英文摘要 |
This article examines how and why the ruling party used various rhetorical strategies-cultural interpretation, expression and representation-to hold sway over the first peoples of Taiwan in the early postwar period. This essay begins with the KMT's reclamation effort in 1945, when the Japanese relinquished control of Taiwan. At first, KMT officials knew very little about the Formosan natives. Influenced by the nationalist rhetoric prevalent in China at the time, the KMT viewed the aborigines as a minority. The aborigines were effectively subsumed under the Chinese nationality. The KMT went one step further in 1947 by renouncing the aboriginal leaders' initiative to be called the "Taiwan nation", and in keeping with nationalist rhetoric, decided to call them "mountain compatriots" instead. After the KMT government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, the island moved to the frontline of the cold war, and the aborigines quickly became caught up in the ensuing battle of ideologies: anti-communism, nationalism and modernism. Beginning in 1950 the KMT government began implementing a suite of policies and propaganda campaigns geared toward the aborigines. Based on information in related media reports and propaganda materials, ideas central to the discourse included the single origin of the Chinese people, the common ancestry of the people of Taiwan, applauding progress and the accomplishments of the administration, and the importance of being a law-abiding citizen and pledging loyalty to the Republic of China. The following historical survey delineates the means by which the KMT asserted its dominance over the aborigines through the combined use of political power plays and the "mountain compatriot" discourse, each tactic enhancing the other. |