideology, the political philosophy of Doctor Sun Yat-sen in the early 20th
century.
- Sunism advocated for Chinese Nationalism, gradual evolution to democracy and state socialism
for the benefit of people’s livelihood.
-Sun, baptized as Christian and trained as medical doctor- admires western science & liberalism
but cherished cultural legacies of Chinese Confucianism.
Upon Sun’s death in 1925, KMT was internally divided by left-wing and right-wing forces both
claiming legitimate interpretation of Sunism.
- Right-wing was cultural traditionalists, who envisioned national unity under a tutelary state.
- Left-wing aimed at national liberation through a workers and peasant movement
- KMT made a pragmatic use of Sunism to justify its anti-communist crusade and domination of
native society.
- Nationalism therefore means submission to the US-imposed cold war world order (anti-
communist and liberal)
- The gradual move towards democracy meant electoral procedures could be indefinitely
postponed.
- Claim for people’s livelihood justified ownership and land reform, deciminating native class of
industrialists, managers & landlords.

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