The development of nationalism in contemporary China and Taiwan alike illustrates the modernist theory of nationalism as an imagined community constructed through shared perceptions rather than an immanent entity rooted in blood and soil. Taiwan provides a good example of how national identity may be constructed despite the ethnic differences of the country’s population. According to Dreyer et al. (2003), the democratized Taiwan after 1986 began building a “new Taiwanese identity” intended to unite the long-time inhabitants of the island and the newcomers from the mainland into a cohesive nation (para. 4).
Hughes (2019) also confirms this assessment by demonstrating how the political effort development of this new identity relies on the idea of shared destiny rather than potentially divisive ethnic origins. Similarly, the developing Chinese nationalism – and, in particular, the rise of popular ziganwu bloggers – can be explained through patriotic education programs stressing common Chinese identity (Wong, 2021). Given the fact that the People’s Republic is even more ethnically diverse than Taiwan, it highlights even more how the national identity is constructed despite objective differences rather than imminently present throughout history.
In terms of the Sino-Taiwanese relations, this parallel development of national identities may further complicate Chinese plans of reunification. Dreyer et al. (2003) note that the Taiwanese political nation is not yet fully formed, and, moreover, representing Taiwanese society as strictly separated into pro-unification and anti-unification camps would be an oversimplification. In purely ethnic terms, there may be little difference between the Nationalists and Communists for the Taiwanese since both are mainland Chinese. However, if Taiwan succeeds in creating a shared feeling of nationhood uniting the Taiwanese and mainland newcomers, it may pose yet another challenge to China’s pursuit of unification in not only ethnic but national terms.
References
Dreyer, J. T., Gold, T. B., Rigger, S., & Tkacik, J. J. The evolution of a Taiwanese national identity. Web.
Hughes, C. R. (2019). Revisiting Taiwan and Chinese nationalism: Identity and status in international society. In Fell, D. & Hsiao, H. H. M. (Eds.), Taiwan studies revisited [ePub version]. Retrieved from Google Play.
Wong, T. (2021). China: The patriotic ‘ziganwu’ bloggers who attack the West. Web.