4.2 Literacy, Education and Knowledge in Taiwan: A Historical Overview
4.2.3 Education under the ROC and Martial Law (1949-1987)
4.2.3.1 National Spirit Education, Identity and Sinicization 43
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democracy, and welfare. This was used as an integrating force for its emphasis on social cohesiveness. It was already introduced in China in 1911 as an underpinning factor.
4.2.3.1 National Spirit Education, Identity and Sinicization43
Education takes shape in particular social, political and cultural contexts (McLaughlin and Juceviciene, 1997). Education also plays an important role in the formation of national identity in a country. Gellner (1983) talks about the vital role of mass education in bringing about a national culture. It is one of the main purposes of education to inculcate the virtues which solidify the sense of unity along with patriotism among the students. Education through curriculum, teaching, language, text books and with the help of its impact on other social institutions attempt to inculcate a common identity. The formation of this common identity was sought by national spirit education.
Chiang Kai-shek opinioned that the defeat of KMT by CCP in Civil War was partly due to the failure of national spirit education (Chou, 1999; Tsai, 1997). This assertion made sure the entry of national sprit education into education goals, aims, national curriculum and textbooks. National spirit education born out of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s educational philosophy and eight Confucian values, viz. loyalty, filial piety, mercifulness, love, faithfulness, righteousness, harmony and peacefulness (Ministry of Education cited in Tsai and Bridges, 1997, pp. 37-38). In addition, national spirit education had also emphasized anti-communism and recovery of China from “Communist Bandits”. In a nutshell, national sprit education was an attempt to inculcate a Chinese national identity
43 Ming-tzu jing-sheng jiao-yuu translated as national spirit education by Chou (1997).
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that was present from pre-communist era. This development of looking for an identity existing in pre 1949 China led to various attempts of preserving the then characteristics, for instance traditional characters for writing Mandarin.
The question of identity or national identity in Taiwan was, and is, a burning issue.
It received a lot of attention during Martial Law when the policy of Sinicization of Taiwan was deliberately made a part of all official policies including school curriculum.
The year 1949, in the history of Taiwan is considered the beginning of “White Terror”.
With the implementation of Martial Law, the process of democratization in Taiwan got disrupted. One of the main purposes of Martial Law was to spread Chinese identity among the Taiwanese population. The Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was of the opinion that after fifty years of Japanese colonial rule, people of Taiwan had forgotten their real identity. They thought of themselves as Japanese. For him the aim of Japanese colonial rule was (by using power, ideology and cultural hegemony) to transform the people of Taiwan from Chinese to merely Japanese slaves. He acknowledged that to a great extent the Japanese were successful in their pursuit. He waged a whole new movement to retransform this so called Japanese slave identity of the people of Taiwan into their real identity which was Chinese since time immemorial. To achieve this goal and in response to Mao’s “Cultural Revolution”, Chiang Kai-shek began “Cultural Renaissance”. In schools, the “Cultural Renaissance” became an important part of all curricular and extra-curricular activities (Chun, 1994).
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The first main measure was adoption of Mandarin as national language in schools, offices and public places. The use of Mandarin was made mandatory. On the other hand, the use of Taiwanese was strictly prohibited. All opportunities in government or public sector were open only for those citizens who were capable of speaking Mandarin. The reason behind making Mandarin the national language was to inculcate Chinese nationalism among the various groups in Taiwan. Political scientists agree that the spread of a common language ensures and generates the sense of unity among the people of the same place. Smith places language along with ideology in the formation of nation. He defined nationalism as an ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity on behalf of a population deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or potential ‘nation’. In fact this definition embodies elements from both ideology and language-cum-symbolism of the nation (Smith, 1991, p. 73). In other words, language can be used to inculcate or arouse sentiments of nationalism, for example common national identity or sense of belonging to the country and people. Thus, Mandarin was being used to propagate Chinese nationalism in Taiwan.
Textbooks were at the heart of the education system as they were the only source of teaching (Su, 2007). During the Martial Law, the second measure adopted was revision of education. This responsibility of review of curriculum and publication of textbooks was assigned to the National Institute of Compilation and Translations (guoli bianyi guan)
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(NICT).44 For decades the NICT had served the ruling KMT in its aim of imprinting in Taiwanese hearts the nationalist view of what it meant to be Chinese, until the institution began to change at the end of the 1990s (Corcuff, 2002).
To inculcate Chinese nationalism, a textbook on “Filial to relatives and committed to the nation” was introduced under the course titled “Life and Ethics” (shenghuo yu lunli). The text began with a general discussion of Chiang Kai-shek’s childhood and why he chose to join the army. Stafford (1992) gives an example which goes like this:
You'll soon be grown up. You're very filial toward me, regularly helping with the chores, studying hard; it's clear that you're a good child. But you should know the real meaning [zhenyi] of filial piety [xiao]. So-called 'filial piety' isn't simply asking after, regularly working for, and supporting one's parents, etc. - the formal standards ... You need to know, filial piety and patriotism [zhong] are inseparable. When small, one should be utterly filial [jinxiao]
towards one's parents, when grown, one should be utterly loyal [jinzhong] towards the nation. If in the future you sacrifice yourself for the nation [xianshen baoguo, literally 'sacrifice the body-person to repay the country'], if you fulfill filial piety through your patriotism [yi xiao zuo zhong] and do great things for the nation and the people, that would truly be the 'Great Filial Piety' [daxiao], and that is my greatest hope for you (pp. 369-370).
The purpose of the textbook was purely propagandist. It was striving towards unconditional allegiance from people of Taiwan to give even their lives to serve the KMT
44 Some scholars have translated this as National Institute of Edition and Translation (NIET because bian has got two meanings one is compilation and other is edition. Here compilation appears more appropriate.
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government. It presented Chiang Kai-shek as a filial son towards his mother as well as the motherland.
The education policy was meant to contribute towards rapid economic development. Chiang Kai-shek was of the opinion that higher literacy rate accelerates economic development. Consequently compulsory elementary education was introduced in 1968. The government’s commitment was reflected in increased expenditure on education (Ashton, Green, James and Sung, 1999). In 1968, nine years of Compulsory Education comprising six years of elementary and three years of junior high school education was introduced in Taiwan. The policy played an important role in Taiwan’s economic modernization during 1960-1980.
The responsibility of education was assigned to NICT. The syllabus focused on only those issues and themes which were in tune with the legitimacy of Kuomingtang (KMT) rule and Chinese Nationalism. On the one hand, textbooks were full of values that favored the KMT’s leadership such as authoritarianism; loyalty to leaders and sacrifice for the nation; idolization of leaders; anti-communism; the importance of the recovery of the Chinese mainland; the labeling of the regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as Chinese communist bandits; the political and moral thoughts of Jiang Jie-she and Jiang Jing-guo (Law, 2002). On the other hand, values that were deemed by the ruling party to challenge their leadership were completely excluded from textbooks. Thus, the syllabus became an instrument to legitimize the KMT rule.
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4.2.3.1.1 Meilidao or Kaohsiung Incident45Amid this modernization endeavor and martial law, there were incidents of resistance shown by Taiwanese. The Meilidao incident is one such event worth mentioning here because it was the first time international HR were mentioned in Taiwan.
It compelled the ruling party to introduce further changes in the curriculum to avoid such opposition in near future. The Meilidao was a magazine which was established and started publication in August 1979. This magazine was a propagator of democracy in Taiwan and a staunch supporter of independent Taiwan. On December 10, 1979 the Meilidao has organized a rally to celebrate the International Human Rights Day in Kaohsiung. The request for the rally was rejected and declared illegal by the concerned authorities. But Meilidao decided to proceed with its original plan. The Kaohsiung police tried to disperse the crowd but suddenly a tussle between the crowed and police broke out.
Government announced that 182 policemen and one civilian injured (Roy, 2003). The Police arrested the eight rally organizers and charged them with sedition. They were
45 There is another incident preceded to Meilidao (where HR are being violated) worth mentioning i.e.
February 28 incident or popularly known as 2-2-8 incident. The 2-2-8 denotes February 28 of 1947. On this day, Taiwanese population collectively came on the streets of Taipei and opposing Taipei Monopoly Bureau. On February 27, two agents of Bureau harassed a woman, who was allegedly selling tobacco products of foreign brands, which was considered illegal. During this harassment few people interfered and in response to that the Bureau personnel fired. In outcome of that one person died on the spot and few injured. This act of Bureau personnel was considered brutal and against the democratic ethics. So, people had decided to demonstrate in front of the Bureau office but when they found it closed they moved to Governor General’s office, which was heavily guarded. They pressurized the government to accept their
“Thirty-two Demands”. The first demand was to give autonomy to Taiwan as a province within the ROC.
This demand can be considered as the first explicit instance of emerging Nationalism in Taiwan. But this movement could not culminate in full fledged Nationalism but it paved the way for national movement of Taiwanese national identity and Taiwan as an independent nation. Unfortunately later on this movement was brutally suppressed by Chen Yi’s administration with the help of army.
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charged that they demanded Taiwan independence on the other hand organizers expressed that they advocated for self determination. These eight people accused for Kaohsiung Incident were sentenced twelve years to life imprisonment.
The compulsory education gave the bureaucracy considerable power over influencing the formation of identity in young people (Hughes and Stone, 1999). In accordance with government’s repressive policy, all those works were banned which were taking up the issue of Taiwan as an independent entity or supporting Those who were found guilty of it got severe punishment by the KMT government. Thus, during the period between 1949 and 1971 education was being used as a hegemonic tool to promote Chinese nationalism on Taiwan. In 1975 after the death of Chiang Kai-shek, his son Chiang Ching-kuo became the chairman of KMT Central Committee. Younger Chiang was not in favor of Martial Law but decided to continue with it till its end in 1987. But he began to introduce some institutional changes. He has realized the fact that the “White Terror” cannot help further. People are aware of the current situation and they can anytime start the campaign against the KMT rule. So, he preferred to soften the rule and worked in the direction to make it more humane. The government believed that Taiwan in the 1980s would be a liberal society in which those in authority espoused a preference for procedures that encouraged the exploration of issues affecting the lives of its citizens (Tsai and Bridges, 1997). This shows the willingness of government to introduce changes which make society more liberal. In so doing, education was not ignored either. The then assistant Minister of Education made a statement:
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The assumption is that the society is changing all the time, so each proposed solution is a hypothesis to be tested. The structure of this society is temporary, multiple, dynamic, and the evolution of a great variety of value systems increases the severity of educational misconceptions. There are different ideas and values emerging in an open society, and education has an important and practical role to play in clarifying those values (Quoted in Wu, 1989, pp. 1-22).
This statement of assistant Minister of Education was an indication of the introduction of new reforms in various institutions of society, polity, economy through bringing changes in education system of Taiwan. For this, responsibility was being assigned to The Taiwan Provincial Institute for Elementary School Teachers’ In-service Education (The Taiwan Institute). The Institute a model loosely based on American model of curriculum development, but in Taiwan it was slightly changed and the focus here was inquiry teaching. In other words the Taiwan Institute brought reform in pedagogy rather than in curriculum. The basic premise of inquiry teaching is the teacher is the centre is learning process. The teacher controls and decides what should be taught and how should it be imparted and what would be the outcome? Thus, through inquiry teaching, KMT government again achieved success to impart the knowledge, they desired of. The aims of this reform of measure introduced in the form of inquiry teaching were being summed up by the Taiwan Institute as: To cultivate pupils’ manners, behaviors and habits of good living; to cultivate basic knowledge and ability to adapt to modern social
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life; to practice excellent traditional morality; to help them to be active pupils and patriotic citizens (Tsai and Bridges, 1997). This statement shows that the language has been changed but the attitude was still the same. In other words, the main focus or aim of education was still to inculcate Chinese nationalism among the students and to prepare this new generation in the same old pot. During the process of these reforms, Chiang Ching-kuo abandoned Martial Law in 1987. The renunciation of “White Terror” led to a whole new era of development in all sphere of life.