KEY THEMES TO UNDERSTAND THE PERFORMANCE AND CONTEXTS
This Room is an Island is a performative memory of Taiwan's colonial past, from 1890's to 2008 the work touches on challenging themes of nationalism, colonialism, displacement, assimilation, loss of identities, police-state control and a painful yearning towards no return.
ACT ONE: 1930 - 1945
The work is presented in organised themes and timeline. The first part of the performance is set in 1930-1945 Taiwan under Japanese colonial occupation. Through my grandfather's narrative, the first half of the show sees the dancers undergoing process of "Kōminka" (Japanisation), which eventually led to many Taiwanese students to fight and die at the front line in South East Asia as "Taiwan Army of Japan", under the propaganda of " Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". Under this propaganda and lengthy period of education and assimilation policies, the people of Taiwan believed they were "liberating Asian colonies from the control of Western imperial power", yet they were also partaking in another form of imperial invasion. This half of the performance rupture reflective space around colonisation from the point of view of WWII Taiwan, investigating the process of colonial assimilation, turning the passive colonised into active colonial all for the hopes of a ‘better life’.
ACT TWO: 1949 - 1996
The second half of the performance showcases a shift in regime, remembering my mother’s memories, the environment transforms into 1949 Taiwan. The audience experiences from within, the authoritative One-Party rule of Kou Min Tang (KMT), who just fled to the island of Taiwan after being defeated in the Chinese Civil war. Witnessing the Taiwanese localised people speaking Japanese and culturally identifying as themselves as Japanese under the effects of Kōminka, the KMT regime pushed for the process of "Sinicisation" and extreme police-state control. The regime instilled fear among the populace to deter any potential opposition. Arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, and sometimes executions were used as tools to maintain control and discourage dissent. Those who did not identify with a Chinese nation and identity became marginalised, jailed and massacred. This period is known as the White Terror, the longest martial law documented in the world.
From the perspective of aboriginal Taiwanese, and the localised Taiwanese such as the Hakka and Min communities immigrated to Taiwan during the 17th century during Dutch and Spanish colonial rules, both regimes of Japan and Republic of China (1949-1980’s) shift their identities and idea of home away from the land beneath their feet. Witnessing their land turn from victorious Japan, to defeated China, seeing themselves turned from "subjects of the emperor" to "traitors and rats of the 'motherland', the people of Taiwan experienced becoming second class citizens, always inferior to the 'mainlanders'. Before Taiwan can untie the traumas of colonisations, the loss of identities and cultures, it is again under constant threat of war and geopolitical oppression from its neighbour, making remembering Taiwanese own history peculiar and particularly 'bothersome' to the agenda of assimilation and national unification.
ENDING: 2008 AOTEAROA
As a migrant, a guest on another home, my family remains displaced for 29 years - as a result of fear of war, and their love for the next generation. The constant need to prove our worths as migrants to secure livelihood and safety under the protection of another citizenship became my father's eternal pursuit for his daughter's better life. I remember both my parents and people who stay on the island.
ACT ONE KEY THEMES
1. KŌMINKA
During the 1930’s, Japan was at the brink of being defeated
during WWII. They needed Taiwan-borns to fight in the military
to fulfil the dream of ‘Southward Expansion’. Afraid that the
Taiwan-borns will not be loyal to the Japanese empire due to
long-lasting racism and unequal treatment to Taiwan-borns
since 1895, Japan began the period of “Kōminka” - becoming
subjects of the emperor, turning Taiwanese into Japanese
through education, assimilation, banning of Taiwanese languages
and culture.
During this period, Taiwanese had the opportunity to rid of their
inferior Taiwanese and savages identities and becoming equal to
the ‘mainlanders - Japanese’. These included large assimilation
of language, clothing, values, religion, education system, martial
arts, cultural practices and even names.
Taiwanese students became key resources for Southeast Asia Expansion (invasion). 460,000 Taiwanese were trying to get into the army to prove their worth to the Emperor, proving the effect of Kōminka. Resulting in 240,000 Taiwanese being drafted into the ‘volunteer army’ fighting and dying to revitalise the dying Imperial Japan throughout 1940-1945 until the defeat of Japan in 1945.
2. GREATER EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE
WWII Japan preached the unity of the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,
a coalition of Asian races directed by Japan against Western
imperialism in Asia. Taiwan became a crucial point for
resources and man-power.The concept of a unified Asia under
Japanese leadership is a part of its war drive in the Pacific.
Japanese propaganda included phrases like "Asia for the Asiatics!"
and talked about the need to "liberate" Asian colonies from the
control of Western powers.
ACT TWO KEY THEMES
3. WHITE TERROR
White Terror is a period of heavy censorship, political purges, and authoritarian control to eliminate dissent against the ruling KMT party. It was a period of intense political repression. The government at the time aimed to eliminate any form of opposition or dissent. This included cracking down on political dissidents, intellectuals, and anyone perceived as a threat to the ruling party's authority.
Censorship and Propaganda: Media and cultural expression were heavily censored and controlled. Only content supporting the government's narrative and ideology was allowed, suppressing freedom of speech and diverse opinions.
Fear and Control: The regime instilled fear among the populace to deter any potential opposition. Arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, and sometimes executions were used as tools to maintain control and discourage dissent.
Maintaining Authoritarian Rule: The government's primary goal was to perpetuate its authoritarian rule. It aimed to create a climate of fear that prevented challenges to its power.
Consolidation of Ideological Control: The ruling KMT sought to maintain a monopoly on the country's ideology, enforcing a singular political doctrine that aligned with its goals, such as anti-communism and strong Chinese nationalism.
4. SINICISATION
Following the Japanese surrender in World War II, Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China (ROC) under the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) party. The KMT, which had been fighting the Japanese in mainland China, was committed to promoting Chinese culture and identity in Taiwan.
As a result, the KMT implemented a number of sinicization policies, including: Mandarin as the official language: Mandarin was mandated as the national language of Taiwan, replacing Japanese, Taiwanese Hokkien and Hakka and aboriginal languages.
Promotion of Chinese culture and values: Chinese history, literature, and art were heavily promoted in schools and the media. A lot of these were engineered Chinese histories and memories forged to create one singular Chinese identity and concept, suppressing differences between regions, ethnicities, histories and cultures.
Suppression of Taiwanese culture and identity: Taiwanese languages and cultural expressions were suppressed as the KMT sought to homogenise Taiwan's cultural landscape.
The students in schools were treated as military soldiers whose missions are now to ‘counter attack the mainland and defeat communist China who ‘stole their homeland’ - including those who never set foot onto China.
Anyone who spoke languages outside of Mandarin, or embodied, practice ethnic practices outside of Chinese Beijing official practices, or read books/listen to songs that were ‘not allowed’ would be fined, jailed, disappear or be executed.
In the 1970s and 1980s as Taiwan democratised, the Taiwanese people began to protest, and assert their distinct identity, leading to a democratic Taiwan we know today.
WHY SHOULD WE REMEMBER
Remembrance can itself be read as a way to elucidate a generalised socio-political understanding of Taiwan’s and the marginalised societies' pasts and present. The way individual or artistic acts of memory works against history constructed by the larger institutional forces of nation-states offer implicit critiques of those hegemonic ideologies.
Taiwan’s cultural identity in construction has emerged from its unique histories and colonial influences. The consciousness undergoes constant transformation and is far from being eternally fixed in some essentialism past, instead the identity formation is a reflection of the continuous exploration and conversations with history, culture and power.