Some people I work closely with in Taiwan are from Waishengren background. This helps me to understand some thing they talk about with regards to their family and certain nostalgia concerning their ancestral home (even though these people have been born in Taiwan). Thank you! As European I am of course a total outsider, but it is good to know about the place I am living in.
Many of the soldiers in Chiang Kai-Sheik's army were kidnapped to serve. Most of them had not even heard from their family members for decades since. Even though Chiang's son who had inherited his position after his death agreed to allow the former soldiers to visit their hometowns in China, many were exploited by their relatives in China. There is a story of a veteran whose unit had surrendered to the CCP during the Chinese Civil War, and was later coerced by the CCP to participate in the Korean War as the "Volunteer Army". In fact it was Mao Tse-Dong's bloody plot to eliminate the former Nationalist Army and local militia soldiers that had surrendered to the CCP during the Chinese Civil War. Some of the soldiers who were lucky enough not been slaughtered on the battle field were kept in the UN POW camps. Many of them put anti-communist tattoos on them back to show their opposition against the CCP. 14 thousand of them were eventually evacuated to Taiwan on January 23 of 1954. The veteran visited his relatives in China. One evening when he was taking bath, his relatives saw the anti-communist tattoos in his back and reported to the authorities. He was arrested and tried and sentenced to death and executed!
You do some of the best research on Taiwan and ROC history on RU-vid. Your channel isn't as political as mine, but provides amazing historical insights I didn't know.
Thanks for this vid, I wish it had been around when I first got to Taiwan. People tried to explain this concept and provide context to me, but with the language barrier, and the fact that I was too young and hot blooded to sit still and listen for too long, it was lost on me for a long time.
A great movie about the waishengren experience would be the Taiwanese movie, "Paradise in Service." Although told by a native Taiwanese soldier, the life of his drill sergeant shares light about this.
Thanks for the report as an ABC (American Born Chinese) I once in a while here my parents talk about this, good to understand it more clearly. My parents retreated to Taiwan when they were very little. My grandfather was a general so was able to arrange for the family to go there. Supposedly they were materially well off (had driver, car...to keep up appearances) but food wise was sort of tight. My mom got into a good USA masters college and was allowed to stay afterwards so my knowledge is limited about Taiwan.
If you are interested, ABC (American-Born Chinese) is a political term that has been amplified by China's state media. It indicates somebody is always Chinese first-and-foremost that happens to be American born -- even if they have lived their whole life in America. The more generic term uses heritage-nationality (eg, Chinese-American). This distinction is important given the CCP's United Front Work Department activities attempting to switch the allegiances of all ethnically Chinese people regardless of their nationality and how little connection they have to China. Though of course, you are free to use whatever term you like.
shazmosushi hmmmm interesting I’ve heard this term I think since college years (20 something years ago).....don’t like CCP but not sure if will change since been using it for sure long time.
Old KMT leaders lead by Chiang KS taken from China 300-600 tons of gold, according to some rumors. These gold are not transferred to Taiwan government but a private assets of KMT party. KMT is rumored the richest political party in the world controlling assets est. US$900 billion - 1.2 trillion.
As another one of your Taiwanese American ABC audience, thank you for making thoughtful videos such as these. My parents are benshengren and I enjoy connecting with their history and learning about Taiwan's other peoples (and especially the Indigenous groups). Please keep up the great videos!
Thank you for an insightful video. I was surprised to learn that many people who were caught up in Chiang Kai Shek's White Terror were Waishengren. I was under the impression that it was terror directed at the local population to make them submit to KMT rule. The stories of migration, familial disruption and struggle for survival run like a red thread through the lives of many Chinese families in the World War 2 generation, also in Southeast Asia.
There's a book by an Iranian exile that talks about her first visit home - she said something along the lines of, 'Are these my people? Is this my home? Am I really who I am?' I've had the same feeling on a smaller scale several times, it's incredibly dislocating to return to a beloved home years or decades later and to discover that it has changed as much as you have.
My mother's family is weisunmen, but they were lucky bc my grandfather was an officer so he had a wife from the mainland and many kids in Taipei. I assumed that was common.i didn't know that most weisunmen we're single, lonely and destitute. Thanks for this video.
My dad was one such waishenren. He and my grandparents (while he was very young) came over to Taiwan with the KMT, not sure what year. My grandparents were military officers, and for my whole life they lived in one of those military houses (which was given back to the government as soon as they passed away). My dad ended up following in their footstep and became a military officer as well. Rather they just sent my dad to the military academy, and didn't exactly give him a choice. My mom and their family are benshenren though. My dad would talk about how harsh things were back then, like Taiwan was literally like sub saharan Africa. I never picked up Taiwanese, because somehow my family (mostly my grandparents) decided that I was not to learn it. Then by the time Taiwan ended martial law and all that, my mom took me to the states. So I never had the chance to learn Taiwanese. Throughout my life my dad made it seem like Taiwanese is a "lower caste" language, and unfortunately that has stuck with me, and it has at times made it hard for me to connect with benshenren Taiwanese.
Great video with interesting details. I lived and worked in Taiwan for a few years in the early 90's, I wish I would have had access to this YT video back then...... ;-)
I loved ve to hear this story, thank you. I didn’t know much about the people who left China during the 49 retreat and the history of the Guomindang government in Taiwan after the departure from China.
Love how you tell the history without prejudice or judgement, "sine ira et studio" to quote the Roman historian Tacitus. 👏. Same is true for other videos.
I think, I have said it before. But think your videos are really good. I feel that learn a lot every time, and that you take a well-balanced approach to difficult topics. Off course, this is easy for me to say, sins I have no skin in the game. Still I feel you are doing a great job, and I hope to visit Taiwan someday. Keep up the good work.
i heard a story on a plane were a taiwanese native wanted to become a kamikaze pilot and his dad agreed but when they told him he had to change his name to sound more japanese his father said no
Many thanks, cleared some long held misconceptions, even if it put some tears in my eyes. Remarkably well balanced but warm. Plus explains why all the sushi restaurants in australia seem to be taiwanese ....
Most people always thought alot of them were soldiers with some civilian, but then you realised they're just as much victim as the locals, they believed in their leader to be able to retake their homeland in a war that was lost, escaped with nothing except their lives to an island that viewed them as outsiders and being discriminated, then prosecuted by the same leaders who gave them promises, and when they get a chance to go back to their hometown only to found out everything has changed, houses gone, families died, cant imagine where do you even go from there. This really changed my perspective about the waishengren....
It's interesting that 外省人 (wàishěngrén), literally translates to 'people from outside the province' ;本省人 (bénshěngrén), OTOH means 'people of the province'. Now I wonder about the history of the term...
I’ve a question for older Taiwanese or Taiwanese Americans. In the pro Sun Yat Sen literature have you ever encountered writings by James Gregor? He used to be a professor at Berkeley (passed away now). He was known for criticizing mainland communists and having a positive view of Taiwan and of Sun Yat Sen etc. Just curious.
Thank you for this very insightful and very important video. I've always been interested the history of the Chinese people especially after 1949. Much of Chinese history as it is told right now has been sanitized by the CCP. Somebody growing up in China would never know exactly what took place between 1911-1949 or what happened to the Taiwan Waishengren, who migrated from mainland to Taiwan as the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan. Again, thank you so much and I hope that more people will visit this video.
If you are actually interested in history or Chinese people, then maybe flip open the high school history textbook currently in use in the mainland. It will show you that EVERYBODY growing up in China know EXACTLY what happened in 1911-1949
I’m American and so is my benshenren ahma but one time we were walking down a street in Taiwan and she leered at some half-awake old dude in a wheelchair. As we walked past she pointed out that he definitely didn’t speak Taiwanese. She made that “silently judging”face as she said it. Makes me wonder how bad things really got during the white terror. Wish it was more discussed in America
The first time I encountered the term "waishengren" was when I was sitting in a class at NCHU and there was something I really didn't understand. So during the break I asked the girl in front of me and she replied "Sorry, I don't know either, I'm a waishengren." (That was in 1994.) I was surprised, because I understood the literal meaning and thought she was from China. I had been under the impression that other than me we only had one guy from Malaysia who wasn't Taiwanese. "So you're not Taiwanese?" "No." "You're not from Taiwan?" "Oh, I was born here, but I'm a waishengren. We came from..." As I said, that was in 1994 and she could likely be the second generation born in Taiwan, but her family didn't consider themselves Taiwanese. "We are not from here." A fellow student of mine from a German university is in theory a waishengren, first generation born in Taiwan, but she sees herself as Taiwanese. She was born in Taiwan, so why would she not be? Her father had come to Taiwan in 1945, when he tried to get away from the KMT. (Bad luck.) So these days, if you still encounter people actually calling themselves "waishengren", they are mostly people who while having been born in Taiwan have no relation to it. They hate the place and live in illusions of a much better life in their "home province" - which they hope to achieve by selling out Taiwan to the CCP. (Remember that even after more than 70 years of "Taiwan exile" the KMT is still calling itself the "Chinese KMT" in Chinese and resisting changing the name of any organisation from "China" to "Taiwan".) Everyone else has moved on and simply calls themselves Taiwanese.
I wasn't there to meet your classmates, but I think you're a little mistaken about Waishengren. Being Waishengren doesn't mean one wants to sell out to the CCP, and I don't see how identifying oneself as Waishengren must mean that one somehow hates Taiwan. About the KMT, as I understand it, they hope to outlast the CCP, not be subservient to the CCP. Most KMT members today are Taiwanese, and I doubt they hate Taiwan. Identity can be complicated sometimes, and there's often more to it than what fits into one or two words. Also, I would caution against equating an ethnic or cultural group with a political affiliation, or assuming someone's politics based simply on a demographic box they tick.
@@FireRupee "Most KMT members today are Taiwanese, and I doubt they hate Taiwan." You clearly haven't seen KMT politicians debating... OK, Waishengren: Technically, only a person born in one province and then living in another is a "waishengren". So if someone even after several generations being born in Taiwan describes themselves as "waishengren", then that's a political statement, not describing an origin. Just imagine people living in fifth or sixth generation in the US and claiming NOT to be US citizens, but "Irish". And the country should not be called "USA" but "IRA" (Irish Republic of America). That's "waishengren" in Taiwan. And the KMT... Sorry, but the KMT has one and only one interest: Power. KMT members who thought the KMT isn't leaning right enough have long gone to the NP. KMT members who actually like Taiwan are now in the TSU. KMT members who couldn't stand Lien Chan crossed to the PFP. Those still in the KMT are just hungry for power. The KMT still calls itself the "Chinese Nationalist Party" (中國國民黨), even after more than 70 years of "exile", they are against any name change where "Taiwan" is supposed to be used. I assume you haven't noticed what they did before the previous presidential election? "If you vote for us, we will change! Promise!" It's that bad.
@@OlafFichtner The remaining KMT elite members still think of getting back to China which is totally insane. But these die hard KMT elite have access to $800 bil - 1.2 trillion assets owned by KMT and they want to make more in China.
@@zenlei8258 right, but luckily they are a dying breed. Just look at any KMT rally, check how old the people are in average. If the current status can be kept another 20 years, the KMT may have dissolved itself by then. After they lost control over the education system, they couldn't brainwash pupils any longer, so now they're going extinct...
I can only imagine if Chiang Kai Shek and the KMT had a tolerant attitude, and integrated/incorporated the local Taiwanese-Japanese culture, fusing it into something new and compatible instead of trying to re-write the entire Taiwanese system. What an interesting Chinese-Japanese cultural fusion Taiwan might have had today.
Interesting video. I always found really shameless the attitude of some “benshengren” today towards “waishengren”. They both came from the same place, mostly illegally, or escaping the authorities, they both took space that didn’t belong to them, they both came with a new government that decided Taiwan was theirs.
Petty rivalry is silly. Sanctimonious rivalry is more so. It’s like a person crying and begging to get on a lifeboat a minute ago immediately picks up an oar and turns around to wack other survivors trying to get on the boat.
Another (weird) question: do waishengren tend to be taller than the rest of the population? I'm saying this because a friend's ex girlfriend was taiwanese and she was quite tall by asian standard. Also, last Year (before the confinement here in Canada), a chinese guy where I work, who was quite tall said he was from Wenzhou.
@@Rillanon195 The taiwanese girl I'm talking about was at least 5,8, and so was another taiwanese work colleague of mine. Same for another colleague who was from Wenzhou and he was at least 5,9! Generally, All asians are barely over 5,7 for men, 5,5 for women.
@@M-J-qn8td Well, yes Asian are shorter on average but people are getting taller. It's not uncommon to see people 6" and above in north China/Korea etc.
Waishergen rammed Taiwan into the 21st century. The KMT instituted universal education, nationalized healthcare and modernized Taiwan island into what it is today Without CKS or the KMT, Taiwan would just be a backwater island with a crap economy.
@@rallinurse This simplistic thinking is not really correct. There was a great deal of infrastructure done under CKS that was necessary for CCK to do his later infrastructure projects. CKS got right to work organizing the cities and counties in January 1950 and worked on the water supply immediately. While his focus was on retaking the mainland, much of his work towards that goal also aided Taiwan's long term development. His troops built the highways in Taiwan and continued the development done under the Japanese. Taiwan is what it is because of the Japanese and the 2 Chiangs.
Taiwanese are true people of Taiwan. Kuomintang is the invaders as Taiwan was not a historical possession of China. Most importantly, Taiwanese DNA includes much diverse gene pools than the mainland Chinese DNA. True history of Taiwan also matches Taiwanese DNA genetic pools, Malays, Indians, Pacific Islanders, Dutch, and as Asianometry already stated Japanese and Koreans.
Weren't Taiwan and Penghu islands conquered by Qing China in 1683 and governed as the Taiwan prefecture of Fujian province until 1887? And then in 1887, they became administratively separate from Fujian?
Thanks for that racist comment. From another point of view, all Han Chinese are seen as invaders by the Aboriginal groups who were pushed to the mountains by Han immigrants from Fujian, so the so called real Taiwanese were invaders even before the 1949 mainlanders were.
@@FireRupee Yes. Taiwan was a part of Fujian until it became its own province. It was also a part of the Ming dynasty, so the ROC was taking back a province taken from the Qing by force, so they aren't invaders because the island was returned as a result of WW2.
You forgot to mention that Taiwan wouldn't be as prosperous today if it weren't for the mainlanders who brought with them their talent and whatever wealth they had.
