Intellectuals have tried for a long time to harmonize the patriotisms of Taiwan and China. Hao Zhidong’s book explores their disparate discourses and the evolution of their diverse nationalisms over time. He links their ideas to their historical experiences, especially with their governments, and to possible futures for the island and the mainland.

As Hao says of these intellectuals, “none is very happy with the kind of state being built now, and neither are they happy with the relationship across the Taiwan Strait.” Ma Yingjeou’s 2008 presidential victory on the island calms the situation temporarily. But his mainland counterpart Hu...

China is fast becoming a key player in world affairs. “It is the world’s largest country, fastest-growing major economy, largest manufacturer, second-largest consumer, largest saver, and (almost certainly) second-largest military spender,” although a very distant second (Zakaria 2008:92). As such, in the global efforts to deal with regional conflicts, China is playing, and expected to play, an increasingly important role, as in North Korea or Darfur. In Sino-US relations, China is in some sense a “strategic partner” of the US as well as its “competitor.” It has been the largest creditor in the US bond market, and the biggest buyer...

In this chapter, I will define what I mean by national identity, nationalism, the state, and intellectuals. I will develop a typology of the relationship between nationalism on the one hand and the state and intellectuals on the other.

As Dittmer and Kim (1993:30) ask, when people talk about national identity (國家認同), what is it, exactly, that people identify with? What is the behavioral or essentialist content of that identity? As one asks about one’s citizenship, “Who am I?” “What should I do?” (see Habermas 1992:16, citing H.R. van Gunsteren). And “what are my rights?” This much we can say:...

This chapter and the next describe the development of the Taiwanese national identity, with a focus on the role of the state and intellectuals and their dilemmas. We will follow four historical periods: 1) the Japanese colonial, imperial era, 1895–1945; 2) the early and mid era of the KMT’s authoritarian rule in Taiwan, 1946–1986; 3) the Lee Teng-hui era, 1987–1999; and 4) the Chen Shui-bian era (2000–2008). This chapter discusses 1) and 2), and the next chapter discusses 3) and 4). We will see that the states have tended to follow collectivistic ethnic nationalism, although as...

In surveys done by National Chengchi University in Taiwan between 1992 and 2005, in a little over a dozen years, the number of those who identified with Taiwan and thought they were Taiwanese more than doubled, from 17.3 percent to 46.5 percent, and the number of those who identified with China and thought that they were Chinese dropped more than 70 percent, from 26.2 per cent to 7.3 percent. The numbers of those who identified with both Taiwan and China had also dropped, though less dramatically, from 45.4 to 42.0 percent (see Table 1 below). These statistics indicate not only...

In 2002, there was a history textbook controversy in China similar to that of 1999 in Taiwan. But in the mainland case, the dispute was whether Yue Fei (1103–1142) should still be treated as a “national hero.” Yue was a general from Southern Song (1127–1279), who was famous for his loyalty to the emperor and for his military valor against the Jin, a minority group, which invaded and occupied the northern part of China and made the two previous emperors prisoners of war. There had been different views on the status of Yue Fei, and the Ministry of...

In chapters 2 and 3, we discussed the nationalist developments in the KMT and DPP eras in Taiwan: changing from collectivistic ethnic nationalism, which emphasized authoritarianism and Chinese nationalism, toward an individualistic ethnic nationalism, which would emphasize democracy and multiculturalism. We observed that the change is still going on, and the challenge is still there as to what kind of national identity the state and intellectuals are going to build in Taiwan. In the previous chapter, we examined the historical development of nation building in China before 1949, which is characterized by a change from culturalism to nationalism, although mostly...

In the previous chapters, we have examined the different kinds of nationalism, and the steps the state and intellectuals in Taiwan and mainland China have taken in defining and shaping their national identities. We have found that none is very happy with the kind of state being built now, and neither are they happy with the relationship across the Taiwan Strait. The situation is still full of uncertainties and ambiguities, even after the KMT won the presidency in 2008. What are the prospects for avoiding the kind of crisis that took place in 1996 from happening again and its escalating...

So far in the book we have seen that in the past century both Taiwan and mainland China have been striving to define themselves, but it is still unclear as to what kind of nation each is building. They are still two separate political entities, and a “cold,” if not “hot,” war has been characteristic of the cross-Strait relations over most of the past 60 years. We have analyzed the various nationalisms that inform the kinds of state available, and observed that a hybrid of federation and confederation (HFC — we will now use this abbreviation and the word “confederation” interchangeably)...

In the previous chapters, we have analyzed various kinds of nationalisms and the roles of the state and intellectuals in the nation building processes in Taiwan and mainland China. We have also examined the possible political arrangements in the future across the Taiwan Strait, and discussed the obstacles to a hybrid of federation and confederation. While there are difficulties for such an integration, according to our cultural and political realist analysis, theories such as sociability, cosmopolitanism and liberal nationalism point out that an integration is possible. Theories are not realities, but how do they become realities, then? Who are the...