Research On Cross-strait Intergroup Relationships From The Perspective Of Cultural Identity ——A Case Study Of Taiwanese With Living Experience In Mainland China

Although Taiwanese culture shares the same root with Mainland Chinese culture,differences between them came into being due to some historical reasons.Firstly,as Taiwan has been the colony of Holland and Japan separately,Dutch and Japanese cultures have impacted the Taiwanese culture to a large extent.Then because of the Civil War between the National Party and the Communist Party,Kuomintong impeded cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Mainland China and were pro-America.Accordingly,Taiwanese culture was influenced by western countries,with America as the representative.In this way,Taiwanese culture has its own local characteristics.Nevertheless,with relevant preferential policy introduced by the central government,a growing number of Taiwanese choose to come to the Mainland,and thus communication and contact among the cross-strait people become increasingly frequent.Due to cross-strait cultural differences,those Taiwanese living in the Mainland for a long period need to adapt to the Mainland culture and then identify and integrate cultures of Taiwan and Mainland China.Moreover,they will experience conflicts with Mainland Chinese when getting on with them.However,knowing their cultural adaptation and interpersonal relationships situation is crucial for strengthening cross-strait cultural exchange.Accordingly,with the aim to find out identity and integration degree of Taiwan compatriots with living experience in Mainland China towards Taiwanese local culture and Mainland mainstream culture and its effect on their intergroup relations with Mainland Chinese,and probe into the mechanism and condition for the effect to occur,the study conducts research on those Taiwanese who have over two years’ experiences of living or having lived in the Mainland on the ground of theories of BII,perspective taking and personal distress which belong to two components of empathy,and intergroup relations.The author has conducted a questionnaire survey on 120 participants and semi-structured interviews with 8 interviewees.Based on qualitative analysis which contains one-way ANOVA,Independent Sample T-Test,correlations and regression analysis,verbatim transcripts and coding of the interview data,the author comes to conclusions as follows: Firstly,Taiwan compatriots have identified and integrated Taiwanese culture and Mainland Chinese culture well,and,at the same time,their attitude towards Mainland Chinese is positive in general.Secondly,such kind of identify and integration of the Taiwanese living in Mainland China has positive effect on their intergroup relations with Mainland Chinese.Moreover,the cultural harmony versus conflict can predict this kind of relation better.Thirdly,this identify and integration is in positive relations with perspective taking,one independent component of empathy,and in negative relations with personal distress,another independent component of empathy.Lastly,both perspective taking and personal distress can positively affect intergroup relations.Furthermore,perspective taking can play as a mediator between cultural identify and integration and intergroup relations,while personal distress doesn’t play a mediating role between those two variables.Based on above findings,following suggestions are put forward.For instance,efforts should be made to enrich the exchange patterns for cross-strait people.With regard to this aspect,it is suggestible for universities to hold activities of different themes for Taiwanese students and the local to communicate with each other.In addition,measures should be taken to improve national education with regard to history and culture on the Taiwanese young generation and reinforce their sense of national identity and cultural identity.At last,new media should be taken good advantage of to boost cross-strait communication.