The “rise of a nativistic Taiwan study,” depicts the transition from a Sino-centric to a Taiwan-centric interpretation of history, which, as a force for social change, followed in the wake of the democratizing processes and the accompanying negotiation of power relations. Within the broader picture of Taiwanese history (re)writing, this particular episode of European contact and closure is integral to the “rise of a nativistic Taiwan study” (Chang 2008). The attention was drawn to the Westerners who visited Taiwan itself, and not the traditional Western encounter with the Chinese world through the image of “Matteo Ricci sailing to China.” It is a kind of reference that demonstrates the Taiwan style of branding that the Chen administration (2000-2008) promoted as part of its cultural policy of internationalization. In 2006, during one of the opening speeches at an academic conference, the Minister of Education at that time, Tu Cheng-sheng, listed with a series of Western names how “throughout the history of Taiwan, many people have come to this island and contributed to their Taiwan perspectives” (Tu 2006: 7).
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