Desinicization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Desinicization (simplified Chinese: 去中国化; traditional Chinese: 去中國化; pinyin: qùzhōngguóhuà, de + sinicization, meaning "to get rid of the Chinese influence") is a term which appeared in the political vocabulary of the Republic of China on Taiwan in 2001. It is mainly used by groups which support Chinese reunification to describe what they are opposed to, and to distinguish it from the Taiwanese localization movement.
The term exists to emphasize that pro-unification groups are not opposed to the development of a Taiwanese identity or local symbols such as language, but are opposed to viewing such an identity and symbols as separate from a broader Chinese identity.[citation needed]
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[edit] Desinicization by the Communist Party of China
During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party declared its intention to destroy the Four Olds; namely, Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits and Old Ideas. As a result, many Chinese antiques, paintings and genealogy books were destroyed. People were also forbidden to worship their ancestors or have memorial ceremonies for Confucius, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor.
Chiang Kai-shek was a former Republic of China President and Kuomintang Party leader. Upon his death in the 1975 Chiang's name was posthumously honored by having the newly-built airport in Taoyuan named after him. Ever since it was built, the government of the People's Republic of China and government-controlled media have referred the airport as the "Taoyuan Airport," so as to not mention the name of Chiang Kai-Shek, Communist leader Mao Zedong's arch nemesis. Hence for the past 30 years or so, the mainland Chinese never knew that there was an airport in Taiwan that is called "Chiang Kai-shek airport."
Products made in Taiwan used to be labeled as "Made in ROC"; it was changed to "Made in Taiwan" after protests from the People's Republic of China.
According to the 2002 government document, Taipei's National Pater Patriae Hall can only be called as "Taipei's Sun Yat-sen memorial hall.
Chinese Kuomintang is referred to as one of the "Taiwanese political party." President of the Republic of China after 1949 are called as "Taiwanese leader" by the Chinese mainland government.
In 2005, a delegation of Kuomintang went back to mainland China. The mainland Chinese government usually likes to add the word Chinese in front of everything from Taiwan, such as Chinese Taipei. However, this time, the government referred to the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, as a "Taiwan political party". Hence, to the Chinese government, the Chinese Nationalist Party is not an official Chinese political party.[citation needed].
[edit] Desinicization in Taiwan
When the Republic of China took over Taiwan after World War II, it began to push Chinese culture and identity on the Taiwanese. Over times steps were taken such as forbidding the use of Taiwanese langauge in schools and media, putting educational focus on China rather than Taiwan, and naming entities within Taiwan with "China" or "Chinese". After democracy took hold on the island in the 1990s, efforts have been made to re-assert Taiwanese identity and culture and remove the focus on China and Chinese culture. Some steps that have been taken include:
- In 2002, the Republic of China's Department of Education chose to invent its own romanization system, Tongyong Pinyin, designed by a local scholar rather than adopting the internationally well-known Pinyin system developed by the People's Republic of China and used in other countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
- From 2004, the map of "Republic of China" no longer includes mainland China.
- In late 2004, President Chen Shui-bian proposed to rename all state-owned enterprises bearing the name "China" to "Taiwan". This was opposed by the Pan-Blue Coalition. Private businesses in Taiwan which have China in their names are also rumored to have been asked to rename. This hearsay, however, is denied by the government. China Airlines was also asked to change its name.
- In February 12th of 2007, Chen's government changed the names of Chunghwa Post (China Post) to Taiwan Post.[1] February 7th of 2007, Chinese Petroleum Company was changed to "CPC corporation, Taiwan. China Shipbuilding Corporation to "CSBC Corporation, Taiwan".
- The government started to change many names related to China in the textbooks. Dr. Sun Yat-sen is no longer called as the Pater Patriae. China is no longer called "our country", and the history of China is no longer called "our country's history"; it is called "Chinese history". "Mainland China" is officially referred to as China.
The name changing issue will be a topic in the upcoming Republic of China presidential elections in Taiwan in March of 2008. Candidate and former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-Jeou has already promised to restore the printing of "Republic of China" on stamps if he is elected as the next President[2].
When President-Elect Ma takes office on May 20, 2008, he is expected to reverse all of the name changes that took place under Chen's desinicization campaign. President Ma is expected to reverse all of the desinicization campaigns.[citation needed]
[edit] Examples elsewhere
Some commentators also take the recent Seoul city mayor's move to change Seoul city's Chinese official name from Hancheng (漢城; Hànchéng) to Shou'er (首爾; Shǒuěr) in 2005 as a model of desinicization.[citation needed] The previous name, pronounced Hànchéng in Chinese and Hanseong in Korean, is an old name for Seoul, literally meaning Han River City, but can be misinterpreted as Han Chinese City. The new name Shou'er carried no such connotation, and was close in both sound and meaning to Seoul, which, uniquely among Korean place names, does not have a Sino-Korean name. See also Names of Seoul.
The Dungans of Kyrgyzstan represent a less conscious process of desinicization, during which, over the course of a little more than a century (since the Hui Minorities' War), a Hui Chinese population became alienated from the literary tradition and local culture of Shaanxi and Gansu.
[edit] References
- ^ ：：：：：Welcome to TAIWAN POST：：：：：
- ^ Ma Ying-Jeou promised to revert name change on stamps (Traditional Chinese). Broadcasting Company of China (Taiwan) (2007-02-12).
