What is this 'Overseas Chinese" thing all about?

[finley]

After a crisis many thousand years ago, there were only 5000 humans left. We all come from that stock.

Apparently there were never that many at the best of times. A few hundred thousand, until the invention of language (~50,000 years ago) made it a lot easier to get laid. Grunting and pointing usually doesn't work well, unless you're both really drunk. And I guess alcohol hadn't been invented back then, either.

I've heard there are 'stateless' people who do consider themselves citizens of the world and renounce all citizenship. Travelling (without a passport from a recognised nation-state) is painful, but not impossible.

[Tempo Gain]

Apparently there were never that many at the best of times. A few hundred thousand, until the invention of language (~50,000 years ago) made it a lot easier to get laid. Grunting and pointing usually doesn't work well, unless you're both really drunk. And I guess alcohol hadn't been invented back then, either.

I don't know about that, the other animals seem to do well enough. I've read language made it easier for us to defeat predators and game.

I always assumed the "overseas Chinese" thing was a KMT political ploy, for both domestic and cross-strait purposes.

[Chris]

I always assumed the "overseas Chinese" thing was a KMT political ploy, for both domestic and cross-strait purposes.

First time I ever heard the term was in the mainland.

[Tempo Gain]

For them, cross-strait and economic, right?

[bumclouds]

If my home country (Australia) granted special privileges to people who could prove their British Isles descent, the immigrants would be setting cars on fire.

[Zla'od]

According to my understanding, today, legally speaking, "Overseas Chinese" does not mean "any ethnic Chinese." Instead it means "someone whose parents or other forebears had an ROC passport."But I keep hearing about situations where this was not the definition. I would be interested to know more about this. In particular, I would like to know how one proves that one is "ethnically Chinese." (Do they just eyeball your photo, or your name? Do you have to produce an official document saying you are Chinese? What? And what about people of mixed race?)

[finley]

The person I know has one parent born in Hong Kong; the other is from the Philippines. No family connections to Taiwan AFAIK.

[tommy525]

The KMT run ROC liked to curry favor with the Chinese diaspora who dispersed all over the world (a lot fleeing from China) after WW2. Not all of them sought ROC citizenship but could be persuaded to start up a business in Taiwan or make other investments. Remember after WW2 TAiwan was quite poor and needed all the help it could get. Thus they were given preferential treatment in investing in Taiwan or starting a business, etc. And , yes , even citizenship was held out for them. They need not have any relationship to Taiwan but needed roots in China, (i.e. obviously had to be ethnic chinese) . A lot didnt want or need citizenship, because they could do their business and reside in TAiwan with little interference from the ROC govt. It was a successful program to attract Ethnic Chinese money from abroad.

These "HuaChiao" were very successful in setting up even many five star hotels and other businesses. They made notable contributions to Taiwan society and caused few , if any , problems that I know of.

Taiwan courted those with the bucks, and wasn't very very welcoming of just anyone who was ethnic chinese in fact. They didnt want hordes of exiled Chinese to just come to live in Taiwan. Today, Taiwan is much wealthier and much pickier in who they let in. And in fact have become harsher to those whos lineage can be traced to Taiwan even.

I suppose with the greying of Taiwan they will once again make up some rules allowing in YOUNG and educated and hopefully MONIED ethnic Chinese in again. ONce again seeking Overseas Chinese (read NON Mainland China) possibly from Europe/ Americas/ Oz/NZ and SE Asia .

They need to open up immigration to NON ETHNIC Chinese to broaden the gene pool on the rock some more.

[Deuce Dropper]

FAIK, its plain racist. The ROC govt gave some benefits to those with Chinese ethnicity so they could come to Taiwan and live and work , etc. I think they are much tougher on them now tho.

How is it racist? It is people who can link their heritage back to the ROC (modern day China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Mazu, Penghu and Kinmen (Jinmen)).

European countries do the same shit to get white people (and not that wrong side of the iron curtain variety) to move back there.

[Rockefeller]

FAIK, its plain racist. The ROC govt gave some benefits to those with Chinese ethnicity so they could come to Taiwan and live and work , etc. I think they are much tougher on them now tho.

How is it racist? It is people who can link their heritage back to the ROC (modern day China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Mazu, Penghu and Kinmen (Jinmen) (Jinmen)).

European countries do the same shit to get white people (and not that wrong side of the iron curtain variety) to move back there.

It does sound somewhat racist. Just because someone else does it too doesn't make it right. Discrimination is discrimination.

Go back some 65,000 years, and we're all related, even to the most isolated Khoi-San, New Guinean, or Amazonian tribespeople.

Can I claim citizenship of the world?

Agreed. We really shouldn't need an alien invasion to realize at the end of the day we're all human beings living on the same blue marble here. The earth belongs to the people and its future generations, and some bureaucrats in a government shouldn't be allowed to draw lines on a map and tell you where you can and can't be to settle and start a family somewhere just because you weren't born at a place of their liking, or don't have the right parents or whatever.

A man/woman should be judged on his life choices and actions; things like birthplace, parents, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities... etc things you can't just change shouldn't be reasons for discrimination and an excuse for prejudicial treatment.