2001/12/28 Fri　 Along Tan
Culture and Identity

In reaction to the email from Sam Huang, I would like to say that the DPP has currently no choice but to
accept the name of the ROC. Due to 50 years of brainwashing, many taiwanese have a confused identity
and therefore are not yet ready to understand that logically our country should be called the republic of
Taiwan. 
Things have to change slowly and we need to raise the awareness of the Taiwanese identity. The DPP has 
only been in power for 1 year and a half and the brainwashing set up by the KMT still goes on. We need
to change our history books and teach our children about the history of Taiwan, let them be proud to be
Taiwanese as well as slowly educate the crowd about identity and pride. The DPP needs to do all this and I
am confident they will, before slowly moving on to the final step: give our country its real name, the
Republic of Taiwan. By the way the MOFA will soon put Taiwan on ROC passports. Isnt that already a step
forward?
I would also like to react to a old comment from cathleen shue. Supporting a separate Taiwanese
identity and culture from the so called Chinese culture is not denying ourselves! As far as I know
people talk about American or Canadian culture and not English culture ! But don t they speak English, 
don't they have English names, don t they have the same religion, don t they share common ancestors and 
don't they look the same ! These are not valid arguments. We dot not deny we share a lot of common 
heritage with China but we certainly do have our own identity. Please rethink your position. 
Last, I would like to say thank you for all the people from WUFI, TAIP or any independance movement. 
You are the one who give Taiwanese self respect. Please keep on the fight so that our dream comes true! 
Long live Taiwan and let s stand tall for the Republic of Taiwan !