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4 - The Long Road Home

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2020

Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
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Summary

Chapter 4 describes the emotional roller coaster of the belated homecoming in China for the aging civil war exiles and their Taiwan-born descendants, four decades after the initial displacement to Taiwan. Rather than being passive beneficiaries of democracy’s windfall, the most impoverished and disadvantaged mainlanders – the retired Nationalist soldiers – helped break down the barriers. They led the social protest that ultimately forced the hand of Chiang Kai-shek’s son Chiang Ching-kuo in his decision to lift Taiwan’s four-decade-long ban on its people traveling to “communist bandit territory.” Sadly, mainlanders’ elation and anticipation soon turned into shock, frustration, and disorientation as the home and family that they had longed to see again were nowhere to be found in the post-Mao PRC. The second- and third-generation mainlanders, who had never seen “home,” also felt estranged by the entire “return experience.” Yet, their sense of disorientation was relatively moderate compared to their parents’ and grandparents’. The chapter argues that the reverse culture shock of the belated homecoming in the PRC shattered mainlanders’ China-centered nostalgia and provincial identities. It paved the way for the rise of a Taiwan-centered mainlander identity based on the previously repressed memories of the great exodus.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Great Exodus from China
Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Modern Taiwan
, pp. 168 - 213
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Long Road Home
  • Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: The Great Exodus from China
  • Online publication: 12 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108784306.005
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  • The Long Road Home
  • Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: The Great Exodus from China
  • Online publication: 12 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108784306.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Long Road Home
  • Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: The Great Exodus from China
  • Online publication: 12 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108784306.005
Available formats
×