Editorial: From rejecting colonialism to carving our own path

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org.tw>]

3060 Edition

October 18~24, 2010

Editorial

Editorial: From rejecting colonialism to carving our own path



Translated by Lydia Ma



October 25, 1945, nowadays known as “Retrocession Day”, is a historic 
moment for Taiwan to 

remember, but not for the same reasons this day has traditionally 
been presented to us. On that 

day Taiwanese people, especially those who embraced Sun Yat-sen’s 
Three Principles of the 

People, welcomed Chiang Kai-shek and his army to Taiwan, they were no 
doubt optimistic 

about the prospects of being reunited with their “compatriots”.



Alas, Taiwanese people’s hopes and dreams were shattered a little 
over a year later when they 

discovered their “compatriots” were only interested in expropriating 
and stealing from them. 

Taiwanese peasants soon found out these “compatriots” were worse than 
their previous 

colonizers, the Japanese. The KMT government at the time set its 
sight on the “motherland” 

even if it came at the expense of Taiwanese people’s livelihoods.



It was against this backdrop that Taiwanese nationalism was born and 
Taiwanese people 

finally grasped the need to take action to prevent being colonized or 
trampled once again. 

Though this sense of identity or nationalism was awakened about 60 
years ago, it wasn’t until 

much later that democracy and nationalism in Taiwan really took 
flight.



Sadly, there’s still a remnant of people in Taiwan today who don’t 
want Taiwanese people to 

have a distinct Taiwanese identity. Much like the Israelites who 
longed for the life and food they 

had in Egypt, these people still live in the past and still see 
themselves as colonizers and treat 

Taiwanese people as second-class citizens. Their view of Taiwan as a 
mere colony seems 

frozen in time though everything in Taiwan has changed and people 
have moved on. 



As the KMT gets ready to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 
“Republic of China” (R.O.C.) 

next year, we, the Taiwanese people, must ask ourselves if this 
anniversary has anything to do 

with Taiwan. When the KMT celebrated the birth of R.O.C. in 1912, 
Taiwan wasn’t under its 

jurisdiction and Taiwanese people in Taiwan didn’t speak Mandarin. 
Living under Japanese 

rule at the time, they spoke Japanese and used a Japanese calendar 
instead.



So, if KMT party wants to make a big deal out of the 100th 
anniversary of R.O.C., it shouldn’t 

act so haughty, but take on a spirit of humility instead and identify 
with Taiwan and Taiwanese 

people. Instead of resorting to bribery and expropriation of the 
national treasury as its modus 

operandi, it should identify with this land and its people, return 
money belonging to taxpayers to 

the national treasury, and help Taiwan become a full-fledged member 
of the international 

community.



Unfortunately, KMT leaders today continue to view and rule Taiwan as 
a colony and haven’t 

shown any signs of wanting to be in solidarity with Taiwanese people. 
From reconstruction 

efforts following Typhoon Morakot last year to the recent Taipei 
International Flora Expo, we’ve 

seen too many instances of government behaving like colonizer.



Despite these challenges, we’ve also witnessed Taiwanese people 
rising above 

circumstances through creativity and determination, including 
purposely removing the term 

“Province of Taiwan” from high school history textbooks and 
sponsoring a contest at a local 

church for those interested in designing a new national flag that’d 
be more representative of 

Taiwan.



Though the journey may be long and the road may be hard, as long as 
we love Taiwan and 

believe in justice and love and continue to do our best as we move 
forward, we’ll discover that 

where there’s a will, there’s a way as well.



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