Hello everyone
welcome to Taiwan Bar
Our topic today
is something we kinda know and kinda don’t know
Taiwanese culture
Which of course is more than just
pig blood cakes long working hours and overpriced apartments
Taiwan’s most beautiful scenery isn’t just people either
This culture includes eating and sleeping
and EVERYTHING in life
To get to know more about Taiwanese culture
Let’s start with “language”
Language is not only for talking, protesting or singing
It symbolizes one’s identity or culture
People who speak Japanese are seen as Japanese
People who speak Cantonese are seen as Hongkongers
People who speak Mandarin
are seen us… well…
Chi…
Tai…
uh....
Mandarinese?
People can hardly recognize
where Mandarin speakers are from
Here's some food for thought
Besides families who spoke Mandarin all along
Why is it that some parents speak flawless
Hokkien, Hakka or aboriginal languages with their elders
But switch to Mandarin
when they’re speaking to us- the younger generation?
Why is it that some elders don’t necessarily speak Mandarin
But we all indubitably do?
How did Mandarin Chinese become the national language?
And how did it influence Taiwanese culture?
Ahem, here we go!
When it comes to establishing the national language
Taiwan has done it twice
The first time was the
National Language Movement under Japanese rule
Although the national language at that time
was of course Japanese
Languages people used to speak in Taiwan were not banned
Therefore Hokkien, Hakka and aboriginal languages were still used
In the 1930s
Intellectuals in Taiwan began using Japanese
as a key to connect with the world
So a bunch of writers who wrote in Japanese sprung out
like Lu Heruo or Yang Kui
derDuring that time, Japanese novels written by Taiwanese were amazing
Comparable to those written by Japanese writers
Yang Kui was the first Taiwanese
writer to make an impact in Japanese literature
In 1945
After the ROC government took over Taiwan
They found the Taiwanese acting like Japanese-wannabes
Something had to be done to set them straight
So they started with language
the most important element of daily life
Use of Japanese was completely prohibited
which rendered the new gen-Taiwanese intellectuals
who wrote in Japanese, useless
Sending them from Max Level full ammo all the way back to newbie-ville
See you later!
There is no later
Compared to the Governor-general
who only restricted Mandarin and Taiwanese after 40 years of ruling
The R.O.C government, prohibiting Japanese right away
seemed a little more aggressive
In addition to prohibiting Japanese immediately
The official language was replaced with the, guess what?
Not Hokkien, not Hakka, nor any aboriginal language
but standard Mandarin Chinese modified from the Beijing dialect
The government even formed the National Languages Promotion Committee
to strongly promote the “Chinese” we speak nowadays
Shoving it into people’s daily lives
Although speaking Chinese is natural for us today
it was like a foreign language to the locals at that time
most citizens didn’t even know how to speak the language
In the 1950s
The government used the education system as a tool to promote Mandarin
They prohibited speaking dialects in all schools
If you got caught speaking dialects in school
You might be fined, or punished
by wearing a sign around your neck saying “I won’t speak dialects again”
Sometimes you have to find a second person
speaking dialects to pass on the punishment
Becoming this messed up version of tag
Punished students with the sign were isolated
because people were afraid to talk to them
Talk about bullying encouraged by the school
The strangest thing was
this Dialect Prohibiting Act only prohibited Taiwanese dialects
In 1949
people who followed the R.O.C government to Taiwan
came from different provinces of China
And of course brought over their own dialects
But people were free to speak
Shangdong dialects, Shanghai dialects or Sichuan dialects
Only those who spoke Taiwanese dialects would get punished
All kinds of punishment and mocking caused by the Mandarin Promotion
not only damaged children’s dignity
but made them think that using their mother tongue was a shame
and that Mandarin was the more patriotic or sophisticated language to use
They even corrected their grandparents when they got home
Maybe it was this double standard
that made “Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent”
A laughing stock, even until today
In order to let everybody speak fluent Mandarin
Schools taught students the standard pronunciation
This is why Mandarin competitions are held in schools nowadays
Reciting and speech contests
required students to speak with this funky intonation
A skill that could never be helpful in any situation in life
But uh……Why do we still hold these competitions now?
Aside from putting pressure on education
TV, which was as important as wifi nowadays
was strictly regulated on the languages it used to broadcast
For example, “The Scholar Swordsman”
a show most middle-aged folks are familiar with
was one of the victims during the Mandarin Promotion
In 1970, “The Scholar Swordsman” was a huge hit after its first broadcast
the protagonist Shiyan Wen became a famous hero, probably more popular than Batman
Every noon, families would stop what they were doing and sit in front of the TV to watch the show
National viewing ratings was up to 97%!
With that kind of popularity
You bet the government snuck up their back
And forced them to rewrite their scripts over and over
The crew was even forced to create a character that sings
“Mighty China, Mighty China, China is the mightiest of all ”
every time it appears
Guess what this guy’s called? China-Strong
This puppetry show that originally used Hokkien
created this confusing character that wore the national flag and sang Mandarin
Ya messin’ with my head!
Although people were a little confused
the rating of the puppetry show was still high
After 583 episodes
Chiang Kai-shek finally killed the show
In 1974
the Government Information Office (GIO)
prohibited Taiwan Television to broadcast “The Scholar Swordsman”
due to “ hampering farmers’ daily activities”
Are you kidding me?
Along with the Mandarin Promotion
other ridiculous policies were established
For example, Hokkien programs were only to be broadcasted an hour a day
No more than two Hokkien songs could be played per day
not to mention programs that spoke Hakka or aboriginal languages
This became a cultural catastrophe to Taiwanese languages
Forcing many Taiwanese to lose the chance to learn their own language and culture
Until today, fewer and fewer youngsters are able to understand their mother tongue
Under this cultural environment with Mandarin at its core
The ROC government used all kinds of propaganda
to sneak its ideology into our lives
In 1949
after the ROC government settled in Taiwan
“Taking over Chinese Mainland” became their golden slogan
They didn’t care if you wanted to or not
they forced the ideologies of anti-communism
and the San-min Doctrine onto their citizens
Textbooks were also all written
by the National Institute for Compilation and Translation
In the 1950s
The China Youth Anti-communist Corps was founded
It became the hotbed of developing teenagers’ political ideology
Military personnel went into campuses
and became military instructors in high schools and colleges
They taught students political ideology and military trainings
Things like Chinese basic cultural studies, Sunology
blah blahthe San-min Doctrine and speeches of Chiang Kai-shek
All became very important educational content
Under the background of the
“Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion”
controlling education was a convenient way to consolidate power
Aside from education
the government did not overlook cultural development
They supervised that through laws
and banned all books and songs that contradicts with the government
In literature
they encouraged homesick articles that wrote about homeland China
and articles on FIRE IN THE HOLE!… combat literature
In the 1960s
Western culture came pouring in Taiwan as a result of US aid
Restrictions against western culture were much looser
compare to Taiwanese culture
Teenagers enjoyed the energetic western culture
Western pop music was super popular at that time
Modernism in western literature also entered Taiwan
like “Taipei People” written by Pai Hsien-yung
was one of the greatest work in the 60s
Hold on a sec, let’s clarify something real quick
Speaking of aborigines
You might assume that aborigines had always been aborigines
However, Taiwan’s aborigines weren’t named aborigines until the 90s
In the past, when ruled by different governments
The aborigines had different names
When the ROC government came
in order to showcase their tolerance
They viewed the aborigines as their besties
And because the aborigines lived in the mountains
they were named “Shandi Tongbao”
But Shandi Tongbao were never bathed in Chinese culture
so they must be re-educated
The government used all kinds of ways to speed up the Sinicization of aborigines
For example, the Wufeng legend during Japanese rule
was edited into textbooks in the KMT era
spreading the image that Shandi Tongbao were barbarians
And Wufeng was a hero sacrificing himself to save people
This was like educating the aborigines that their culture was awful
But we treated you like civilized beings
So come on, turn into one of us
As for their names
the KMT wanted the aborigines to change their names just like the Japanese did
for example my friend’s name is Pangcha
and his dad’s name is Lindoi
But after sinicization, his dad’s Chinese name became Lin-don
and his whole family’s got the last name Lin
Hello everyone
The KMT’s policies
changed the aborigines’ traditional social structure
Not only did they smear their cultural identification and feelings
but also it deepened their cultural inferiority
They would try very hard to become a real “Chinese”
Many children grew up through cultural denial, afraid to admit who they really were
And faced discrimination from their peers
BOSS When facing the dominant Han Chinese culture and the authority
how could the aborigines protect their own culture?
After all that talk
We probably still don’t fully understand Taiwanese culture
After all,
culture simply isn’t a topic that can be covered in just a few minutes
but through some stories about languages
we might be able to see how people
Tried to mold the culture into the way they wanted
We can also reflect on whether
These methods were good or bad
Language bears culture
Losing a language is like a kite losing its string
Or a page not found, everything must start a new
Those who lost their language
can only search for a new identity
and tell themselves who they really are through that
It was once said “if you want to destroy a country, destroy its language”
Due to the same reason
After Taiwan became a more democratic and free country
Multiculturalism became an aim
But has Taiwan really embraced multiculturalism?
Cross cultural marriages and the introduction of foreign labor
brought in immigrants and new cultures
This island has been accepting people from different places since forever
but how have the citizens of this island reacted to those new faces?
I believe we all feel for
and love Taiwanese culture deeply
but if we concentrate too much on self-identification
And hold a little too tight on nationalism
won’t it be a little bit …dangerous?
After all, you might also be a foreigner to other people
If we could look further back in time
aren’t all our ancestors on the island
foreigners?
Al-righty
After all that talk, I’m a bit thirsty
After 8 episodes
Are you more interested in learning about Taiwan?
What is “Taiwanese”after all?
After this last cup of wine,
We’ll leave those questions for you to think about
The Animated History of Taiwan from Taiwan Bar Studio
We’ll see you next time!
BYE!