Symbols in Conflict:<i>Taiwan</i>(Taiwan) and<i>Zhongguo</i>(China) in Taiwan’s Identity Politics

Abstract

This study analyzes how symbols taiwan (Taiwan) and zhongguo (China) have helped construct changing Taiwanese identity since the Nationalists assumed control of Taiwan in 1949. While in the past zhongguo subsumed taiwan, rising Taiwanese consciousness has compelled a reversal of their center–border positioning. Taiwan has moved from being a taboo term to cause for celebration, whereas the once dominant zhongguo has been rendered less visible through acts of de-Sinicization. The ROC government has also adopted creative rhetoric to reinvent the One China Policy implied by its Constitution. Taiwanese national identities are thus reconstituted in the ongoing negotiation of boundaries between Taiwanese-ness and Chinese-ness.