National Identity in the Taiwanese System of Music Education

National identity in Taiwan is a topic that has attracted much recent attention from Taiwanese scholars and policy makers. 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. In particular, it explains the complicated interplay between socio-politicization, localization (also called indigenization or Taiwanization), and the pursuit of national identity in both musical culture and music education in Taiwan between the 1990s and 2000s. In developing a new national identity, the Taiwanese state promoted the Taiwanization of public education in order to rebuild awareness of Taiwanese history and culture. The enactment of the “Law on Territorial Waters” in early 1999 clearly defined the jurisdiction of national identity, as a result of which the government announced lifting the restriction on using the title “Taiwan” in national organizations. The Taiwanese state has redefined the meaning of “national identity” by building “the spirit of Taiwan” into school music education through the introduction of local and ethnic identities in Taiwanese songs, opera and puppetry. In so doing, music education also reconstructs a greater Chinese identity by promoting traditional Chinese culture and music in the curriculum. Taiwanese national identities are reconstituted through the practice of diverse musical styles in music education as a part of the ongoing negotiation of boundaries between Taiwanese-ness and Chinese-ness in the twenty-first century, which remains a challenge for school music education.