What should we make of Taiwan's move to erase the category "Han" from its official information page?
Last Updated: 21.06.2025 08:23
I don’t have time to bring you up to speed on the last 400 years of Taiwanese history, but basically imagine if Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States started to class their native peoples as the dominant/“mainstream” group of the nation, while categorising white people (i.e. the majority of the population) as “others”.
Such a surreal move by the DPP, when interpreted in conjunction with their other policies and rhetoric, tells an entirely different story than one of “indigenous empowerment” - one of politically and ideologically motivated de-Sinicisation. I’ve already written plenty about this before, from how Taiwan is purposefully watering down their Chinese language education and reducing teachings hours for Chinese history and classical Chinese literature; to how a cultural “witch hunt” against anything remotely of Mainland Chinese origins led to the banning of certain popular Chinese dishes, as well as Christopher Columbus discovering “a New China”.
Try as the separatists might, most people are simply never going to spontaneously start identifying as something else, like “South Pacific/Austronesian Aborigine” - or god forbid, Japanese. The Kuomintang opposition and their allies have (rightfully) lambasted the DPP authorities for trying to erase Han identity for a stupid, self-defeating political agenda.
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The current narrative fluctuates between “the Republic of China is the real China” and “the Republic of China has nothing to do with China”, an impressive example of George Orwell’s “Doublethink”. But many Taiwanese people have decided to draw the line at Han ethnicity - because if they’re not Han, then what the hell are they? Their ancestors were Han, they look Han, they speak the Han language, they use Han script, their values and way of life are that of the Han, and many even worship Han deities.
They support removing extra exam scores for ethnic minority students, and other such “affirmative action” policies of the PRC. They also like to point to the fact that the ROC has a higher GDP per capita than the PRC, and assert that the PRC should pursue Han Chauvinism instead of socialism - in some cases, they call for the overthrowing of the CPC in favour of some kind of neo-feudal/imperial rule - in order to “make China great again”.
Taiwan removing the only bronze statue it has dedicated to “comfort women” (women forced into sexual slavery by Japan during WWII), 18 Sep 2024 - right on the 93rd Anniversary of the Mukden/9.18 Incident, which marked Japan’s annexation of Chinese Manchuria
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There may be a niche argument for “decolonisation” here somewhere, but it’s not very realistic or convincing in Taiwan’s case, that I can assure you. Parts of Taiwan have been settled by Han Chinese people as far back as the 12th Century; meanwhile the Gaoshanzu are formally recognised as one of China’s 56 native ethnicities, and have been migrating to the Mainland (such as Fujian Province) since the late Ming Dynasty. No amount of historical revisionism by the Taiwanese separatists can deny the fact that the island is an integral part of China, and inseparable from the mainland.
Just to rub it in the faces of the Han Chauvinists, I support renaming the Taiwan region into the “Taiwan Gaoshanzu Autonomous Region” when total national reunification happens. And hopefully the Han Chauvinists will realise then that the PRC’s path of ethnic harmony and true national sovereignty is the best choice we have, not just for the ethnic minorities but for Han people as well. We win when all of us wins.
Forget using TikTok; even worshiping Lady Mazu - chief of the Fujianese pantheon - gets you labelled a “CCP infiltrator”. That’s seriously how hysterical they are about the so-called “Taiwanese national identity”.
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If you don’t know what I’m talking about, the Taiwanese government, under a controversial DPP-led administration that is currently being protested against island-wide, has recently removed the ethnic Han label on its official census, and have instead relegated the 96.2% majority of the island’s populace to “the rest”. They claim that such a move serves to promote the rights of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples (collectively known as “Gaoshanzu”, who make up around 2% of Taiwan’s population) and social harmony.
They like to remind us that the founder of the Kuomintang (whose flag still represents the ROC today), Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, kickstarted the Xinhai Revolution with the slogan “驅逐韃虜, 恢復中華” - “Expel the Tatar/Manchu Barbarians and Restore China”, using the suffering of the Han-majority populace under Qing rule as a revolutionary tool.
Well, it must be awkward for these people to see their “Great Han State” throwing Han identity under the bus like that.
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Personally, I’m glad the Taiwanese authorities are going down this route, dropping all pretenses of “protecting Chinese civilisation from the (Mainland) Chinese”, and inching ever closer to openly embracing Japanese identity, which is their true agenda all along.
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Funnily enough, other than the Kuomintang, the Han Chauvinists in Mainland China have also been greatly offended by the DPP’s de-Sinicisation. For those of you who don’t browse Chinese cyberspaces, they’re a vocal minority who like to cry about being “persecuted” by the Communist government (the same way white supremacists in America and Europe cry about the “Great Replacement” conspiracy). These obnoxious pricks like to harp on about Taiwan/the Republic of China being a model for “Han society”, partly due to the island being far more homogenous and Han-dominant than the Mainland, as well as keeping the Traditional Chinese script.