The Thai calendar is wacky. But I always found it nice going to the supermarket there and being able to buy food that would last 543 years into the future.
Right. When I was in Canada I went out of my way to say the language was mandarin. When I arrived here, most locals called it Chinese so I went with that. Itās interesting to hear these perspectives
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When I lived in Shanghai, I was told not to use 大éøäŗŗ to refer to Chinese people, apparently they donāt like it.
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Yeah, I remember seeing that joke on Facebook a while back that the locals here donāt like the term āäøčÆå°åäŗŗā either. 
I have a Hainan friend and he calls people from mainland 大éøäŗŗ
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Growing up in the US I was always taught that there is no language called āChinese,ā and Chinese people speak Mandarin or Cantonese. I was surprised when I moved to Taiwan to find that everyone calls Mandarin āChinese.ā
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I agree with Marco. Iāve had this argument countless times over the years, here and on social media. China is China, not the āMainlandā. When you call it that, you are implying that Taiwan is part of it. And I really donāt care about the Mandarin semantics.
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I have heard this as well.
in Mandarin, it is Continent against Island.
When KMT moved here, the land was their mainland to retake soon, so they maybe translated as Mainland?
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Isnāt that change similar as saying BCE and CE instead of BC and AD?
I mean, you may have a different word, but it wouldnāt change its meaningā¦
Continent who vs Island who? Do we call Japan, island?
No, because Japan isnāt an island? āMainland Japanā appears to be used for the main five islands, though.
Thereās also āMainland Europeā, which is a geographical term that I donāt think implies a political connection between the British Isles, Iceland, etc. and the bulk of the continent. And āGreater Chinaā, of course, which I believe aims to avoid stating a position on Taiwanās political status but is also sometimes seen as controversial.
Anyway, if āChinaā/āChineseā are to be avoided, I think the first step would be for the actual Taiwanese government and people to stop using these terms. I realize thatās problematic as it could be seen by China as a declaration of independence, but Iām not sure itās especially important what words a bunch of foreigners on the Internet are using while Taiwanās representatives, institutions, and people are still using terms related to China.
obviously, continent is PRC, and island is Taiwan aka ROC. If Taiwan were adjacent to continent, they wouldnāt refer PRC to 大éø.
Japan is islands, with a Mainisland, few big islands, and many small islands, as UK, NZ, Cuba etc. are islands. Definitely not continent.
It doesnāt work like that. Continental/Mainland vs Insular is only used when there is an-often political connection. Every land on this planet is an island.
The Japanese mainland is Honshu. There is no such word as mainisland. The biggest and most important land of a a political body, like a country or politically defined continent is the mainland. The Japanese mainland is Honshu where the population primarily resides and is the political centre of the country. The political and population centre of Taiwan is Taiwan. Therefore the island of Taiwan is the Taiwanese mainland in relation to Insular Taiwan, consisting of islands like Kinmen, Lienchiang, Penghu, Green and Orchid Islands.
Why doesnāt Japan call China the Mainland? Because Japan and China are not the same country.
This goes for Taiwan. China is a different country run by a different ruler with a different army and different laws.
Calling a place āmainlandā means that it is part of that place and Taiwan is not part of China.
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they donāt call PRC Mainland. They call there 大éø. Mainland is just accepted as its English translation.
they donāt call the island mainland.
Honshu (ę¬å·, HonshÅ« , pronounced [hoźÉ°ĢÉÉÆĖ] (
listen); lit. āmain island/main provinceā), historically called Hondo (ę¬å, main island ), is the largest and most populous main island of Japan.[3][4
The term mainland Japan is used to distinguish the mainland from the remote islands. It is used when referring to the main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa.[
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Yes, calling it 大éø, be it continental or mainland, again, in proper English usage and definitions implies itās the same country. Even if they omit the word China, the implication remains. If they were talking about Mainland Asia, then all of Russia, Vietnam, China, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand would be included. Does Mainland include those countries? No. So again, itās not referring to Mainland Asia.
It doesnāt matter what they call it. Standard English definition of Mainland means that there must be a connection to the population and/or political centre from an a politically-connected smaller and less signficant island. Calling Honshu the Japanese Mainland is correct by definition.
Again, I donāt think this logic holds, until you can convince Taiwanese people to stop using āChinaā/āChineseā as a term relating to ethnicity as well as another country (the āChineseā language, āRepublic of Chinaā, āChina Airlinesā, ātraditional Chinese medicineā, āChinese New Yearā). Sometimes words can have different meanings in different contexts.
Very true. Most Taiwanese would agree they are ethnically Chinese, and their nationality, at least officially is Republic of China (Chinese).
All lands are islands.
Europe is a term that is made up by humans. Itās completely arbitrary and political. It is part of political geography. Since we decided that those countries make up Europe, those on the biggest and most populous landmass are part of the mainland, and states that are considered part of Europe but are disconnected by sea are insular. To the UKās perspective, since the UK is part of Europe, the big landmass that is south of the UK is mainland Europe. To UK territories separated by sea, the Island of Britain with England, Wales and Scotland make up the Mainland of the UK as itās the population and political centre.
Many people often use them out of habit, but still vehemently defend Taiwan as a country. Iām sure that Taiwanese MPs, cabinet ministers and the President and Vice President are absolutely itching to change all these silly KMT-imposed labels of decades long-gone and it is widely accepted and known that these labels and the defacto embassies we call trade offices are terms used under duress and not because Taiwanese think this is fine.
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Itās still called English in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and other commonwealth realms and members.
Names used under duress. You know what will happen if changed.
These are not political names.