What was the legacy of Japan's colonial rule of Taiwan?
I think James about covered it all. Some Taiwanese people (older generation) still view themselves as being affiliated with Japanese culture. Evidence of Taiwanese/Japanese cooperation is strong to this day. Toyota remains by far the biggest automaker in Taiwan. Most of large Taiwanese department stores are partnerships with Japanese Department Stores (Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Pacific Sogo, Uni-President Hankyu, Hanshin, etc). The Taiwanese population registry system was installed in Japanese era. The Presidential Palace was built by the Japanese...
Are Japanese people really Han Chinese that left China a long time ago?
No. It's true that you can find stories in history when Ancient China send people to Japan. But to think these small groups created the Japanese population is far too ridiculous. Long before that, there are original inhabitants living in Japanese islands. With the development of civilisation, people from neighbouring areas tend to move from one place to another. The Yamato (99% of Japanese population) has its origins from Han, Korean, Tungus, Indochine, Malasian etcs. Most of these ethnics indeed travelled from the mainland Asia (currently China), coz Japan is a country on islands. But we cannot simply say Japanese people are actually Han Chinese people. (We cannot say either that we are actually all South African people becoz our ancestors were from Africa :p ) You cannot judge only from limited folk customs / traditions in terms of ethnology. Because ethnic change process is much longer and generally unorganised. The reason why Japanese tradition is very similar to Han tradition is more based on cultural communication between Ancient China and Japan. They learnt quite a lot from China since the time China was in one of her most prosperous time. p.s. If you're interested in learning more about the differences between various ethnics in the world, I recommend Lewis Henry Morgan's works. I remember somewhere he wrote clearly about Han and Yamato.
Why was Japanese rule in Taiwan (1895 - 1945) much less brutal than Japanese rule of Korea (1910 - 1945)?
Chinese nationalists didn’t even migrate over to taiwan until the occupation was over or nearly over. Taiwan was an undeveloped island with villagers and many aboriginal peoples. how much brutality can you cause to an island of mostly semi-tropical jungle/forest and mountain? there was quite some damage to the aboriginal population though.Korea was developed as a society and had a history of fighting off Japan’s advances to the mainland since nearly 800? years ago, from pirates to the Imjin war etc. Japan entered Korea during a time of internal strife and after the King died leaving a middle aged queen in power who had little power or political influence. China at the same time had recently been reborn from the fallen Qing just a couple decades before and many warlords and conflict between nationalists and communists divided the country. Japan, however horrible their actions were, were either lucky or well planned out in their timing to strike during this period when both China and Korea were unable to have a united resistance like what had happened in every previous attempt in history.Taiwan was more of frontier land, there was less resistance and probably many non-aboriginals who were there welcomed the “modern peoples” and infrastructure brought with the Japanese. the common people of Korea however, resisted fiercely making military academies in manchuria and creating many resistance and independence armies as well as the korean mob retaliation and various assassination groups made by the korean people. the japanese would have been angry at the backlash of their occupation and turned to brutality.many people also forget though, during this period japan was brutal to their own as well, with the majority (fact check?) of comfort women actually being native japanese and the regular farmer citizens of japan being forced to give up food for the war effort etc. much of what the japanese learned was from the Americans who did the same thing to Japan as Japan did to Korea some years before. so it is somewhat difficult to tell if the culture of japan was simply barbaric following up to this time, or if the barbarianism was simply an immitation due to previous victimization from the West.
Are people from other countries aware Taiwan is de facto independent from China?
You have been taught that Taiwan is part of China. As millions of your fellow countrymen have. But historically, the status of Taiwan is not so clear.Let me ask you this: Who decides what country you are in?When you are born, you are living in a country, right? But what if your country were attacked, invaded, and fought back. What if another country came along and said, "you live in MY country now." Is this new person your ruler? Who decides?In the west, we believe that a person has the right to decide who shall be his governor. We think it is up to the people themselves.The people of Taiwan will tell you that their government is elected by them. It represents them. No other government is over them. Their government is in Taipei.Now, you may not agree. Fine. But do you live in Taiwan? If not, you have NO RIGHT to say who the government of Taiwan is. Neither do I.Only the people of Taiwan have that right.The people of Taiwan are prepared to fight a very bloody war for the right to decide who their leaders are. Are you prepared to die to force these millions of people to kneel before a man you've never met, who lives in a fine house in Beijing. What is your life worth? If China were to ask Taiwan to follow the leaders in Beijing, Taiwan would politely decline. If China were to insist, Taiwan would resist. If China were to attack, they would surely win. But only after millions of dead bodies litter the streets of Taipei AND Beijing.During that war, China's economy suffers greatly. Millions of workers would be laid off. Factories would stop. Ports would be damaged. The Electric Grid, so necessary for modern life, would certainly be attacked and, in some areas, disrupted. Sound like fun? What benefit could China possibly get from that?
Why does China and Taiwan hate each other?
First off, it's not "hatred"; let's call it a "strong difference of opinion". Both groups of People share some common heritage, somewhat like the British and the Americans, so they don't "hate each other". However, one wishes to dominate the other and take away everything they have worked for. One side (Taiwan) wants to be recognized as an independent entity (and IT IS A DE FACTO SOVEREIGN STATE), while the other side (the PRC) wants to conquer and steal Taiwan. Ref: Anti-Secession Law of 2005, Article 8 "Use of NON-peaceful means" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Seces... The PRC remains a warmongering authoritarian Nazi-like country. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese have developed into a more respectable, modern and peaceful society. After failing to impress any reason for having morals among its People, and undermining what they did have via the "Cultural Revolution", the PRC is highly embarrassed by this situation and labors under the belief that they can eventually make the Taiwanese knuckle under (as they did to the peasants in China) and OBEY the fascist Chinese Communist Party by pointing guns at them and shouting out threats. They are sadly and grossly mistaken on this issue. Analogy: PRC = Santa Ana's military; Taiwan = The Alamo Who in their right mind would willingly surrender their home to an angry thief? This is why the PRC Gov spouts off in anger every time the USA helps Taiwan stay armed well enough to DEFEND itself. The CCP only knows how to be aggressive; they NEVER accept treaties, except under false pretenses. They are like the man who extends one hand to shake yours with a smile, while in the other hand he is carrying a knife to stick in your back.