Escaping China: Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Modern Taiwan

The Great Exodus from China: Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Modern Taiwan

After experiencing the separation and trauma of Jiang and Hai in 1949,
Exploring the local group identity of mainland immigrants through memory and writing.

Around 1949, Chiang Kai-shek's regime relocated to Taiwan, displacing millions of people and fleeing across the ocean. This triggered conflict and turmoil between the "mainlanders" who were forced into exile and the "natives" who were forced to accept them. The two sides were both different but also interconnected.

This book uses three theoretical pillars - trauma, memory and dispersal - to illustrate one of the largest yet least understood mass migrations in East Asia in modern times. However, it does not delve into the victory or defeat of the Chinese Civil War, but rather explains how ordinary people were affected by the painful memories of fleeing. Through oral interviews and documentary archives, the author explores four social traumas stemming from this historical trajectory: the trauma of fleeing China, the trauma of dissipating hope, the trauma of returning home to China, and the social trauma of returning to Taiwan. Forty years after the events, their descendants, centered on their own family experiences, draw on shared memories to recreate and produce nostalgic cultural artifacts, thereby constructing a sense of localization and identity for Taiwan's Mainlander community that stands in stark contrast to diaspora. Ultimately, the author hopes that readers will experience "empathy, reconciliation, and justice."

2023-01-18

國立臺灣大學出版中心

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9789863506768