The Vitality of Taiwan: Politics, Economics, Society and Culture

237 Pages·2012·1.352 MB·English

by  Steve Tsang (eds.)

The Vitality of Taiwan
Politics, Economics, Society and Culture
Edited by
Steve Tsang
The Vitality of Taiwan
The Nottingham China Policy Institute series
Series editors:
Steve Tsang is Professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies and Director of the
China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham.
Shujie Yao is Head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the
University of Nottingham and Professor of Economics and Chinese Sustainable
Development, University of Nottingham.
The Nottingham China Policy Institute Series brings cutting edge scholarship,
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society, culture, politics, international relations, national security and history
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opinion leaders will find inspiring. They represent innovative multidisciplinary
scholarship at its best in the study of contemporary China.
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The Vitality of Taiwan
Politics, Economics, Society and Culture
Edited by
Steve Tsang
Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, and Director,
China Policy Institute, University of Nottingham, UK
Editorial matter, selection and conclusion © Steve Tsang 2012
All remaining chapter © respective authors 2012
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Contents
List of Tables and Figures vi
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
Notes on Contributors ix
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms xiii
1 Forces Behind the Vitality of Taiwan 1
Steve Tsang
2 The Resilience and Dynamism of Taiwan’s Democratic
System 19
Shelley Rigger
3 Social Foundations of Political Vitality 37
Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao
4 Literature’s Role in Breaching the Authoritarian Mindset 57
Pei-Yin Lin
5 The Impact of Film and the Performing Arts on Life
in Taiwan 80
Mark Harrison
6 The Media and the Vitality of Democratic Taiwan 98
Gary D. Rawnsley and Qian Gong
7 Cross-Strait Tensions and Taiwan’s Economic Vitality 119
Scott L. Kastner
8 Taishang as a Factor Shaping Taiwan’s Domestic Politics 139
Gunter Schubert and Shu Keng
9 Social Networks as a Source of Economic Vitality 164
Dung-sheng Chen
10 Innovation and Taiwan’s Vitality in the Knowledge
Economy 190
Joseph Wong
11 Sustainability of Taiwan’s Vitality 211
Steve Tsang
Index 216
v
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
8.1 The mainland Taishang as a ‘linkage community’:
scope and limits to attain political change 152
9.1 The number of years of acquaintance between the
network partners in a garment industry 167
9.2 Type of acquaintance between the network partners in a
garment industry 167
9.3 Frequency distribution of technology interaction between
Taiwan and other countries in the IC industry 177
9.4 Frequency distribution of different types of technology
interaction in Taiwan’s IC industry 180
Figures
7.1 Taiwan’s openness to trade 124
8.1 ‘Linkage Communities’ as a heuristic model for the
analysis of people-driven change across the Taiwan Strait 143
9.1 Frequency distribution of technology interaction between
Taiwan and different countries in the IC industry 178
9.2 Frequency distribution of different types of technology
exchange in Taiwan’s IC industry 181
9.3 Frequency distribution of technology transfer between
Taiwan and different countries in the IC industry 182
9.4 Frequency distribution of technology diffusion among
Taiwanese companies and between Taiwanese companies
and foreign companies in the IC industry 184
9.5 Taiwanese companies’ investments in research
and development 185
vi
Preface and Acknowledgements
Taiwan is a fascinating subject for study as it is full of dynamism, contra-
dictions, colour, excitement and, above all, vitality. The sheer vibrancy
of the place and the drive, exuberance and friendliness of its people
cannot but leave an impression on visitors. But what is really behind
the vitality of Taiwan? Can it be the democratic politics, or its predica-
ment as a state that most of the rest of the world cannot recognize while
they happily maintain a full range of relations with it in reality? Or is its
energy due to its highly competitive media, culture, international nexus,
business communities and relentless devotion to innovative industries?
In different ways all these factors have played a part in delivering the
vitality of Taiwan. But how should we understand the forces that have
interacted to produce the Taiwanese way of life that is so vibrant?
Even though I have spent two decades trying to understand Taiwan
and its vitality, the idea of tackling this from a multi-disciplinary and
multi-faceted way single-handedly was too daunting a prospect. It was
recognition of this reality that encouraged me to gather a team of first
class scholars to join in an international collaborative project to address
the different dimensions of this subject.
To achieve this I was fortunate to be able to call on the resources of the
Taiwan Studies Programme at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, to
organize an international workshop in June 2010 to bring together some
of the best scholars with expertise in the different dimensions of this sub-
ject to examine, discuss and debate the many different issues involved.
This started a process of intense intellectual discourse on various subjects
and debates on the finer issues covered. Although the conference was a
key step towards producing this collaborative work, this book is not a col-
lection of conference papers, excellent as they were. Contributors to this
volume took advantage of the brainstorming at Oxford to reflect on their
insights. Subsequent to the conference they conducted further research
and discussions before they revised and, in a number of cases, wrote new
papers to produce a coherent collaborative work. Indeed, one of the con-
tributors joined the project after the Oxford conference. The final product
was only completed at the end of 2011, by which time I had already left
Oxford for a new position at the University of Nottingham. The project has
received further support from the brand new Taiwan Studies Programme
at the China Policy Institute in the University of Nottingham.
vii
viii Preface and Acknowledgements
As editor I am grateful to my colleagues for the good humour, coop-
erative spirit and forbearance they showed when asked to meet one
tight deadline after another while fulfilling their many obligations in
the academic world as well as demands on their time in private life.
They are not named here as you already know who they are. Without
their understanding and cooperation this volume would have no doubt
taken much longer to see the light of day.
In organizing the international workshop at Oxford, I am deeply
indebted not only to those who presented papers but also to all the
friends and colleagues who served as discussants, chaired sessions and
more generally shared their insights in two days of intensive intellec-
tual discourse and debate. In this connection I am particularly grateful
to Antonio Chun-nan Chiang, David Coates, Dr Stephane Corcuff,
Professor Mark Elvin, Dr Dafydd Fel, Dr Douglas Fuller, Professor
Edward Friedman, Dr Margaret Hillenbrand, Dr Szu-chien Hsu, Professor
Jil-wen Lin, Dr Ming-Yeh Rawnsley, Michael Reilly, Dr Fang-long Shih,
Dr Jeremy Taylor, Dr Stuart Thompson, Dr Patricia Thornton, Professor
Chen-yuan Tung, Professor Horng-luen Wang and Rod Wye. Kirsty
Norton and the staff of St Antony’s College provided invaluable admin-
istrative assistance and other practical support.
The financial backing of the Taiwan Studies Programme at St Antony’s
College, Oxford University was essential for the holding of this event
and subsequent support from the Taiwan Studies Programme at the
University of Nottingham ensured the publication of this book. Without
the financial support from both institutions and the intellectual backing
of my former colleagues at St Antony’s College as well as from Professor
Shujie Yao, the co-editor of this series, this volume would never have
been produced.
In terms of transliteration conventions I have resisted the temptation
to adhere to one system strictly throughout the book, despite the expec-
tation in the academic community that one system should be used
consistently. It does not really work in the case of Taiwan, where some
individual names have been transliterated under different systems and
some have gained wide currency. Where individual, place or institution
names have been used widely in English the usual form is followed
in this book. For other terms or Chinese words, they are rendered in
accordance with the Pinyin system. In a sense this incongruent mixture
reflects the reality in Taiwan, where an important driver of its vitality is
its people’s willingness to celebrate differences.
Steve Tsang
Notes on Contributors
Dung-sheng Chen is a Professor at the Department of Sociology,
National Taiwan University. He was educated at the National Taiwan
University and received his PhD in Sociology from the University of
Minnesota. His research interests include science, technology and
society, the sociology of organizations, urban sociology and economic
sociology. He has published widely and his main publications include
two books: Profitopolis: A Sociological Analysis of Local Factions, Financial
Conglomerates and the Development of Taipei Metropolitan Area (1995, Chu-
Liu Book Co.); and Making it Integrated: An Analysis of Industrial Networks
in Tawian’s Integrated-Circuit Industry (2003, Socio Publication).
Qian (Sarah) Gong is a Lecturer in Media and Communication at the
University of Leicester, UK. She has research interests in political com-
munication, journalism studies, media and democracy, media sociology,
consumer culture, advertising and discourse analysis. She has published
journal articles and book chapters on consumer practices, political com-
munication and online and citizen journalism.
Mark Harrison is a Senior Lecturer and the Coordinator of the Chinese
Program, and Deputy Head of School in the School of Asian Languages
and Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He completed his
PhD at Monash University. He worked as a Research Fellow and then as
a Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of
Westminster in London before returning to Australia. He is the author
of Legitimacy, Meaning and Knowledge in the Making of Taiwanese Identity
(2006, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor, with Carsten Storm, of The
Margins of Becoming: Identity and Culture in Taiwan (2007, Harrassowitz
Verlag). His research interests include questions of representation, iden-
tity and epistemology in Chinese and Taiwanese contexts.
Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao is Distinguished Research Fellow and
Director of the Institute of Sociology at the Academia Sinica (Taiwan)
and Professor of Sociology at National Taiwan University. He had
previously served as a national Policy Advisor to the President of
Taiwan between 1996 and 2006, and as Executive Director of the Center
for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, Academia Sinica. His areas of specializa-
tion include civil society and new democracies, middle class in the
ix