Taiwan Culture-Preface

Taiwan Culture-Preface

There are several ways to refer to Taiwan when we usually say Taiwan: the island of Taiwan, the province of Taiwan, and the region of Taiwan. Taiwan Island refers to the main island of Taiwan, which is shaped like a spinning whip and also resembles a begonia leaf, and is the main part of Taiwan. Taiwan Province includes the main island of Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and the small islands near the main island of Taiwan such as the Diaoyu Islands, the Green Islands, Orchid Island, and the Lesser Ryukyus, etc. Taiwan Region, in addition to the Taiwan Province, includes the Kinmen County of the Fujian Province which is currently controlled by the Taiwan authority, the Datan and Ertan Islands of the Xiamen Municipal Government, the Wuqiu Island of the Putian Municipal Government, and the Mazu Islands of the Lianjiang Municipal Government. --The Taiwan authorities have classified Taipei City and Kaohsiung City as municipalities directly under the central government parallel to Taiwan Province, so every Taiwan Province, Taipei City and Kaohsiung City are referred to as the Taiwan Region, while the above Taiwan Region is referred to as the Fujian-Taiwan Region. As far as the general speaking is concerned, Taiwan mainly refers to Taiwan Province, and sometimes mainly refers to its main part, Taiwan Main Island.

Taiwan and the motherland flesh and blood, close relations. Before 10,000 years ago, Taiwan and the mainland are connected, is the peninsula of Fujian. Later, due to crustal movement, the arrival of sea flooding, Taiwan is separated from the mainland, became an island. Scientific workers have discovered through geological investigation and research on Fujian and Taiwan that the geology of the two places belongs to the same structure, which just proves that the two places were originally connected. It is conceivable that the Taiwan Strait today was originally a piece of land. Because Taiwan was originally connected to the mainland as a single entity, part of the mainland and a peninsula in Fujian, residents of the mainland, first and foremost those in Fujian, had unimpeded access to and from Taiwan. Just for this reason, the culture of Taiwan and the mainland is also the same.

Both Fuzhou and Keelung have been rumored to have this proverb: "When the chicken cages crow, Fuzhou hears it." Chicken cage is the old name of Keelung. This proverb is graphic and vivid, not only to specify the proximity of the two places, but also to understand the close relationship between the two places. According to the analysis, by the late Quaternary period of the geological era, due to stratigraphic changes, local land subsidence between Fujian and Taiwan, the arrival of sea flooding, the strait appeared, and Taiwan became a sea island. However, at least in the beginning for a long time, whenever the sea flooding exit, the two sides can still come and go. Later, the original land of the strait sank further, and the sea flooding became more severe, so that people could not wade across the strait, although they could still travel between the two places with the help of boats. In the early days, when the strait was not as wide as it is today, it was not difficult to make the transition by boat.

People study the process of change in the Taiwan Strait also found that the southern Penghu Islands and the mainland, specifically with the Fujian Dongshan County, until 5400 years ago, there is a through the Taiwan Reef land connection, and Penghu and Taiwan's own island of land connection, has been maintained until about 6200 years ago. In short, Taiwan was originally a continental link, part of the ancient land of China, the Taiwan mountain range is the east of the ancient land of China, "boundary edge of the mountain range". The east coast of Taiwan is the eastern edge of China. As a result of stratigraphic reasons, i.e., changes in the earth's layers, the Taiwan Strait appeared, separating Taiwan from the mainland, but travel between the two places has never been interrupted. Taiwan is part of the territory of China, Taiwan compatriots are part of the Chinese nation, i.e., the Chinese people, and Taiwan culture is an integral part of the culture of the Chinese nation.

It is important to mention that historically, Taiwan was occupied by the Dutch colonizers for thirty-eight years (1624-1662), of which the Spanish colonizers occupied the northern part of Taiwan for sixteen years (1626-1642). In modern times, Japanese imperialism occupied it for fifty years (1895-1945). In addition, there have been other capitalist powers that have run amok in Taiwan. It is self-evident that Taiwanese culture has been influenced by foreign cultures. But one can clearly see that the culture of the Chinese nation, i.e. traditional Chinese culture, has long been y rooted in Taiwan. Traditional Chinese culture has always been in the mainstream in Taiwan. It is only that, because Taiwan is farther away from the Central Plains and has been more influenced by Fujian and Guangdong, Taiwan has a rather strong local color of Fujian and Guangdong in terms of culture. In recent decades, especially since the 90's, books and movies of various Western trends have flowed into Taiwan in large quantities, attracting a large number of young people, especially young students, so that the cultural trends of ancient and modern China and the outside world have converged and developed in Taiwan.

Historically, those in power in Taiwan have always emphasized traditional Chinese culture. In order to ensure the spread of traditional culture in Taiwan, Zheng's regime era and the Qing Dynasty have openly resisted the development of foreign religions in Taiwan; to the 60s of this century, Taiwan also set up a special "Chinese cultural revival committee", emphasizing the maintenance of traditional culture. The Neo-Confucian school of traditional culture defenders also issued a "Declaration of Respect for Chinese Culture to the World" in 1958, which explicitly stated that Confucian culture has modern and global significance, and that the construction of culture should be based on traditional Chinese culture. Encouraged by independent thinking, this school of thought has opened up new horizons and a new path of research. This incident shows that in Taiwan, until today, people still advocate traditional Chinese culture. The problem is that cultural construction cannot keep up with economic development. Since the promotion of traditional culture is limited to theoretical research, it has relatively little impact on society as a whole, and has not been able to effectively fulfill its function of advocating social customs. The original virtue of diligence and thrift possessed by the Chinese people has been alienated with the increase in wealth, and what dominates the social customs is mainly the pursuit of materialistic desires, the value of personal needs, and various kinds of strong spirituality *** . This phenomenon is known as the phenomenon of pathological culture.

Here one sees that the obvious trend in Taiwan's cultural development is the further integration of Chinese and Western cultures. The trend of integration of Chinese and Western cultures is most evident in the field of philosophical thought. People know that Taiwan's philosophical thought has long been divided into the liberal, Catholic, and Neo-Confucian schools. Although liberal scholars insist that Confucian culture is generally not adapted to a modernized society, they still acknowledge that its emphasis on interpersonal relationships and attention to moral cultivation can make up for the shortcomings of Western culture. Catholicism, on the other hand, has long advocated a combination with Confucianism. What about Neo-Confucianism? It is not traditional Confucianism. The older generation of Neo-Confucianism has long proposed that the spirit of science and democracy should be developed from Confucianism and adapted to modern requirements. The younger generation of Neo-Confucianism, apart from advocating the retention of the reasonable elements of Confucianism's personal moral cultivation, also proposes to emphasize the idea of individual rights to supplement the inadequacy of Confucianism, which is concerned only with obligations. All three schools of thought advocate the inheritance and development of the reasonable elements of traditional Chinese culture, while at the same time agreeing with the universal values of modernized people.

With the development of the times, the acceptance of foreign cultures is inevitable, but the combination of foreign cultures with Taiwan's inherent traditional Chinese culture has its own characteristics, that is, it is characterized by the Chinese way of feeling. Improved living standards, rich in life, people want to live a long life, cultivate the body, the Taoist immortal, became many people's **** the same wish, so the Taoist ideological proposition, attracted the attention of the world. Taoist culture for a considerable part of the people's attention. Also, the material life is rich, all kinds of *** increase, Taiwan compatriots mind overwhelmed, the need to find a quiet spiritual home, so that attention to the intimate ethical feelings, pay attention to peaceful relationships, and personal emotions and so on, but also by the people's attention. As a result, the Buddhist culture, which emphasizes a peaceful environment, has become a way for people to find spiritual comfort.

The modernization of traditional Chinese culture can be seen in Taiwan as a process of fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, which at the same time maintains the characteristics of traditional Chinese culture.