Diversity

People keep asking me how different Taiwan is from the way it was in the early '70s when I lived here before. The biggest, and most significant, is the homogenation of the population.

When I lived here before, there was a clear difference between "Chinese" (those whose families had come with Chiang Kai Shek in 1949), and "Taiwanese" (those whose families had also come from China but much earlier. In addition were "others" (aborigines ) who lived in the mountains and were more of a curiosity. The differences were profound and almost racial. Spots in the best schools went to Chinese, the best professions were populated by Chinese, freedom of travel was for Chinese. It was important to maintain the difference since they would be returning to "retake the mainland" as soon as the US "unleashed Chiang".

With the passage of time and the tremendous surge in the Taiwan economy, most folks here now have no interest in moving back to the mainland. Life is better for them here. Many have been back to visit and are glad they went but were even happier to come back. Therefore, the distinction has gone away. Now everyone refers to themselves as Taiwanese, it is non-pc to call yourself Chinese, and there is at least a show of interest in enjoying the diversity provided by the minority groups -- Hakka and the various aborigine tribes.

An interesting story: one of the teachers in my program was born in Taiwan but her family emigrated to Canada when she was 5. She was raised in Toronto and is a Canadian citizen. When we applied for this program we had to submit our birth certificates. Hers says that she is Chinese born in Taiwan. Before she could be hired for the job, she had to write a letter to the Taiwanese government stating that her birth certificate was incorrect, that actually she was Taiwanese from birth!

This Saturday my school is sponsoring a trip for the teachers and staff to a Hakka village about 3 hours drive north. Apparently Hakkas are "in" this year and there is some talk of our county adopting this village. It is somewhat unclear what we could do for them but it will be an interesting trip.