How would you introduce yourself to a foreigner?
"Something like, call me Sonic, it's my nickname,"
"and I'm from Taiwan"
"Hello! I'm from Taiwan!"
"From Taiwan."
"Taiwan"
"I'm Taiwanese"
"It's a very democratic country"
"And, I'm very happy living here"
Yup. We often say we are from "Taiwan"
and refer to ourselves as "Taiwanese"
We are also internationally known as
It doesn't seem abnormal to us
since most of us live here
But while the label of "Taiwanese"
being identified by most of the people in this society,
what do people living in offshore islands think?
After all, Taiwan Island is not our only territory
After all, Taiwan Island is not our only territory [List of offshore islands]
Will offshore islands people call themselves Taiwanese?
Do they identify with the label
Do they identify with the label "Taiwanese"?
Today, let's use Kinmen as our example
and talk about [Kinmen]
the complicated identification of Kinmen [Kinmen]
[Kinmen]
Kinmen and Taiwan
while they are both under one regime now,
historically,
they didn't really have much contact
Kinmen was under influences from ancient China
as early as the 9th century during the Tang Dynasty
Records show that officials were sent with horses for reclamation
Taiwan was too far
Formosa! (Taiwan's old name given by the passing by Portuguese)
[Portuguese, the Spainish]
Only until the Zheng family in the 17th century [Portuguese, the Spainish]
[Resist Qing and restore Ming]
and the governing of Great Qing
[I'm gonna take it anyway]
[Great Qing] did many coastal Chinese people emigrate to Taiwan
When the regime of China changes again
into the Republic Of China
Taiwan has become under Japanese rule
for quite a while already
Kinmen was in China, Taiwan was in Japan
One side, one country
The Japanese governing differentiated the Hokkien culture
in Kinmen and Taiwan
For example, language-wise
the Hokkien language is spoken with different accents
(in Kinmen accent) I'm speaking Kinmen accent now
Today I'm very glad
you all decided to come here
later I'll bring some money
to shop at the local market
Taiwan also kept many Japanese pronunciations
(in Taiwanese accent) Eating bento in a hospital toilet
(in Japanese) Eating bento in a hospital toilet
It's obvious from this sentence
some words in the Taiwanese Hokkien language
shares a very similar pronunciation with Japanese
A once viral term-
(In Hokkien) WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT Nee Shee Lei Gong Sa Shee-ao
(In Hokkien) WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT Nee Shee Lei Gong Sa Shee-ao (In Japanese) [Meaningless term that reads the same to a Taiwanese] Ri shi re kyō sa ko
(NOPE
Gradually, the "Taiwan" identity of the Taiwan Island residents
started forming during the many social movements
and petition movement under the Japanese governing
The identification of Kinmen and Taiwan start to apart
[Taiwan should be a Taiwan that belongs to the Taiwanese]
1945, World War II ended
The Republic of China took over Taiwan
Now both have the same governor
and speak the same language
(Mandarin)
The differences are getting smaller
Surely, they should be closer now?
Hm...
NOPE
The identification of both sides actually started getting apart even more
[WHY?]
[Boom]
War
After the constant defeat of the KMT (Chinese Nationalist Party) government during the Chinese Civil War
The Republic of China retreated back to Taiwan
Kinmen suddenly
became the frontline of the battleground
and since suffered as the main target of the war
Starting from 1949
the sound of cannon and bomb from both sides did not stop for 20+ years
Especially 6:30PM on the 23rd Aug 1958
People's Liberation Army started bombarding Kinmen
Within one month
470+ thousand shells were left on the land of Kinmen
this is known as the
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
War means Kinmen had a very different path:
A highly militarized society
100,000 soldiers arrived in Kinmen
Houses and daily essentials were requisitioned
In Kinmen, not only male
but also female,
but also female, primary school children,
but also female, primary school children, elderly,
but also female, primary school children, elderly, pregnant women
were all part of the civilian self-defence team
to be militarily trained or asked to perform military missions
In order to prevent the penetration of the CPC spy
many special policies were put in place
For example, the government issued
a special currency that can only be used within Kinmen
which was not interchangeable with the New Taiwan dollar
to prevent CPC spy from disrupting the Taiwanese economy
They also limited the communication of Kinmen
only phone calls within Kinmen were allowed
Externally, only letters and telegram were allowed
Even the contents of radio stations were monitored
Being at the frontline with the Communist Party of China (CPC)
Residents of Kinmen even needed a permit to come to Taiwan island
And this permit
was not only extremely difficult to apply
it was also single-entry
While both being part of the ROC
It was as difficult as travelling aboard for a resident of Kinmen to go to Taiwan island
And what's happening in Taiwan?
Taiwan was in the transition phase
from import-oriented to export-oriented
It was having a major economic boom
Under the same regime
people are living completely different lifes
After the war
scars were marked on to the land of Kinmen
What they have been through
now becomes the catalyst for patriotism
"Never forget"
"Three Principles of the People Unites China"
Slogans and patriotic spirits
were tattooed on to the soul of the Kinmen people
While the bombardment in Kinmen
finally dwindled after 1979
Kinmen was still under military management
15th July 1987
While people in Taiwan celebrate the repeal of martial law
Kinmen was kept under martial law
until 1992
The days when Kinmen people were living in the war
is difficult to imagine for people living in Taiwan island
They stopped the enemy at the frontline
but looking behind, looking at the country they saved
it's more and more strange
Starting from the 80s
democratisation and the rising of indigenous consciousness
made "Taiwan" replaced "Republic of China"
became the new international image
For Kinmen
Taiwan is somewhere hard to reach
Taiwan is an island hundreds of kilometres away
While Xiamen, China
can be seen clearly in 9km, with its tall buildings
After the "Little Three Links" opened (which allows the previously banned travel to China)
more and more contacts between Kinmen and the opposite shore
In 2018, Kinmen started getting fresh water from Xiamen
"Two shores drinking from one river"
While the mind is on the country
and the strange, distant main island
Economy and daily life are getting closer to the enemy state
All sorts of factors formed the complicated identification of Kinmen
Go back to the question:
Will Kinmen people call themselves Taiwanese?
It's probably not as easy as we'd thought
The environment someone else lives in
will have different histories, cultures
bloodlines
geographies
economies
life experiences
educations
situations
reality trends etc.
resulting in their unique identification
Now you know the story of Kinmen
how should we say, who we are
and how should we understand identifications different from our own?
I will leave this question to you
[Special thanks] Chiu Yu-nan, Director of the documentary "Quemoy"