Waishengren
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Waishengren (
Definition
The formal definition of a waishengren (
Today, in practice the term broadly refers to the cultural group of people who migrated from mainland China to Taiwan starting in 1945 when the Republic of China took control of Taiwan after the
Translations
The terms waishengren and benshengren pose some interesting difficulties in translation; most academic literature uses the terms waishengren and benshengren directly. The literal translation of waishengren is "extra-provincial people" while the literal translation of benshengren is "this-province people"; however, these translations are politically loaded since they arose in a historical context when the ruling Kuomintang actively claimed the entirety of China.
One English translation of waishengren is "mainlander", although some waishengren find this translation uncomfortable since many of them have lived in Taiwan their entire lives, and the term may lead to possible confusion with residents of the People's Republic of China. Likewise, the translation of benshengren as "native Taiwanese" leads to possible confusion with Taiwanese indigenous peoples.
Demographics
Due to the chaotic nature of the
There are several subgroups of waishengren based on how they migrated. About 26% of non-military waishengren arrived prior to the KMT military retreat. This group consisted of elites, e.g. government officials, businessmen and intellectuals, as well as migrant workers from Fujian.[4] Another significant category consisted of military personnel and their families, as well as soldiers who were press ganged or forcibly conscripted by the Kuomintang. Another category consists of refugees, who were hastily evacuated during the Kuomintang retreat. Some others, such as Ma Ying-jeou, arrived in the years after the retreat, for example through Hong Kong.[citation needed]
About 40% of waishengren settled in the Taipei area, with another 25% settling in Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung and Tainan.[5]
History
Historically, waishengren elites dominated the government hierarchy during the martial law era on Taiwan. The continued influx of waishengren migrants along with the corruption that occurred under
On the other hand, many of the soldiers and refugees who arrived with the Kuomintang came without their families. Finding themselves destitute in an alien land with no relatives, some of them turned to violent crime or suicide. In the late 50s, waishengren crime rates were more than that of benshengren, and would not fall to benshengren levels until the 70s. Likewise, suicide rates for waishengren were double that of benshengren during the 50s.[7] Violent crimes committed by waishengren vagrants caused fear and anger in the local benshengren, and the government often used public executions to assuage the public, especially in extreme and publicized cases such as armed robbery, sexual harassment, or murder.[8] The influx of poor waishengren also put enormous pressure on housing, and resulted in the illegal construction of a large number of shantytowns in Taipei. On the other hand, waishengren elites with political connections could often obtain formerly Japanese-owned properties, sometimes at the expense of evicted benshengren who already lived there.[9]
Starting in the 1970s, Chinese nationalist dominance of the government began to recede. This was due to a lack of a political or social theory that would justify continued Chinese nationalist dominance, meritocratic policies which allowed local Taiwanese to move up in the government, political establishment encouraged under the Chiang government, and economic prosperity which allowed for social mobility for those outside of the political establishment.[citation needed]
Intermarriage and a new generation raised under the same environment has largely blurred the distinction between waishengren and benshengren.[citation needed]. Many benshengren women married waishengren, often retired military personnel who came as singles.
In the late 1990s, the concept of "the New Taiwanese" became popular both among supporters of Taiwan independence and Chinese unification in order to advocate a more tolerant proposition that waishengren, who sided with the Allies against the reluctant Japanese colony in Taiwan during World War II, are no less Taiwanese than benshengren. However it quickly became apparent that the notion of New Taiwanese meant different things to supporters of independence and unification. To supporters of independence, the concept of New Taiwanese implied that waishengren should assimilate into a Taiwanese identity which was separate from the Chinese one. By contrast, the supporters of Chinese unification seemed to believe that all Taiwanese (not just waishengren) should restore a previously marginalized Taiwanese identity without antagonizing a larger pan-Chinese identity.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ISBN 9781108784306.
- ISBN 9789570834512.
- ^ Ko-hua Yap. ""Reassessing Number of Mainland Chinese Immigrants with Declassified Archival Data". Taiwan Historical Research 28(3): 211-229。" (PDF).
- ISBN 9781108784306.
- ISBN 9781108784306.
- ISBN 9780520927940.
- ISBN 9781108784306.
- ISBN 9781108784306.
- ISBN 9781108784306.