Both faithful readers know that we celebrate Ten-Ten Day every year. Most of our friends don’t understand why, but they just accept that we celebrate it. (If you don’t know, and want to know why we celebrate it, check past years entries for October 10.)
Ten-Ten Day, or Double Ten Day is celebrated in Taiwan as a national holiday. But — it may be one of the most hard-to-understand days to explain to anyone not very well-versed in Chinese history. It’s also the one day that provokes the most rage and debate.
Double Ten Day is observed on October 10 every year….
Is October 10 Taiwan’s birthday? No. Republic of China’s birthday? No. Chinese Nationalist Party’s birthday? Yes.
But —Double Ten Day is not a celebration of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s birthday. It is the celebration of the start of the Wuchang Uprising which later led to the Xinhai revolution.
So it’s easy to see why the lack of understanding as to what Ten-Ten Day is all about and exactly what is being celebrated…. and why?
Ten-Ten Day is known as National Day in Taiwan. Usually a country’s “national day” is an opportunity for citizens to remember the past and reflect on the present in order to better chart the future. However, Taiwan’s Double Ten (National Day) celebration isn’t any of these.
The theme of this year’s National Day is “Proud of Taiwan.” The problem is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Taiwan —it commemorates the start of the Wuchang Uprising in China on October 10, 1911. As far as Taiwan history goes, what was happening in 1911? Not the Wuchang Uprising…. in 1911, Taiwan was smack dab in the middle of the Japanese occupation, that lasted from 1895 to 1945.
The Wuchang uprising marks the beginning of the end of the Chinese dynasties in China. While China was going through major changes from dynasty to republic, Taiwan was under the Japanese empire. Around October 10, 1911 a typhoon had just hit Taiwan so most of the news was about restoring the public infrastructure on the island. The effects of the revolution on Taiwan amounted to not much more than an international incident of a trading partner — most people just noticed that the prices for imported goods was rising.
Thinking about it, tying the birth of a nation (Taiwan) to the Republic of China ignores Taiwan’s indigenous peoples who were already on the island for thousands of years…. this may sound kind of familiar to anyone that knows anything about American (Indian) history.
But nonetheless, today is Ten-Ten Day…. who celebrates it?
Nearly all Taiwanese have the day off from work. In mainland China, today is referred to as the Anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising and memorial celebrations are often held. Hong Kong usually holds small parades and celebrations… and here in Shepherdstown, the Williamson’s celebrate with Chinese food.
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