Social change and collective memory: Taiwan's two pasts

Is collective memory permanently defined or continually reinterpreted? I examine two theoretical frameworks—historical continuity and constructionist theory—by a historical review of Taiwan's official culture (history textbooks) and popular culture (novel and film). During the first two stages (1945–1960's), Taiwan's new ruler invented a new past for the Taiwanese residents and Chinese refugees. My review of novel, film and textbook illustrates that Chinese memory was heavily promoted to bolster the Nationalist's claim as the cultural and legal representative of China.; In the 1970's, Taiwanese writers began to search for a usable past rooted in Taiwan's soils. They contrived a new image of Taiwanese past. On the other hand, films reconfirmed Chinese roots, and school history textbooks focused on China's past. in the 1980's, Taiwanese memories began to emerge as an alternative to Chinese memories. Taiwan New Cinema and political and environmental novels gradually brought Taiwanese memories to the center of public consciousness. However, school children still read China-centered history textbooks.; In the 1990's, Taiwan has moved toward a postmodern condition. Hidden history was revealed; the center was replaced by the periphery; marginal culture threatened the dominant one. However, Taiwanese were still possessed by Chinese memories. Within this new social order, new collective memories challenged but could not entirely replace old ones.; Constructionist theory alone is insufficient to explicate the coexistence of Taiwanese and Chinese memories. On the other hand, continuity theory has its weakness in explaining the emergence of Taiwanese memories as a reflection of late twentieth-century social changes. An alternative theory proposed by Schwartz helps to explain Taiwanese ambivalence. For Schwartz, the past is always a compound of persistence and change, of continuity and newness. Taiwanese memory, a model of society, comes to the surface because it expresses new realities, including middle class's search for cultural and national identity, its economic affluence and postmodern mentality. In the meantime, Chinese memories, a model for society, do not fade because they provide a symbolic framework that make Taiwan's new experience meaningful and traditions with which the Taiwanese people identify.