[Long Article] Do mainland Chinese people realize that their government has no control over Taiwan?

I'm not trying to upset anyone, I'm actually just curious.
Wasn't expecting so many negative reactions.

We're pretty aware of what's going on around us in the Chinese world. By whatever standard, Taiwan is a core member of this Chinese world.

Taiwan has its own administration which PRC does not control. But PRC certainly has some influence on it supported by its diplomatic, political and military forces. For example, Taiwan is not going to join the UN as a member state or even as an observer. It can only join some international organizations in a way that PRC accepts.

To other answers that views this question as a stupid one, just be nice and explain it to the OP (let's assume the OP is sincere). It costs little from you by being nice and it helps others. I am pretty sure we all have some 'stupid' questions in our minds.

The answer is of course yes. But what really interests me is why people in the West have this type of questions. I feel that there is a very fundamental misunderstanding about how we define China, and how we define Taiwan.

Many Westerners seem to have this oversimplified concept in mind, that there are two countries, one called Taiwan and one called China, and those stupid brainwashed Chinese believe Taiwan is, or should be, a part of China. Haha.

No. Not that simple.

When you say Taiwan and China, you are actually referring to ROC (Republic of China) and PRC (People's Republic of China). And that's okay in everyday conversation. But if you want to have a serious discussion, let's first get the terms right: Taiwan is not ROC, and China is not PRC.

The fact is, both ROC and PRC are China, and you can tell that from both names. More accurately, they are two governments of China. This is not something new -- China has had hundreds if not thousands of governments claiming to be the sole legal ruler in its history. Dynasties rise and fall, but China is still that same country.

Prior to 1949, ROC is the undisputed ruler of China. Since PRC was founded in 1949, both governments claim to be the legal one, and refuse to recognize each other. But that doesn't mean ROC has stopped being China and has become a different "Taiwan" country.

And what is Taiwan? Taiwan is a province of both ROC and PRC. ROC doesn't only control Taiwan province. It also controls a small part of Fujian. The area, or the Free Area of ROC, is also called Tai-Peng-Kin-Ma (台澎金马), meaning Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matzu. See, Taiwan is not ROC. It's a part of it.

TL;DR: Both ROC and PRC are China. Taiwan is a province of both.

So, what do we really mean by "Taiwan is a part of China"? Are we saying "ROC is under PRC's control" and blindly believing in it? Of course not. We are arguing that ROC should not drop "China" from its name and start being non-China, which fortunately hasn't happen.

Taiwan being a province of China, is not just Beijing's claim. It's also recognized by Kuomintang (KMT), the ruling party in Taipei. It's also written in Taiwan's laws, maps, and textbooks. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and their supporters probably won't agree, but their opinion is an opinion, not a fact.

TL;DR: Yes.

Here I would like to share a point of view about the taiwan problem, as a Chinese mainlander.

Summery:

There is no Taiwan Country, just another regime claiming whole China territory. The relationship of regimes in mainland China and in Taiwanis just the relationship of the United States and the Confederation.

Taiwan is not, and never would be a nation-state.

1. some definitions
Taiwan is a geographical concept, including the main island and some small islands around it.

China is (still) a cultural-geographical concept, referring to a large landmass in east Asia and people living on which, including Tibet, (some part of) mongol plateau, and no doubt, Taiwan islands.

PRC is a political entity claiming power on the whole (geographical) China.
ROC is fairly similar to PRC, a political entity claiming whole China.

(left upper: PRC flag. right lower: ROC flag)
NOTE: Yes, current ‘Taiwan’/ROC government is still claiming whole China.

2. a brief history and relationship between PRC and ROC

Some history here.

Before everything below, Taiwan and all China territory were ruled under the last Chinese Middle-Age-dynasty, Qing. It was prosperous, but could not resist modern nation’s bully.

In 1895, Taiwan had been ceded to Japan due to Qing’s lost of the first Sino-Japanese War.

In 1911, Qing was overturned by a revolution. According to Qing’s abdication announcement, “A great Republic of China would inherit full territory of all people's in Qing”. However, this revolution did not lead to a peaceful and strong new China, but to a lot of military forces fighting against each other. Legally all forces are merely captains commanding central government’s army, but none of them gives respect to the government. Actually times that there are no central governments at all is longer than the other situation!

In 1920, The China Communist Party (CPC) was founded. It’s goal is to take control of China, and communize China.

Leader of the revolution Sun Yat-sen concludes his failure to prevent disorder in the whole nation to not controlling a strong army, and not getting support from peasants and workers. (Notice more then 99% Chinese are peasants at that time) So he re-built his party, KMT (Kuomintang, China Nationalist Party) , trained new army in southern China, preparing to fight northward and remove all warlords, reunite China.

KMT and CPC were in alliance again, started the northern expedition.

The northern expedition went well, but Sun got ill and died. He asked KMT to continue his dream, to ‘bring freedom and democracy to China’. So did KMT, but the party changed its altitude to CPC. KMT leader considered Communism evil and ‘cleared the party’, killing majority of CPC members. But still the Northern expedition continues.

After all, almost all warlords were wiped out. Legally, this KMT regime, calling itself ROC, is the undoubtedly successor of Qing, and Taiwan shall be considered part of it, though under control of Japan.

This was the ‘golden decade’ of ROC. China reunited, some construction and industrialization began, everywhere went peace. Except some army chasing rest of CPC.

Then Japan came and invaded China.

After some coup, KMT and CPC became alliance again, resisting Japan together. KMT as the central government, fighting against Japan in large cities and battlefields, CPC went guerilla fighting in Japan controlled region.

Thanks American, Japan lost. Taiwan returned China (KMT’s ROC).

(Taiwan celebrates liberation. Notice KMT badge on the building.)

Now CPC is not a pitiful small force owning less than 30 thousand man, but a million-solider great army. It did not forget its goal: to control whole China.

Nor did KMT. They continued the civil war and KMT lost. The whole government of ROC fled to Taiwan, and why did not CPC go forward to ‘liberalize’ Taiwan? At that time, though have a strong army, CPC did not have navy. It even have boats capable to sail across the Taiwan strait.

In 1949, CPC founded the People’s republic of China (PRC). It never gave up effort to take Taiwan back.

(PRC poster. “Taiwan must be liberalized”)

(ROC banner. “counter-attack the continent, unite China”)

/* Warning: history written above is extremely simplified and have countless mistakes. Please ask your professor or wikipedia for more accurate and detailed reality.*/

And we can have conclusion. PRC and ROC are rivalry regimes both claiming whole China, both mainland and Taiwan. Since they never assigned a peace treaty, technically they are still 'at war’. There are no independent government like ‘Taiwan government’. The ruling regime of Taiwan, ROC, is not a nation-state of ‘Taiwan people’, since we (mainlanders and Taiwanese) are a same nation, Chinese.

3. What if China invades Taiwan?
This question itself cannot be answered, Just like we cannot answer “What if America invades Texas”, or “What if the United States invades the Confederate”. The politically correct and correct question is “What if PRC defeat ROC and reunites China”.

4.Why must China unite?

This is a millennium tradition of China. In our history, empires rise and fall, barbarians conquer and flee and surrender, and China unites and divides. But all regimes dedicate their all power and effort to seek and maintain unity. We abandoned feudalism more than 2000 years ago, and Emperor rules every inch of land directly, by sending bureaucrats to locals. In Chinese ancient document Shi jing the Poems wrote,
“Every piece of land under the sky are no exceptionally King’s soil, Every people within the border of our territory are no exceptionally King’s subjects."

We unite to build the Great Wall, we unite to build the Grand canal. Under
a same flag, we share prosperity and happiness. Divided into pieces, we bleed and starve. These memory are throughout China history .This is Chinese national memory.

5. Will China unite?

In a long time, yes. In coming years, no.

Beijing altitude is “We shall unite, but we don’t want to use military force."
Taiwan altitude is “Well… Just keep the status quo.”

6.Thank you...

For reading this long and boring, amateurish article! Please forgive my broken English.

When I was young, I often heard this phrase used when people question others leaving for no reason. "Where are you going since Taiwan has not been liberated?" Though it's mainly for fun, children like me have remembered it so well.

Answer: Most people know it.
Until the last three decades, children have the cognitive gap on this issue, because the government weakened political component in education and the change of domestic political environment.

There are 3 periods in history:

• In 1950s-1970s, Chinese government carried out a lot of publicity for the civil war.

This period's slogans: Liberate Taiwan(Chinese:解放台湾), Reunification of the motherland(Chinese:统一祖国)
In this period, All People Know It.

• After that, the Government policy objectives is changed, focusing in economic development.

In 1980s, Deng Xiaoping formulated a constitutional principle: One country, two systems (Chinese: 一国两制) The problem was widely discussed in public for that. All people know it, too.

• From 1990s, Chinese government reduces the frequency of mention of Taiwan in public.

The 1992 Consensus is the latest achievement in this period.
Then the political progress of Taiwan and the mainland was shelved for 20 years.
After that, the frequency of this problem has become very low.
So only people born after that (<30) will not know the facts in their childhood.

My personal experience (As a teenager)

1. We have taught that Taiwan is one province of China (without any political propaganda) in primary school. And we learned many geometric and historic knowledge of it as same as other provinces during junior high.
   
   
   Our National Map is Like That.
2. The truth was not directly mentioned in any official media. Butadults and most teenagers know it.
3. Based on my experience, most teenagers know it from Parents, Relations or Internet. There could be more ways.
4. We know the situation is made by a civil war in second grade of Junior high's history class, but history textbook don't mention the details and the current situation of Taiwan. I don't know what they are thinking. I guess the government don't want talk the awkward situation or just tell a lie as a simple solution. It sounds like how my parents deal with problems, they did that way, too.
5. Influence to My Opinion: I know that Taiwan is related to China since Ming dynasty or even early, and I consider the situation is temporary and we will certainly fix the problem peacefully. I hope Taiwan's problem can be fixed like Hong Kong and Macao.

The situation is really awkward because the forces and history of Taiwan is very complex.
History of Taiwan

More details and opinion
I felt very puzzled when I realize the truth that Taiwan is not controlled by our government. It happens in my first year of junior high, when I read some Internet webpages in an Internet Cafe. I felt really shocked and upset.But after that, I started to get more info from other resources, which finally makes me better understand the problem we faced. And I realized the teenagers of Mainland and Taiwan should work together to find a way . It could be hard, but we will make it, because it was our childhood's faith.
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Update:
I finally realize why I feel weird about the question. Because China is not just a so called "lack of freedom of speech" country. Actually, we can easily get any info of our country, in a orient subtle way but more than you can image, if we want. But that's another question, I won't talk too much.

We get most knowledge just like any people from other country: Parents, School and Media. Surely, they would like to tell us truth, everyone need to know truth. No offence, but we are not North Korea.

I have to say the attitude of the question is kind of insulting. That's why somebody get mad, but it's not all your fault.
I hope my experience can make you understand it better.

I still hope the question will be a chance to us to understand each other better. :)

Source: http://getpocket.com/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quora.com%2FDo-mainland-Chinese-people-realize-that-their-government-has-no-control-over-Taiwan