ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the current debate between the discourses of nationalism and associated social change that determine the cultural diversity of Taiwanese music education today. National identity in Taiwan is a topic that has attracted much recent attention from Taiwanese scholars and policy makers. Numerous scholars have examined the construction of nations and national identity, and the importance of myth-making in the justification of nationalism. In 1895, the Japanese defeated the Manchus in the Sino-Japanese War, and China ceded Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Assimilation and education were core elements of Japanese policies in Taiwan. The focus on learning about Taiwanese composers and their music is closely related to the Taiwanese literature movement. The parameters of this national identity are reconstructed and transformed through music education to serve the peace process, to meet state-building requirements in the sphere of social coherence, and to satisfy ethical considerations concerning family education.
