Place, Identity, and National Imagination in Post-war Taiwan

by Bi-Yu Chang

In the struggles for political and cultural hegemony that Taiwan has witnessed since the 1980s, the focal point in contesting narratives and the key battlefield in the political debates are primarily spatial and place-based. The major fault line appears to be a split between an imposed identity emphasizing cultural origin (China) and an emphasis on the recovery of place identity of ‘the local’ (Taiwan). Place, Identity and National Imagination in Postwar Taiwan explores the ever-present issue of identity in Taiwan from a spatial perspective, and focuses on the importance of, and the relationship between, state spatiality and identity formation. Taking postwar Taiwan as a case study, the book examines the ways in which the Kuomintang regime naturalized its political control, territorialized the island and created a nationalist geography. In so doing, it examines how, why and to what extent power is exercised through the place-making process and considers the relationship between official versions of ‘ROC geography’ and the islanders’ shifting perceptions of the ‘nation’. In turn, by addressing the relationship between the state and the imagined community, Bi-yu Chang establishes a dialogue between place and cultural identity to analyse the constant changing and shaping of Chinese and Taiwanese identity. With a diverse selection of case studies including cartographical development, geography education, territorial declaration and urban planning, this interdisciplinary book will have a broad appeal across Taiwan studies, geography, cultural studies, history and politics.

278 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2015

Reviews

[Patrick]

This book is an excellent monograph about exactly what it says in the title. It is a fascinating study of geography textbooks, maps, official yearbooks, and the construction of a model Chinese nationalist city in postwar Taiwan. The book covers the postwar era quite broadly, bringing things from immediately after the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the ROC, up to the Chen Shui-bian years. Basically, this book explains the Taiwanese identity question in perhaps the most cogent and well-evidenced way that I've ever read. Every little interpretation is backed up with cited evidence, leaving little space for any ambiguities on these matters, which is an impressive feat in any work of scholarship to me. I found the discussions of the evolutions of both state-published national yearbooks and elementary school geography textbooks, and of the construction and life of Chunghsing New Village to be very interesting as I never knew anything about any of these topics before. This book would go great in a seminar of Taiwanese history.

[Yeast]

A book about the spatial dimension (broadly defined) of identity imaginary in Taiwan, written from the standpoint of early 2010s. While the book focused predominantly on the period of 1950s-80s, and sometimes made quantum leaps from one decade to another, its selection of subjects (national yearbooks, maps, planing of a new town, etc.) was very interesting and representative.

On the other hand, how the resistance against the ideological state apparatus became possible in pre-democratization Taiwan and how Taiwanese/ROC identity evolved in post 2000s might be themes worth investigating in the future.