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Mainland China Wikipedia

Image:Smaller map of China.png|framed|In this map of China, the light-coloured areas represent Mainland China, while yellow coloured area refers to Taiwan. All islands except Hainan and Taiwan too small to appear on this map.

Mainland China (中国大陆 or 中國大陸, pinyin: China in world languages|Zhōngg?o D?l?, lit. "The Chinese Massive Landmass" or "Continental China") refers (unofficially, of course) to those parts of China which are fully under the de facto control of the PRC, in contrast to areas which are partly or fully independent (in a de facto if not de jure sense).

Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, and Matsu (islands)|Matsu islands which are administered by the ROC, as well as the two Special Administrative Regions administered by the People's Republic of China: Hong Kong and Macau, are often considered separate (or distinct) from "the mainland", although it usually depends on who's doing the talking.

The term Mainland China is fraught with trouble, because the PRC considers Taiwan a "rebellious province", and there are diplomatic and military risks if Taiwan calls itself "independent". It enjoys more usage by observers and advocates who oppose (or merely choose not to recognize) the PRC's claims to hegemonic sovereignty. Others, particularly those who adamantly oppose Taiwanese independence, prefer to avoid making any use of the term Mainland China at all, on the grounds that it makes an improper (or artifical) distinction between parts which really are not (or should not be) considered separately.

• When responding to the SARS epidemic, there was considerable fuss and delay associated with the issue of distinguishing between the "mainland" and Taiwan. The PRC objected to the UN's medical group (WHO) entering or sharing information with the ROC. The PRC felt bypassed, perhaps, or believed that putting humanitarian concerns above political claims might tend to weaken those claims in the eyes of the international community.

A lot of diplomatic language is used to tiptoe around the issues (see elephant in the living room).

Some people maintain that the informal term Mainland China is merely a geographical term.

See:

• "One Country, Two Systems" and have a high degree of autonomy. It always excludes the area controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), namely Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, and Matsu (islands)|Matsu islands. In contrast to the term China proper, the term usually also includes Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia.

Curiously, the term usually includes offshore islands administered by the PRC such as Hainan. The term Zhongguo dalu is commonly used on Taiwan because it is a neutral term and does not contain implications about the political status of Taiwan.

More recently, the term Zhongguo neidi (內地 "the inner regions of China") has become the most common term within Mainland China to refer to Mainland China, although the term is infrequently used outside of Mainland China.

In Taiwan, the term Mainlander can refer to wai sheng ren (外省人, literal meaning: "external province person(s)"), who are the people who emigrated to Taiwan from Mainland China near the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949; children of wai sheng ren, though born in Taiwan, can also be referred to as wai sheng ren. The term Mainlander can also refer to da lu ren (大陸人, literal meaning: "Mainland person(s)"), meaning the people who live on the Mainland now and the very small number of people who have emigrated from the Mainland to Taiwan recently.

Relations between Mainland China and Taiwan are typically known in Chinese as liang'an guanxi (兩岸關係), which literally means "relations between the two sides/seashores (of the Strait of Taiwan)" and is known in English as "cross-straits relations". The term liang'an (two shores) is often used when describing Mainland China and Taiwan collectively. Again these terms are commonly found because they are politically-neutral and do not contain implications about the nature of the relationship between Mainland China and Taiwan. When Hong Kong is involved, the term liang'an sandi (literally two shores, three places) is used.

The term is used more often since the transfers of sovereignty, to the People's Republic of China, of Hong Kong in 1997 and Macao in 1999. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau have different customs and immigration control, passports, currency|currencies, stamps, judiciary systems (Court of Final Appeal|courts of final appeal), public finance, extradition, etc.

Last Modified:   2005-04-13