Excerpts from Wikipedia.org
Mainlanders or Waisheng ren (外省人; literally "extraprovincial person") are people who moved to Taiwan from mainland China after 1945. This group also includes all their descendants born in Taiwan.
The word mainlander can refer to two different groups:
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Waisheng ren (外省人; literally "extraprovincial person") are people who moved to Taiwan from mainland China after 1945. This group also includes all their descendants born in Taiwan.
- Dalu ren (大陸人; literally "mainland people") are residents of mainland China, especially citizens of the People's Republic of China who live in mainland China.
In the context of demographics of Taiwan, the term mainlander most likely refers to waisheng ren.
Names: The translations of waishengren and benshengren (本省人) into English poses some interesting difficulties. The usual English translation of waishengren is Mainlander, although many waishengren find this translation uncomfortable since it implies that waishengren are residents of mainland China, when they are all residents of Taiwan. Translating the term benshengren as "native Taiwanese" is also problematic because of confusion with Taiwanese aborigines. Most academic literature uses the terms waishengren and benshengren directly. The terms rarely come up in the English-speaking media.
Many supporters of Taiwan independence object to the term "other province people", because it implies that Taiwan is a province of China, and prefer the name "new immigrant" (新住民). The latter term has not become popular in Taiwan and is extremely unpopular among waishengren themselves.
Chinese Civil War veterans especially are called "old taro" (老芋仔, due to the similarity between the shape of Mainland China and taro leaves), or waisheng laobing (外省老兵), "external-province veteran," in Mandarin. In government publications and the media, they are also called "honorable citizens" (榮民).
Mainlanders make up about 10% of the population of Taiwan and are heavily concentrated in northern Taiwan especially in the Taipei area. Although no longer dominating the government, waishengren still make up a disproportionately large fraction of bureaucrats and military officers.











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