7. Chapter 7 - Sunflower political generation's Political values and attitudes
7.1 Self-identity
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7. Chapter 7 - Sunflower political generation's Political values and attitudes towards Cross-Strait relations
7.1 Self-identity
One of the distinguishing features of the Sunflower's political generation is self-identity.
In comparison with the 4th political generation that has a dual Taiwanese and Chinese identity, the Sunflower's political generation tends to hold a very clear Taiwanese identity. For them being Taiwanese is obvious, they do not doubt it. Most of them believe that they are Taiwanese because they are born in Taiwan and they do not feel that they have any connection with mainland China. One of the students of NCCU said that: "I'm Taiwanese. No doubt, it's a fact, we (Taiwan and China) are different countries with different histories, people, social structures, everything is different and our language was brought by the KMT. Don't forget we are a small island but we are 20 millions, we are bigger than Australia! We are different countries".148
During the interviews a couple of the respondents mentioned that their families originated from China and were subsequently influenced by Chinese culture. Despite this each of them still communicated with clarity that they believed they are Taiwanese.
One student provided the analogy between U.S and U.S immigrants to justify their self-identity.
"I'm Taiwanese, although, most Taiwanese can trace their ancestry back to China, but for me, I grow up and I was born in here, I love this land, and just as an example, people in US they might be immigrants from other countries, but if you ask them where they are from, they will say, America. My answer is the same"149
Out of all the in depth interviews conducted, only two people had a contrasting response. Only one student perceived himself as "Chinese". However, his thought process and resulting "Chinese" identity had a condition, that being Chinese meant embracing democracy: "I think that most of the younger generation consider themselves
148 Interview 1and 2. See Appendix.
149 Interview 18. See Appendix.
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as Taiwanese. but I am a little bit different. I say that I am "Chinese" from ROC, if China is a democracy, I'm Chinese. The condition is democracy"150
Another student of NCCU was a little confused about his self- identity, when answering the question, he stated:
"I think I have thought the question many times. In the past I thought that I was Taiwanese, but now, I'm not sure. I was born in Taiwan, but Chinese influenced me, so it's difficult to say..."151
The official data provided by the Electoral Study Centre in 2014, seems to reinforce the idea, that among young people, Taiwanese identity is very strong. According to the TEDS 2014, (see Table XV). 71.4% of the people between 20 and 29 years old perceived themselves as Taiwanese, 26.8% as both Taiwanese and Chinese and only 0.8% perceived themselves as Chinese.
Table XV: Self- identity Sunflower's Political generation
Taiwanese Both Chinese nonresponse
20-29 years old 71.4% 26.8% 0.8% 0.8%
Source. TEDS 2014
The explanation for this trend is two-fold: Firstly, the Sunflower Movement as a formative event brought the issue of Taiwanese identity to the table. The protests in Taiwan point to the emergence of a unified and more clearly articulated definition of what it means to be ‘Taiwanese’. In what has been a movement characterised by symbols, (from its name the Sunflower movement, to the ubiquity of black Facebook profile pictures on Taiwanese people Facebook pages), the languages of this movement are another symbol which points to the emergence of a new identity.152 During the protests, one of the identity tools to promote the Taiwanese identity was songs sang in Taiwanese. Despite that Mandarin is in Taiwan the lingua franca and the majority of the
150 Interview 19 and 20. See Appendix.
151 Interview 21. See Appendix.
152Maria-Alice Mclean-Dreyfus, "Protest songs and Taiwanese identity in the Sunflower
Movement" China Policy Institute blog, April 9, 2014
https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/chinapolicyinstitute/2014/04/09/protest-songs-and-taiwanese-identity-in-the-sunflower-movement/
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discourse was in Mandarin, some artists sang songs in Holo, evoking strong emotional reactions as it linked the song and the protest to a language long associated with Taiwan. Take for instance the unofficial anthem of the protest "Island Sunrise" (島嶼天 光) by the popular band Fire Ex, which was sung in Holo153. The Sunflower Movement is considered very successful in solidifying Taiwan’s identity and democracy, particularly through promoting the idea that “Taiwan is not for sale”; that proper distance between Taiwan and China ought to be maintained; and that the country should be ruled by the people. These are sentiments echoed not only by citizens in Taiwan but also many Taiwanese overseas .154
One of the students interviewed, said that the Sunflower Movement helped him to understand his own self-identity, for him, the Sunflower Movement was a turning point.
"Before (the Sunflower Movement) I thought that I was both Chinese and Taiwanese but now I'm Taiwanese. I discovered a lot of facts that point that I'm Taiwanese. I'm not Chinese. My family came from China but I was born here. The KMT twisted the history".155
Another explanation for the increase in perceived Taiwanese identity among this political generation is that they were educated under Chen-Shui Bians social policies.
They were born in the end of the 1980s and beginning of 1990s, and were fully educated under the "Taiwanization" of Taiwan. With the change of government in 2000 from the KMT to the DPP, the "Taiwanization" reached its peak with the full support of the government. Particularly, during Chen Shui Bian's second term. The branding of Taiwan (xingxiao Taiwan 行銷台灣 ) at both state and societal levels was witnessed everywhere, both inside and outside Taiwan. The cultural policy of the DPP emphasised the economic value of culture industries, the theorisation of Taiwanese subjectivity, and branding Taiwan as a cultural product. This new "homeland" was "constructed by promoting tourism in Taiwan, Taiwanese literature and new academic discipline of
"Taiwan studies". Mandarin remained the official language for general use, but "Native
153 Maria-Alice Mclean-Dreyfus, "Say it loud: language and identity in Taiwan and Hong "
Thinking Taiwan, November 6, 2014 http://thinking-taiwan.com/say-it-loud-language-ident-hktw/
154 Hui-Chiang, Chang and Richard Holt. Language, Politics and Identity in Taiwan, naming China. (New York: Routledge, 2015), 143.
155 Interview 13. See appendix.
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language was introduced as compulsory subject in elementary schools. The Pan-blue scholars saw Taiwanization as wholesale de-Sinicization.156
One student of NTU, suggested that the Sunflower's political generation was the "Chen Shui Bian generation". As he stated. "It is very interesting because my generation (...) in our school, from first year in junior high to senior high we were all under that generation. In Chen Shui Bian's time, they wanted to change the name of our country, they changed the name of the post office. Taiwan Post Office, but after my generation, they changed it back to China Post. 157