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
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of