Relational Comparisons

3.3.1. Relational Comparisons: Content

For relational comparison I argue that the colonial context and relational comparison to the Japanese created the notion of Taiwanese as a common identity. I argue that at the time of the Japanese landing in 1895 there were neither a single Taiwanese, nor a single Chinese identity on the island. I argue that the Japanese broke down the cleavages in the existing structures and unknowingly facilitated for the notion of Taiwanese as a single unit.

In 1895 there seemed to be no cross-island common Chinese identity in Taiwan.

Instead the different groups of the island can be described as belonging to different Sub ethnic Han Chinese identities. The two key factors in the sub divide were the different Chinese origins of the population as well as the lack of governance and control of the colony. The Chinese population in Taiwan originated almost entirely from Southern Fujian and Eastern Guangdong province. Isolated and cut apart by the geography of the area, the native population developed different identities. Thus the different groups emigrating to Taiwan was not the same ethnic group. The Taiwanese sub ethnic groups differed in dialects and provenance. Most of the population was Hakka or Hokkien speakers, whose dialects remained mutually unintelligible. In addition to the separation between Hakka and Hokkien speakers, the rivalry between different Hokkien groups in

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effect created three different sub ethnic groups in Taiwan. The different groups tended to settle in areas according to their local origin. The groups shared a number of the same traditions, beliefs and forms of organization. All the groups were characterized by the prevalence of powerful kinship and surname groups. Immigrants settling in new areas tended to regroup themselves according to their surnames. Settler bands emigrating from other parts of Taiwan tended to settle in surnames groups as well. (Lamey, 1981)

The lacking governance structures on Taiwan created even deeper cleavages and divide between the different ethnic groups. Community conflicts would arise concerning irrigation, commercial facilities, or land disputes. The corrupt and incapable local

officials were unable to settle the disputes. As a result, the local leaders consolidated their power through ethnic ties with a focus on protecting their own members. The division between the groups became deeper after repeated conflicts. Over time, even the smallest arguments could lead to outbreaks of communal strife. In addition, during uprisings the regime would use “righteous volunteers” from the other ethnic groups to suppress the rebellions. The volunteers would often join more as revenge towards other ethnic groups than support of the regime. In this system, the regime stayed in power, while the ethnic groups further strengthened the resentments towards other groups. According to Wang, the ethnic divide was part of a Chinese policy aimed at preventing a single Taiwanese identity challenging the government, and potentially uses the island as a potential base for future attack against China. Under this system the people did not develop a single identity, neither Chinese nor Taiwanese. Instead the groups shared local identities based on their original origin in China. (Wang, 2010:23)

When the Japanese arrived in Taiwan, their main priority was to pacify and take control over the island. From 1895 the Japanese launched a series of military campaigns.

The military campaigns crushed existing local power structures, and replaced them with a modern Japanese state apparatus. By crushing the existing structures, the Japanese

removed some of the cleavages between the different sub ethnic groups in Taiwan. As the Japanese took control of the island, the collective identity was shaped in relation to the Japanese. In the initial stages the Japanese crushed existing power structures on the island replacing them with modern day institutions and rule of law.

Before 1895 local leaders would consolidate their power through ethnic ties with a focus

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on protecting their own members. In the modern system, the government and the law created a safe environment for the people. Thus the Japanese state removed one of the consolidating factors separating the different ethnicities. In addition the Japanese adopted a different form of hegemonic control. In the Qing era, the government purposefully kept the identities divided in order to prevent a unified identity challenging the government.

Compared the Japanese created a top down hierarchal structure for control. Legitimizing rule through threats and mediation. The new system removed the feudal system and element of revenge from society. Although the identities were still divided, the Japanese governance removed the basis for further divide, thus creating an environment with less ethnic cleavages. (Wang, 2010)

In the 1910s a new generation of Taiwanese elites emerged. Through the Japanese colonial education the students were educated, over time the students and the elites started demanding more education. The events surrounding the opening of the Taichu middle schools shows a growing demand for opportunities by the Taiwanese. The

colonial Japanese rulers considered themselves racially superior to the Taiwanese. On the basis that Japan was a superior culture they discrimination against the native population.

The discrimination was implemented legally as well as through social structures. Legally practices such as the Hoko system only applied to the Taiwanese citizens. The system forced tasks and obligation on the citizens, and was only enforced for Taiwanese. Further the Taiwanese lacked the civil rights and rights of suffrage given to them by the Japanese Constitution. In the social aspect there were two different tracks of education: a high quality education for Japanese residing in Taiwan and a separate basic education for Taiwanese. Until the 1920s only a limited number of the Taiwanese were able to join the education. When the students had finished their education the discrimination continued.

Taiwanese would get paid less than Japanese for the same position. Taiwanese were neither able to rise to high-ranking positions. (Ching, 2001)

Starting around 1918 the Japanese adopted assimilation policies. The policies aimed at turning the population into Japanese. The process of becoming Japanese was based on the superiority of the Japanese culture, and further consolidated the Taiwanese as second rank citizens. In the same period the number of Taiwanese elites started to grow. The new intellectual elites grew up in modernized Taiwan and large a large number

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of them received education in Japan. The Japanese intellectual society of the time was dominated by western philosophies and ideas of liberal thinking. Being exposed to liberal ideas as well as interacting with students from China and Korea the Taiwanese students became involved in the colonial opposition. Trough their education they learned about society and also became more ambitious and started demanding more possibilities. The ethnic discrimination against the entire Taiwanese community, under the discrimination the people of the island started to develop a sense of being in the single community with a common identity. The colonial context meant that the people of the island could not look toward China for advancement in society. Similar the advancement within Taiwan was blocked by the colonial structures. Based on liberal principles the liberals demanded rights on the basis that they were different from Japanese and needed separate laws. In the colonial context, any signs of Chinese culture were forbidden, thus the elites created a notion of Taiwanese as a separate identity. As a way of protesting against the colonial mistreatments and advocate change, the Taiwanese elites started developing a nationalist discourse based on Taiwanese as a common identity for the people.

3.3.2. Relational Comparison Contestation:

As discussed in my analysis of constitutive norms The Japanese relied on system of top down hegemonic control mediating the elites as a way winning over the masses.

Within the system the elites were given more opportunities for education and progress in the age of modernization. As a result the elites were more exposed to the Japanese

influences in society while the masses remained more Chinese. At the end of the Japanese era, I also argue that there was a generational difference between the older and younger generations concerning their identification and influences from the Japanese state.

In relation to the Japanese the elites and urban population gained more of the benefits from the Japanese rule. They had more opportunities in education. The Japanese brought a modern day capitalist system, created jobs for Taiwanese commerce and traders.

The urban areas were also the first to gain electricity and had access to modern hospitals.

Yet the urban population experienced more of the discrimination from the Japanese. For students at the high schools the different treatment became obvious. People working besides Japanese workers would notice the difference in payment for the same jobs.

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Japanese workers were preferred over better-qualified Taiwanese applicants for jobs.

Compared the rural population received less benefits, but did not interact with the Japanese e in their daily lives. Still the new rulers gave them extra duties, in the hoko system the rural population has more duties such as building roads and maintainging , or draining the swamps for mosquitos. (Tsai, 1990)

In the 1930s the policies of assimilation were intensified. During the period of Kominka the Japanese tried to turn the Taiwanese into Japanese imperial subjects.

Through education and through the Kominka movements religious, name changing, language and volunteer movement, a number of Taiwanese started developing a Japanese feeling. During the Kominka period a number of people started developing a Japanese identity.

By 1945, after several years of war and intense assimilation through the Kominka policies, there was a distinction between the different generations of Taiwanese and their level of Japanization. As Chou argues, Taiwanese of different ages reacted differently to the movement. Many of the youth aged fifteen to twenty-five during the Kominka period perceived themselves as Japanese by the end of the war. The young generation was born in a modernized Taiwan and receiving education in the Japanese common school. They were too young to experience discrimination in working life, and did not experience a time of unrest with accompanying harsh Japanese policies and penalties. They looked upon Japan as a modern emerging power and could not imagine Taiwan outside of the Japanese Empire. The Kominka movement had two goals. One was to turn the people into Japanese imperial citizens; the other was to mobilize the people for the war efforts.

Being in the age to become soldiers, the majority of the campaigns during Kominka movement were aimed precisely at young generation at the time of formative change.

Therefore there is no wonder that the younger generations developed more Japanese feelings. (Chou, 1990:224)

The older generation was not much affected by the period of Kominka and war.

The older generation was not educated in the Japanese education system. As a result they did not speak the language. Many of the people were too old to learn a new language, and the Japanese rulers did not put substantial efforts of teaching them the national language.

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As all the Japanese propaganda and mobilization efforts were in Japanese they were not affected by the Japanization and remained more of the Chinese aspects of culture. (Chou, 1990:225)

According to Chou the last group consisted of the people who had received some degree of Japanese education, but were matured to age before the war. The group,

especially the middle class was described as very ambivalent. The group was described as enthusiastically learning Japanese, and was well accustomed to use the Japanese language.

Through the Japanese education, the group was influenced by Japanese culture and customs. A large portion of the group seemed to have accepted the fact that Taiwan was a permanent territory of Japan and that independence or reunification with was unlikely.

Yet the group experiences the discrimination from the Japanese. It was the same group who initiated the anti colonial movements. Analyzing the four different Kominka practices one finds that group learned the Japanese language. However, like the rest of society, the middle-aged group refused the Japanese religion. The group was reluctant to change their names in the name changing movement. However the group seemed to support the Volunteer programs. Many of the volunteers in the program were from this generation. It is not clear why so many people joined the volunteer program. The population might have been pressured to join the programs. Other reasons could be the massive propaganda machine aimed at the volunteer program. The Japanese put large focus on the recruitment of volunteers. (Chou, 1990:227)

At the end of the war we can see that only a limited numbers of people identified themselves Japanese. During the Japanese colonial era the Taiwanese changed from being divided into different sub ethnic groups and instead changed to a single common identity on the island.