Is the phrase “我們中國人” common in Taiwan? One Taiwanese YouTuber I watch uses this phrase. The context was comparing Western world models with Eastern models.
Lol are they a chinese wife of a Taiwanese?
Maybe if they use that phrase they don’t identify as a “Taiwanese” Youtuber…
My personal experience is that it was still fairly common prior to the 2000s, as in it was such a throw away thing to say, that even if you don’t agree with it, you’d keep quiet about it. After the 2000s however, using that phrase feels deliberate and forced because it feels like the person is trying to make a political statement.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that the speaker was discussing Chinese calligraphy and how it is difficult for Westerners to relate to it, having not grown up with it. In this case, the speaker might say, “Growing up with Chinese characters, 我們中國人 (alternatively: we in the Chinese-speaking and Chinese-writing spheres) have an intuitive understanding of blah blah blah…”
Would the phrase “我們中國人” still sound forced in this case? Is there an alternate expression that would more commonly be used in Taiwan?
Still forced and political (leaning towards mainland china). Would be more appropriate to use 中華 / 華人.
Even most Hong Kong people won’t use 中國人. Even though they technically are. Unless they support the PRC.
People who grew up under the martial law period, when that phrase was drilled into kids and used in all sorts of TV shows, even in translations of Japanese manga, are at least over 40 by now. Those in their 40s would have spent their teenage years after the martial law, so they would totally be aware of the political context of that phrase.
It’s not hard to imagine someone growing up in a Late-immigrant family would continue using the phrase, but still, can you claim it’s not a political statement? Was it ever not a political statement? Anyway… maybe if the speaker is in their 70s can claim that he wasn’t trying to make a political statement by saying that.
Sometimes habits instilled in you by brainwashing can be hard to shed. I know older relatives who are pro-Taiwan and pro-Indigenous rights accidentally revert to saying 山地同胞 once in a while all the way into the early 2010s. However, I have never heard that term used again since, basically anywhere.
If people can consistently say 原住民族 now regardless of age, I wonder what’s keeping some people from throwing out 我們中國人 left and right.
People still use 我國 which is an ethnocentric nonsense.
Nothing wrong with this.
The speaker is in their 70s and seems to have been born in Taiwan.
I heard that phrase said by a middle-aged minsu owner in Matsu; I can’t remember the exact context but I am certain he didn’t intend it to be explicitly political. It must be that he just considers himself to be a 中國人, which might mean something different (more about culture than politics?) to the people of Kinmen and Matsu as compared to Taiwan proper.
Well they are in the Fuchien (Fujian) Province of the ROC and they have a different history to Taiwan proper.
Perfectly fine for people in Matsu to say it.
By the way, this 1989 PBS Hawai’i clip about Taiwan shows you how the KMT wanted to portray Taiwan back in the martial-law period. Through out the entire video, only late immigrants were allowed to speak, and even when Taiwanese puppet show was the focus, not a single Taigi word was allowed to be heard. Indigenous Taiwanese culture was no where to be seen, even though you could trace the Hawaiian language straight back to Taiwan. Everything was brushed under a “我們中國人” carpet.
Martial law officially ended in 1987, but the GIO was still operating under the same martial-law mode.
Yes I find some older people still use it, forty plus '我們中國人、。
Yes and the 我國 thing always annoys me. It’s a stupid way of speaking , and plenty of these have multiple passports so they are hypocrites as well.
No t sure what’s the issue with using 我國, especially if they are using it to refer to Taiwan as a sovereign political entity.
我國 has been used in official capacity at least since 200BC, for example, in this passage of The Book of documents (書經 aka The Venerated Documents 尚書):
Not that common but sometimes it’s said in certain contexts and others feel more like a political statement.
I rarely hear it but it throws me off when they say that as a Taiwanese person but I am of a younger generation.
As an editor, I can always spot something that was translated by AI when I see “our country” in a translated document. And sure enough, the original Chinese is 我國. I always change it to “Taiwan’s.” Nothing to do with politics. It’s just odd having something in first person when the rest of the document is in third person.
See how many time Lee Teng-hui said 我們中國人 or 我們中華民族 in this short clip of a speech he gave in the 80s.
Do people say that much? I think of it as written language.
Yes, the normal grammatical way to say it would use the plural possessive, but the written language is sometimes more compact.