ABSTRACT
Taiwan had been under Japanese colonial rule since 1895. It was ruled by the Kuomintang between 1945 and the late 1980s. This chapter describes the colonial experience of these two foreign rules among the people of the ‘Crossover generation’ living in C Town in eastern Taiwan. Half of C Town’s population comprised the indigenous ’Amis people, and the other half, Han people. This chapter focuses on the schooling and occupational experiences of ’Amis, LB, and Minnan Han people, HA. The difficulties associated with the double rule of the foreign power were revealed through interviews with these two subjects. At the same time, the strength to live with, rather than deny, their previous governance experience is recognised. Since 1945, they had been living in the newly formed society of KMT rule, feeding on the traces of Japanese rule left within themselves. The study of decolonisation in Taiwan society means examining the experience of multi-layered foreign rule as a line of inquiry into how people have dealt with it in their later lives.
