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Mainlanders are Chinese people who live, or were born, in mainland China as opposed to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, or Singapore.

Chinese mainlanders (Taiwan)

Main article: Demographics of Taiwan

In Taiwan, Mainlander can refer to two different groups:

  1. The waisheng ren () are persons who emigrated from Mainland China near the end of the Chinese Civil War and their descendants.
    • This is as opposed to the Taiwanese local residents, (本省人; běnshěng rén; "original-province person"), who have been in Taiwan prior to the mass exodus near the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War.
  2. The dalu ren (大陸人; dàlù rén; "continental person") refers to residents of Mainland China.
    • This group excludes almost all Taiwanese, including the waisheng ren, except recent immigrants from Mainland China, such as those made Republic of China citizens through marriage. When Westerners hear the term Mainlander in the context of Chinese culture or politics, they generally think of this definition.

Names

Waisheng ren are also called more formally, waisheng ji ren (外省籍人), meaning "persons who are external-province natives." They are also given the nickname of Ō·-á (芋仔), meaning "taro," in the Taiwanese language. The term is somewhat pejorative because it refers to the perceived "dirtiness" of some of the early KMT troops.

The opposite of waisheng ren is bensheng ren who are called "sweet potato" (蕃薯; fánshǔ; tw: han-chû) which comes from the shape of Taiwan. Bensheng ren includes three distinct groups: the Hoklo (Hō-ló), the Hakka, and the aborigines.

The translations of waisheng ren and bensheng ren into English poses some interesting difficulties. The usual English translation of waisheng ren is Mainlander, although many waisheng ren find this translation uncomfortable since it implies that waishengren are not fully Taiwanese. Similarly, translating bensheng ren as "Taiwanese" is something that almost all Taiwanese would find objectionable. Translating the term bensheng ren as "native Taiwanese" is also problematic because of confusion with Taiwanese aborigines. Most academic literature uses the terms waishengren and benshengren directly. The terms rarely come up in the English-speaking media.

Many supporters of Taiwan independence object to the term "other province people", because it implies that Taiwan is a province of China, and prefer the name "new immigrant". The latter term has not become popular in Taiwan and is extremely unpopular among waishengren themselves.

Chinese Civil War veterans especially are called "old taro" (老芋仔 due to the similarity between the shape of Mainland China and the taro leaves), or waisheng lao bing (外省老兵), "old external-province soldiers," in Mandarin. In government publications and the media, they are also called rongmin (榮民), meaning "honorable citizens."

Mainlanders make up about 10% of the population of Taiwan and are heavily concentrated in northern Taiwan especially in the Taipei area. Although no longer dominating the government, waishengren still make up a disproportionately large fraction of bureaucrats and military officers.

Definition

The term is often used to denote a Chinese person born and raised in mainland China. It has limited negative connotations, despite the fact that, under specific circumstances, it may refer to someone hostile to Taiwan independence by implying they might have been born and raised on the mainland and thus from a lower socioeconomic background.

The formal definition of a Mainlander, however, is someone living in Taiwan whose native province is not Taiwan. Until the early 1990s, identity cards in Taiwan contained an entry for native province, which was largely the native province of one's father's family. The removal of native province from identity cards and replacement with place of birth was motivated in large part to reduce the Mainlander/local distinction.

Because of this definition, someone who is born on Taiwan, but whose father's family roots are not in Taiwan, is generally considered a Mainlander. By contrast, someone who is not born in Taiwan, but whose native province is Taiwan (most notably Lien Chan) is generally not considered a Mainlander. Similarly, a child that is born to a Taiwanese businessman residing in the PRC would generally not be considered a waishengren.

Furthermore, recent immigrants to Taiwan from Mainland China, mostly from marriages to Taiwanese businessmen, mail-order brides, and undocumented migrants, are not considered waishengren, but make up a separate social category. Although the numbers of these people are thought of as small and insignificant by most Taiwanese, it has been pointed out that recent immigrants from Mainland China and their children actually make up a larger population in Taiwan than Taiwanese aborigines.

The definitions get even fuzzier with mixed marriages and the fact that provincial identity sometimes does not correlate in obvious ways to characteristics such as political orientation or ability to speak Taiwanese. For example, although Mainlanders are often stereotyped as supporting Chinese reunification and opposing Taiwanese independence there are numerous examples where this formula does not hold. Similarly, it is common to find younger waishengren who speak fluent Taiwanese and younger benshengren who cannot speak it at all.

The great majority of waishengren were born in Taiwan.

History

Waishengren are descended from the people who followed Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan after the Kuomintang (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949. These people included KMT officials, soldiers, merchants, bankers, executives, scientists, various other intellectuals, and anyone else who sensed that the Communist regime would ultimately be worse, and had the connections and money to escape mainland China. Until the 1970s, these people controlled the political systems of Taiwan; this, along with the looting and corruption that occurred under Chen Yi's military government immediately following the Japanese surrender in 1945, generated resentment among benshengren and was one of the main causes of the Taiwan independence movement.

Starting in the 1970s, nationalist dominance of the government began to recede. This was due to a lack of a political or social theory that would justify continued nationalist dominance, meritocratic policies which allowed local Taiwanese to move up in the political establishment, and economic prosperity which allowed for social mobility for those outside of the political establishment.

Intermarriage and a new generation raised under the same environment has largely blurred the distinction between waishengren and benshengren.

In the late 1990s, the concept of "The New Taiwanese" became popular both among supporters of Taiwan independence and Chinese reunification in order to advocate a more tolerant proposition that waishengren, who sided with the Allies against the reluctant Japanese colony in Taiwan during World War II, are no less Taiwanese than benshengren. However it quickly became apparent that the notion of New Taiwanese meant different things to supporters of independence and unification. To supporters of independence, the concept of New Taiwanese implied that waishengren should assimilate into a Taiwanese identity which was separate from the Chinese one. By contrast, the supporters of Chinese reunification seemed to believe that all Taiwanese (not just waishengren) should restore a previously marginalized Taiwanese identity without antagonizing a larger pan-Chinese identity.

As of the early 21st century, more and more waishengren see themselves as Taiwanese and as socially distinct from current residents of Mainland China. Unlike those belonging to groups such as the Hakka or Taiwanese aboriginals, waishengren are not encouraged to find their root, and their relationship with anti-China organizations suffers further as a result. Most of them, especially those of the younger generation, make extensive efforts to establish themselves as Taiwanese, sometimes by manifesting good interest in Hokkien Taiwanese culture. At the same time, right-wing discourse alleging that pro-unification waishengren are a fifth column for the People's Republic of China agonizes those Mainlanders who regard Taiwan as their new homeland.

Now, the term Mainlander is used to describe a person, Chinese by race, born and raised in mainland China, thereby avoiding confusion with waishengren. (someone whose ancestors were from the Mainland China, but born in Taiwan, or decended from someone born in Taiwan).

People

Prominent Mainlanders in Taiwan include:

Lien Chan sometimes is pejoratively denoted as a Mainlander, although the general perception on Taiwan is that he is not. Although he was born in Mainland China, his father's family had roots in Taiwan.

Recent Mainland Immigration to Taiwan

Since the mid-1990's, there has been a small amount of Mainland immigration into Taiwan. These immigrants are predominantly female and are often colloquially known as dalu mei (大陸妹), which literally means "girls from the mainland". These consist of two categories: female brides of businessmen who work in the Mainland; and women who have married rural Taiwanese, mainly through a marriage broker. This population is generally seen as socially distinct from waishengren.

External links

Chinese mainlanders (Hong Kong)

In Hong Kong and Macau (both under the control of People's Republic of China, but not considered part of mainland China), "Mainlander" refers to residents of mainland China, or recent immigrants from mainland China.

Names

Residents of mainland China are usually called 大陸人 (literally mainlanders), or sometimes 內地同胞 (literally inland compatriot). The former term is more neutral, while the latter term is used by leftist elements in Hong Kong.

Mainlanders are sometimes called 表叔, 表姐 (literally cousins), and 阿燦, which were coined by various characters in movies and television series. These terms are considered derogatory and are politically incorrect. Recent immigrants are more politically correctly called 新移民 (literally new immigrants).

History

At the time when Hong Kong was colonised by Great Britain, the colony covered only Hong Kong Island, with a population of only around 6 000, most of whom were fishermen. Other than the indigenous population on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Territories who had lived in the area before the British arrived, most people in Hong Kong either immigrated from somewhere in Mainland China, or are descendants of those immigrants.

The largest influx of population from the mainland was during the Taiping Rebellion (late 19th century) and the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949). The British colonial government maintained a touch-base policy until the early 1980s, allowing people from Mainland China to apply to be Hong Kong residents if they manage to arrive in the territory.

Many of these early immigrants, especially those who moved from Shanghai in the 1940's and early 50's to escape the Communist government, came to dominante the business world in Hong Kong. In the 1980's and 1990's, Shanghai-born immigrants also occupied prominent roles in the government, including former Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa and former Chief Secretary Anson Chan.

After decades of wars, internal conflicts and the Cultural Revolution, there was a large gap in the level of development between Hong Kong and the mainland. Many new immigrants arriving in the late 1970s and early 1980s were thought to be less sophisticated, and preserved many habits from the rural way of lives. A TV series starring Liu Wai Hung (廖偉雄) reflected the life of a new immigrant in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, new immigrants of this time were believed to be hardworking and optimistic, and were welcome by people in Hong Kong.

Starting from the early 1990s many new immigrants to Hong Kong are the spouses of Hong Kong males, and their children. Many of them are not rich, and some have to rely on money from Comprehensive Social Security Assitance to survive. Although only a few do so, new immigrants of this time were held in a negative view.

Starting from 2003 the mainland authorities loosened control over visiting Hong Kong and Macau of mainland residents. In the past residents from mainland could only visit Hong Kong and Macau for sightseeing as part of tour groups. The Individual Visit Scheme allows mainland residents of selected cities to visit Hong Kong and Macau for sightseeing on their own. It has boosted tourism in the two special administrative regions.

People

The following are some notable people who were born in the mainland and moved to Hong Kong later in their lives.

Chinese mainlanders (Hainan)

Although the island of Hainan is not politically separate from China in the sense that Taiwan or Hong Kong/Macau are, consciousness of Hainan as an island leads local Hainanese to refer to recent immigrants from the Chinese Mainland as 'Mainlanders' (大陆人 Da4 lu4 ren2) or 'inlanders' (内地人 nei4 di4 ren2). In the 1990s, when there was a rapid influx of Mainlanders looking to get rich quick from the province's status as a special economic zone, there was considerable local resentment towards the new arrivals.

Mainlanders elsewhere

In Tasmania, mainlander refers to Australians from the other five states and the territories, which are situated on the Australian mainland.

In New Zealand, mainlander refers to a resident of the South Island, which is the bigger island.

In Canada, mainlander is often used on the East Coast by residents of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Deer Island, New Brunswick, Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick or Cape Breton Island. On the West Coast the term is used by people who live on Vancouver Island.

In Hawaii, mainlander is sometimes used to refer to American citizens from the continental United States.

In South East Asia, a similar term is often used to distinguish Mainland Chinese from those originating elsewhere, especially Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Hong Kong society | Taiwan

外省人 | 外省人

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Mainlander".

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