- following the defeat of the qing in the first sino-japanese war,
taiwan became a japanese colony. this period of imperial rule lasted
from 1895 to the collapse of the japanese empire in 1945.
- today, the legacy of the colonial era in taiwan is unclear. during
the latter half of the 20th century, taiwan became an attractive subject
of inquiry to many historians for two main reasons: first, taiwan's
rapid economic and industrial development, and second, the taiwanese
people's presumed connection to "chinese identity".
- the political climate of the cold war made both aspects of taiwanese
history more salient. taiwan represented both a successful
(anti-communist) model of economic growth, and an access point to
chinese culture many western scholars found more accommodating than the
people's republic.
- in studies written on the colonial period before 1987, taiwanese of
han descent are assumed to be chinese in the same way their fujianese
ancestors were. as hill gates puts it, "the Chinese live in many
climates, speak many languages, and follow widely differing customs. But
they all share at least one thing: a strong and sophisticated belief
that human relationships are more important than anything else."
- gates' fieldwork concerns only the lives of working class informants
living in taiwan. no other region of china (even fellow "asian tiger"
hong kong) is surveyed in her study. yet her interview subjects are
taken to speak as representatives of chinese culture in general, not
taiwanese culture in particular. this assumption is characteristic of
nearly all scholarly works on taiwan from this era.