by Charles DeBenedetto
三民主義，吾黨所宗，以建民國，以進大同，
咨爾多士，為民前鋒，夙夜匪懈，主義是從，
矢勤矢勇，必信必忠，一心一德，貫徹始終。
(The complete text of the Republic of China's national anthem)
Taiwan
is a geographic term, not a political one. It is an island, and the government
that governs Taiwan is the Republic of China. This government, once a one-party
authoritarian regime under the Kuomintang (KMT), originally ruled over all of mainland China. But, after losing the Chinese Civil War, they retreated to
Taiwan, where they have remained to this day.
The
Republic of China government was on par with the communist mainland in human
rights abuses and infringing on basic freedoms, but in the 1990's it morphed
into a democratic and free society. And yet, some remnants of that recent and
horrific time still exist in our daily lives here, and one such example is the national anthem of the Republic of China, which I hear every week during school
assemblies.
My
translation will be crude, but I will do my best to retain the original
message. The first sixteen characters read, “The three principles of the people are the purpose of our Party. We have created the Republic, and we are
closer to the perfect society.”
The "three principles" refer to democracy, civil rights, and social welfare, all of
which Taiwan has now, but are laughable to include in the national anthem of
the brutal authoritarian regime that came before. “Our Party” also is a remnant
of that past, since there was only one party at that time. Now that Taiwan is a multi-party democracy, why is that still included in the anthem? The "perfect society" is a Confucian term for a society in which we could all keep our doors unlocked at night because we would
not fear burglars. Perhaps in the dictatorship days they did not fear
burglars, but they did fear KMT Party members coming into their homes and
taking them away because of their counter-party opinions.
The
middle sixteen characters read, “Take counsel, my soldiers. Be the vanguard of
the people. Work tirelessly, and follow the doctrine.” Be the vanguard? That
sounds like something Mao Zedong or Karl Marx might have said, and goes to show
just how similar the Communist Chinese regime and the KMT regime really were
at that time. “Follow the doctrine,” sounds like “be mindless lemmings in the
great party machine…”
The
final sixteen characters read, “Swear to be diligent, and swear to be brave. You must have faith, and you must be loyal. We must be of one heart and one mind. We must carry on until the end.”
Does
“one heart and one mind” mean that we must stand together, or does it mean that
there is no room for thoughts or opinions outside of the official party line? I
believe it means the former now, but it meant the latter originally. And what does “we
must carry on until the end” mean? Does it mean we fight until we all die?
Chiang kai-shek probably felt that way. But then, he would have fought until
the end to retake China, whereas people here want to fight to hold onto their
freedom and democracy on this island.
The national anthem makes it obvious that the Republic of China was a brutal, militant regime, and we are truly blessed to live in the post-KMT dictatorship era.
I
can understand, then, why many people do not want to sing the national anthem.
It’s because those people love Taiwan, but they do not love the Republic of
China. The Republic of China, the flag, and the national anthem all represent
the brutality of the KMT regime, with all of the senseless killings of
indigenous peoples, capturing of political opponents, and stamping out of
indigenous and Taiwanese languages and culture.
Taiwan miraculously transitioned from that oppressive regime to a first-class democratic
society, but the next step is to get rid of these shadows of authoritarianism.
The debate over whether to switch from “The Republic of China” to “The Republic
of Taiwan” is a heated one, but at the very least I think we can agree that the national anthem needs a makeover to better reflect modern, democratic Taiwan.
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