The debate is not simple. It shows that the building up of a specific ethnic or linguistic identity is a complex process which calls for arbitration between the local and global dimensions. Such a process is always uneasy and transitory. In fact, the debate that started in the 1930s remains undecided up to the present day.
Ann Heylen is Associate Researcher at the Taipei Ricci Institute, a Jesuit research center focusing on Taiwanese and Chinese culture, past and present.
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