A post‐imperial, pluralist nationalism? From the Five Nation Republic of China to multicultural Taiwan

Bibliographic Data

ID6305748
AuthorsAlessandra Ferrer (0000-0003-0134-190X, Department of Education Kyushu University 744 Motooka Nishi‐ku Fukuoka 819‐0395 Japan, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume29
Issue3
Pages1142-1157
Publication date2023-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNations and Nationalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1345-5078 • E-ISSN: 1469-8129
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/nana.12946
OpenAlexW4366131801
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited22

Although many nations emerged during the collapse of the empire, the case of China is curious in its failure to divide into separate nation‐states. Resisting disunion, the Republic of China (ROC) adopted a rhetoric of national pluralism and laid claim to the fallen Qing Empire's vast territory. This divergence from other post‐imperial nationalisms engenders questions about the legacy of imperialism in the ROC's approaches to nation‐building. Such questions remain salient after the ROC retreat to Taiwan (1949), as since the end of martial law (1987), the ROC has championed itself as a model of multiculturalism. This paper examines the extent to which today's ‘Multicultural Taiwan’ paradigm differs from 20th‐century official conceptualisations of pluralism, through discourse analysis of publications from the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC). Investigation finds that despite centring Taiwan in national ideology, certain Chinese imperialist attitudes towards cultural hierarchy remained influential in MTAC representations of pluralism within Asia

China · Empire · Epistemology · Ideology · Multiculturalism · Nationalism · Pluralism (philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Theology · Asian Studies and History · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Philosophy

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