The Sunflower Movement in Taiwan and Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong show how far citizens in both countries are prepared to go to safeguard what they see as their distinctive way of life. Both sides fear the encroaching influence of China. The protesters in Taiwan — who occupied the Legislative Yuan in the spring — and Hong Kong are striving to protect their institutions, autonomy and freedoms. Protesters also want to show how their culture and society are different from those in China. Central to this differentiation is the use of language.
Language is a symbol of individual and collective identity. It is humanity’s main way of expressing beliefs and opinions. Language has often been invoked as a unifying symbol. The recent movements in Taiwan and Hong Kong are no exception to this rule. Holo (also known as tâi-gí and Taiwanese Hokkien) in Taiwan and Cantonese in Hong Kong, are the local languages of each place. These languages unite the people, using a language unique to each place as a symbol to differentiate themselves from China.
Mandarin is now regarded as the dominant “Chinese” language. This was not always the case. In early 19th century China, facing invasion from foreign powers, looked to Western traditions to learn how to make their country stronger. The leaders of that time latched onto the nation-state ideal. Central to which was the importance of a single unifying language. In the tradition of European nations such as France, England and Germany who united disparate populations under a single language, Mandarin became the national language of China. All other languages were relegated to the status of “dialect” and discouraged from being used.
This was the policy that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took with them to Taiwan following their defeat at the hands of the Communists in 1949. Until authoritarian rule ended in Taiwan in 1987, Mandarin was the only language used in schools, public places, courts, media and government. Arguably, this policy was successful as Mandarin is now the most widely spoken language, with proficiency in Taiwan’s local languages declining. Nevertheless, facing a rising China, local languages are now used to reconstruct a new national localised Taiwanese identity. This was most evident during the Sunflower Movement.
Unlike Taiwan, Hong Kong has not had Mandarin imposed for an extended period of time. Under British colonial rule, English language education had supremacy in the curriculum. Chinese only became an official language in 1974. Cantonese became the dominant language, with little interest in Mandarin until Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997. Following its return, and due to the changing political and economic relationship between Hong Kong and the Mainland, Mandarin has made inroads into Hong Kong. There are fears these changing relations may lead the Hong Kong government to follow the official policy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP): introduce a single unifying language for greater social and economic cohesion. A shift towards Mandarin would have deep consequences for Hong Kong’s own cultural distinctiveness. The concern of protecting Cantonese was on display during the Umbrella Revolution.
The names of the movements themselves show clear signs of the emerging identity in both places. In Hong Kong, the “Umbrella Movement” is often written using the Chinese characters 雨傘 (yusan). However, Cantonese has its own word for “umbrella” 遮打 (zheda) which is frequently used when writing about the protests. In Chinese, these two characters combined have no meaning. 遮 (pronounced zhe) means “to cover/to hide” and 打 (pronounced da) means “to hit/to fight/to beat.” When read by Mandarin speakers, zheda would make little sense. However, to Cantonese speakers this word has several layers of meaning. It not only means “umbrella” but on their own the characters are also significant. Like zhe suggests, umbrellas were intended to cover or shield protesters from tear gas fired by police. The protesters also intended to fight, da, for their political freedoms. Through using the Cantonese word for umbrella, Hong Kong protesters expressed their opposition to the Mandarin spoken on the Mainland, and by extension, the values of the CCP. It also encouraged more protesters to participate while encapsulating the unique identity of Hong Kong and the independence they are fighting to keep.
Likewise, the name of the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan also shows how Taiwan is differentiating itself from its traditional Mandarin-speaking roots. The traditional Chinese word for sunflower is xiangri kui 向日葵. However, protesters adopted the literal translation of the English word “sunflower” — taiyang hua (太陽 sun 花 flower) for the name of their movement. It is evidence of the use of English as a counterforce to Mandarin in Taiwan. Like the protesters in Hong Kong, the Sunflower Movement, using a name unique to Taiwan, distinguishes Taiwan from China and illustrates how protesters wish to protect their institutions and way of life in Taiwan.
The emergence of a new localized identity in Taiwan and Hong Kong is also seen in the popularity of songs sung in either Holo or Cantonese. Songs played a central role during the protests, sung to unite the protesters and encourage more people to participate.
In Taiwan, Mandarin is now accepted as a lingua franca. The majority of the discourse during the protest was in Mandarin. Nevertheless, singing in Holo evokes strong emotional reactions as it links the song and protest to a language long associated with Taiwan. Take for instance the unofficial anthem of the protest “Island Sunrise” by the popular band Fire Ex, which was sung in Holo. In the music video, (created by students from the Taipei National University of the Arts) the accompanying subtitles are in Chinese characters. The subtitles borrow Chinese characters whose phonetic sound is an approximate match to the semantically dissimilar Holo words in the lyrics. The borrowing of these Chinese characters indicates how local languages have been used to differentiate Taiwan from China. The characters are “domesticated” or “nationalized” by being made to convey the sounds and hence the meaning of Holo words. For instance, the word for “sorry” written as 对不起pronounced duibuqi in Mandarin Hanyu pinyin is instead written as 歹勢 pronounced daishi in Mandarin. The meaning of the first character 歹, meaning something “bad/evil” and the second 勢, meaning “power/force.” But when together, the two characters sound much closer to the Holo phonetic sound of “sorry” pronounced pháiⁿ-sè. Taiwanese people would not view it as written Chinese. Instead, Chinese characters have merely been used to express Taiwanese sounds.
Similarly the Umbrella Movement protesters are well aware of the encroaching cultural influence of the CCP and used song to encourage greater participation. The dominance of Cantonese during the protests is a clear sign that protesters value their unique Hong Kong identity and view Cantonese as integral to this identity. Through using Cantonese, the protesters show how they identify first as a “Hong Konger” and not as “Chinese.” One of the most widely sung songs of Hong Kong protesters has been “Under a Vast Sky” by 1980s rock band Beyond. Sung in Cantonese, the song stands for freedom, dreams and hope. These emotive themes, along with the tragic death of lead singer Wong Ka Kui in 1993 during a performance in Japan, make this a favorite with protestors in Hong Kong. Contemporary songwriters have also penned songs to contribute to the protest and condemn the actions of police and government.
The reason, of course, that songs sung in Cantonese and Holo are popular is that local languages have become a mechanism for Taiwanese and Hong Kong people to reclaim their identity. In Taiwan, even if many Taiwanese cannot speak the language fluently, they have become an avenue for Taiwanese people to express their identity and demonstrate that their heritage and history are linked to the island Taiwan. In Hong Kong, singing in Cantonese is a way to differentiate themselves from the Mainland. In both places, one of the most popular songs was the local version of the song “Do you Hear the People Sing” from Les Miserables. It was originally sung in English. Its setting was in Paris. Taiwanese and Hong Kong people gained ownership over the song by translating it into Holo and Cantonese, making it relevant in the local context. Its popularity shows how European culture and a European language (English) are used as counterpoints to Mandarin and Chinese culture. The theme of the oppressed rising up evokes the idea that members of the Taiwanese and Hong Kong populations are rising up against what they see as unjust regimes.
Increasing economic ties between Hong Kong, Taiwan and China have led to an increase of Mandarin in both places. Despite this influx of Mandarin, both protests showed that Cantonese in Hong Kong and Holo in Taiwan are still linked to a strong local identity. The protests showed that closer ties to Beijing is about much more than pure economics. At stake is the culture and identity that makes Hong Kong and Taiwan the unique and flourishing places they have become.
To the author: would you view the dominance of Holo in Taiwanese protests as encroaching to the identities of the Hakka and aboriginals (as well as, perhaps, the Waishengren in Taiwan)?
遮打 (zheda) has another important layer of meaning: it is the Cantonese translation for “Chater” of “Chater Road,” an important road cutting through administrative and commercial areas near the Central and Admiralty MTR zones. There are several street name signs on that road with the picture of the yellow umbrella pasted over the 遮打 characters.
Well done and very interesting! Sending it on to the co-editor of The Widows’ Handbook, who’s a linguist and who has just spent a couple of weeks in China, where she was invited to lecture. Hope parents are justly proud of you!
The Communist Party does not really care what the people in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan speak. They are all Han Chinese and Han Chinese is united by a single writing system, not a single spoken language. What they are more concerned about is to sinicize the Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongolians and other minorities and make sure that they stop speaking and writing their mother tongues and speak Mandarin and write Chinese instead so that Xinjiang (New Frontier) will no longer be a new territory but an integral part of China proper, very much like Manchuria, which can now be considered pretty much part of China proper since the Manchurians have been sinicized (though the Manchurians did it themselves and not forced upon by the Han Chinese).
1. to me, this article sounds pretty hagiographic and acritical of the mentioned movements. actually, anything opposing the prc appears to be treated that way in media and the internet. language is indeed a powerful tool to assert identity, and sometimes to force or impose it, or simply to create or enhance differences when they do not exist or are tiny. the examples of france, england and germany are inappropriate, if not wrong: disparate populations in ancient france? which ones? and, if france, spain and england emerged as unified countries in the middle ages, italy and germany (one language, one culture, many post-feudal states) unified merely 150 years ago or so. italy (1861) and germany (1870) became unified nations because people in the cohort of italian-speaking states and german-speaking states saw the importance of stressing the common features among them (language, culture, shared history etc) and overcoming, or playing down, the differences. what those “enlightened” movements in the the republic of china and in hk-sar are doing is precisely the opposite: exaggerating the differences, enlarging the rifts, and trying to divide what is not (or not so much) divided. with western propaganda machines inciting them.
why western countries united and strong is good by definition, and by definition a divided china is good as well? what about using the same standards?
2. if – for the sake of simplicity – we associate the level of freedom/autonomy hk has or is enjoying (1 minimal to 10 independence), we could say that it was 4 or 5 during british colonial time, is 7 now, and will be 8 from 2017. it should not be improperly reported – as you and many others do – that the prc central government is reducing the political autonomy hk enjoys, they are “just” not granting as much as some hk-ers would like to have. free to criticize, i do too, but facts should not be bent in order to make the prc look like a tyrannical power lashing over poor hk. hk enjoys an extremely high degree of self-governing, probably more than any sub-country administrative unit in the world related to its parent country. why is this always willingly ignored? perhaps because it would make those spoiled kids in hk look less like heroes?
3. you build your reasoning on the assumption that mandarin is “just” a lingua franca in the republic of china (it is not: it is the official language of that country since 1945, and the main spoken – and written – variant of modern chinese), and that by stressing the use of cantonese, minnan and hakka, people there are making a statement about their diversity. the tiny detail is that cantonese is not The language of hk, minnan is not The language of the republic of china, nor is hakka. cantonese is the language/dialect of guangdong, minnan is on of the languages/dialects of fujian, and hakka is that of 30more million people originating from northern china and now scattered in mainland china and elsewhere.
in sum, you say that kids in the roc and hk-sar are asserting their uniqueness by enhancing aspects of chinese culture that are chinese and not unique to them at all? are these tantrums like trying to demonstrate that you don’t belong to your family because your siblings have your father’s hight while you have your mother’s ears? this behaviour of theirs is something in between saddening and ridiculous.
WP ate my long comment, so I’ll be quick. But your Wumao is showing, albeit a bit more educated, just with the same logical fallacies.
1. Nowhere did the author say that Western European nationalism was a good thing. They’re all built on fictions, and China is no different. See: Bavaria vs. the rest of BRD, Catalonia vs. Castilian Spain, etc.
2. Your comment is highly self-contradictory. Should HK-ers just count their blessings with a joke of limited autonomy, like driving on the left? One person one vote, the foundation of democracy, is at stake here. If China was NOT a tyrannical regime as you suggest, shouldn’t they just LET HK have universal suffrage?
3. Aside from the fact that even Hokkien and Cantonese have their local flavors in TW and HK respectively, similar dialects have been subject to massive suppression with remarkable success IN CHINA ITSELF. One can hardly blame TW and HK for using them as symbols against encroachment from a hungry central power
Finally, the canards about “bloodline” and “family” are so asinine that they do not bear addressing. Others have done it before and better.
Regarding the Taiwanese example: Isn’t 拍謝 the Mandarinization of pai-seh, with 歹勢 being etymologically correct (as unlikely as that sounds, but Minnan is weird)?
Also, a self-identified expert Taiwanese speaker corrected me when I translated pai-seh as duibuqi; she insists that the former is friendly and casual, whereas the latter is formal and used in more severe cases.
I am not sure that the paragraph illustrates the relationship between both languages (or “dialects”) very well
Very interesting read, thank you!
About the “Sunflower Movement”: I’ve never heard the sunflower being referred to as 向日葵 in Taiwan. Also, there was an incident with the highly famous local Taichung pastry 太陽餅, which further added to the movements popular name. There is an additional layer of meaning to it, as floral metaphors have been used in student-related movements before, as in the 野百合花學運 and 野草莓學運 movements. However, it is not as obvious to me that “Sunflower Movement” is the protesters’ preferred way of addressing to their movement (albeit perhaps in English) – where did you get that information? My politically active friends within the movement’s wider circles prefer using the term Movement of 18 March 三一八學運. How would that fit into your narrative?
It’s good that both Taiwan and Hong Kong are using language as a way to counter China’s want for control. I’m pathetic at speaking or understanding Taiwanese, or Holo, but personally I find it a more powerful language than Mandarin.