Settling across the Strait of Taiwan under Japanese Colonialism (1895–1945)

From their beginning in the seventeenth century, the migrations across the Strait of Taiwan took place between societies of the same ethnicity. This did not change by the cession of Taiwan to the Japanese Empire in 1895, but despite this, distinct migrant identities then emerged on both sides of the Strait. The new migrant regime in mainland China by Japan’s domineering position purposely privileged the Taiwanese who went there, and facilitated the activity of Taiwanese criminal gangs; this got them a bad name at the time, which persists in the existing, nationalist historiography. In Taiwan the new regime was exploitative and set the migrant workers from mainland China apart as foreigners; in doing so it created another migrant identity that is problematic for historians. This article contests this nationalist historiography, and shows, that for migrants to achieve a distinct identity, they need not be ethnically different from their host society

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