Articles

Studies of Taiwan ethnic history in China after 2000: current state and prospects: a historiographic survey

Vostok/Oriens '2016, №6

 
The studies of the Taiwan ethnic history, conducted in mainland China since 1949, have passed four stages. The beginning of the current, fourth stage coincided with the rule of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which rose to power in Taiwan in 2000 and attempted to denounce the official concepts of the Cross-Strait historical, ethnic and cultural unity, shared by both the outgoing Guomindang in Taiwan and the CPC in the PRC. In 2000–2008 the DPP authorities tried to push for the drastic revision of the very corner-stones of the local ethnology, particularly, to enforce the “de-Sinicization” and “Taiwanization” of the ethnic history studies in the island. To counter-attack these attempts, the PRC scholars had to switch from the diligent learning from the Taiwan colleagues to the active criticism of their new politicized approaches. They also systemize, rethink and increase the scale of the domestic Taiwan studies on the newly established nationwide grounds, with reference to the global studies. This transition is associated with a new stage in the Taiwan ethnic history studies in PRC.

Keywords: China, ethnic history, Historiography, PRC, Taiwan

Pages: С. 181–191