Chapter 22 Chapter 21 Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau

In order to preserve the integrity of the subject matter of this book.The special circumstances of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are bound to be mentioned again.Theoretically, the source of Taiwan in the future can change the conclusion of the previous chapter.Today's leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are focusing on the Taiwan issue mainly because of this reason. Taiwan is a province of China, and the aborigines on the island have never been sufficiently numerous to be a particular problem politically or economically.Because of the arrival of immigrants speaking Fujian or Hakka dialects, Taiwan produced a branch of mainland Chinese culture, and the cohesion between families was strong.During the Japanese Occupation Era, Taiwan's agricultural products mainly exported rice, sugar, tea, and camphor to Japan.However, agricultural production has never constituted a large-scale farm, and it is still like the mainland, where one family usually cultivates the fields in front of and behind the house.It's just geographically superior. The island has never been as poor as the mainland, such as the northwest of China.

After the Kuomintang successfully took over Japan, the number of tenant farmers in Taiwan has been greatly reduced. The "land to the tiller" in 1953 was based on MacArthur's land reform in Japan. The maximum amount of land owned by a family was roughly 7 and a half acres of medium-sized land, and the excess was redistributed by the government. The cost was only two and a half years of harvest number.The actual payment will be 30% in industrial and commercial stocks received from Japan, and the rest will be paid in agricultural securities with rice and sweet potatoes. It is expected to be repaid in 20 years, with 4% interest included.This method of forced acceptance and forced redistribution can be implemented because Taiwan was still in the military regime at that time, and the threat of the CCP’s military invasion on the mainland has not yet been lifted.

Industry followed closely behind land reform.With substantial U.S. aid, Taiwan's industrial policy first avoids excessive investment in enterprises with high prestige but no immediate utility, and focuses on products with labor as the main body, focusing on exports. Therefore, the land controlled by the Kuomintang has won the Second World War. The cheapness of the international market after the war.The industrially advanced countries of the day tended to develop the most advanced sectors and opened up markets for many secondary commodities as never before.Exports from Taiwan encountered minimal resistance.Because of the success of this policy, US aid has been stopped since 1965.In the last ten years, Taiwan has devoted itself to the production of steel, advanced technology and automobile manufacturing.

Taiwan's independence movement, while attracting considerable attention, has so far not been considered a serious challenger to shape Taiwan's future.They could neither convince the majority of the educated nor win over the masses.Therefore, Taiwan independence has become a movement with no structure but only a local atmosphere.But the movement raises a potentially dynamic issue, both emotionally provocative and in some ways substantive, and if not handled well there is no guarantee that the situation will not change quickly. Although the People's Republic is dissatisfied, the United States cannot be regarded as deliberately obstructing the reunification between Taiwan and the mainland.If the people on both sides of the strait find an appropriate way to move towards unification, the United States will never be able to raise objections from outsiders, but the US government has no obligation to act as an intermediary to promote reunification in advance.

When it comes to ideology, the difference between the two aspects is not as great as generally imagined.The Chinese Nationalist Party, Sun Yat-sen's party, still employs large numbers of people to compile its own revolutionary record.There is nothing in the official document that "socialism" is an improper term. The slogan "The world is for the public" can be seen in many places in Taipei.On this island, too, the government has a firm grasp of banking and foreign trade.It also operates railways and buses.Governments are especially influential when it comes to education and the media.In many aspects of structure and management, Taiwan and the CCP on the mainland are not incompatible.

In terms of culture and education, the policy of the KMT has been implemented for more than 40 years, let alone the launch of the classification movement.Not only are children taught from childhood to be Chinese, but museums, libraries and archives everywhere call upon their Continental roots.Even engineers and technicians did not feel that their careers should be all in the island province when they were trained, let alone teachers and civil servants.In recent years, "Taiwanese literature" has appeared, but the vast majority of publications show a broad vision, and it is often more broad than that of mainland writers.

Nor is the bad mood left over from 1945 and 1949 by the Civil War into permanent hatred.Both the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Communist Party of China fought against Japan, and not only have they both adopted peaceful means with Japan, but in many respects they have engaged in goodwill cooperation.The virtue of generosity is also valued by both sides.Chiang Kai-shek had already forgiven more than a dozen warlords who opposed him. Mao Zedong had a son who died in the Korean War, but he welcomed Nixon with open arms.It would be inconceivable that the younger generation would perpetuate the animosity between the two sides without actually participating in the war.

However, due to decades of armed confrontation, both sides have based their logic on not recognizing the legal status of the other.A sudden abandonment of this position could lead to internal disputes and possible separatist movements.On the day this book was written, there were many indications that the leaders of the People's Republic were prepared to rehabilitate Chiang Kai-shek.His former residence in Zhejiang is said to have been renovated.A museum of historical relics of the Anti-Japanese War will be opened beside the Marco Polo Bridge.In Beijing and Hankou, the streets have been changed to the names of generals who died in the Kuomintang's resistance against Japan.The Whampoa Military Academy Alumni Association has been established. It is worth noting that only Chiang Kai-shek was the president of this military academy, and Xu Xiangqian, Marshal of the People's Liberation Army, is the current president of the alumni association.The logical conclusion of this series of events will be to re-establish the status of Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang in history.

Hong Kong is an island, connected to the Kowloon Peninsula, and even attached to a piece of territory on the mainland.In terms of area, her 400 square miles is not very small (such as compared with Macau's 6 square miles).Moreover, the skyscrapers in Hong Kong face the natural harbor with rocky mountains as the background, and their upright value surpasses their recumbent value.Over the years, this free port has become a procurement center and a resort for tourists due to its rich products.Even the British flag has earned a lot of foreign exchange for China. In recent years, it is known for its own economic growth and is one of the fastest growing regions in Asia.

In addition to being one of the world's important centers for the banking and shipping industries, Hong Kong is also a manufacturing site for textiles and plastics, electrical equipment, electronics, machinery and chemicals.It is also known for its printing, food processing and film industries, three of which are particularly attractive to overseas Chinese. Before this book was ready for printing, the author obtained a draft of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.This document gives me the opportunity to confirm what I thought not so long ago: that even the very idea of ​​a nation may change when a nation has undergone a major breakthrough in modern times, as happened 400 years ago with the birth of the Dutch Republic.This Basic Law gives us an opportunity to imagine the situation after returning to China in 1997.This zone will maintain its unique tax system and currency system.It will have a special flag, and its chief executive will be elected, who, like the elected legislators, has been in the country for at least 20 years.The existing judiciary will be retained in its entirety.Hong Kong's law registers the report with the People's Congress in Beijing as a record, but the SAR is not subordinate to any agency of the central government.Moreover, the SAR has the right to handle diplomatic matters related only to the local area.The Drafting Committee completed the first draft and is in consultation with the Advisory Committee, both of which are seeking broad public comment.The work shows the spirit of local self-government, preserving valuable places as much as possible, and respecting the 1984 Sino-British agreement.This is no easy job and its success should set a precedent for Macau.Due to this motivation in the future, it will not be difficult to cross the Taiwan Strait and make the unification of China, which has broken through history, a reality.

In closing this book, I take the opportunity to explain my philosophical position in writing it.At first glance, macro history may seem irrelevant to morality.Human actions are carried out on a large scale, and they only follow the causal relationship, which cannot be influenced by the will of each individual, and it is even more difficult to accommodate him according to his moral wishes.When writing the above chapters, I also clearly pointed out the influence left by the previous era, which is different from the previous history books.Traditional historians usually regard the beginning of each dynasty as a creative era, when the population and society at that time were malleable, and could be turned into tools by a generation of great men according to their ideals.I am confident that my narrative is closer to the truth, but it also creates the impression of destiny, that is, what is destined to happen will always happen, and morality has nothing to do with the exchange of facts.Such an inhuman argument may disturb the mood of readers, and may even offend some sensitive readers, but this is not the author's intention. In the figure below, the solid line represents the formation of history in my imagination.It is also the last record left by mankind's continuous advancement.For the sake of brevity, we represent the numerous short-range advances in three larger paragraphs.Our journey is continuous, day after day, just like what Indian thinkers call "karma" (or karma), or what Western theologians call "predestination".That is to say, from the perspective of a history reader, our freedom can only start from the place where our ancestors left.Arrows pointing from here on out indicate our idealistic tendencies.Morality also becomes a powerful factor at this time.Generally speaking, all actions of all human beings not only involve the participation of mass movements, but also must bring the determination of self-sacrifice, and also contain a fair and reasonable character.But the centripetal force opposed to this tendency is indicated by the shorter arrow.The latter may be called "original sin", or "human desire" as mentioned by Song Confucianism.The historical process on the arc is always the sum of the above two forces, that is, the combined force of Yin and Yang. The overall significance of history, as shown in this picture, is also in its overall beauty.The entire history of mankind is only about 10,000 years old, which is only a very short part of the life of the universe.And the life in the universe that we can understand may still be another small part of something bigger.As Kant said, "things in themselves" (things in themselves or noumena) are beyond human knowledge.Before and after the arc, I draw it with dotted lines. This is just to infer its coming and going based on human history.From this point of view, the reality of the solid line also depends on the foil of the dotted line, and it has only a relative meaning. Large chunks of human history, viewed at a long distance, belong to the realm of theology.The author's experience and knowledge are limited, so he can only parrot the great philosopher Kant as an explanation.In addition, I cannot deduce my own limited observations to unknowable numbers.At the same time, the vision of historians is always based on retrospect, drawing a few short lines in a vast space, which has no meaning of prophecy. Nowadays, when describing Western things, many textbook authors take the time to insert one or two paragraphs about trivial things about China and call them world history.In my opinion, the life course of 1/4 of the human race cannot be treated so hastily, especially now that we have come to a critical juncture.So I put forward the whole process of Chinese history, paying attention to its internal rhythm and characteristics, and only then mentioned the whole process of its conflict and contact with the modern West.Such an arrangement can indeed enable us to observe the world with an unprecedented perspective.In the past, many people thought that all the unreasonableness of Chinese people can be explained away.We can also see the historical importance of geographical environment from this, and the greatness of human long-term endurance is thus obvious.Everyone's reaction to the above is different, but the author has a pleasant feeling of being able to write about the restoration of an ancient country and her renewed momentum, and hopes that readers will feel the same.