Taiwanese Australian

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Taiwanese Australians


poptime = 24,000
.16% of Australia's population cite web |url=http://www.fapa.org/TAHW/2001/kleczka.html |title=TAHW STATEMENT BY REP. GERALD D. KLECZKA (D-WI)]
popplace = Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane
langs = Australian English, Chinese: Mandarin, Taiwanese (Hokkien), Hakka
rels = Buddhism, Christianity, Chinese folk religion, Freethinking, Taoism

A Taiwanese Australiann is an Australian of Taiwanese ancestry. This term also sometimes fluidly applies to those whose parents or relatives are associated with the post-1949 Republic of China.

Immigration

The exact number of Taiwanese Australian is hard to calculate since most demographic research tends to clump immigrants from Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong into the broadly-defined "Chinese Australian" category as both the governments of the Republic of China and Australia regard Taiwanese Australians as a subgroup of Chinese Australians.Whether Taiwanese Australians are in fact also Chinese Australians is a subject of controversy. Most statistics for the number of Taiwanese Australians, including one by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), puts an estimate at around 40,000.

Immigration to Australia

Prior to the 1950s emigration off of Taiwan was negligible. During Taiwan's early history, the island was sparsely populated by Austronesian aboriginals and in the 17th and 18th centuries it served as a destination point for migrating Chinese, primarily Minnan and Hakka. In 1895 Taiwan was ceded to Japan “in perpetuity and full sovereignty,” as agreed upon in the Treaty of Shimonoseki which ended the Sino Japanese war. Japanese colonial control severely curtailed any movement off the island in the interest of containing dissent against the Japanese Empire.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, opportunities for immigration from Taiwan to Australia were virtually nonexistent before the 1950s. However over 5,000 workers were brought in from China, Japan, Korea, India and the Philippines. Unfortunately labor unrest, racism and cyclical economic depressions fueled anti-Asian sentiment in Australia, resulting in exclusionary immigration policies. Beginning with the 874 Page Law, legislation continued to expand its basis for exclusion. This discriminatory immigration policy remained in effect until World War II, during which time Nazi supremacist ideology force Australia to examine its own racist policies.

Immigrants vs. native-born

First generation immigrants from Taiwan usually share a common language, Mandarin, although many also speak Taiwanese and to a lesser extent, the Hakka language. As with most immigrants to Australia, linguistic fluency in the heritage language quickly disappears in the second generation. Many second generation Taiwanese Australians are exposed to Taiwanese, but their level of proficiency varies. Many second generation immigrants speak Taiwanese as their heritage language and may not know any Mandarin. This is typical for many overseas Taiwanese. There are also second generation Taiwanese, especially whose families are from the Taipei Metropolitan Area, who speak Mandarin as their heritage language and know little Taiwanese. Mandarin or Taiwanese as the heritage language, however, depends on parents, and whether the individuals are exposed to Mandarin through Mandarin "Chinese" schools. Second generation Taiwanese of Hakka descent tend to speak better Mandarin as their heritage language. There are many first generation Taiwanese of full Hakka heritage who may speak all three languages. Taiwanese Australians of mixed Hoklo and Hakka Heritage may speak only Mandarin as their heritage language. Second Generation Taiwanese who are of mixed Hoklo Taiwanese and Waisheng Taiwanese (or other Chinese) heritage may only know Mandarin at most and not a word of Taiwanese.

Settlement

Prominent Individuals

See also

*Chinese American
* Chinese Australian
*Demographics of Australia
*Taiwanese Canadian
*Taiwanese American
*Diaspora politics in Australia

References