The invading Japanese had forced them from their homes. His children called him “Tochan” - Japanese for dad. Taiwanese like Ah-Gong, whose ancestors came from Fujian province or elsewhere generations earlier, felt no connection to China. He longed to return to Anhui province to see his mother and tend to his family tomb. Yeye taught his children that China was their true home, even though they had no memory of it.
Chiang’s government tolerated no dissent, imprisoning many Taiwanese as well as some waishengren. Communication with the mainland was completely severed. Like other waishengren, Yeye became an exile after Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang lost to the Communists and retreated to Taiwan in 1949.
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But without firearms or sufficient military training, many wonder how to prepare. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, more Taiwanese say they are willing to fight if attacked by China. World & Nation Fears of a Chinese invasion have Taiwanese civilians taking up target practice Later, I found out that waishengren were only about 10% of the population - a percentage that has since decreased, as those born in China have died. I figured Taiwan was roughly half and half of each kind of person, just like my family. He and Yeye both liked to drink, and Yeye invited him to parties. Yeye managed the Hsinchu branch of the Bank of Taiwan, and the house was owned by the bank.Īh-Gong had made his peace with my parents’ marriage and often stopped by on his bicycle with Taiwanese snacks or fresh fish. When I was 8, my waisheng grandparents lived in a two-story house with a large garden near the train station in Hsinchu. Yeye and Nainai’s Mandarin was thickly accented, but I could make out the words if I listened intently. Ah-Gong and Ah-Ma spoke Taiwanese, which I didn’t understand. Visiting Taiwan as a child, I knew the two sides of my family were different. They got married in Chicago, which is why Yeye didn’t go to Ah-Gong’s house until after the wedding. Taiwan is also home to 16 Indigenous Austronesian-speaking tribes. Taiwanese people - who typically speak the Taiwanese or Hakka dialects at home - are sometimes called benshengren, or people from this province. Waishengren - pronounced why-sheng-ren - literally means people from outside the province. I understand why many older waishengren feel like outsiders, how their sentimental attachment to China and desire to one day unify with the mainland has relegated them to the fringes. But it never shared power with newcomers until Cambodian refugees found a way to remake the city. Lowell, Mass., was known for embracing immigrants. Politics Column One: In storied New England mill city, Cambodian Americans make political history Since that day in 1970 when my grandfathers went their separate ways without speaking, Taiwan has evolved from the “White Terror” of martial law into a full-fledged democracy.īut China has grown increasingly aggressive about its threats to take over Taiwan, which it considers part of its territory.
The gulf between my grandfathers couldn’t be bridged with words, even though Yeye had brought a friend to interpret.
Yeye - my dad’s father - was a waishengren, or someone who had arrived from mainland China in the 1940s.Īs far as Ah-Gong was concerned, waishengren were oppressors who had taken over his country, hogged the best jobs, massacred civilians and jailed anyone who spoke against the government.Įven if he had come out, Ah-Gong couldn’t have articulated his unhappiness to Yeye.Īh-Gong was fluent in Japanese, in addition to Taiwanese, since he had grown up under Japanese colonial rule. After my parents got married, my Yeye went to my Ah-Gong’s house in Taiwan to introduce himself.Īh-Gong - my mom’s father - refused to come to the door.