1. Why “CROSS-STRAITIZATION” goes beyond globalization and localization? Chuing Prudence CHOU 周祝瑛 Professor, Department of Education National Chengchi University, Taiwan Wah Ching Centre of Research on Education in China (CREC) The University Hong Kong November 4, 2011

3. Spot Light : Taiwan Area :36,000 square kilometers Population: 23 million Capital : Taipei City Language : Mandarin/Taiwanese/Hakka/Indigenous Languages Religion : Buddhism/Taoism/Christianity/Islam

4. About 98% of the population is of Han Chinese ethnicity.Han Chinese ethnicity 86% are descendants of early Han immigrants known as "native Taiwanese" The most recent immigrants from mainland China after 1949. Recent foreign spouses from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines (more than 5% of the primary and secondary students are from foreign spouses)

5. Literacy rate: 96.1% Men 97% Women 95% Enrollment 5,384,926 Primary 2,153,717Primary Secondary 1,676,970 Post-secondary 1,270,194SecondaryPost-secondary Major problem: a drastic declining birth rate and entering an aging society since late- 1990s

6. GNP per capita2007 (US$) Taiwan 17,252 America 46,029 Japan 35,424 Korea 20,045 Singapore 33,919 Source: Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, Taiwan.

7. Educational philosophy: A Credential Society, efforts over innate abilities Confucian heritage: group-oriented, academic success, respect for teachers, exam-oriented A capital society: Supplement Education

8. The interactions between teachers Usually, teachers share a big “staff room” together. Teachers can improve their way of teaching by the exchange of their teaching experience with other teachers.

9. Moral education Schools value academic competition and formal moral education in a daily setting. Students tidy up their classroom daily from elementary school to high school. Schools have weekly discipline and sanity contests for honor and pride. Winners will be recognized merit certificates.

10. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait have since been governed as separate territories and developed separate identities. In the realm of political development, Taiwan has grown into a free and vibrant democracy. The government lifted martial law in 1987 and launched a series of political reforms to expand the democratic process. In 1996, the people of Taiwan completed their first direct presidential election. The presidential election of 2000 and 2008 were peacefully transferred power between Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT.

11. A Statistical Comparison TAIWAN (Republic of China) 13,969 square miles pop: 22.42 million CHINA (People’s Republic of China) 3,706,566 square miles Pop:1.27 billion

12. The Taiwan Cross-strait relationship has been highly politicized since 1949 when KMT government withdrew from China to Taiwan. But the educational exchange has made a huge progress as the result of globalization. Education has interwoven its path with trends of globalization and localization, development of information communications technology, and a set of political, sociological, economic, and managerial changes.

13. Although even more importantly, it has generated a “Cross-straitization” trend relationship that seems to come between Taiwan-China, which will eventually drive education reforms to levels yet to be developed. Taiwan’s education overall development experienced great transformation due to this globalization/localization divergence coupled with the impact of neo-liberal principles worldwide since the 1980s.

14. Alongside the aforementioned “Cross- straitization” trends, parallel and in contrast with the competing forces between the former West-East Berlin, and North-South Korea.

15. Development of the Cross-strait Exchanges The year of 1987 plays a significant historical role in cross-strait relations, not only in that year, Taiwan lifted Martial Law and granted permission for her aging soldiers, who were drafted by the armed military forces from China during the civil war, to visit their family in China. Hence, the cross-strait relationship entered a new era for communication.

16. Since1987, Taiwan granted more access to Chinese citizens who contributed in areas such as Academe, Cultural, Sports, Mass Media Communication and Arts in 1990. In 1993 Chinese professionals and students were allowed -an additional step forward- to pay a visit to Taiwan for educational and cultural purposes.

17. An overwhelmingly skewed numbers from Taiwan’s side There are 18,907 Chinese students visited Taiwan officially between January 1, 2002 to October 31, 2009 but the other way around lacks statistics and was expected to have a lot more Taiwan students visiting in China over the summer and winter vacation.

18. Since 1996, Chinese graduate students could apply for an up to three- month full scholarship for conducting Taiwan-related thesis in local universities. On the other hand, Chinese professionals in cultural and educational sectors during 1988 - 2009 were more than 235,591 out of 2,712,572 in a 20 categories of Chinese visitors.

19. A Leap Forth to University Accreditation and Overseas Schools In the fall of 2010, Taiwan also passed the law to start recognizing diplomas from 41 top Chinese universities and colleges, and accept Chinese students into the Taiwanese post secondary education system with strict regulation, which has generated mixed responses from the public due to political reasons and a fear of competition in the job market

20. Confucius Institutes VS. Taiwanese Institute In the year 2010, 320 Confucius Institutes over 337 Confucius Study Classrooms in all over 96 countries Under the Chinese competing pressure for preserving Chinese culture and language, Taiwanese Institutes started with Los Angeles and Houston in the US by promoting traditional Chinese language, research and development on Taiwan.

21. important features of Taiwan’s and China’s reform policy First, The Taiwan cross-strait academic exchanges are widely carried out particularly in forms of academic conferences and visiting researchers or scholars. Taiwan undertook a vigorous approach to regulate visiting scholars and students from China, and a loose approach to encourage local scholars and students visiting mainland China.

22. Whereas with China, they welcomed scholars and students from Taiwan, but set strict regulations on local scholars and students visiting Taiwan. Both governments’ conservative approaches to the cross-strait academic exchange had limited the interaction frequency and scope between both sides to prevent those groups or individuals whose visits were politically sensitive.

23. Secondly, strict regulations in Taiwan and the PRC were set up during the late 1980s and the early 1990s regarding application procedures, operation, and special consideration based on political defense mechanisms. In October 2003, a new legal mechanism was introduced in Taiwan to enhance cross-strait educational exchanges and academic cooperation between the cross-strait.

24. Thirdly, both Taiwan and China undertook approaches to foster and encourage cross- strait academic exchange, in forms of paying mutual visits, providing exchange opportunities, and expanding the scope and depth of exchanges.

25. In Taiwan, such exchanges are mainly private- oriented with the resources and support from a non-profit fund established by the government. The fund entitled Chinese Development Fund was established by the Mainland Affairs Council to promote and foster development of cross-strait relations and civilian exchanges through allocating resources in the private sector.

26. Meanwhile, Chinese cross-strait exchanges are carried out primarily within government authorities. It is argued that the rationale behind these different funding sources is thanks to the politically sensitive nature of Taiwan affairs in China, coupled with the lack of autonomous private sector in China

27. In Taiwan, cross-strait academic exchange is seen as relatively neutral with a growing emphasis on academic dialogue and policy debates. In China, the academia can be seen as the surrogate through whom government authorities implement and promote political agendas and may constrain China’s research flexibility.

28. Taiwan Schools in China as Taiwan joined WTO in 2001 and signed the ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement) with China in 2010, the opening of trade between China and Taiwan has created a number of Taiwanese schools in China that caters to the children of Taiwanese businessmen working in Chinese companies.

29. Taiwan Businessmen’s Dong-guan School, Shanghai Taiwanese Children School, and Hua- Dong Taiwan Businessmen’s School since 2000.

30. There is an estimation of about 1,700 K-12 students studying in these two schools in 2010, operated by retired Taiwanese principals /teachers and local staff. Curriculum and textbooks are all imported from Taiwan as well, serving as a breakthrough milestone between Taiwan and China.

31. Taiwan Students in China it is estimated that nearly 20,000 Taiwanese students have graduated from universities in China and encountered the accreditation problem throughout.

32. Setback Leap of Time for Local Identity Consultations between the cross-strait relationships rely on principle of "easier issues come first, so do the economic and trade discussion”, among which cultural exchanges are in fact the best lubrication in facilitating a constant and stable cross-strait relationship.

33. These include the collaborative protection of copyright, official visits between two cultural and educational departments, academic activities such as conferences and research cooperation.

34. Degree-seeking Chinese students in Taiwan in fall, 2010, to admit China’s high school graduates and the top university graduates to Taiwan’s HEIs. the total university student population in Taiwan (approximately 2,000) the first year of 2011. Forty-one China universities were chosen including Peking University, Tsinghua University.

35. university accreditation of Chinese university in Taiwan has been approved with some limited conditions. Meanwhile, since China’s population base is sixty times higher of Taiwan’s, China’s Ministry of Education has recognized Taiwan’s university diplomas.

36. Conclusion Taiwan has been faced with identity conflicts under Japanese colony process (1895-1945), re-Sinicization after the WWII, or during the de-Sinicization era under Lee and Chen regime (1988-2008).

37. The constant conflict of Taiwan for national identity goes beyond the challenges encountered between globalization and localization due to the troublesome cross- strait relations. However, unlike its counterparts such as the former East and West Germany, North and South Korea, Israel and the Arab world, and even the US and Soviet cold war,

38. the Taiwan-China transformation process has developed into an unprecedented status via ongoing cultural and educational exchanges coupled with economic cooperation over the last two decades.

39. In this process, the role of traditional Chinese culture, the country as a whole and its intellectuals, conjugated with their interactions in shaping national identity is not only multifaceted and dynamic but it also is emerging with uncertainty in Taiwan. It shall be worthwhile to see how education in general terms plays a role in shaping national identity, especially through civic education

40. The sharing of Confucianism in the "inclusive and diverse: civilization of coexistence” might be a good start for people in the cross-strait especially after signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in which Taiwan can reach out the world officially via China.

41. Will education eventually bring China and Taiwan to a closer constant communication and exchanges between faculty members, students and visitors? Is education in Taiwan prone to be a key piece in the process? Is Chinese transformation expected to not only influence shaping Taiwan self-identity, but also to enhance the growth of Chinese new identity in the era of globalization?

42. in the process of globalization and localization, “Taiwan and China have always been in charge of maneuvering their own identities” As the younger generation of future leaders from the cross-strait are anticipated having more common interests as a result of educational and economic contacts., they are likely to comprise with their political differences and liaise solutions to promote peace between both sides.