This Tomb Sweeping Day, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) returned to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors, using the occasion to indirectly accuse the Democratic Progressive Party of forgetting its roots and betraying Chinese culture. Since it appears Chu has confused the three concepts of a political regime, a nation and culture, let us talk about it.
My ancestors arrived in Taiwan’s Mingjian (名間) during the reign of the Qing emperor Kangxi (康熙) and settled around Bagua Mountain (八卦山). My family has lived in Taiwan for 10 generations.
My founding ancestor at the time lived in the matriarchal society of the indigenous Pingpu, and many of my maternal ancestors were also Pingpu.
After more than 300 years of bloodline integration and deep-rooted settlement, Taiwan has long been my and my family’s motherland. The land across the Taiwan Strait could only be defined as the land where my early ancestors once lived, during the Qing Dynasty, which has absolutely no connection to the present-day People’s Republic of China.
In terms of Chinese culture, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) carried out the Cultural Revolution in 1966 — true Chinese culture was destroyed many years ago. This is why China uses simplified characters, while Taiwan has preserved the use of traditional characters. It is Taiwan — not the CCP — that has continued to promote Chinese culture.
Furthermore, Taiwanese inherited more than just China’s Central Plains Culture — we also integrated with Austronesian, immigrant and maritime cultures, resulting in an inclusive, expansive and magnificent culture of our own.
Chu’s first blind spot is that he fails to recognize Taiwan’s diverse culture, instead insisting on respecting Chinese culture alone. His second blind spot is that he equates Chinese culture with the CCP regime, the party responsible for its destruction. His third blind spot is that he refuses to cherish Taiwan — the nation that gave him his roots — rather, he inexplicably longs for communist China and adds fuel to the fire by growing closer to the vultures that govern there.
Chu accused others of forgetting their roots, playing games with the descendants of the Yan and Huang emperors — a reference to the inheritors of Han Chinese culture — and mixing up the concepts of a political regime, a nation and culture.
He identifies with the CCP regime, yet shows no gratitude or recognition for the land, the nation or the citizens of the place that raised him. It is clear that he is the one with ulterior motives.
Chen Chi-nung is a political commentator.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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