Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009
Taiwan is a geographic location, an economic force, a political presence, a social reality and a cultural expression. The “precious island” (baodao), in the minds of those who are vaguely familiar with East Asia in the English-speaking community, evokes sensations of stunning natural beauty, hard-working people and troubled international status. Those who have travelled there as tourists in recent years are easily impressed by the vibrant economy, cuisine, traffic jams, air pollution, rich folk traditions and colourful popular culture. While journalists and business executives may be fascinated by the transformative power of marketization and democratization in Taiwan's political economy, many students have been overwhelmed by the profound impact of economy and polity on all dimensions of the cultural world - literature, art, dance, music and drama - since the lifting of martial law in 1987.
1 For an informed discussion on this issue, see Mau-Kuei Michael Chang, “Provincialism and nationalism,” Taiwan Studies(Hong Kong,1995), pp.67–96.1 am indebted to Professor Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang of the University of Texas at Austin for this reference.Google Scholar
2 Steve Chan, East Asian Dynamism: Growth, Order, and Security in the Pacific Region, 2nd ed.(Boulder:Westview Press,1993), p.127.Google Scholar
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6 John Fairbank, E. Reischauer and A. Craig,East Asia: Tradition and Transformation (Boston:Houghton Mifflin Company,1989), p.902.Google Scholar
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14 I am grateful to Ping-tsu Chu for his thoughtful comments on the proper “tone” for addressing the following issues. I am of course solely responsible for the inadequacy of dealing with these delicate problems.
15 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992), p. 630.Google Scholar
16 For a fuller account of the question of ethnicity in Taiwan, see Chang, “Provincialism and nationalism.”
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22 For this expression, see Wang Gungwu, The Chineseness of China: Selected Essays (Hong Kong:Oxford University Press,1991.Google Scholar