This is certainly a fresh perspective on China and Taiwan. I have many Taiwanese friends and am familiar with Taiwanese society. There is in fact a sizable and even growing cohort of Taiwanese who adore China for its efficiency and improving quality of life, not to mention their shared cultural heritage. Cultural assimilation is definite…
This is certainly a fresh perspective on China and Taiwan. I have many Taiwanese friends and am familiar with Taiwanese society. There is in fact a sizable and even growing cohort of Taiwanese who adore China for its efficiency and improving quality of life, not to mention their shared cultural heritage. Cultural assimilation is definitely happening, with popular Chinese apps/TV shows/pop stars gaining popularity in Taiwan, particularly among young people. I even saw a Tiktok post from a Taiwanese school girl saying she wants to go to China and marry a Chinese man one day, because she thinks they are so handsome as seen on Chinese TV shows. This may be surprising to many westerns, who often think China and Taiwan are mortal enemies. While there is also significant anti - China/CCP sentiment in Taiwan, overall Taiwanese attitude on China is more ambivalent than many people think.
The Japanese have a saying - everyone has to eat ( sounds better in Japanese ) but which I take to mean, you can have ideas, but ultimately money and trade is where power flows. As long as China does not have a civil war, the constant pull of trade will be hard to ignore.
The same however cannot be said about Ukraine, whereas 10 years ago there was a split between a pro Russian vs anti Russia population, today for rather obvious reasons there is not.
This is certainly a fresh perspective on China and Taiwan. I have many Taiwanese friends and am familiar with Taiwanese society. There is in fact a sizable and even growing cohort of Taiwanese who adore China for its efficiency and improving quality of life, not to mention their shared cultural heritage. Cultural assimilation is definitely happening, with popular Chinese apps/TV shows/pop stars gaining popularity in Taiwan, particularly among young people. I even saw a Tiktok post from a Taiwanese school girl saying she wants to go to China and marry a Chinese man one day, because she thinks they are so handsome as seen on Chinese TV shows. This may be surprising to many westerns, who often think China and Taiwan are mortal enemies. While there is also significant anti - China/CCP sentiment in Taiwan, overall Taiwanese attitude on China is more ambivalent than many people think.
The Japanese have a saying - everyone has to eat ( sounds better in Japanese ) but which I take to mean, you can have ideas, but ultimately money and trade is where power flows. As long as China does not have a civil war, the constant pull of trade will be hard to ignore.
I do agree.
The same however cannot be said about Ukraine, whereas 10 years ago there was a split between a pro Russian vs anti Russia population, today for rather obvious reasons there is not.