Analysis Of The Cultural Policy-"Resinicization" In 30 Years After Taiwan Retrocession

Since ancient times, Chinese nation has been living and multiplying on the island of Taiwan and it is without doubt that the dominant culture there should be the traditional Chinese culture. That situation was not changed until the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The defeat of the Chinese at the war led to the cession of Taiwan island to the Japanese for 50 years, during which the Japanese colonialists imposed Japanization on Taiwan people with bayonet, bullets and bombs and the Japanese culture trod down the Chinese culture. However, the Chinese culture survived and still prevails in Taiwan today. Despite the rampant "Taiwan Independents", implications of strong traditional Chinese culture could be seen in every aspect of the society, such as population structure, language and words, manners and customs, religion and beliefs and even buildings and roads. Traditions of Chinese culture are still maintained and cherished, to their best, by Taiwan people and Taiwan area under the multicultural phenomenon. In addition to the effort of generations of Taiwan people, cultural promotions and policies of Taiwan authorities after the Retrocession of Taiwan in 1945 also played an essential role in the prosperity of the Chinese culture.It is recorded that Taiwan area was reduced to the sodden gloominess with high level of Jananization at the end of World War II. Out of the reason to reclaim authority on Taiwan and to promote national unification, closely following the Taiwan Retrocession, Taiwan authorities promoted a cultural policy of "Resinicization" and put into force various measures step by step in order to redefine the dominance of traditional Chinese culture in Taiwan. Later in 1949 the policy of "Resinicization" was again preached by Nationalist Government in full retreat to Taiwan. With the grand reason, they wished to represent Chinese government in the national affairs, to win the support of people for retaking the mainland and to build a base in Taiwan "to oppose Communism and achieve national recovery". Specifically, the main activities involved:repopularizing the Chinese language, recapturing and reorganizing the educational sectors, reforming the educational policy, and adding the concept of "Sinicization" and "Nationalization" to the educational objectives. And during the mid to late period of 1960s, the Chiang Kai-Shek clique even called for a vigorous movement of Chinese Culture Renaissance and implemented lots of practices aiming at reconstructing and strengthening the traditional Chinese culture.For 30 years of "Resinicization" promoted by Chiang Kai-Shek group and the successive effort of Chiang Ching-kuo government, traditional Chinese culture was well inherited and developed. It achieved the dominance in Taiwan again. It should also be notified that, nevertheless, for their political ends the Nationalist Government had purposefully misinterpreted the Chinese culture and intensified the idea of "the Republic of China", resulting in the different understanding about the concept of "Chinese people" and "One-China" between people in Taiwan and that in the mainland. That is one of the reasons for the long-lasing problem existing between Taiwan and the mainland.