Chinese Nationalist Holidays in Taiwan

When I was a kid in Taiwan, I remembered October 10 (雙十節) and October 25 (光復節) as very important government holidays. I welcomed them as a child because we had days off school. October 10, 1911 was when the Xinhai Revolution succeeded in overthrowing the Manchu Qing dynasty, the last imperial system in China. October 25, 1945 was when Taiwan was "officially retro-ceded back to (Chinese Nationalist or the Republic of) China." While I barely noticed October 25 this year in Taiwan, October 10 was advertised and discussed virtually everywhere, on the street and on television.

While October 10 is no longer celebrated with much enthusiasm, or at least not over 50% of the population in Taiwan for the past decade, it was different this year. The current president, Ma Ying-jeou, and his administration (belonging to Chinese Nationalist Party, Kuomingtang KMT or Guomingdang GMD) emphasized this year's "Double-Ten" celebration because this year marked the 100 centennial of the founding of the Republic of China ROC (1911-2011). The Ma administration advertised Taiwan tourism with "celebrating ROC's centennial" this year. The administration also celebrated Double-Ten with military jet flying over presidential palace, students and soldiers marching in front of the palace, and other military drills that had almost disappeared in the last decade.

Many couples got married this year in hope of receiving luck from this "good year." Various business vendors, small and big, had promotion sales in celebration of ROC's centennial.

Streets were full of ROC flags. The community I live in encourages residents to display ROC flags to show their patriotism. This campaign stood in contrast to the suppression of ROC flag display during Zhang Mingqing's visit, a top official of the People's Republic of China (PRC), in February 2011. The Ma administration told people not to display the ROC flag because it did not want to provoke China.

Some people posted this on Facebook as the date approached October 10: Display our national flag today if you love Taiwan. Some foreigners called October 10 "Taiwan's 100th birthday." It made me wonder how well residents of and visitors of Taiwan understand Chinese and Taiwanese histories. The conflation of ROC and Taiwan is historically inaccurate, and the "celebration of ROC's centennial" is debatable. When ROC was established in 1911, Taiwan had been a Japanese colony for over 15 years (1895-1945). Chinese officials and leaders in China had to deal with many issues and problems inside China, and did not spend much time, if any, thinking or worrying about Taiwan (or Hong Kong and Macao, British colony and Portuguese colony respectively). ROC was not Taiwan.

Does ROC still exist? In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and some one million Chinese refugees fled to Taiwan when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the civil war. Chiang "relocated" "China" (ROC) to Taiwan. Even after the United Nations recognized "China" as PRC in 1971 and unseated Chiang's ROC government as the legitimate China, Chiang continued his illusion of the existence of ROC. Since the 1990s and especially the 2000s, presidents in Taiwan from both the pro-ROC and pro-Taiwan-independence political parties seem to equate ROC and Taiwan. The phrase has evolved from the phrase of "ROC on Taiwan" vocalized by the first popularly elected president in 1996, Lee Teng-hui, to the phrase of "ROC is Taiwan, Taiwan is ROC" used by the current president Ma Ying-jeou. The ROC Constitution has been revised since the 1990s, and today it formally recognizes ROC as one with legitimacy over Taiwan, Pescadores, Kinmen, Matsu, and the Orchid Island. The Constitution no longer maintain the illusion that ROC has legitimacy over the entire territory under the current PRC (I think minus Hong Kong and Macao) and the independent country of Mongolia. Still, what does ROC mean? If ROC was created in China, and meant to serve the Chinese people in China, what does it mean when one claims "ROC is Taiwan"?

Is Taiwanese patriotism the same as ROC Chinese patriotism? The historical experience of the 2-28 Massacre/Incident/Uprising that occurred on February 28, 1947, suggests "NO." Representatives from ROC ordered Chinese Nationalist soldiers to arrest, jail, and execute Taiwanese intellectuals, professionals, and community leaders. Even less-prominent people were killed as their enemies reported them as "Communist spies" to the ROC representatives in Taiwan. Those who lived through or witnessed the event, or had family members (grandfathers and fathers, uncles and cousins), neighbors and friends killed or disappeared during the 2-28 Massacre and the subsequent White Terror would not equate Taiwanese patriotism with ROC patriotism. They understand the suffering of the people, both Taiwanese and some Chinese refugees in Taiwan, during the martial law era, imposed immediatedly after 2-28 Massacre until 1987.

As I watched people in Taiwan celebrate, or not celebrate, ROC's centennial, I saw that many do not understand history or what they were celebrating. It pains me to see people ignorant of well-known and recent histories.