Beijing has repeatedly appealed to the emotions of Taiwanese, seeking to convince them that by speaking a similar language, sharing folklore festivities and having common kinship, people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all “descendants of the legendary emperors Yan and Huang” (炎黃子孫) and must therefore be bonded together in a “great motherland” called China.
If it only knew how its actions have undermined its popularity with Taiwanese, as it has managed only to enforce the belief that the two sides of the Strait are worlds apart.
