Between Assimilation and Independence: The Taiwanese Encounter Nationalist China, 1945-1950

Taiwan's relationship with mainland China is one of the most fraught in East Asia, a key issue in the island's domestic politics, and a major obstacle in Sino-American relations. Between Assimilation and Independence explores the roots of this conflict in the immediate postwar period, when the Nationalist government led by Jiang Jieshi took control of the island after fifty years of Japanese rule. It is the first in-depth examination of how the Nationalists consolidated their rule over Taiwan even as they collapsed on the mainland.

During the 1945-50 period, the Taiwanese experienced disappointment with Nationalist misrule; struggles over decolonization and the Japanese legacy; a violent uprising and brutal government response; and the chaos surrounding Jiang Jieshi's retreat with his mainlander-dominated authoritarian regime. This book, based on archival materials newly available in Taiwan and the United States, shows how the Taiwanese sought to place the island between independence--becoming a sovereign nation--and assimilation into China as a province.

Author: Steven E. Phillips
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 05/06/2003
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.44h x 6.42w x 0.83d
ISBN: 9780804744577

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2004 pg. 968

About the Author
Steven E. Phillips is Assistant Professor of History at Towson University. He is the compiler and editor of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1972, China (forthcoming).