Taiwanese in China and their Multiple Identities, 1895-1945

From "Taiwanese in China and their Multiple Identities, 1895-1945", Chap. 4 in Multicultural Challenges and Redefining Identity in East Asia by Nam-Kook Kim (Google Books). In the initial years, the Chinese called the Taiwanese "scoundrels" and viewed them as rogues and criminals...

But who were these people? "Taiwan-registered" people in China were largely not from Taiwan. Most of them were Chinese who had acquired Taiwan registration and legal immunity. The various Chinese governments, including the governments of Amoy and Fujian, made repeated protests to the Japanese government over the problem of Chinese falsely assuming Taiwanese registration. But the Japanese, while agreeing to do something, actually did nothing, since such individuals served their interests. The author observes that if you look at the issue, you actually find that it was the Chinese who had bogus Taiwan registration who constituted the majority of the bad'uns...

Chinese used several approaches to gain Taiwanese registration, including joint ventures with Taiwanese, and "renting" Taiwanese IDs, a time-honored approach. Of course, many Taiwanese were involved in the opium trade themselves.

According to the writer, the dislike of Chinese for Taiwanese shifted in the 1930s. As China and Japan began to clash, Taiwanese became the objects for intense hatred for being Japanese. As a result, Taiwanese began concealing their identities when working in China. Some took on fake provincial identities as Fujian or Guangdong people so they could register for school.Others pretended to be Chinese who had lived in Taiwan. In addition to treating Taiwanese as Japanese, the Chinese also treated them as barbarians who lay outside civilization, shengfan ("raw savages").

During the KMT era and the war with Japan, things worsened... but I will discuss that tomorrow...
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!