Over the years, China has engaged in a multiplicity of strategies to coerce Taiwan towards unification, and the Taiwanese towards assimilating under a singular Chinese identity. After the 2014...Show moreOver the years, China has engaged in a multiplicity of strategies to coerce Taiwan towards unification, and the Taiwanese towards assimilating under a singular Chinese identity. After the 2014 Sunflower Movement protests in Taiwan, China identified the Taiwanese youth as a target demographic for coercive measures. The state has rolled out a number of incentives to induce young, talented Taiwanese to migrate to China. Through a series of in-depth interviews with young Taiwanese migrants in China, this paper seeks to ascertain whether or not living in China for extended periods of time affects Taiwanese attitudes towards national identity and cross-strait unification. The paper finds that although Taiwanese are gratified with the personal development and career development time in China affords them, they do not change their attitudes towards national identity nor unification by virtue of living in China and interacting with Chinese people. They undertake several practices in order to negotiate their national identity that ultimately end up reinforcing it.Show less
