Zheng Chenggong from national hero to "invader"? The DPP's "de-Sinicization" cannot change the cross-strait cultural code

A few days ago, I participated in a cross-strait online activity - the opening ceremony of the "Confucian Twin Cities" Confucius Cultural Festival was held in connection with the Confucius Temple in Jiading, Shanghai and the Confucius Temple in Taipei. Every September, the Confucius Temple on both sides of the strait holds a confucius event to commemorate our Chinese, but this is the first time that Shanghai and Taipei have jointly held it. Why there is a first time, I think, is because the Confucian culture advocated by Confucius is the common spiritual hometown of the people on both sides of the strait, it flows in our blood, and it is the cultural source of our standing as a human being.

Jiading Confucius Temple was founded in the twelfth year of Jiading (1219) of the Southern Song Dynasty, and was the first cultural project after Jiading set up a county (the tenth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty), thus opening the era of Jiading's 800 years of long cultural context and talents. The Taipei Confucius Temple was built in 1878 after the completion of Taipei Fucheng, during which it was destroyed by the Japanese colonists, but it was rebuilt in 1925 under the rush of the gentry, becoming a symbol of the Taiwanese people in the colonial era who did not forget the motherland. Although the history of the Confucius Temple in Taipei is not long, it has witnessed the endless continuation of Chinese culture in Taiwan and maintained the blood connection between the two sides of the Chinese strait.

There is also a Confucius Temple in Tainan, which was built in 1662 after Zheng successfully recovered Taiwan. The Confucius Temple in Tainan is the first institution of higher learning in Taiwan and is known as the "first school in Taiwan". The completion of the Tainan Confucius Temple represents the beginning of the mainland's spread of Chinese culture in Taiwan, and Confucian culture has become the orthodox culture of Taiwan. Complementing the Implementation of Chinese Culture by the Cheng Dynasty, the spread of Confucian culture among Taiwanese people accelerated with the arrival of mainland immigrants.

There is a "Wenkai Academy" in Lukang, Changhua, which commemorates Shen Guangwen. Shen Guangwen (沈光文), a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, followed The Fu and Gui kings in the late Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty, and in 1649 he encountered a typhoon and drifted to Taiwan during his transfer from the sea to Quanzhou. The Dutch colonists at the time asked him to be an official, but he insisted that he would not be persecuted. After Zheng successfully recovered Taiwan, he rejoiced, but due to the distrust of his successor Zheng Jing, he once again lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests, spreading Confucian culture among Taiwanese people, and creating literary works such as "Taiwan Fu", "Taiwan Public Opinion Kaotu", and "Wen kai Poetry Anthology". These have become important historical materials in the early days of Taiwan, and Shen Guangwen has also been revered as "Confucius of Taiwan".

Taiwan is an immigrant society with the Han nationality as the main body, and strictly speaking, Zheng Chenggong and the officers and soldiers and families he brought with him are the first generation of immigrants, and Zheng Chenggong is the real "Holy King of Kaitai". However, this "holy king of Taiwan", who is revered by the people of Taiwan, has changed from a "national hero" to an "invader (of Taiwan's ethnic minorities)" in the textbooks of the DPP authorities. Zheng Chenggong is deeply loved by the people of Taiwan and is an important symbol of Taiwanese folk beliefs. There are more than 200 Zheng Chenggong temples in Taiwan, and people respect his "loyalty, courage, patriotism, and meritorious service in opening the platform" and build a shrine to commemorate it. The "Yanping County King's Ancestral Hall" in Tainan was developed from the folk temple commemorating Zheng Chenggong, and is also the main temple of The Zheng Chenggong Temple in Taiwan.

However, the greater Zheng Chenggong's influence on Taiwan's people, the more it is an obstacle to the DPP's "de-Sinicization." Since the DPP came to power for the second time, it has begun to adopt a strategy of systematically belittling Zheng Chenggong. In 2015, Tsai Ing-wen, then chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, "apologized" to Taiwan's ethnic minorities, saying that "the Dutch and Zheng Chenggong regimes slaughtered and exploited the Pingpu ethnic groups", and in 2016, greener ethnic minority public opinion representatives proposed that the annual ritual of worshipping Zheng Chenggong should be stopped, and in April of the same year, the Zheng Chenggong Festival broke the 54-year practice of being presided over by the head of the ministry of the interior and replaced the ceremony with the mayor of Tainan. And the middle school history textbook that was launched this year, Zheng Chenggong finally changed from a "national hero" to an "invader".

The change in Zheng Chenggong's image in the textbooks of the DPP authorities is a strong testimony to the DPP authorities' "de-Sinicization." Taiwan's history textbooks have long since ceased to be Chinese history, and Chinese history has been incorporated into the history of East Asia and has become Taiwan's "history of other countries."

From a formal point of view, the DPP authorities' "de-Sinicization" has indeed achieved great success. But that day, I looked at the "Eight Dances" of Confucius in Taipei's Confucius Temple that came through the "clouds", looked at the solemn and pious expressions of the performers, and suddenly felt that Confucian culture is already the cultural gene of the people on both sides of the strait, and the DPP authorities can tamper with textbooks, but does it dare to tear down the Confucius Temple like the Japanese colonists did? The DPP authorities want to cut off the historical and cultural ties between the two sides of the strait, but do they deny that their ancestors all immigrated from the mainland? The DPP authorities say that Zheng Chenggong is an "invader," but as a descendant of the "invaders," do they have the courage to return the mountain and forest land property to Taiwan's ethnic minorities?

History has its own law of development, no one can deny that Taiwan is a society with the Han nationality as the main body, Taiwan's ethnic minorities have long been integrated with the Han society, Chinese culture with Confucian culture as the main body has long become the mainstream culture in Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong and Shen Guangwen are the cultural genes of Taiwanese society, and they are the internal forces that unite Taiwanese society. Just like this ancient ritual of worship, it is our cultural code, and with it, no force can separate our people on both sides of the strait.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Hong Junjie Text Editor: Hong Junjie

Source: Author: And Ten