After forty years of
separation, cross-Strait relations are finally resumed recently, and the
opening of the cross-Strait 「mini three links」 is the best example. It
is an important move designed to express Taiwan』s sincerity and goodwill
toward Mainland China. Although Mainland China has so far only given a
lukewarm response to the plan, it is an exceedingly vital step forward
in relations across the Taiwan Strait. Still, despite all these
goodwill efforts, there are still many obstacles along the road of
negotiations between both sides, and the prejudices against each other
are yet to be recognized and overcome.
It is widely believed in Taiwan that people on the other side of the
Strait are hidebound, impoverished, inexperienced and ignorant, and
their cities are dirty, chaotic, and quite undeveloped. For example, it
is often heard that when the way someone gets dressed up doesn』t follow
the fashionable trend, people in Taiwan would say that he looks like
someone from mainland China. This kind of language is the best example
of the prejudice toward mainlanders. As far as I am concerned, these
prejudices come mainly from the mass media, including the news report on
the television, and the memory of our elders. However, not all of these
impressions are right; life in Mainland China has changed dramatically
in recent years.
According to the experience of my grandmother who has been to China for
several times in recent years and visited several of the major big
cities, there is no denying that they are all thriving and prosperous
there. The equipments in their hotels are also very advanced and
luxurious. When it comes to the education aspect, not only people』s
English skills but universities in China on the average are much better
than those in Taiwan. Their universities always rank far higher on the
international universities billboard than those in Taiwan; obviously
their standard of education is much higher than that of Taiwan. And as
far as fashions are concerned, the models in China have already given
excellent performances on the international stage. Additionally, their
athletes always win numerous medals in international competitions, such
as the Olympic Games. In many aspects, Mainland China has made great
progress and even has surpassed Taiwan in some ways.
Negotiations between the two sides across the Strait have been put off
time after time because of various problems, such as political, cultural
problems. But the prejudice against each other also makes up a great
part of it. Generally speaking, most of the people in Taiwan are not
willing to accept the concept of being united with Mainland China for
they still regard Mainlanders as the latter used to be several decades
ago or even worse than that. And it is all of these prejudices that
make the road of communication so rocky. If we want to promote the
peaceful negotiations cross the Strait, we must promote more cultural
exchanges the two sides so that the prejudices could be more overcome.