Why China’s Taiwan-pop generation are drifting away from the island
- Mainland youth raised on Taiwanese pop culture are curious about the island, but two-way travel ban and uneasy ties create barriers
- Observers are watching to see whether inauguration of William Lai Ching-te as Taiwan’s next leader will bring changes in tourism and other exchanges
When Patrick Wang reached the first anniversary of his move to Hong Kong in January, he immediately applied for a visa to Taiwan and started planning his first visit to the place that produced some of his favourite childhood entertainment.
“The post-90s generation grew up listening to songs by [Taiwanese artists] Jolin Tsai, Jay Chou, and Wilber Pan while [local television channels] played Taiwanese dramas every day when I was in primary and middle school. Our generation was really influenced by the culture,” said the 27-year-old, now working as a fashion editor in Hong Kong.
Wang is part of a generation of young people who grew up in mainland China with Taiwanese pop music and television dramas, but unlike most of his peers, he can travel to the island. He is one of the few mainland Chinese who can visit because he has been living overseas for at least a year – a group that includes those based in Hong Kong and Macau.
For the broader cohort that once might have once felt a connection to the island, cross-strait travel is not an option because of strained relations between the two sides. The result has been less people-to-people contact, and now many young mainland Chinese raised on Taiwanese pop culture say cross-strait tensions, the pandemic and stereotypes have made the island feel increasingly distant.
Mainland tourists need the approval of both mainland and Taiwanese authorities to travel to the island. Beijing first allowed individual mainland tourists to travel to Taiwan in 2011, with residents of 47 cities granted access to the island as of 2015, before the policy was changed.