The Rise and Changing Nature of Taiwanese Nationalism

In the context of the on-going complex political interaction between Taiwan and mainland China, this paper offers an analysis of the historical-structural evolution of Taiwanese identity over the past one hundred years. It charts the birth and development of Taiwanese nationalism through five key historical periods: the Japanese colonisation of the island of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945; the reunion of Taiwan and mainland China between 1945 and 1949; the prolonged confrontation between the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan and the increasing international isolation of the Taiwanese from 1949 to 1970s; democratisation and the emergence of a democratic state in the late 1980s and early 1990s; and the trend towards a civic nationalism since the mid-1990s. In moving through these historical periods this paper endeavours to trace the cultural and political origins, as well as the changing faces of, nationalist discourses in Taiwan in order to further scholarly understanding of both the cultural politics of Taiwan and the development of the nation-state in general.