The Taiwan Question and Nationalism (Part 1)

1. Nationalist fanaticism and the "Chinese generation of Han"

Since the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, with the establishment of Yuan Shikai-Beiyang regime, the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty controlled the regime of the Republic of China. In order to prevent the Han people from revolting and endorsing their own rule, various warlords have played the "patriotic" card and fanatically instilled nationalism to endorse their own rule.

The Beiyang regime took advantage of the Han people's general belief that the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had fallen, the Revolution of 1911 had been won, and that China would be a Han nation-state to deceive the Han people. Claiming allegiance to the so-called Republic of China in Beiyang = allegiance to the Han nation, to deceive the Han people to allegiance to the warlord's rule. It is said that in order to expand and protect the territory of the Republic of China, what kind of "Republic of Five Nationalities" is needed, and let the Han people support the "Republic of Five Nationalities" in the new Manchu Qing Dynasty based on the simple consciousness of protecting national property-land, and support the Manchu version of the "Chinese nation". This led to the spread of imperial patriotism and the stench of the Manchu version of the "Chinese nation" in China.

After the victory of the Nanjing government in the Northern Expedition, although the ideology also brought things right to a certain extent, the ideology of royalist patriotism was also conducive to the rule of the Nanjing government. In addition, the Japanese invaded China to better mobilize the Han people to unite in the Nanjing government (i.e., China). Under the Republic of China) regime, they began to indulge their patriotic ideology and continued to spread. By the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the Han nationalism had been completely kidnapped by patriotism. "Hooked up. Patriotism and love for the "China" regime and country have completely become the highest principle upheld by the majority of the Han people in the Kuomintang and the Republic. It seems that the most fundamental morality of the Han nation is "patriotism", and patriotism has also replaced the love of the nation itself. Because of the huge consequences of the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

2. "No China".

After all, "China" is a real country. When the Han people are divided into two regime supporters, roc and prc because of ideology, since the highest virtue of the Han people is "love China", then the Han people have to choose between the roc and the prc. Pick one fanatical love and make the other an enemy.

The regime rules the land as the country, just as East and West Germany are two countries, North Korea and South Korea are two countries. prc and roc are actually two countries, because the kmt regime also controls the land of Taiwan. Generally speaking, this does not cause ethnic divisions. Because a national society is divided into several countries, and everyone is trying to achieve "unification", the Han people of various countries can also choose the country of allegiance according to their own political positions, but no matter which country they pledge their allegiance to, they will not lose their national identity, and the object of allegiance can also be changed. This kind of thing happened in the history of all ethnic groups, and it was also true in the Three Kingdoms/Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the history of the Han people.

The problem lies in two points.

a: Through statist indoctrination, many Han people have lost their identification with the nation itself (this does not mean that the ethnic identity of the Han people has been lost, it just means that most Han people are confused by propaganda), and have turned to identify with "China".

b: There was no international community before, and it doesn’t matter if countries call themselves “China” and call themselves “orthodox” (that is, the legal ruler of the whole Han nation). Now the prc is afraid of suppressing the roc through the international community, and the roc is not allowed to call itself Chinese orthodox. It is China, and the roc exists as a country and has a nationality, and the people of the roc are no longer "Chinese".

Therefore, even if the DPRK and the ROK are divided, both sides consider themselves to be Koreans (ethnic) and also "Korean people". Even if the two Germanys split, they both consider themselves German (national) people, and both consider themselves German nationals. Today, the mainland and Taiwan are split. Not only do Taiwanese not consider themselves Chinese, but it is hard to say whether they consider themselves "Chinese" or "Han".

Of course, nationalists never think that nations are built on "identity," and that nations are not what you think they are. But it is undeniable that this "identity" of the Taiwanese has had a great impact on the Han nationality.

3. "The Orphans of Asia"

The combination of the two issues ab and ab has led to a consequence. As prc has become the only recognized China, roc has been rejected by the international community as "China", and its nationals (the Han people under the rule) can no longer call themselves "Chinese". .

In other words, since prc is committed to promoting nationalism, replacing national identity with nationality, and declaring that only prc is China, and other countries established by the Han people cannot call themselves China, then people without prc nationality are naturally not” Chinese". The Taiwanese Han Chinese, who are nationals of the Roc, found that they called themselves "China" and were not recognized by the world, and because they accepted nationalist propaganda, they lost the awareness of the Han nationality. Naturally, they began to seek another national identity to fill the lack of their national identity. This is also the origin of Taiwan independence and the shaping of "Taiwan identity".

Under normal circumstances, national identity is not tied to a specific state power. For example, a Jew only needs to be loyal to the Jewish nation. He does not necessarily have to be loyal to Israel. If he does not agree with the ideology of today's Israel, he will not lose his Jewish national identity because he does not consider himself an Israeli. He is completely It is possible to try to build a new state with a political system that is completely different from today's Israel in order to safeguard the interests of the Jewish nation.

However, the patriotic propaganda on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is like instilling Jews (Han people) with Jews = Israelis. The supreme virtue and fundamental ideology of Jews is to love Israel. If you don’t love Israel, you are not a Jew, and bind your Jewish identity to Israeli nationality. But Israel is a specific country, and a specific country has specific ideologies and rulers. Now they have transformed Israel into a left-wing country called the "People's Republic of Israel", which has driven away the Republic of Israel established by the right wing of Israel, and has not allowed the Republic of Israel to call itself the Republic of Israel. I am Israel. In this way, when the Jews found that they did not agree with the system of Israel today, that the People's Republic of Israel today could not represent themselves, and that the whole world only recognized the People's Republic of Israel as Israel, they had the idea that they were not "Jews". That meant he had to go against his national identity.

What prc wants to imply is that China = prc, Han Chinese must be unconditional allegiance to China, and Han and "Chinese" must be unconditional allegiance to prc. Otherwise you have to lose your ethnic identity and consider yourself a traitor. This is really useful for the prc to maintain its rule, and it can largely force the Han people to support the prc based on their simple national consciousness.

In fact, as a nation, the Han people are obliged to unconditionally swear allegiance to the nation, but there is absolutely no need to swear allegiance to a specific country or regime. Even if the regime is a Han nation-state, it will not work. The Sui Dynasty is a Han nation-state, but the Han people can completely oppose the Sui Dynasty and replace it.

4. De-"Chinese" and de-Sinicization

5. "Forced China"

6. Anti-national bondage

Author: Voice of Han

Link: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/522943604