Desinicization

Desinicization (simplified Chinese: 去中国化; traditional Chinese: 去中國化; pinyin: qùzhōngguóhuà, de + sinicization) is a term that describes the act of the elimination of Chinese influence, which is the opposite of "sinicization".

Historical

Some Han chinese racially mixed with "barbarians" or desinicized Han Chinese who adopted steppe people's culture and way of life existed in the 6th and 7th centuries A.D., and served as the Tang dynasty's elite troops^[1]

Desinicization by the Communist Party of China

During the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party of China declared its intention to destroy the Four Olds, namely: Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits and Old Ideas. As a result, many Chinese antiques, paintings and genealogy books were destroyed. People were also forbidden to worship their ancestors or have memorial ceremonies for Confucius, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor. The simplification of Chinese character launched by the Communist Party of China in 1950s, resulting in the existence of Simplified Chinese characters, has been regarded by traditional Chinese culture enthusiasts in China and Taiwan as a form of desinicization, partly because much of the traditional Chinese culture meaning were lost in Simplified Chinese characters.

Chiang Kai-shek was a former Republic of China President and Kuomintang Party leader. During his rule of Taiwan, Kuomintang launched the Chinese Cultural Renaissance in Taiwan as a cultural retaliation against the Cultural Revolution of Communist Party of China. Upon his death in the 1975 Chiang's name was posthumously honored by having the newly-built airport in Taoyuan named after him. Ever since it was built, the government of the People's Republic of China and government-controlled media have referred the airport as the "Taoyuan Airport," so as to not mention the name of Chiang Kai-Shek, Communist leader Mao Zedong's arch nemesis.

Products made in Taiwan used to be labeled as "Made in ROC"; it was changed to "Made in Taiwan" after protests from the People's Republic of China.^{[citation needed]}

According to the 2002 government document, Taipei's National Pater Patriae memorial Hall which is to honor the founding father of Republic of China can only be called as "Taipei's Sun Yat-sen memorial hall.

Chinese Kuomintang is referred to as one of the "Taiwanese political parties." Presidents of the Republic of China after 1949 are called "Taiwanese leaders" by the Chinese mainland government.

Desinicization elsewhere

Taiwan

Main article: Taiwanization

Desinicization is a term which appeared in the political vocabulary of Taiwan in 2001. It is mainly used by groups which oppose Taiwan independence, such as the Kuomintang, to describe what they are opposed to, and to distinguish it from the Taiwanization.

The term exists to emphasize that anti-independence groups are not opposed to the development of a Taiwanese identity or symbols such as language, but are opposed to viewing such an identity and symbols as separate from a broader Chinese identity.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand, pro-Taiwanization groups view Chinese identity as separate from Taiwanese identity and symbols.

When the Republic of China took over Taiwan from Japan after World War II, and especially after Kuomintang lost control of mainland China to the communists and retreated to Taiwan, the ROC promoted Chinese cultures on local residents who were mostly ethnically Han Chinese. Those who attended school during the Japanese colonial period had to learn Japanese. The government launched policies to promote Chinese calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, folk art, and Chinese opera. Over times steps were also taken such as limiting the use of Taiwan's languages in schools and media in favour of Mandarin, putting educational focus on China rather than Taiwan, naming entities in Taiwan with "China" or "Chinese" to reflect the government's ideology that it is the sole legitimate government of China, and replacing Japanese place names with Chinese names, an example being the renaming of Taipei streets to reflect the geography of China and the ideals promoted by the Kuomintang. The culture of Taiwan is now dominated by Han Chinese culture with a hybrid blend of other Chinese minorities, Japanese, European, American, global, local and indigenous influences which are both interlocked and divided between perceptions of tradition and modernity.

Since the Taiwan localization movement of the 1990s, Taiwan's cultural identity has experienced greater expression. Identity politics, along with the fifty years of political separation from mainland China has led to distinct traditions in many areas, including cuisine and music, efforts have been made to assert Taiwanese identity and culture and remove the focus on China and Chinese culture. Some steps that have been taken include:^{[citation needed]}

• In 2002, Taiwan's Department of Education chose to invent its own romanization system, Tongyong Pinyin, designed by a Taiwanese scholar rather than adopting the internationally well-known Hanyu Pinyin system developed by the People's Republic of China and used in other countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.^{[citation needed]}

• From 2004, the map of "Republic of China" no longer includes mainland China.

• In late 2004, President Chen Shui-bian proposed to rename all state-owned enterprises bearing the name "China" to "Taiwan". This was opposed by the Kuomintang. Private businesses in Taiwan which have China in their names are also rumored to have been asked to rename. For example, China Airlines confirmed that it was asked to change its name. This, however, was denied by the government.

• On February 12 of 2007, Chen's government changed the names of Chunghwa Post (China Post) to Taiwan Post.^[2] February 7 of 2007, Chinese Petroleum Company was changed to "CPC Corporation, Taiwan. China Shipbuilding Corporation to "CSBC Corporation, Taiwan".

The name changing issue was a topic in the Republic of China presidential elections in Taiwan in March 2008. Former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-Jeou was elected as the President. On 1 August 2008, the postal service resolved to reverse the name change and restore the name "Chunghwa Post".^[3] As of 1 January 2009, Tongyong Pinyin was abolished by the government in favour of Hanyu Pinyin.

Korea

Using Hanja, or Chinese characters, was banned in 1949 in North Korea by Kim Il-sung. Hangul was made the official script of the Korean language, replacing Hanja, and Hanja is not required to be learned until high school in South Korea. Some commentators also take the former Seoul city mayor Lee Myung-bak's move to change Seoul's official Chinese name from Hancheng (simplified Chinese: 汉城; traditional Chinese: 漢城; pinyin: Hànchéng) to Shou'er (simplified Chinese: 首尔; traditional Chinese: 首爾; pinyin: Shǒuěr) in 2005 as a model of desinicization.^[4] The previous name, pronounced Hànchéng in Chinese and Hanseong in Korean, is an old name for Seoul, literally meaning Han River City, but can be misinterpreted as Han Chinese City. The new name Shou'er carried no such connotation, and was close in both sound and meaning to Seoul, which, uniquely among Korean place names, does not have a Sino-Korean name. See also Names of Seoul.

Kyrgyzstan

The Dungans of Kyrgyzstan represent a less conscious process of desinicization, during which, over the course of a little more than a century (since the Hui Minorities' War), a Hui Chinese population became alienated from the literary tradition and local culture of Shaanxi and Gansu.

References

1. ^ Jacques Gernet (1996). A history of Chinese civilization. Cambridge University Press. p. 248. ISBN 0521497817. http://books.google.com/books?id=jqb7L-pKCV8C&pg=PA248&dq=cross+bred+with+turks+chinese&hl=en&ei=3UOGTa3LEo_2gAfI7PTJCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=cross%20bred%20with%20turks%20chinese&f=false. Retrieved 3/16/11. 
2. ^ "：：：：：Welcome to Taiwan POST：：：：：". Archived from the original on May 10, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070510014519/http://www.post.gov.tw/post/internet/u_english/index.jsp?ID=21. Retrieved 5 January 2011. 
3. ^ "：：：：：Welcome to Chunghwa POST：：：：：". Archived from the original on Aug 21, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080821232557/http://www.post.gov.tw/post/internet/u_english/index.jsp?ID=21. Retrieved 5 January 2011. 
4. ^ 杨谷 (August 16, 2005) (in Simplified Chinese), 将汉城改为“首尔”是另一种形式的“去中国化”, http://www.gmw.cn/3_wlzk/yg/2005/20050120_1.htm, retrieved 2008-06-15 

See also

China portal

• Politics of the People's Republic of China
• Politics of the Republic of China
• Chinese political parties
• Two Chinas
• Special state-to-state relations