What’s in a name? Between “Chinese Taipei” and “Taiwan”: The contested terrain of sport nationalism in Taiwan

Abstract

The Chinese Civil War split the Chinese into two politically conflicted states from 1949. The People’s Republic of China and Republic of China both claimed to be the legitimate representative of China in the international community. “Chinese Taipei” has become the name of Republic of China in the international sport field and almost every international organization since 1981, after Kuomintang (The Chinese Nationalist Party) refused to play under the provincial name “Taiwan,” which was suggested by the International Olympic Committee in the 1960s. However, the relationships between Taiwan and China and the nationalistic discourses have changed drastically in Taiwan in the past 40 years. “Chinese Taipei” became the compromised, shameful symbol of Republic of China. At the same time, “Taiwan” turned into the most progressive, resistant, and aspired but banned name and self-identity for many Taiwanese. In 2018, the “2020 Tokyo Olympics Taiwan Name Rectification Referendum” was launched. It requested to rectify the current “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan”. This paper aims to build a contextualized and historical understanding of this interrelation of sport and nationalism in Taiwan via this name game.