Taiwanese Australians: Difference between revisions

| group = Taiwanese Australians

| image =

| popplace = [[Brisbane]]{{·}}[[Sydney]]{{·}}[[Melbourne]]

| langs = [[Australian English]]{{·}}[[Taiwanese Mandarin]]{{·}}[[Taiwanese Hokkien]]{{·}}[[Taiwanese Hakka]]{{·}}[[Varieties of Chinese]]{{·}}[[Formosan languages]]

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[[Taiwanese people]] can be divided into two main ethnic groups; the [[Han Taiwanese]], who have [[Han Chinese]] ancestry and constitute over 95% of the population, and the [[Taiwanese indigenous peoples]], who have [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] ancestry and constitute approximately 2% of the population.<ref>{{Cite web|title=People|url=https://www.taiwan.gov.tw/content_2.php|access-date=25 June 2020|website=Government Portal of the Republic of China (Taiwan)|quote=While Taiwan may be described as a predominantly Han Chinese society, with more than 95 percent of the population claiming Han ancestry, its heritage is actually much more complex... There is growing appreciation in Taiwan for the cultural legacies of the 16 officially recognized Austronesian-speaking tribes, which constitute a little more than 2 percent of the population.}}</ref> The Han Taiwanese majority can be loosely subdivided into the [[Hoklo Taiwanese|Hoklo]] (70%), [[Hakka people|Hakka]] (14%) and "[[Mainland Chinese|Mainlanders]]" (post-1949 Chinese immigrants) (14%).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ethnic Groups Of Taiwan|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/ethnic-groups-of-taiwan.html|access-date=25 June 2020|website=WorldAtlas|quote=Taiwan has many ethnic groups with the largest group being the Hoklo Han Chinese with about 70% of the total population followed by the Hakka Han Chinese who make up about 14% of the total population...The mainland Chinese are a group of people who migrated to Taiwan in the 1940s from mainland China after Kuomintang lost the Chinese civil war in 1949... The mainlanders make up 14% of the population due to immigration.}}</ref> Historically, the first known Taiwanese people in Australia arrived from the [[Dutch East Indies|Netherlands East Indies]] (NEI) (historical [[Indonesia]]) during [[World War II]] (1939–1945), having been brought to the country by the [[Government in exile|exiled]] NEI government as [[civilian internee]]s in 1942;<ref>{{Cite web|last=Piper|first=Christine|date=14 August 2014|title=Japanese internment a dark chapter of Australian history|url=https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/japanese-internment-a-dark-chapter-of-australian-history-20140813-103ldy.html|access-date=25 June 2020|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|quote=While numerous books, films and photographs have explored the internment of Japanese civilians in the United States and Canada, the situation in Australia has had limited coverage... Of the 4301 Japanese civilians interned in Australia, only a quarter had been living in Australia when hostilities began, with many employed in the pearl diving industry... The remaining three-quarters had been arrested in Allied-controlled countries such as the '''Dutch East Indies'''... They included '''ethnic Formosans (Taiwanese)''' and Koreans.}}</ref> at the time, Taiwan was part of the [[Empire of Japan]] and Taiwanese people were considered [[Japanese people|Japanese]]. Subsequently, Taiwanese mass [[immigration]] to Australia began during the 1970s as a result of the complete dismantlement of the [[White Australia Policy]] (1901–1973), which historically prevented Taiwanese people and other non-[[Europe]]ans from permanently settling in the country.

 

=== History from the 1970s and onward ===

 

The current total population of Taiwanese Australians is unknown, with only 1st-generation and 2nd-generation Taiwanese being counted in the Australian Census as Taiwanese, and with 3rd-generation Taiwanese or older families being counted as just "Australian". The current number of 1st/2nd-generation Taiwanese Australians is roughly 45,000–55,000 people. It is estimated that roughly 95%–90% of Taiwanese Australians are 1st/2nd-generation Australians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://museumsvictoria.com.au/origins/history.aspx?pid=62|title=Origins: History of immigration from Taiwan – Immigration Museum, Melbourne Australia|website=museumsvictoria.com.au|access-date=2018-12-27}}</ref>

Taiwanese immigrants to Australia can usually speak their native [[Languages of Taiwan|Taiwanese languages]], including [[Taiwanese Mandarin]], [[Taiwanese Hokkien]], [[Taiwanese Hakka]], and various other Taiwanese languages (such as the [[Formosan languages|Taiwanese indigenous languages]]). However, proficiency in these languages typically already drops by the [[Immigrant generations|second generation]], i.e. the first generation born in Australia. Depending on which [[social class]] and/or [[ethnic group]] the Taiwanese immigrant parents originate from, their children may only remain proficient in one of these languages. Typically, proficiency in Mandarin is usually retained by the second generation, whereas proficiency in Hokkien and Hakka drops significantly unless the parents place a particular emphasis on retaining proficiency in these languages. Internationally and in Australia, Mandarin is far more useful for travelling and business than other Taiwanese languages, which may result in parents prioritising Mandarin. By the third and fourth generations, proficiency in even Mandarin is usually lost entirely, unless the family has been residing in a Chinese or Taiwanese ethnic enclave in Australia for several decades. Such enclaves do exist, and they are usually known as "[[Chinatowns in Australia|Chinatowns]]". Chinese enclaves in Australia are quite large and numerous but Taiwanese enclaves aren't.

 

 

== Settlement ==