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No problem. Glad we had this chat.
This is where we are 110% in agreement.
“mainland” generally refers to political borders or the main land. If i view taiwan as country, then the big island is the mainland. If i follow CCP oppression, then they may call china the main land. Why not call the south china sea chinese at the same time. The gun to the head is quite important when discussing legalities and credibility. But sure, the UN and interantional community overwhelmigly disregards taiwan as an official country…its a crock of shit and everyone knows it. But hey, we dont declare independence, so fuck us then. This narrative of naive blindness has gone past its expiration date and is beyond retarded. To the point that countries that spout off about freedom nd democracy etc then trn around and bend over for the CCP can truly just …no kind words can be used. Its a sham/shame.
I frequently hear people saying “大陸” when referring to China. In fact, I would say about 90% of the time, that’s how I hear people referring to China.
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It’s through habit and years of KMT brainwashing.
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Thanks for the Wade-Giles flashback 
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I grew up in the US, Taiwanese American, and everyone called China Da Lu, Chinese people Da Lu Ren, and Chinese Pu Tong Wha. I doubt many outside a few foreigners in Taiwan will see this as incorrect or political.
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“Which dialect are you studying?” “Mainland”.
Considering Canada and OZ are still part of the Commonwealth, maybe we should refer to the various Englishes as “Mainland English”, “Canadian (Province of Britain) English” and “Australian (Province of Britain) English”. I mean, at that point, you wouldn’t even be being political, considering passports from those countries actually say “By order of Her Majesty the Queen…” on the first page. It would be less political, in that case, to refer to “UK English” as “Mainland English” instead of the understood “UK English”, cuz Taiwanese passports sure as hell don’t say “By order of Chairman Mao…” on the front page.
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Agree 大陸 is what all Taiwanese people I know say and they are not reunification supporters.
Some people here really need to relax…
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“A language is a dialect with an army and a navy”
I think that means there’s a CCP Mandarin and a Taiwan Mandarin and they have a right to be two separate languages
I’m not sure I agree with Max on that. Wasn’t he half joking when he said that?
Partly agree here because the differences of some glyphs in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
Partly disagree because, aside from accents and idioms, speakers from either side can understand each other quite well.
I hear Dalu more than the country name as well here. Though much of the time, especially just in passing conversation, i say Jongguo and they get a strange face and seems it may just be trying to avoid political conversations. I always ask stores ,for example, if something is made in china, and they often revert back to Dalu as if Jongguo is a naughty word haha. Its interesting to watch as many people from all sides tend to try and tread lightly on the topic.
Anther fun one is when people ,even hard core extremist independence supporters call our national road ways provincial roads. The logic on this one is confusing. Tai ____ xian or nothing. Even if it wasnt national government roads ,the fact taiwan doesnt have provinces makes it strange. Maybe i have it translated wrong?
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You’ve never heard anybody except deep blues refer to ‘da lu’? I find that to be quite remarkable.
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Da Lu was politically correct, but will say in the last decade it is less so. I try not to say now.
It’s really not a big deal though
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It must be remarkable. I’ve never heard it from Taiwanese. I once had a student from China say “da lu” in a class. The rest of the students hissed at him. He never came back.
Maybe I don’t hang out with the “reunification” crowd.
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All the Taiwanese I know never say Mainland when they speak English. They say China for China and Taiwan for Taiwan.
(Of course, there is China airlines…. “This is complicated”)
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I hear it maybe once a week at least
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Its even written as product origin on packages sometimes.
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It used to be neutral, I’d say only in last five years it has become politically incorrect
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