Although we did not really discuss Taiwan as a popular culture locale in our class this semester, I have always been really interested in the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China. I was born in Shanghai and raised in Beijing for the first nine years of my life, and then my family moved to the Bay Area. Growing up, I always had a lot of Taiwanese friends here in America, and it was never something that affected me until one of my friends broke down in tears while talking about how Taiwan is not a part of China and should be its own independent country. I was so surprised by the conviction in her voice that I went home and talked to my family about Taiwan-China relations in hopes of figuring out the cause of her deep frustrations. However, I also realized that this was a quite sensitive topic within mainland Chinese people as well, as my grandparents were very adamant on their point of view, saying that I was too young to understand the complexity of the situation. Even though I was never someone who took interest in any type of political discussion, I was even more curious as to why this was such a controversial topic between Taiwanese and Chinese people.
Taiwan and China’s tension primarily stems from an argument of Taiwan’s independence as an island off the coast of China. In the perspective of the PRC, Taiwan is considered a province, hence a part of China. However, as Taiwan does have their own elected government, they push for the possible future of sovereignty as a country. In 1895, Taiwan was ceded to Japan as a result of the Sino-Japanese War, but the Japanese forces surrendered to the incoming ROC military, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, and retreated. The ROC fled to the island after losing the civil war in 1949 against Communists. They lived in Taiwan under law along with the Taiwanese people who have lived on the island for a long time, but faced repression and discrimination when the KMT took governance. Eventually, representatives of the CCP and KMT reached an agreement called the 1992 Consensus, in which both agreed that there is only “One China”; Taiwan belongs to China. The DPP, or the Democratic Progressive Party, however, holds opposing views and advocates for Taiwan becoming its own separate nation. DPP represents people who are in agreement with Taiwan fighting for its own independence, which consists quite a lot of progressive Taiwanese youth, but they have refused to accept the content or even existence of the Consensus while making their argument. Nonetheless, they won the 2016 elections. However, economically speaking, the relationship between the two places is actually improving, as a lot of people in Taiwan recognizes China as an important support system.
Despite the tension between Taiwan and China due to this tense disagreement, we still see the disparity between a push for Taiwanese identity and splits between the different opinions within Taiwan itself. As we look at idol dramas such as Meteor Garden, nothing special stands out until the realization that all the characters are speaking Mandarin even though they are in Taiwan. In fact, most of the residents of Taiwan speak Mandarin as their first language, rather than all the other existing dialects, such as Hokkien or Taiwanese. This is quite ironic because a growing number of people in Taiwan identify as only Taiwanese and not Chinese, but they still continue to speak Mandarin and use it as a primary language for popular media outlets. Meteor Garden, the drama that could be considered a pioneer for all the other idol dramas that followed, could have been produced in full Hokkien or another dialect, but chose to use Mandarin instead. Not only could this be influenced by the fact that there is not a large population of people who are fluent in other local dialects, it could also be a tool for easier dissemination. A large number of people from mainland China have seen this drama, but if fully Taiwanese-speaking actors were casted for filming back then, the drama may have not reached such vast crowds. Even up until today, most of Taiwan’s dramas are in Mandarin, with only a few local shows that still use Taiwanese-speaking actors; there is no need for subtitles or dubbing when it reaches the other parts of the Chinese sinophone since most of the population’s primary language is Mandarin. I think that another crucial part as to why Meteor Garden chose to use Mandarin was the fact that it was already a remake from a Japanese original manga, Boys over Flowers. In order to make it an authentic representation of the sinophone, casting mandarin-speaking actors was a necessary move for the adaptation.
Meteor Garden has, since then, blew up in popularity and paved way for many other remakes by various other countries. We have the very popular Korean version that is still considered a classic amongst Korean drama viewers, but also a recent 2018 mainland China remake that casted a couple of the original Taiwanese actors. It quickly gained a lot of popularity, but was still ultimately unable to overpower the original, as it had made such an astounding impact on the idol drama genre in East Asia. However, in regards to the entertainment industry, we are seeing a more apparent desire for migration among artists, as they are aware that China still provides greater benefits and economic resources. A very interesting thing that I have noticed, as someone who is fluent in Mandarin, is that Taiwanese talents will purposefully change their accents when they work in China in order to fit in with the mainland dialect. This goes on to emphasize that although a large portion of the population in Taiwan is adamant about becoming an independent nation, a lot of individuals realize that China has been a major contributor to their economy, and is fearful that the connection will be cut off.