ABSTRACT
Before getting into the body of observations, a few comments of general nature w i l l be useful. I t would obviously distort the purpose of this arti cle to include anything but the sketchiest discussion of the relationship between the culture of Taiwan and that of mainland China. Since certain aspects of that relationship are inescapably political, they cannot be avoided. For example, is Taiwan to be treated simply as another Chinese province? The Nationalist government, and the Communists who seek to displace it , are alike in maintaining that this is precisely the way in which Taiwan must be approached. There is a small contingent of sep aratists, at least partially in exile, that prefers not to consider Taiwan as Chinese, pointing to the Taiwanese absorption through the past several centuries of genes and cultural traits from aborigines, Europeans, and Japanese. I n my own observation, Taiwan is no more deviant from ab stract national Chinese norms than any other province I have visited. The kind and degree of non-Han ethnic penetration varies not only from province to province but also from county to county, and can easily accommodate Taiwan. This includes European contact and penetration, as well as that of the southern and northern "barbarians."
