From Honto Jin to Bensheng Ren

The Origin and Development of Taiwanese National Consciousness

This book attempts to use numerous volumes of mostly unpublished diaries for examining issues of Taiwanese identity. Using the diaries of two Taiwanese intellectuals, the author examines how the Taiwanese national consciousness emerged and was reconstructed under the Japanese and Chinese Nationalist rule between 1920 and 1955, suggesting that a multi-dimensional Taiwanese national consciousness was created in the 1920s. Nevertheless, between 1937 and 1945, it was reconstructed by the imperial war mobilization. It then underwent a further reconstruction during and after the regime change from Japan to China, leading to the emergence of the bensheng ren (native Taiwanese) consciousness. The emerging international Cold War environment enabled the creation of a de facto independent state based on Taiwan-size governance, which had an impact on shaping the bensheng ren identity.