Jump to content

Republic of China nationalism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Republic of China nationalism
Flag of the Republic of China
Simplified Chinese中华民国民族主义
Traditional Chinese中華民國民族主義
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōnghuá mínguó mínzú zhǔyì
Bopomofoㄓㄨㄥ ㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄗㄨˊ ㄓㄨˇ ㄧˋ
Wade–GilesChung1hua2 min2kuo2 min2tsu2 chu3i4
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese中华民国国家主义
Traditional Chinese中華民國國家主義
Literal meaningRepublic of China statism
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó guómín guójiā zhǔyì
Bopomofoㄓㄨㄥ ㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄓㄨˇ ㄧˋ
Wade–GilesChung1hua2 min2kuo2 kuo2chia1 chu3i4
Second alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese中华民国主义
Traditional Chinese中華民國主義
Literal meaning'Republic of China'-ism
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōnghuá mínguó zhǔyì
Bopomofoㄓㄨㄥ ㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄓㄨˇ ㄧˋ
Wade–GilesChung1hua2 min2kuo2 chu3i4
Third alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese中国国民主义
Traditional Chinese中國國民主義
Literal meaningChinese Nationalism[n 1]
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó guómín zhǔyì
Bopomofoㄓㄨㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄓㄨˇ ㄧˋ
Wade–GilesChung1kuo2 kuo2min2 chu3i4
Fourth alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese民国主义
Traditional Chinese民國主義
Literal meaningRepublican-ism
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMínguó zhǔyì
Bopomofoㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄓㄨˇ ㄧˋ
Wade–GilesMin2kuo2 chu3i4
Fifth alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese民国派
Traditional Chinese民國派
Literal meaningRepublican faction
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMínguó pài
Bopomofoㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄆㄞˋ
Wade–GilesMin2kuo2 pʻai4

Republic of China nationalism,[4][5] or simply ROC nationalism[6][7][8] is a form of state nationalism. It is distinct from Taiwanese nationalism, which emphasizes the Taiwanese identity more than the Chinese identity, including the Republic of China[n 2], or from mainstream Chinese nationalism based on the state identity of the People's Republic of China since 1949. ROC nationalists support Chinese unification according to the Three Principles of the People.

Before 1949

[edit]

The 1911 Revolution was primarily driven by Han nationalism to overthrow the Qing dynasty led by Manchus. However, after the revolution succeeded, it became necessary to integrate non-Han people in China. The Beiyang government developed the term Zhonghua minzu to describe the Han Chinese and four other major ethnic groups (the Manchus, Mongols, Hui, and Tibetans[9] based on the concept of "Five Races Under One Union". Conversely, Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT) envisioned it as a unified composite of Han and non-Han people.[10]

Chiang Kai-shek promoted strong Chinese nationalism throughout the territories controlled by the ROC as well as the ideal of the Three Principles of the People of a unified Kuomintang's "Dang Guo" (Party-state), to solidify its rule and ideological supremacy.[11] Mandarin Chinese became the sole official language, and standard education curriculums emphasized Chinese history with Confucianism culture.[12][13]

During the Nanjing decade from 1927–1937, the ROC government utilized state nationalism as a tool for national unification against warlordism and foreign imperialism.[14][15][16][17]

In 1934, Chiang launched the New Life Movement, which sought to revitalize the Chinese society by fusing traditional Confucian principles with modern nationalist civic duties.[18] Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, ROC's pan-Chinese nationalism became centered on anti-imperialist resistance and national survival, which temporarily unified various political factions under a common goal of defending the Republic.[19]

Mainland China (after 1949)

[edit]

Following the KMT's defeat in the Chinese Civil War and its retreat to Taiwan, overt expressions of ROC nationalism were systematically suppressed in mainland China by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, in the 21st century, a cultural and intellectual phenomenon known as the "Republican Fever" emerged among some mainland internet users and dissidents. Proponents of this underground movement, often referred to as the "Republican faction"[citation needed], express nostalgia for the ROC era, romanticizing its ideology as an alternative to the current CCP one-party state.[20] Despite being its historical ideological competitor, the PRC has begun rehabilitating the legacy of the ROC era within mainland China. The 2009 movie sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party, The Founding of a Republic, moved away from casting Chiang Kai-shek as 'evil' versus Mao Zedong, and emphasizing instead that the contingencies of war led the communists to victory.[21]

Some pro-democracy activists have expressed respect for the post-reform liberal democratic political system of Taiwan and formed pro-ROC organizations that are illegal under the rule of PRC; including the Union of Chinese Nationalists.[22]

Taiwan

[edit]

Taiwan under Japanese rule

[edit]

Following the cession of Taiwan to the Empire of Japan in 1895 under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, early Taiwanese resistance was characterized by local uprisings. However, the successful 1911 Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) profoundly inspired Taiwanese intellectuals, who began to view the newly born republic as their spiritual and political "fatherland".[23]

The Taiwanese People's Party was a party that pursued extension of Taiwanese people's rights based on Chinese identity; whose platform adopted the Three Principles of the People, and along with it pro-ROC Taiwanese–Chinese nationalism and Kuomintang-style socialism.[24]

The Taiwan Revolutionary Alliance was founded by anti-Japanese and anti-imperialists in Chongqing on 10 February 1941, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, to push for the return of Japanese-ruled Taiwan to Chinese rule.[25]

1945–present

[edit]

As a result of the Chinese Civil War, the ruling Kuomintang lost mainland China to the Communists and retreated the ROC government to Taiwan. The ROC government had taken control of Taiwan since 1945, but firmly established an ideological presence of Chinese nationalism since 1949.[26] In Taiwan, an authoritarian, militaristic ROC nationalism was pushed to promote a reclamation of mainland China, culminating in the White Terror. In response to the Cultural Revolution in mainland China, Chiang Kai-shek launched the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement in 1966 to position the ROC as a guardian of traditional Chinese culture in contrast to the PRC.[27]

Taiwan's democratization began in the 1990s during the Lee Teng-hui administration, and ROC nationalism gradually weakened as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for pro-independence grew stronger and Taiwanese nationalism emerged. Today, Taiwan's two main political parties, the DPP and the KMT, represent Taiwanese nationalism and ROC nationalism respectively.[28] The nationalist ideology of the Kuomintang rejects Taiwanese self-determination.[29][30]

Hong Kong

[edit]

In colonial Hong Kong, ROC nationalism was championed by the Pro-ROC camp (or "Rightists"), consisting of refugees, KMT veterans, and labor unions who fled the mainland after 1949. For decades, Rennie's Mill served as a major enclave for ROC nationalists, where the ROC flag was prominently displayed. The community actively celebrated the Double Tenth Day while clashing with pro-Communist factions, such as during the 1956 Hong Kong riots.[31]

Following the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, the influence of ROC nationalism declined sharply due to the dismantling of KMT-affiliated organizations and the relocation of Rennie's Mill residents. In the 2020s, following the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law, public celebrations of the Double Tenth Day and displays of the ROC flag were effectively banned by authorities, marking the near-total disappearance of overt ROC nationalist activities in the city.[32]

Double Ten Day

[edit]

Double Ten Day (10 October), which commemorates the 1911 Wuchang Uprising that led to the establishment of the Republic of China, serves as a central symbol and annual ritual for ROC nationalism. In Taiwan, the national day is celebrated with official state ceremonies, flag-raising events, and military displays. For ROC nationalists and the Pan-Blue Coalition, active commemoration of Double Ten Day is viewed as an essential reaffirmation of the ROC's constitutional legitimacy, state identity, and historical continuity.

Outside Taiwan, Double Ten Day is celebrated by traditional or anti-communist overseas Chinese communities, particularly through organizations such as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) in Chinatowns worldwide (including New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo), where the ROC flag is prominently flown. Historically, the holiday was also widely observed by pro-ROC factions in British Hong Kong, although public celebrations have effectively vanished in recent years due to security legislation implemented by the PRC.[33]

List of ROC nationalist groups

[edit]

Republic of China

[edit]

The groups listed here are current or defunct in mainland China before 1945 and Taiwan after 1949.

Hong Kong

[edit]

Taiwan under Japanese rule

[edit]

Overseas

[edit]
[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Both the Chinese words guómín (國民) and mínzú (民族) translate to "nation", but guómín is used as a state-nationalism or civic nationalism concept, and mínzú is used as a concept of anti-imperialist nationalism in an ethnic context; the word guómín is rarely used in mainland China (or PRC) today, as it is reminiscent of Kuomintang, who suppressed the Chinese Communist Party before 1949.[1][2][3]
  2. ↑ See Republic of China (1912–1949) and Taiwan#National identity.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Peter Gue Zarrow, ed. (2006). Creating Chinese Modernity: Knowledge and Everyday Life, 1900-1940. Peter Lang. p. 79. The officials, on the contrary, seldom spoke of creating a strong people (or ethnic-nation, 民族), and their limited references to ethnicity advocated the continued amalgamation of Han and Manchu to create a civic nation or citizens (國民).
  2. ↑ Dominik Mierzejewski; Bartosz Kowalski (September 5, 2018). China’s Selective Identities: State, Ideology and Culture. Springer Nature Singapore. p. 55–56. ... state nationalism (guomin zhuyi 国民主义) and statism (guojia zhuyi 国家主义) ...
  3. ↑ Andrea Castiglioni; Carina Roth; Fabio Rambelli (12 November 2020). Defining Shugendo: Critical Studies on Japanese Mountain Religion. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-17941-7. ... civic nationalism (kokuminshugi 国民主義) in an attempt to forcibly construct the identity of Japanese society (Hayashi 2010: 34). ...
  4. ↑ "Han Kuo-yu and rose-tinted authoritarian era nostalgia". Taiwan News. 24 October 2022. Archived from the original on 14 July 2026. Retrieved 10 July 2026. Younger voters who grew up during the democratic era are deeply suspicious of Han and his followers' authoritarian-era nostalgia and strong Republic of China (ROC) nationalism. Many feared Han would try to turn back the clock if he won.
  5. ↑ "Film highlights Taiwan's frontier island where past, future mingle". Radio Free Asia. 27 January 2024. Archived from the original on 10 July 2026. Retrieved 10 July 2026. His film portrays an island that has gotten used to its status as an outpost, whether of strident Republic of China nationalism in increasingly progressive Taiwan, or of resistance to China's far-reaching territorial claims on the democratic island and its 23 million residents, most of whom identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese.
  6. ↑ "Donovan's Deep Dives: The KMT's Ma Ying-jeou problem". Taipei Times. 9 July 2025. Archived from the original on 14 July 2026. Retrieved 10 July 2026. ROC NATIONALIST: Ma has been unfairly smeared as a tool or stooge of the UFWD.
  7. ↑ "Divided Loyalties With Visits To China By Retired ROC Military Officers?". New Bloom Magazine. 24 November 2016. Archived from the original on 13 July 2026. Retrieved 10 July 2026. During the era of the KMT's authoritarian rule over Taiwan, the military enjoyed a privileged position, seeing as ROC nationalism places large ideological weight on the members of the ROC military as the individuals who accomplish the glorious restoration of the ROC to power by retaking mainland China.
  8. ↑ "Afghanistan's Collapse: The View From Taiwan". The Diplomat – Asia-Pacific. 25 August 2021. Archived from the original on 10 July 2026. Retrieved 10 July 2026. That being said, the KMT's views have hardened in the last few years, with the party leaning hard into ROC nationalism during the course of Han Kuo-yu's 2020 presidential run.
  9. ↑ Blum, Susan Debra; Jensen, Lionel M. (2002). China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom. University of Hawaiʻi Press. pp. 170–. ISBN 978-0-8248-2577-5. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Sun, Yat-sen (1994) [Speech from 1919]. "3.5 The Three Principles of the People [San-min chu-i]". In Wei, Julie Lee; Myers, Ramon H.; Gillin, Donald G. (eds.). Prescriptions for saving China: Selected writings of Sun Yat-sen. Translated by Wei, Julie Lee; Zen, E-su; Chao, Linda. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press. pp. 223–225. ISBN 0-8179-9281-2.
  11. ↑ "當俄革命時". 國父思想總論. 國立國父紀念館. Archived from the original on 28 April 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  12. ↑ Sandel, Todd (2003). "Linguistic Capital in Taiwan: The KMT's Mandarin Language Policy and Its Perceived Impact on Language Practices of Bilingual Mandarin and Tai-Gi Speakers". Language in Society. 32 (4): 523–51. doi:10.1017/S0047404503324030. S2CID 145703339. Archived from the original on 2023-07-08. Retrieved 2026-07-14 – via Cambridge Core.
  13. ↑ Hubbs, Elizabeth (2013). "Taiwan Language-In-Education Policy: Social, Cultural and Practical Implications". Arizona Working Papers in SLA & Teaching. 20: 76–95. Archived from the original on 2025-10-07. Retrieved 2026-07-14 – via The University of Arizona.
  14. ↑ "禁纏足、興女學: 南京國民政府在興女權上做出巨大努力 – 雪花新闻". Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  15. ↑ Chang-Ling Huang. "Gender Quotas in Taiwan" (PDF). 2.igs.ocha.ac.jp. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  16. ↑ "从合礼到非法: 纳妾制度在中国是如何被废除的?". Yangtse.com. 29 June 2020. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "南京国民政府时期的教育". M.xzbu.com (in Chinese). 12 September 2012. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  18. ↑ Paul M. A. Linebarger, Government in Republican China Archived 2026-07-14 at the Wayback Machine, (New York: McGraw Hill, 1938). "For the restoration of the old Chinese moral and ethical system the New Life movement, which has been fostered personally by Generalissimo Chiang K'ai-shek, is of great importance. Its principles consist of a simple restatement of the cardinal Confucian personal virtues, interpreted to suit modern conditions.".
  19. ↑ 張玉法 (1998). 中華民國史稿 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 聯經出版公司.
  20. ↑ Joseph W. Esherick, ed. (August 4, 2022). China in Revolution: History Lessons. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 195. In recent years, however, the history of republican China has experienced a pronounced revival, rescuing it from the theme of disintegration and the verdict of failure. Significantly, this trend extends to Chinese scholarship, where new work has discomfited the CCP leadership with its "republican fever" (minguore 民國熱).
  21. ↑ Davis, Gloria; Davis, M.E. "Filmed Founding Myths". China Heritage Quarterly. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  22. ↑ 黃花岡雜誌編輯群, ed. (2019). 黃花岡雜誌第63-64期. 光復之聲出版社. p. 105. 革命的中國國民黨人和廣大民 國派願意與自由派、民運界、公知界如兄 弟般共同攜手,共同奮鬥推翻專制實現民主。
  23. ↑ Hsiau, A-chin (2003). Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism. Routledge.
  24. ↑ "蔣渭水的左傾之道（1930-1931）：論共產國際「資本主義第三期」理論對蔣渭水 的啟發" [Jiang Weishui's Left-Wing Path (1930-1931): On the Inspiration of the Comintern's Theory of "The Third Phase of Capitalism" for Jiang Weishui] (PDF) (in Chinese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-03-17.
  25. ↑ Christopher Hughes (April 15, 2013). Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism: National Identity and Status in International Society. Taylor & Francis. p. 5.
  26. ↑ Journal of Chinese Overseas: Volume 5. Singapore University Press for the Chinese Heritage Centre. 2009. p. 317. The Nationalist government's all-out promotion of an ROC-based Chinese nationalism since 1949 had made a deep imprint on the youth in Taiwan. For this generation, the Japanese colonization of Taiwan and Japanese invasion of China during World War II was still recent history.
  27. ↑ Wachman, Alan M. [1994] (1994). Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization. M.E. Sharpe publishing. ISBN 1-56324-398-9. pg 274.
  28. ↑ Dafydd Fell (September 27, 2006). Party Politics in Taiwan: Party Change and the Democratic Evolution of Taiwan, 1991-2004. Taylor & Francis. p. 85-112.
  29. ↑ Kagan, Robert (2006). Dangerous Nation: America's Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
  30. ↑ Chao, Linda; Ramon H. Myers (1997). Democracy's New Leaders in the Republic of China on Taiwan. Hoover Institution Press.
  31. ↑ "Hong Kong's Industrial History, Part VIII: The Ill Fate of Rennie's Mill, AKA Little Taiwan". Zolima CityMag. 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  32. ↑ "香港国安法下遭遇禁令的辛亥革命纪念日". BBC News 中文. 2021-10-09. Archived from the original on 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  33. ↑ "双十节：纪念辛亥革命的青天白日旗会不会在香港绝迹". BBC News 中文. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  34. ↑ Su Zheng (2011). Claiming Diaspora: Music, Transnationalism, and Cultural Politics in Asian/Chinese America. Oxford University Press. p. 278. The umbrella organization, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), claims to represent New York's Chinatown and has a long-established political alliance with the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang [...] The two major musical events that the CCBA sponsors annually are the celebration of Chinese New Year and Double Ten Day (October 10), the national day of the ROC.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_China_nationalism&oldid=1377980647"