I’m think it depends on the person you’re talking to. If you’re talking to a strong KMT supporter who’s family came here after the civil war or those people that gather and fly the CCP flag around yeah, they use mainland because they believe that The island is in some way part of “China”
But for me it’s always used in a way to refer to China without grouping HK and even Macau in. I know many people in HK use this term as well as they see themselves as different than people from the rest of China. Almost no one in HK would deny they are part of china now but they still view themselves different in a spectrum of way.
Many people only know the history of the island from the Chinese civil war and the retreat of the KMT. But many people’s families on the island like mine have settled here hundreds of years before that. Mine came over 200 years ago from fujian to settle and set up trade, develop and owning land here that is now modern day 中和. So to take a look at the island from only from that part of the history doesn’t give you the full picture of what is taiwan. Many here have built the island before the KMT and Japanese, setting up governments here that was not really even controlled by the Qing dynasty.
I, for one, always call China “China,” and never “the Mainland.” The country is generally known as China, after all. The fact that this grinds the gears of those who have been politically brainwashed is a bonus.
And what’s the meaning of DaLu, and what’s the problem with it?
Also, I thought that this thread was about the English word.
“dalu” means “continent” or “continental” or “mainland”. Locally it’s very often used as a synonym for “China” in Chinese and Taiwanese. I wonder if it’s solely a post-1949 usage in that context or might have preceded it? The old KMT government typically referred to China as “mainland China” (hence preserving the notion of “one China”) and it has been common in newspapers and other contexts. This usage crept into English as well.
If you are in Taiwan and say to a colleague in China “I will be coming to see you in China next week” they might get in a huff. Younger people in bigger cities usually won’t, because while following the status quo in terms of views towards Taiwan, they understand that it’s quite a grey area.
Sure. I piss people off on a regular basis by calling China China, usually die-hard KMT supporters and PRCers. The reactions range from outrage to mild cognitive dissonance. When I told a PRCer last week that I prefer Taiwan to China, he literally started foaming at the mouth.