Department of Chinese Studies, Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic)
Contemporary Taiwan: Culture, Identity and
Nationalism
Lecture: Dr. Bi-yu Chang (SOAS, University of London)
* Format: 1-hour lecture & 30-minute in-class discussion
This module aims to provide students with a broad knowledge base to understand Taiwan's
historical background, cultural development and identity politics. Because of its multifaceted
cultural and ethnic mix and the complex colonial history, the module looks at Taiwan’s history,
examines contemporary culture, unpicks the various dimensions of the complicated cultural
change, and considers the colonial legacy and the impact of globalization. The focus of the
module is placed on the highly contentious issue of identity politics of the post-war era. By
exploring contemporary Taiwanese cultural change, this course facilitates a solid understanding
of the complexity of this place, and offers an interesting reference point to think about China.
* Coursework requirement:
BA: presentation
- Choose one presentation topic from the questions listed at the end of each course reading
list. Give 10-minute presentation with a written handout (if with PowerPoint is also
welcomed). Don’t forget to provide a list of reference at the end.
- Think about the question asked, please do not only summarise the reading.
MA: presentation + essays
Presentation
- Choose one presentation topic from the questions listed at the end of each course reading
list. Give 12-minute presentation with a written handout (if with PowerPoint is also
welcomed). Don’t forget to provide a list of reference at the end.
- Think about the question asked, please do not only summarise the reading.
Essay
- Essay topic can be of your own choosing or be similar to the questions set below in the
syllabus. Whatever topic you choose to write, it should not be the same as your presentation
topic. If you have any questions regarding the topic, you can come to me.
- The length of the essay will be set by Professor Dušan Vávra.
Day I. Historical Background
1. The rule under the Dutch, Cheng, and Qing 臺灣早期歷史 I. (荷西、明鄭、清
治) – 14.00-15.50, B2.24
Reading
Andrade, Tonio (2008). How Taiwan became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish and Han Colonization in
the Seventeenth Century. New York: Columbia University Press.
Shepherd, John R. (2007). “The Island Frontier of the Ch’ing, 1684-1780.” In Murray A.
Rubinstein (ed.) Taiwan: A New History. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe: pp. 107-132
Wills, John E. Jr. (2007). “The Seventeenth Century Transformation: Taiwan under the
Dutch and Cheng Regime.” In Murray A. Rubinstein (ed.) Taiwan: A New History.
Armonk: M.E. Sharpe: pp. 84-106.
Heylen, Ann. (2016). “Taiwan in late Ming and Qing China.” Routledge Handbook of
Contemporary Taiwan (ed.) Gunter Schubert. London, New York: Routledge, pp. 7-
21.
2. Japanese Colonial era 臺灣早期歷史 II. (日治) – 18.00-19.50, B2.24
Reading
Lamley, Harry J. (2007). "Taiwan under Japanese Rule: The Vicissitudes of Colonialism."
Taiwan: A New History. M. Rubenstein (ed). Armonk: M.E. Sharpe: pp.201-260.
Tsurumi, Patricia E. (1979). "Education and Assimilation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule,
1895-1945." Modern Asian Studies 13 (4): pp. 617-641. (O)
Tsai, Hui-yu Caroline. (2009). “Chapter 4: Colonial Governmentality”, “Chapter 5: Social
Engineering.” Taiwan in Japan’s Empire Building: An Institutional approach to colonial
engineering. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 91-118; 119-144.
Chou Wan-yao. (2016). “Taiwan under Japanese rule (1895-1945).” Routledge Handbook of
Contemporary Taiwan (ed.) Gunter Schubert. London, New York: Routledge, pp.
22-35.
Recommended Films:
 Warriors of the rainbow: Seediq Bale (賽德克・巴萊) by Wei Desheng (2011)
 Atabu 阿罩霧風雲 ( I &II )
 A City of Sadness 悲情城市 (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien
 Super Citizen Ko 超級大國民 (1996) by Wan Jen
Presentation Questions:
1. How did Taiwan become Chinese? Consider the ways in which and to what
extent that each regime over the centuries contributed to the Sinicisation of the
island.
2. Critically examine the legacies of European colonial rule on Taiwan’s
development.
3. To what extent has the assimilation message in education policy imposed by the
Japanese achieved the goals to foster acceptance of and loyalty to the Japanese
state?
4. Critically examine the legacies of Japanese colonial rule on Taiwan’s
development.
Day II. Culture and Governance
1. Taiwanese Culture 臺灣戰後文化 – 10.00-11.50, B2.23 a
Reading
Vickers, Edwards. (2010). “History, Identity, and the Politics of Taiwan’s Museums”, China Perspectives
[Enligne], 2010/3, pp. 92-106.]
Chang, Sung-sheng Yvonne. (2007). “Taiwanese New Literature and the Colonial Context: A
Historical Survey,” in Murray A. Rubinstein (ed.) Taiwan: A New History. Armonk: M.E.
Sharpe: pp. 261-74.
Williams, Raymond. (1976). Keywords: A Vocabulary of culture and society. London: Fontana.
Hall, Stuart. (1990). “Cultural identity and diaspora.” In: Identity: community, culture, difference.
Rutherford J. (ed.). London: Lawrence & Wishart. pp. 222-237.
Chang, Bi-yu. (2006). “What’s in a Name? The Nationalisation of Traditional Opera in
Taiwan.” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp.89-104.
2. Cultural Policy and Governance 文化政策&治理 – 18.00-19.50, D31
Reading
Tony Bennett (1998) Culture and policy—Acting on the social. International Journal of Cultural Policy,
4:2, 271-289.
Chang, Bi-yu (2006). “Constructing the Motherland: Culture and the State since the 1990s.”
in Dafydd Fell, et al. (eds.) What Has Changed? Taiwan Before and After the Change in
Ruling Parties. Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 189-206.
____. (2009). “The Cultural Turn and Taiwanese Identity in the 1990s.” In Cultural Discourse
in Taiwan, ed. Wang I-chun, Chin-Chuan Cheng, and Steven Totosy de Zepetnek, pp.
30-51. Kaohsiung: National Sun Yat-sen University Press.
Lancashire, Edel. (1982). “Popeye and the Case of Guo Yidong, Alias Bo Yang,” The China
Quarterly, No. 92 (Dec., 1982), pp. 663-686.
Hall, Stuart (1997a). “Introduction,” in Representation: cultural representations and signifying
practices, pp. 1-11. London: Sage.
____. (1997b). “The centrality of culture: notes on the cultural revolutions of our time.” In:
Media and cultural regulation, Thompson, K. (ed.), pp. 207-238. London: Sage/The
Open University.
Recommended Films
 Panay (Wawa No Cidal) 太陽的孩子. (2015) by Cheng Yu-Chieh & Lekal Sumi.
 Dust In The Wind 戀戀風塵 (1986) & A Time To Live, A Time To Die 童年往事（1985）by
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
 A One and A Two 《一一》(2000) by Edward Yang
 10 + 10 《十加十》(2011) ten short films by ten Taiwanese directors
Presentation Questions:
1. To what extent has top-down cultural policy shaped the Taiwanese cultural identity?
2. How has the state-mobilised cultural movement impacted on the formation of Taiwan’s
culture? Take one of the followings as the case studies: the construction and opening of
Taipei’s National Palace Museum; Anti-Communist Literature and Arts Movement (反共文
藝); Cultural Renaissance Movement (文化復興運動); Community Construction Movement
(社區總體營造); construction and promotion of ‘Local Cultural Museums’ (地方文化館); or
the preserving the Japanese heritage, etc.
3. Based on Hall’s ‘circuit of culture,’ explore how Taiwan’s the localisation (bentuhua) trend in
cultural expression (i.e. any of the following fields: literature, arts, theatre, traditional opera,
cultural heritage, dance, music, films, museums, etc.), and analyse its impact.
Day III. Language and education
1. Language Landscape 語言— 14.00-15.50, B2.51 a
Reading
Hsiau, A-Chin. (2000). “Crafting a national language,” Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural
Nationalism, pp. 125-177. London and New York: Routledge.
Klöter, Henning. (2006). “Mandarin Remains More Equal: Changes and Continuities in
Taiwan’s Language Policy,” in What has Changed? Taiwan before and after the Change in
Ruling Parties, eds. Dafydd Fell, Bi-yu Chang and Henning Klöter. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz, pp. 207- 24.
Hubbs, E. (2013). “Taiwan Language-in-education Policy: Social, Cultural, and Practical
Implications.” Arizona Working Papers in SLA & Teaching, 20, 76-95.
Ayala, Angel. (2016). “Language Policy and Preservation Challenges: Taiwan’s Indigenous
Languages.” in Encyclopedia of Education for Sustainable Development, ed. Liz Jackson.
Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong/Master of Education Programme, 2015.
Hobsbawm, Eric (1992). Nations and nationalism since 1780 : programme, myth, reality.
Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University Press.
2. Education 教育 – 18.00-19.50, B2.23
Reading
Chen, Jyh-jia (2002). “Reforming Textbooks, Reshaping School Knowledge: Taiwan
Textbook Deregulation in the 1990s.” Pedagogy, Culture and Society 10 (1): pp. 39-72.
Chou, Chuing Prudence and Ai-Hsin Ho. (2007). ““Schooling in Taiwan.” In Gerard A.
Postiglione and Jason Tan (eds.), Going to school in East Asia, pp. 344-377. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Apple, M.W. (2004). Ideology and Curriculum. 3rd Edition, pp. 25-40. London and New York:
Routledge.
Chang, Bi-yu. (2015). “Home is a Foreign Country: The ‘National Geography’ in Post-war
Elementary Education (1945-2000).” Place, Identity, and National Imagination in Post-war
Taiwan. London and New York: Routledge
Althusser, Louis. (1971). “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,” in Lenin and Philosophy
and Other Essays, translated from the French by Ben Brewster, pp.127-88. [A146.3
/318061]
Recommended films
 A City of sadness 悲情城市 (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien
 Cape No. 7 海角七號 (2008) by Te-Sheng Wei
 Monga 艋舺 (2010) by Niu Chen-Zer
 Tropical Fish《熱帶魚》 (1995) by Chen Yu-hsun.
 Dangerous mind 危險心靈 (2006) by Yee Chih-yen
Presentation Questions:
1. Consider whether and to what extent that Mandarin is still dominant in Taiwan. In addition,
explain how the dominance of Mandarin impacted on the sense of identity of different
language-users.
2. Consider the concept of Guoyu – national language(s). Discuss the benefits and problems.
3. Education is considered the No.1 Ideological Sate Apparatus (ISA) that efficiently
reproduces state-approved ideology and cultural values. Consider what sort of education that
the state provided for the post-war generation in Taiwan.
4. To what extent has education reform since the 1990s rectified the problems of the past –
getting rid of credentialism and allowing academic freedom and teachers’? Please also
consider in what ways and to what extent education reform can be seen as a reflection of the
changing political atmosphere.
Day IV. Ethnicity and Indigenous peoples
1. Ethnicity 族群 – 14.00-15.50, B2.34 a
Reading
AAPA statement on biological aspects of race. (1996). American Anthropologist 100(3):714-715.
Li, Yih-yuan. 1989. “Four Hundred Years of Ethnic Relations in Taiwan.” In: Ethnicity and
ethnic groups in China. New Asia Academic Bulletin, Vol.8. Chiao and Tapp, eds. pp. 103-
115.
Bhabha, Homi. (1994). “The Other Question: Stereotype, Discrimination, and the Discourse
of Colonialism.” The Location of Culture. New York: Routledge, 1994. 66-101.
Chu, Jou-juo (2000). "From Incorporation to Exclusion: The Employment Experience of
Taiwanese Urban Aborigines." The China Quarterly (164): pp. 1025-1043.
Wang, Fu-chang. (2014). “A Reluctant Identity: The Development of Holo Identity in
Contemporary Taiwan.” Taiwan in Comparative Perspective, Vol. 5, July 2014, pp. 79–
119.
Sandel, Todd L. and Chung-hui Liang. (2010). “Taiwan’s Fifth Ethnic Group: A Study of the
Acculturation and Cultural Fusion of Women who have married into Families in
Taiwan,” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Vol.3, No. 3, August
2010, pp. 249 – 75.
Lu, Melody Chia-wen (2008). "Commercially Arranged Marriage Migration: Case Studies of
Cross-Border Marriages in Taiwan." in Rajni Palriwala and Patricia Uberoi (eds).
Marriage, Migration and Gender. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications: pp.
125-151.
Tsai , Ming-Chang. (2011). “‘Foreign Brides’ Meet Ethnic Politics in Taiwan.” International
Migration Review (IMR), Volume 45 Number 2 (Summer 2011): 243–268
2. Indigenous Peoples 原住民 – 16.00-17.50, J22
Reading
Chi, Chun-chieh. (2016). “Indigenous Movement and multicultural Taiwan” in Schubert (ed.)
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Taiwan, London: Routlege, pp. 268-279.
Chu, Jou-juo (2000). "From Incorporation to Exclusion: The Employment Experience of
Taiwanese Urban Aborigines." The China Quarterly (164): pp. 1025-1043.
Stainton, Michael (2007). "Aboriginal Self-Government: Taiwan's Uncompleted Agenda." In
Murray A. Rubinstein (ed.) Taiwan: A New History. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe: pp. 419-
435.
Hsieh, Shih-Chung (1993). "From Shanbao to Yuanzhumin: Taiwanese Aborigines in
Transition." in Murray A. Rubinstein (ed.) The Other Taiwan, 1945 to the Present.
Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe: pp. 404-419.
Ku, Kun-hui. (2005). “Rights to Recognition: Minority/Indigenous Politics in the Emerging
Taiwanese Nationalism” Social Analysis, Volume 49, Issue 2, Summer 2005, pp. 99–
121.
Recommended Films
 移民新娘三部曲--我的強娜威 My imported wife ; 黑仔討老婆 Marriages on the
borders (II); 中國新娘在台灣 Marriages on the borders (III) (2003) by Tsai, Tsung-
lung
 GF*BF 女朋友。男朋友 (2012) by Yang Ya-che
Presentation Questions:
1. How has the ethnic formation of Taiwanese society changed since 1945? Is the
conventional division to categorise people in Taiwan into four categories – i.e.
‘waishengren’ (mainlanders) or ‘benshengren’ (including Minnan, Hakka, and
indigenous peoples) – still relevant today?
2. Assess the impact of the New Migrants (xin yimin 新移民) on Taiwan, focusing on
one of the following groups: foreign spouse, mainland spouse, or foreign workers.
How has the relationship between various groups changed in an age of increasing
migration and globalization?
3. Explore the development of indigenous policy and examine their long-term struggle
for equal rights in contemporary Taiwan.
4. Critically assess the success and challenges of Indigenous Movement.
Day V. Nation Building and National Culture
1. Nation-building 國族建構 10.00-11.50 B2.41
Reading:
Anderson. Benedict. (1991). “Census, Map, Museum”, in Imagined Communities. London, New
York: Verso, pp. 163-85.
Chang, Bi-yu. (2018). “Politics of Repositioning and State Spatiality: From ‘Xiangtu China’ to
‘Oceanic Taiwan,’” in Carsten Storm (ed.), Connecting Taiwan: Participation – Integration
– Impacts. Routledge, pp.41-60.
____. (2015). “The Rise and Fall of Sanminzhuyi Utopia: The Spatiality of Power in the
Construction and Dismantling of Chunghsing New Village.” In Place, Identity and
National Imagination in postwar Taiwan. London and New York: Routledge.
____. (2012). “Imaging National Landscape: Yushan, Modern Myth and Identity.” In Imaging
and Imagining Taiwan: Identity representation and cultural politics, ed. Bi-yu Chang and
Henning Klöter, pp. 149-169. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Lee, Anru. (2012). “Global is National: The cultural politics of the mass rapid transit systems
in Taiwan” In Imaging and Imagining Taiwan: Identity representation and cultural politics, ed.
Bi-yu Chang and Henning Klöter, pp.. 125-145. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Taylor, Jeremy. (2005). “Reading History through the Built Environment in Taiwan.” In:
JOHN MAKEHAM and A-CHIN HSIAU, (eds.), Cultural, Ethnic and Political
Nationalism in Contemporary Taiwan: Bentuhua Palgrave Macmillan. 159-183.
Fanon, Frantz. 1963. “On National Culture”, in The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press, pp.
145-180.
Hall, Stuart. (1990). “Cultural identity and diaspora.” In: Identity: community, culture, difference. Rutherford
J. (ed.). London: Lawrence & Wishart. pp. 222-237.
Renan, Ernest. (1990). “What is a nation?” in Homi Bhabha (ed.) Nation and Narration. London:
Routledge.
Hsiau, A-chin. (2005). “Epilogue: Bentuhua – An Endeavor for Normalizing a Would-Be NationState?”
in Makeham, John and A-chin Hsiau (eds.), Cultural, Ethnic, and Political Nationalism in
Contemporary Taiwan – Bentuhua. N.Y., Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 261-276.
Chang, Bi-yu. (2018). “Politics of Repositioning and State Spatiality: From ‘Xiangtu China’ to
‘Oceanic Taiwan’”, edited by Carsten Storm, Connecting Taiwan: Participation – Integration –
Impacts. Routledge, pp.41-60.
Presentation Questions:
1. Examine the relationship between identity and place, with reference to any or a few of
the following cases: Yushan, Taipei 101, National Palace Museum, 228 Memorial
Park, Taipei, Freedom Square, Taipei and Kaohsiung MRT, or the preservation of
Japanese colonial architecture.
2. Explore how Taiwan’s cultural policy has shifted from a China-centric to a Taiwanfocused
approach since the 1990s. Discuss the major factors for such a drastic change.
3. Are people in Taiwan Chinese, Taiwanese, both or something else?
4. Critically examine whether Taiwan’s effort to create a multicultural, multi-ethnic, and
tolerant society is successful or not.
Student Presentations (12.10-13.50 B2.41)