If the "quiet revolution" (
In short, while the majority of voters demonstrate a Taiwanese consciousness, the cultural leaders in the media and academia are still steeped in a "Great China" ideology.
Initially, the proponents of "Great China" hegemony responded to the rise of Taiwanese consciousness with zealous counterattacks. But when they found that the situation had turned to their disadvantage, they resorted to sarcasm and vilification of Taiwanese consciousness.
During the era of Chiang Kai-shek (
In today's free, democratic society, the mainstream media carry crime reports on the front page day after day, trying to create an impression that law and order are deteriorating in Taiwan.
The message they carry is this: Things used to be fine in the past, but since Taiwanese consciousness took the helm, society has became a total mess.
These champions of "Great China" cultural hegemony have long believed that this society is fraught with "black gold" politics and that people live in constant fear of their lives. They exaggerate the kind of bad news that can be seen in every industrial-commercial society around the world. Then they try to downplay the real sources of social disorder (for example, the fact that "black gold" politics is the product of the "divide-and-rule" strategy used by the two Chiangs to control local factions).
Finally, they seek to endorse powers within society that support the "Great China" ideology and portray them as the great hope for the future.
Has public security in Taiwan society turned so bad that it is no longer suitable for human habitation?
With 21.4 million people jam-packed on a relatively small island like this, breaches will inevitably occur in public security.
The incidents that occur every day are the price of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial society. Therefore, a more objective description should be based on a comparison with other industrialized countries.
The good social order maintained during the blackouts experienced in July and after the 921 earthquake refute the conventional wisdom about the deterioration in public safety. None of the 24-hour convenience stores in Taiwan was robbed during either power outage. In many major cities of the world, a few hours of blackout would have invariably led to anarchy.
In Taiwan, nothing happened during whole nights of power outages. Despite these examples of good public security, the perceptions of our media executives have not altered. They continue to magnify crime and disaster stories on their front pages. In the minds of these "Great-China"-conscious journalists, it is an irrefutable truth that the predominance of Taiwanese consciousness is the cause of social disorder.
Taiwan's political structure has changed, but China's cultural scene has resisted change. This has become a major stumbling block to the consolidation of Taiwanese democracy.
James Soong's (
In fact, the slowdown in the growth of Taiwanese consciousness has become a challenge to political reform. The challenge is best demonstrated by the fact that Lee Teng-hui's (
The remarks by German social critic Walter Benjamin, written after his Moscow visit in 1927, remind us that "Great China" cultural hegemony in Taiwan is an historical predicament shared by all new political establishments.
Benjamin wrote of Russia's cultural backwardness and the rigorous challenge facing Russia's new political establishment: "The theoreticians of Bolshevism stress how widely the situation of the proletariat in Russia after this successful revolution differs from that of the French bourgeoisie in 1789.
"In France, the victors of the revolution had long since secured for itself the control of the cultural apparatus.
"Intellectual organization and education had long been pervaded by the ideas of the third estate, and the struggle for intellectual emancipation was fought before the political.
"In present-day Russia, it is quite different. For millions upon millions of illiterates, the foundations of a general education have yet to be laid. This is Russia's task."
It is inevitable that under "Great China" cultural hegemony, cultural development has fallen behind political change. It is waiting for us to make a breakthrough.
We are especially reminded of Taoyuan Country Commissioner Annette Lu's (
Taiwan's political illiteracy has its source in the persistence of the "Great China" cultural hegemony.
If this structure does not change, then the future of Taiwanese democracy will face many trials.
The year 2000 is close at hand and the Lee Teng-hui era will soon be a thing of the past.
This especially reminds one of the circumstances in 1988, under which Chiang Ching-kuo handed over power to Lee Teng-hui.
In fact, the histories of other countries show that progress will always be accompanied by obstacles.
How can we afford to be naively sure that Taiwan will have the good fortune to get around a reactionary movement like the Thermidor during the French Revolution? Will the 1988~2000 period of Taiwanese-conscious be as ephemeral as the Prague Spring or the Beijing Spring? No one knows.
Internally, Taiwan is facing the "Great China" cultural hegemony and externally, there is the ever-present Chinese military threat. We should not be too optimistic in our predictions. Only then can we maintain the steady progress of Taiwanese democracy.
Hopefully, the change that began in 1988 was not a mere historical "coincidence" for Taiwanese consciousness.
If 1988 was the "necessary" beginning of a historical progress, then I believe all calm, rational, alert and sensitive "new Taiwanese" people should forsake ignorant optimism and maintain appropriate pessimism and sense of crisis during the transition of power in the year 2000.
We should have the courage to say no to the proponents of "Great China" hegemony and elevate the standards of Taiwanese culture. The most urgent task will be to wake up those political illiterates from their deep slumber.
Herbert Wang is an assistant professor of political science at the Center of General Education at Chang Gung University.
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