The manners police are in the house! Nah, shrug and you’ll forget about it. It’s just something to get used to, and then ignore…like how you can be walking along a footpath and be overcome by the disgusting stink of sewage water nearby.
There’s a bit more to it than that – you shrug, think to yourself “what a stupid, ignorant fucktard” and THEN forget about it.
If a simple thread ends up in the gutter like this, then the world is obviously not ready for a Taiwanese identity yet.
That is the worst argument I have ever seen you post. And you’ve posted some utter stinkers.
So, we repeat the question, without any confusing abstractions:
Would you claim that Canada should be Danish (Swedish?) because Leif Erikkson went there centuries ago?
Yes, this thread has degenerated.
If the next response is not an intelligent comment on the original topic, it’s getting Floundered.
Brian
X3M,
The question then begets if Canada had Danish (Swedish?) culture and was reintroduced to Danish (Swedish?) cultural as the Europeans fled and lost WWII, surplanting all Anglophones and Francophones in Canada, why shouldn’t Canada be Danish (Swedish?).
There is a Taiwanese identity, and there is a Taiwanese culture.
It all exists.
But what are they and what do they mean? Ask the Taiwanese!
The answer could ever be found on an expat’s forum.
This thread was just a little bit pointless.
That’s exactly the point. Chinese are no less influenced by Euro-American imperialism and the Japanese in the early 20th century than the TWs. Chinese are no less influenced by interactions with diverse ethnicities than TWs. Chinese are no less influenced by the authoritarian political experience than TWs – CCP and KMT are fraternal twins anyway, different ideologies, same roots in the Revolution/May 4th movement. Despite the reality of the separation, the differences are more imagined than real. What it comes down to is whether you consider yourself Chinese or not. If you do, you will believe there is not much fundamental difference; if you don’t, you believe there are unspeakable differences; even for the exact same circumstances.
Can the Taiwanese identity/culture exist outside of Taiwan?
Nobody knows the answers to these questions and it doesn’t matter anyway but since I can’t sleep again I’ll bore you with my untutored take on the situation. Being Taiwanese I think is very much similar to being a human being generally only a lot sillier. Cuteness is very important as are displays of embarasment over the very fact of existence. Taiwanese are a sensitive and soulful people with, paradoxicaly, a strong grounding in the elemental apects of life. The result of this is that they are always flirting but in ways so subtle that this may pass unnoticed by westerners. Taiwanese are unbelievably loyal if they believe that YOU love THEM. This is an essential point. Taiwanese people geneneraly look kind of like Chinese people but with a bit of Aboriginee, Portugese, Dutch and Japanese mixed in. After being here awhile here everyone starts looking European only with less body hair. Most taiwanese people speak Chinese after a fashion and have had a long history of exposure to bad English instruction. The result is generally not pleasant but there are exceptions to this. Taiwanese eat a lot of rice and noodles but are increasingly coming to prefer mcdonalds. On special occassions, which occur four to ten times a week, Taiwanese will prepare a feast fit for a king. Exercise is a punishment that must be endured in order to be admired. In fact many Taiwanese are fat or are getting fat. They think fat children are cute. Especially if they engage in a lot of beserk temper tantrums in public places. For the Taiwanese the weather is something that you complain about. It serves no other function. Nature is a mystery best viewed on television. Sex in the City provides them with a good introduction to the wonders of nature. Taiwanese sit at home with their parents a lot. They like to buy a lot of “stuff” that they keep for a while and then send off to be incinerated. Many Taiwanese are rich for the first time and are not very good at it. They do however spend a lot of money on English lessons and this provides a means of survival to those of us whose respective governments have, over the years, exported a lot of jobs to this country. It can be interesting work especially if you are a magician, comedian, philosopher, psychologist or are exceptionaly well hung. This is perhaps true in nearly every profession (unfortunately for some of us 
). In any case teaching English can be a very good way to get paid to learn Mandarin. Taiwanese can not smell air pollution or if they can they think it smells like money or is a part of nature or something. Taiwanese are polite, shy and friendly. Most are dying to experience something new. They are good friends and even better lovers. That is about it I think. If these things describe you at all I suppose you are more or less Taiwanese, which, although it doesn’t actually make much difference, is still a pretty nice thing to be.
I agree with you because the China of today is not the Han Dynasty or the Ching from the past. China claims to be a continuation of the past dynasty, but history shows there is not such connection. The Hans are Hans, and the Tang are Tang, there is no China in these periods, just seperate “Chinese” kingdoms. It would be absurd for Italians to claim they were the decendents of Rome or for the Greeks to claim that they are the continuation of the Greece that brought us Homer and Plato. Hence, Taiwan was never part of any China. :raspberry:
Much the same could be said of many other culturally similar neighbouring countries. NZ and Australia, Canada and the US etc. That the two countries share similar influences does not negate differences in cultural identity, nor, more importantly does it negate the right to self-determination or allow the larger of the two to swallow up the smaller.
Brian
Sure, anybody can have her own “cultural identity.” I can, on a whim, decide to have my own cultural identity apart from mankind. My point is that in this case, differences are basically imagined by those who don’t want to be Chinese any more. The differences are non-existent, except in beliefs about how differences do exist. See how self-referential that is? It doesn’t negate anything. Fine. But it also doesn’t add any merit to the political agenda like real, fundamental cultural or ethnic differences would, either.
Of course all cultural/ethnic identities are ‘imagined’ or constructed.
Brian
I agree: the past is the past and this is why Taiwanese are NOT CHINESE. We have reinvented and intermarried into a new race called the Taiwanese. Like Japan and Korea we have taken in Kanji as a writing system but that will be fixed just like in Vietnam, Korea and Japan. These are some steps we are taking to create a Taiwanese Republic
A new race??? 
That’s about as ridiculous as saying that Americans are a new race. 
There has always been plenty of intermarriage between Han Chinese and ethnic minority groups (and even foreigners, god forbid!) throughout Chinese history … it’s not unique to Taiwan, and it certainly doesn’t make the Taiwanese a “new race.”
I agree completely. There is only one race - the human race.
The people of Taiwan have forged their own ethnic identity however.
Brian
As all cultural ethnic identities are ‘imagined’ (constucted in the minds of the people holding them) then it follows that differences between them are also imagined.
However, you seem to be imagining that some identities are ‘real’ and others are not. So explain how cultural/ethnic identity is something real, concrete and scientifically measurable.
Brian