From Honto Jin to Bensheng Ren: The Origin and Development of Taiwanese National Consciousness [Paperback]

This book attempts to use numerous volumes of mostly unpublished diaries for examining issues of Taiwanese identity.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 thebensheng 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 thebensheng renidentity.Shih-jung Tzeng,Ph.D., is assistant professor in the Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchih University, Taiwan.

For readers who desire to understand Taiwan's multi-ethnic culture and to appreciate the emerging Taiwanese nationalism, this is a must read book. Shih-shan Henry Tsai, author and chair professor at National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

The author deserves much credit for tackling this difficult subject&. Their observations on life as it was lived in this historically important period are well worth reading, both for what they say about the development of a Taiwanese nationalist consciousness and for what they leave unsaid. The Chinese Historical Review

Chapter 1 The Formation of Taiwanese National Consciousness during the 1920s Taiwan: An Examination of Chen Wangcheng's Diary (1912-1930)
Chapter 2 Identity and War (I)-the Taiwanese National Consciousness under War Mobilization and theKominkaMovement: Chen's and Wu's Diaries (1937-1945)
Chapter 3 Identity and War (II) Ideological Reorientation and a RhelóÑ