Genetic Science in Identity Making: The Rediscovery of Taiwanese Origin and Ancestry

The global development of genetic science and technology has it’s various manifestations in different local political and cultural contexts. The government of Taiwan began to  support the development of biotechnology by funding projects during the 1980s, when this country underwent dramatic transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, emergence of ethnic politics, and conflict of national identity. After the rule by martial law ended, scientific research on the origin and the genetic background of Taiwanese began to emerge in the 1990s. Taking for example the research findings and scientific discourse of the team led by Professor Marie Lin, M.D., widely known as “the mother of the research of Taiwanese blood,” my article aims to explore the particular process of co-production between genetic research and identity politics in Taiwan. Since the 1990s, she has devoted herself to unveiling the mystery of the origins of the ethnic groups in Taiwan by finding scientific evidences of blood attributes and genes. Based on the research findings of her team over the recent two decades, Lin argues that 1) 85 percent of Taiwanese have aboriginal genes;  2) the Han Taiwanese people (Hoklo and Hakka ethnic groups) are mainly the descendants of the Yue people from southern China; 3) a major part of blood attributes of the Han Taiwanese people is derived from plain aboriginal people  and 4) aboriginal peoples in Taiwan have multiple origins. These arguments pose a radical challenge to the dominant Chinese nationalist ideology of the period of the authoritarian rule, which is still lingering on now. My article analyzes how the genetic research on Taiwanese origin and ancestry represented by Lin and her team’s has been shaped by social, political, and cultural factors in the context of democratization and ethnic identity. My analysis also shows clearly how science and politics are mutually constitutive.