The mythical mainland - China

[dArKeR]

I appreciate how you routinely refer to China as China and Taiwan as Taiwan, two separate and distinct countries, and that you do not erroneously refer to China as "mainland China" or "the mainland" -- as if Taiwan was in some way connected to it.

Hawaii has a mainland, it is true: the continental US. But Taiwan does not have a mainland, and your newspaper makes this perfectly clear, unlike the other English newspapers, magazines and wire services in Taipei.

I recently asked a friend of mine in Taipei, a well-educated Taiwanese publishing professional in his 50s, why he still refers to China as "mainland China" or "the mainland" in his daily speech in English -- he does -- and this is what he told me: "I use the term `the mainland' partly because that's what we Taiwanese say in our language -- dalu (??). When residents of Taiwan go across the Taiwan Strait, they say to each other in Chinese that they are going to dalu, or the 'mainland.' They don't say they are going to China. To the vast majority of the people on this island -- other than a small handful of pro-independence politicians -- the large territory west of Taiwan is the mainland, not a foreign country."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/07/13/2003178834