I have always preferred the uplifting melody of the National Flag Anthem to the solemn tone of the Republic of China (ROC) National Anthem, which is also the anthem of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). However, the National Flag Anthem contains the phrase “Yanhuang shizhou” (炎黃世胄, meaning “descendants of Yan and Huang”), referring to the Yan Emperor (炎帝) and the Yellow Emperor (黃帝), thought to be the ancestors of modern-day Chinese, most specifically Han Chinese. The phrase is particularly contentious.
Taiwan’s remarkable achievements in the recent Paris Olympics are undoubtedly cause for national celebration, but are the Taiwanese athletes truly all descendants of the Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor?
Taiwan’s history and political evolution reveal a complex and diverse heritage. Austronesians, who were not descendants of the Yan or Yellow emperors, have inhabited Taiwan for tens of thousands of years.
Later, European powers introduced their cultures. By Taiwan’s Cheng Dynasty — the Kingdom of Tungning established in southern Taiwan by the Ming Dynasty loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) in 1662 — integration between southern Han Chinese and those with ancestry in Zhangzhou, China, had likely already occurred before they crossed the Taiwan Strait from Quanzhou.
Similarly, Hakka groups from China’s Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces had probably intermingled with people from the She ethnic group before migrating to Taiwan. Intermarriages among Han Chinese and Pingpu (plain) people in Taiwan led to significant cultural and genetic blending. Research by professor Marie Lin (林媽利) of Mackay Memorial Hospital has shown that most Taiwanese have Pingpu genes.
In China, “Zhonghua minzu” (中華民族, “the Chinese nation”) is a political term created to promote a unified national identity. Originally, it included the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui, Tibetan, Miao and Yao ethnic groups. Since the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, China has officially recognized at least 56 ethnic groups.
Chinese academic Wu Rui (吳銳) and artist Long Mengrou (龍夢柔) are members of the Tujia ethnic group. Given this, can they be considered descendants of the Yan and Yellow emperors?
Taiwan is home to many exceptional athletes from various indigenous groups. Decathlete C.K. Yang (楊傳廣), known as the “Iron Man of Asia,” is Amis. Despite his indigenous heritage, he used a Han name and was selected as a representative of the Yang Clan Association.
There is no evidence to support that the Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor are the ancestors of all Chinese. Even ancestral theories based on the discoveries of “Peking Man” and “Shandingdong Man,” also known as “Upper Cave Man,” have been disputed. With the ROC government still participating in annual ceremonies paying tribute to the Yellow Emperor, it is no surprise that the term “Yanhuang shizhou” is still prevalent among Taiwanese. However, in our modern and diverse Taiwanese society, ROC nationalism should take precedence over ethnic nationalism.
Hung Yu-jui is a translator and Japanese-language teacher.
Translated by Nicole Wong
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