During the Qing colonial period, clashes often broke out between ethnic groups in Taiwan. Recognizing that the conflicts were advantageous to its regime, the Qing government deliberately deepened the discord between the opposing sides.
When the “Duck King” Chu Yi-kuei (朱一貴) rose up against the Qing in April 1721, the Hoklo, or Minnan (閩南), and Hakka (客家) people initially rallied together to resist Qing officials.
However, a dispute broke out when Hakka general Tu Chun-ying (杜君英) refused to recognize Chu’s claim to kingship, which doomed the rebellion. From then on, Qing officials realized that sowing division was the most effective and cost-efficient strategy. They designated Hakka who opposed Chu as yimin (義民, righteous people) loyal to the Qing. When subsequent anti-Qing uprisings occurred, the Qing framed them as attempts by the Hoklo to plunder resources, prompting the Hakka to side with the government.
Tensions between people from Zhangzhou (州人) and Quanzhou (泉州) in China’s Fujian Province were also deliberately intensified by the Qing. The three major rebel leaders at the time — Chu, Lin Shuang-wen (林爽文) and Tai Chao-chun (戴潮春) — were originally from Zhangzhou. In central Taiwan, where Zhangzhou influence was strong, the Qing spread propaganda among the Quanzhou people, painting the uprisings as attempts by Zhangzhou people to steal resources. Lin’s rebellion in 1768 was the largest yet, with nearly the entire island falling under rebel control save for the prefectural capital in present-day Tainan.
During the uprising, the Hakka and the Quanzhou, honored as yimin, sided with the Qing and defeated Lin. As a reward, the Qianlong Emperor gave Chuluo (諸羅) — one of the strongholds of resistance against Lin’s forces — the name Chiayi (嘉義), or “commendable righteousness.”
The Qing local gazetteer for Changhua County said that recruiting yimin was the Qing’s best strategy to weaken rebel forces, and that disunity ultimately rendered nearly two centuries of anti-Qing rebellion futile. By sowing division, the Qing secured allegiance from nearly half of the population. As such, even the most ineffective regime could not be overthrown, because people failed to unite with one heart and mind.
The present-day champion of such tactics is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Many people mistake the term “united front” work as referring solely to efforts by China to deceive Taiwan into unification — but that is not the case. “United front” tactics are a part of a greater strategy to exploit divisions among the enemy and win over the majority. This was the CCP’s lifeline during its early years. When the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was forced to form the First United Front with the CCP in 1924 to end the era of warlordism in China, CCP members spread communism within the KMT and stirred up factional conflicts. By winning over the left wing of the KMT, the CCP indirectly triggered the Ninghan Split of 1927, resulting in the brief formation of two rival KMT governments.
When the KMT was on the brink of eradicating communism, the CCP called for a “united front” against Japanese aggression, rallying those who opposed Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) policy of “internal pacification before external resistance.” This led to the Xian Incident of 1936, during which “Young Marshal” Chang Hsueh-liang (張學良) kidnapped Chiang and persuaded him to shift his focus to fighting Japan. Thus, the CCP survived and expanded its strength during the “war of resistance against Japan.”
The CCP is once again using “peaceful united front” strategies to win over pro-China people and divide Taiwanese society. Taiwanese must see through the tactics and remain vigilant.
Shen Pei is a junior-high school teacher.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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