Taiwanese people, at the contemporary definition, generally refers to the citizens and nationals of the Republic of China (ROC) and those who reside in an overseas diaspora with ancestry from the Taiwan Area. The term also refers to natives or inhabitants of the island of Taiwan and its associated islands who may speak Sinitic languages (Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka) or the indigenous Taiwanese languages as a mother tongue but share a common culture and national identity. After the retreat of the Republic of China government to Taiwan in 1949, the actual-controlled territories of the government were limited to the main island of Taiwan and Penghu, whose administration were transferred from Japan in 1945, along with a few outlying islands in Fuchien Province as territories that retained by the ROC after the Chinese civil war, which include Kinmen and Matsu Islands.
Taiwanese people as a demonym may broadly refer to the indigenous peoples of Kinmen and Matsu as they share the same national identity with people of Taiwan. However, the islanders of Kinmen and the Matsu may not consider the "Taiwanese" label to be accurate as these two islands are legally parts of Fuchien and not Taiwan. They maintain distinctive cultural identities from that of the Taiwanese, and prefer to be called "Kinmenese" and "Matsunese", respectively.
At least three competing (and occasionally overlapping) paradigms are used to identify someone as a Taiwanese person: nationalist criteria, self-identification (including the concept of "New Taiwanese") criteria and socio-cultural criteria. These standards are fluid and result from evolving social and political issues. The complexity resulting from competing and evolving standards is compounded by a larger dispute regarding Taiwan's identity, the political status of Taiwan and its potential de jure Taiwan independence or Cross-Strait Unification.
According to government figures, over 95% of Taiwan's population of 23.4 million consists of Han Taiwanese, while 2.3% are Austronesian Taiwanese indigenous peoples. The Han are often divided into three subgroups: the Hoklo, the Hakka, and waishengren (or "mainlanders"). The largest overseas diaspora of Taiwanese people are Taiwanese Americans in the United States.
Despite the wide use of the "four great ethnic groups" in public discourse as essentialized identities, the relationships between the peoples of Taiwan have been in a constant state of convergence and negotiation for centuries. According to Harrel and Huang, the distinction between non-aboriginal Taiwanese groups are "no longer definitive in cultural terms".
Definitions of Taiwanese
The word "Taiwanese people" has multiple meanings and can refer to one of the following:
All citizens of the Republic of China with household registration in the Taiwan (+ Streamlined Fujian) Free Area. This definition includes people living outside of Taiwan Province (Republic of China), including the peoples of the archipelagos of Kinmen, Matsu and Wuqiu (Kinmen), collectively part of Fujian Province (Republic of China) as well as other territories controlled by the Republic of China. Many of the people living in Kinmen, Matsu and Wuqiu are opposed to this definition, given that they view themselves as "Chinese from Fujian Province". All people living in Taiwan (or originating from Taiwan) who identify with the "Taiwanese" nationality in some form or another, rather than with another nationality such as the "Chinese" nationality. These people have views which are generally aligned with those of the Pan-Green (Political) Coalition. This definition excludes people who support Chinese Unification and whose views are aligned with those of the Pan-Blue (Political) Coalition (which includes most of the inhabitants of Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuqiu) as well as new immigrants. All people living in Taiwan (of Han Chinese descent) whose ancestors endured life under Japanese colonial rule (in Taiwan). These people are commonly referred to as "Taiwanese Benshengren" within Taiwan (Republic of China), as opposed to "Taiwanese Waishengren" (which are Chinese Mainlanders who migrated to Taiwan after 1945, as well as their descendants). This definition can also include the various Taiwanese indigenous peoples, who are ethnically Austronesian. All people who have historically lived in Taiwan, including people of ethnic Japanese, Dutch or Spanish descent (or various other ethnic ancestries) who historically colonized Taiwan or settled in Taiwan back when Taiwan was fully or partially controlled by the Empire of Japan, the Dutch Empire or the Spanish Empire, respectively. Only Taiwanese Indigenous peoples, who have lived in Taiwan for up to 6000 years. This definition excludes all people groups who have settled in Taiwan in "recent" history (the past 500 years), including the Han Chinese, the Manchus, the Japanese, the Dutch and the Spanish. This view is generally held by Chinese Mainlanders and by people living in Taiwan (Republic of China) whose views are aligned with the Pan-Blue Coalition, who do not agree with the view that the "Taiwanese Benshengren" should be allowed to self-identify as Taiwanese, given that they are "invaders" in Taiwan, rather than "natives".
The history of Taiwanese identity The earliest notion of a Taiwanese group identity emerged in the form of a national identity following the Qing dynasty's ceding of Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 . Prior to Japanese rule, residents of Taiwan developed relationships based on class solidarity and social connections rather than ethnic identity. Although Han often cheated Aborigines, they also married and supported one another against other residents of the same ethnic background. Taiwan was the site of frequent feuding based on ethnicity, lineage and place of origin (; ; ).
Japanese era
In the face of the Japanese colonial hierarchy, the people of Taiwan were faced with the unequal binary relationship between colonizer/colonized. This duality between "one" and "other" was evident in the seven years of violence between the Japanese and groups of united anti-Japanese Han and Aborigines . Only later did the Japanese attempt to incorporate Taiwanese into the Japanese identity as "loyal subjects", but the difference between the experience of the colonized and the colonizer polarized the two groups . The concept of "race" was utilized as a tool to confirm and facilitate Japanese political policies. A system of household registers (koseki) based on the notion of race to separate and define groups of subjects. From within the group of "non-Japanese" the government divided Han citizens into "Han" and "Hakka" based on their perception of linguistic and cultural differences. The Japanese also maintained the Qing era classification of aborigines as either "raw" or "cooked" , which to the Japanese embodied the social ramification of ethnic origin and perceived loyalty to the empire .
Martial law era
In 1945, the Taiwanese faced a new unequal binary relationship when Taiwan entered the political sphere of the Republic of China (ROC). Shortly following the Kuomintang (KMT) arrival, however, social conflict erupted in the midst of rampant government corruption, soaring inflation and an increasing flow of immigrants from China (see February 28 Incident). The latter were preferred for jobs in the civil service as opposed to Taiwanese who were regarded as "untrustworthy". Recurrent violent suppression of dissent also played an important role in enforcing a separate sense of "Taiwanese-ness" .
The KMT lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan in 1949. However, Chiang Kai-shek intended to eventually return to mainland China and retake control of it. In order to do this, the KMT attempted to "sinicize" the Taiwanese people. "In order to shore up his government's legitimacy, Chiang set about turning Taiwan's inhabitants into Chinese. To use Renan's terminology, Chiang chose to re-define the concept of shared destiny to include the mainland. Streets were renamed; major thoroughfares in Taipei received names associated with the traditional Confucian virtues. The avenue passing in front of the foreign ministry en route to the presidential palace was named chieh-shou (long life), in Chiang's honor. Students were required to learn Mandarin and speak it exclusively; those who disobeyed and spoke Taiwanese, Hakka, or aboriginal tongues could be fined, slapped, or subjected to other disciplinary actions." KMT's Taiwan Garrison Commander Chen Yi stated that after 50 years of Japanese rule, "Taiwanese customs, thought, and language would have to gradually return to that of the Chinese people". The KMT believed that a centrally controlled curriculum would forge a unified national sentiment in Taiwan. They also believed education would help build a martial spirit and stimulate enough military, economic, political, and cultural strength not only to survive, but also to recover the mainland.
Under the KMT structure, "Taiwanese" became a strong "regional" identity. The term has often been used synonymously with "benshengren", a term which covered both Hokkien and Hakka whose ancestors arrived in Taiwan before the Japanese restrictions on immigration in 1895. "Taiwanese" was used in contrast with waishengren (mainlanders), who included the people who followed the KMT to Taiwan between 1945 and 1949 and their descendants. The government tended to stress provincial identities, with identification cards and passports issued until the late 1990s displaying one's ancestral province and county. During this period the terms "cooked" and "raw" Indigenous disappeared. The former "raw" Indigenous were termed Shandi Tongbao, Gaoshanzu (Mountain Race) or Gaoshan Tongbao (Mountain Compatriots).
Democratic era
With Taiwan's political liberalization in the 1970s and 1980s, encouraged by Taiwan's changing international status, the concept of a "Taiwanese people" became politicized by opponents of the KMT. The tangwai movement deployed concepts of "Taiwanese identity" against the authoritarian KMT government, often using extreme tactics to build a short-term ethno-centric opposition to the KMT.
The campaign saw resonance with the people of Taiwan and the term "Taiwanese" has been used by politicians of all parties to refer to the electorate in an effort to secure votes. The concept of a separate Taiwanese identity has become such an integral factor to the election culture in Taiwan, that identifying as a Taiwanese has become essential to being elected in Taiwan . These political reforms have since been credited with the renewal of interest in Taiwanese history, culture, and identity.