Contested urban landscapes of nationalism: The case of Taipei

We discuss how Chinese Nationalist political leaders usurped the urban land scape of Taipei to promote the concept of a Chinese nation and national ide ntity in an effort to legitimize their right to political power. The result was the creation of a cityscape which symbolizes the belongingness of the inhabitants of Taiwan to the Chinese nation and which celebrates Chinese Na tionalist heroes. In the recent past, oppositional political parties and so cial movements have challenged these inscriptions and reappropriated the ur ban landscape to contest both the legitimacy of Nationalist political power and the concept of the Chinese nation promoted by Nationalists. Contestati ons involved the promotion of an alternative Taiwanese nation and national identity, as well as the questioning by aboriginal people of the Taiwanese nation as a unitary category.