Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the daily making and transformation of national identity among Chinese students who studied and lived in Taiwan for an extended period of time. Studying and living in Taiwan for many Chinese students means to have to face not only the challenge of the school works, but also the challenge of the national identity and national imagination under cross-strait nationalistic disputes. For most migrants, their national identity will be highlighted when they leave their motherland. My questions are: what have happened Chinese students’ national identity after they leave China and live in Taiwan? How have they performed their national identity at daily interactions? In-depth interview was adopted in this study, and 15 Chinese students were interviewed. In addition, as a Chinese student myself, my interactive experiences with other Chinese students are part of the observational data for the study. This study finds that overall Chinese students don’t change their Chinese national identity after they encountered daily challenges on being Chinese in Taiwan. However, the content of their imagination by Chinese students on how Chinese nationalism should be the principle for guiding the national identity of Taiwanese has changed after their residence in Taiwan. Perviously, Chinese students’ argument for One-China Policy on Taiwanese identity was largely based on cultural and emotional ties between people across the Taiwan Strait. But after being in Taiwan and encountering negative treatments for being Chinese there, Chinese students shifted from cultural affiliation to China’s economic prosperity to their supports for One-China Policy upon Taiwan’s political future. My study also finds that Chinese students perform their national identity in a hidden, depressing way. This study suggests that this is because, whether the negative attitude of Taiwan society as a whole or the media toward to the mainland China and the mainland Chinese, or the exclusion of Chinese students due to the institutional policy, both of which make Chinese students realize that, ‘China’ or ‘Chinese,’ in Taiwan, is not worthy of being proud of. Either one is often related to the negative comments, such as authoritarian politics, undemocratic, underdeveloped, or low quality of culture. To keep their Chinese national identity in a low key is a way to maintain their class status since being a Chinese in Taiwan is often discriminated as a less cultured person.