The documentary "Wansheng Homecoming", which was shortlisted for the best documentary at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards and caused a wave of "root-seeking" in Taiwanese society, has recently aroused heated discussion in Taiwan. At the time of this article, the director of "Wansheng Homecoming" was holding a press conference in Taipei.
Poster of "Wansheng Coming Home"
At the end of December, Producer Shika Tanaka, who has always claimed to be a descendant of "Wansheng", confessed to Wang Rongwen, chairman of Yuanliu Publishing, that her Taiwanese-Japanese mixed identity was all fabricated, and in fact she was a taiwanese without compromise. Wang Rongwen posted on Facebook on The 1st to disclose the truth of this matter, which immediately caused a great shock to Taiwan's art and literary circles. Many authors who have strongly supported "Wan Sheng's homecoming" in the past, or written articles recommending "my home in the south", such as Chen Fangming, Liu Kexiang and others, have expressed "difficult to accept".
Taiwanese writer Chen Fangming once recommended Tanaka Shika's works by name. In an interview, he said he was "very hurt" and criticized Tanaka for "taking advantage of the taiwanese's historical amnesia to give the lie room to exist" and that "this incident is not only identity forgery, but also a great blasphemy against Taiwan's history." Chen Fangming pointed out that the harm caused by Tanaka Shika "is not only for contemporary people, but also for previous generations." He pointed out that "because of the long-term deception of the 'party-state system,' the people have been unable to clearly understand Taiwan's history, "now using this deception to carry out another kind of deception, which is a huge harm to the entire history of Taiwan." ”
Taiwanese writer Liu Kexiang, who once wrote a recommendation for Tanaka Shijia's work "My Home in the South", believes that Taiwanese people have "excessively beautiful imaginations" of the Japanese occupation era, and always feel that "this blank period of history, first make up for it and then say", so it tolerates flaws and lies.
In Japan, a semi-closed society that attaches great importance to birth and family background, even if they are also Japanese, being born in the mainland and being born in the colony, and even where they are born in the mainland, will affect the social class of the individual, and these "Bay students" born in Taiwan must bear the label of life. In fact, before the documentary led by Tanaka Shika, the term "Wansheng" almost did not exist in Taiwan, and it can almost be said that this term was created by Tanaka Shika.
Who is Shika Tanaka? She claims to be of mixed Taiwanese-Japanese descent and has a "Wansheng" grandmother named Sakurashiro Tanaka. In order to fulfill her grandmother's lifelong wishes, she decided to devote herself to the filming of the documentary "Wansheng Homecoming". Her story is profoundly moving and entangled with the documentary text, forming a tight historical myth.
Taiwanese "Shika Tanaka"
But the truth is that this Wansheng descendant, who claims to be Named Tanaka Shika, named Chen Xuanru, lives in Dalin pu, Kaohsiung, and in her life, she has nothing to do with any Japanese. And that Japanese "grandmother" is just the elder who met her in Pingshui at Chiayi Station when she was a teenager, and because the two fell in love, they recognized each other.
The author of the best-selling book "Wansheng Homecoming", Shigeru Tanaka, has a fake identity. (Source: Taiwan's Lianhe Pao)
The comments given by historian and scholar of Taiwanese literary historian Chen Fangming on this matter should be the most appropriate. He said that In doing so, Mr. Tanaka was "taking advantage of the taiwanese's historical amnesia to give the lie room to exist." Further, the whole "Wansheng Homecoming" incident not only exposed the historical amnesia of the Taiwanese, but also highlighted the confusion of various values of the Taiwanese.
First of all, it is the omnipresent "colonial feeling", as long as anything is related to Japan, it seems to be superior, which coincides with the Taiwan boom that has become popular in Japanese society in recent years, on the one hand, under the idea of "de-Sinicization", eager to rediscover the blessing of the "mother country"; on the other hand, in the ebb tide of the fading aura of the great powers, it wants to seize some of the proof of past glory.
Under the stirring of the two phases, a perfect story wrapped in tears and history, "Wan Sheng Homecoming", was born in Yan. This documentary, which is based on lies, fully satisfies the obscenities of both the Taiwanese and the Japanese, and no matter how touching the story it records, it is still a colonial "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" restoration propaganda film.
Tanaka Shika's sister said, "Life is not true or false", hoping that the public will not care too much. This shows the hypocritical mentality of Taiwanese people who do not ask right and wrong for a long time: as long as the goal is achieved, as long as no one is harmed, as long as the starting point is good intentions, as long as the story is true...
Wrong, not everyone can "just... It's good", but "as long as I agree with it". This viewpoint can be clearly seen from how the DPP has dealt with Chen Shui-bian's corruption case and how its supporters have defended leaders who are clearly unfit for office. Therefore, in Taiwanese society, it does not matter if the truth is concealed, sophistry, or even openly and maliciously lies, no one must pay the corresponding price, as long as your lies "I agree with it."
But the past is never as good as smoke, your true and false, may be the heart and lungs of others. Taiwanese society is also paying a bitter price for this day after day.
(This article is quoted from the WeChat public account: Taiwan Discussion, the original title "She is Taiwanese, but pretended to be Japanese...", slightly added, if there is infringement, please notify us to remove the shelf, thank you!) ）