Why can't Taiwanese people accept their Chinese heritage?

Red_Army

Active member
Brief History
During the Ming Dynasty, mainland Chinese people started to colonize the island of Formosa(Taiwan). In the 1660s, the last reminants of the Ming Dynasty government settle in Taiwan until 1682, when the Qing Emperor Kangxi defeated them and intergrated Taiwan into its territory. As of 1682 until 1895, the island of Taiwan became part of China.

Inhabitants of Taiwan
Yes there are aboriginals in Taiwan, but their numbers are very small. Most of Taiwanese people are actually people who migrated to Taiwan during the Ming Dynasty. Before their Chinese ancestors came to Taiwan, the aboriginals didn't speak or write Chinese. Doesn't this prove that Taiwanese are actually Chinese? I accept the fact that 2 million Nationalists from the mainland came to Taiwan in 1949, but if they didn't come to Taiwan. The rest of the inhabitants would still be considered Chinese because their ancestors are from the Ming Dynasty.
 
How many topics like this are you going to start and have locked before you either figure out not to start them or wind up banned?
 
:shock: - Another topic like this?
:x - Should I respond to this again?
:( - Hmm....
:) - Oh why bother.
:D - At least it's Friday!
 
Re: Why can't Taiwanese people accept their Chinese heritage

Red_Army said:
Brief History
During the Ming Dynasty, mainland Chinese people started to colonize the island of Formosa(Taiwan). In the 1660s, the last reminants of the Ming Dynasty government settle in Taiwan until 1682, when the Qing Emperor Kangxi defeated them and intergrated Taiwan into its territory. As of 1682 until 1895, the island of Taiwan became part of China.

Inhabitants of Taiwan
Yes there are aboriginals in Taiwan, but their numbers are very small. Most of Taiwanese people are actually people who migrated to Taiwan during the Ming Dynasty. Before their Chinese ancestors came to Taiwan, the aboriginals didn't speak or write Chinese. Doesn't this prove that Taiwanese are actually Chinese? I accept the fact that 2 million Nationalists from the mainland came to Taiwan in 1949, but if they didn't come to Taiwan. The rest of the inhabitants would still be considered Chinese because their ancestors are from the Ming Dynasty.

I guess because they live in a democratic politic and capitalist sistem where they have all kinds of rights and the fact of changing to a comunist one might not be the best....
 
Brief History
During the Ming Dynasty, mainland Chinese people started to colonize the island of Formosa(Taiwan). In the 1660s, the last reminants of the Ming Dynasty government settle in Taiwan until 1682, when the Qing Emperor Kangxi defeated them and intergrated Taiwan into its territory. As of 1682 until 1895, the island of Taiwan became part of China.

This is one of those pointless agruments that completely overlooks the fact that currently the Taiwanese dont want to be "Mainland Chinese".
Its like the French and Germans wondering why the British dont want want to be French/German/Scandinavian after all a sizable chunk of the British population is of French/German/Norse descent or to be even more outlandish how about a claim to the world by Ethiopia as all human life (at this point) is deemed to have started there.

I think what needs to be looked is the differences separating mainland china from from Taiwan and not the siimilarities.
 
Quote: "Why can't Taiwanese people accept their Chinese heritage?"

Heritage or Political association?
 
Its like the French and Germans wondering why the British dont want want to be French/German/Scandinavian after all a sizable chunk of the British population is of French/German/Norse descent or to be even more outlandish how about a claim to the world by Ethiopia as all human life (at this point) is deemed to have started there.

yes, but taiwanese are essentially chinese, they speak the same, write the same, eat the same, do the same and belive the same religon

we respect them and let them run businesein china, we let them do alot of thigns just to show how good willed we are towards our little brother.

i guess its those rebellious ChenshuibienSOBs who are behidn this[/code]
 
If ever a topic was beaten to death, then beaten and beaten after its death ...

But to answer the main question, I don't think that it is true that the people of Taiwan are so much "Denying their Chinese Heritage" or "Denying Reality" or denying anything at all. Seems to me that there is plenty of pride in their Chinese heritage.

There is an aboriginal component to their overall population, but I've yet to see anybody provide a legitimate source to prove that that group constitutes a majority the population of Taiwan. From the late Ming Dynasty on, Taiwan is completely and totally dominated by Chinese Culture and by China itself. It already had strong roots in Chinese Culture and ancestry long before this. There seems to be a lot of focus on proving that they are a unique and separate people, but that argument seems pointless since "Chinese" constitutes a long list of ethnic groups anyways.

The really valid point behind the independence movement in Taiwan seems to be more along the lines of "We've already an independent country for all intents and purposes, why not just make it official?" Much of the opposition to that movement sees the idea of independence as a betrayal of their Chinese Heritage. Isn't it interesting that that this is a perfect description of the 13 Colonies (later the USA) as of 1776?

The difference is that Taiwan will lose its Revolutionary War, guaranteed. Hard to predict how quickly it all ends, but the PLA doesn't have much water to cross to get there and they have such overwhelming numbers that the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

Ultimately, the whole world will lose, China included, in the aftermath. Lets say that the USA, Europe, ASEAN and everyone else does not get involved militarily and Taiwan is overrun. The entire world community will condemn this invasion and sever economic ties with China. You can pretty well guarantee they would on the basis of "Human Rights", or whatever you like. Nobody stands to gain anything from such a conflict.

I think that both sides are a bit childish and stupid about the whole thing. On the one hand, China is a kid who says a toy is his and "If you take my toy from me I'm going to beat you up!" The Taiwanese Indendence side is comparable to an unarmed man on a street throwing rocks at a tank that has its barrell and machine guns aimed right at him. The tank crew has warned him that if he does not stop throwing rocks, they will open fire. He continues to throw rocks. Now that's just plain stupid!
 
Geez this is stupid.
How about, "why can't China just shut the h3ll up?"
Heck, I'm of Chinese descent but I feel absolutely NO allegiance towards China. I'm a citizen of South Korea first... and a guy with a soft spot for Europe 2nd :lol:
 
Question...

Howcome you have no soft spot for Asia but the Europeans? If China is the problem, well, China=/= Asia.

You are SK citizen, you are not supposed to have allegiance to China.
 
maybe the mods should put in a filtering device that everytime the words china and taiwan are mentioned close to eachother, the thread gets automatically locked.
 
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