Proposed changes to the history textbooks for senior high students are being attacked by the blues.
Some of the changes:
[ul][li]Sun Yat-sen is called Sun Yat-sen rather than “the founding father” (guofu)[/li]
[li]1895-1945 is referred to as Japanese rule or administration of Taiwan rather than its “occupation” of the island[/li]
[li]terms such as “our country” (woguo, i.e. China), “one’s own country” (benguo, i.e. China), and “the mainland” (dalu) have been changed to “China” (Zhongguo)[/li]
[li]the 1911 Wuchang Uprising is now referred to as, well, an “uprising” (qishi, 起事) instead of a “justified uprising” (qiyi, 起義)[/li][/ul]
Your thoughts?
Most of these make sense, of course. I’m not clear on how “Japanese rule or administration” of Taiwan is better than “occupation”, and don’t see the relevance to the DPP agenda. Can someone explain?
the japanese did not invade and therefore ‘occupy’ taiwan, they were ceded it in a treaty with the dying Qing administration in 1893. it was not occupied, it was a legitimate overseas territory. not that the japanese were the most pleasant of rulers, especially if you were an aboriginal tribe that refused to acept their sovereignty here, like the taroko and the bunun people.
there was a brief taiwan republic declared at that time 1893-1895? in the ensuing administrative and legislative chaos before the japanese took control. they did not have long-lived support, and for obvious reasons, they were well and truly fukt in 1949 by the KMT, despite having the most legitimate claim to the island after the 1945 japanese surrender…
Right, but how does that fit the DPP agenda? I figured that if the DPP didn’t recognize historical mainland Chinese claims to Taiwan, they wouldn’t recognize the ceding by treaty – therefore the Japanese presence would be illegitimate, a word better reflected by “occupation”. No? Or is the government just eager to please the current Japanese govt., which might be involved (even if indirectly) in its defense?
Neither - many independence arguments centre on the theory that Japan relinquished sovereignty over Taiwan, but didn’t hand it to the ROC. Early versions of the DPP flag excluded Jinmen/Mazu because the DPP considered them as historically Chinese, unlike Taiwan, Penghu and other small islands - the theory was that control of the islands off the Fujian coast would be returned to Chinese control when Taiwan gained independence. It’s pro-unificationists (red and blue) who most use the term ‘occupation’ because it fits with the whole anti-Japan thing the Chinese have going.