The “hot Taiwanese girl” persona: The dynamics of politics and femininity in Taiwan

1 On 31 March 2019, two J-11 fighter jets from Mainland China crossed the median line of the Taiwan strait without warning. In response, Taiwan sent four F-16 fighter jets from Chiayi air base to intercept them. After a 10-minute standoff, the mainland fighter jets returned to the West of the median line. On 4 April, Tsai Ing-wen inspected the Chiayi base and ordered the military to disperse the Mainland Chinese incursions without delay.

2 Highly visible single female politicians are widely found in East Asia such as the former president of Korea Park Geun-hye (2013–2017), the former vice president of Taiwan Lü Hsiu-lien (2000–2008), the incumbent Secretary General to the President of Taiwan Chen Chu (2018–2020), the former Kuomintang’s chairperson Hung Hsiu-chu (2016–2017).

3 In April 2011, Tsai Ing-wen, as the DPP chair, posted a video on her YouTube channel (Tsai, Citation2011) in which she was interviewed by Wu Nien-jen about personal matters, including wearing skirts. She said that due to her political duties, she had to visit various places; therefore, given her long working hours, she did not frequently wear skirts. But she affirmed that she would consider wearing skirts more often in the future. Wu then proposed that “when you become the president, we hope you will wear a skirt at the Han Kuang Exercise (an annual military exercise of Republic of China Armed Forces), because some said one who wears a skirt is not able to command the military force.” She quickly responded that, “I will remember, and do bring your camera on that day!”

4 According to a survey conducted prior to the 2020 presidential election by Academia Sinica, 72% of the younger generation were inclined to vote for Tsai and the DPP (Chen & Lin, Citation2020).

5 Terms such as “Hot Taiwanese girl” or “hot/spicy Taiwanese” were mentioned in 25% of the Instagram posts relating to election campaigns (19 out of 76) after their first appearance up to November 2022.

6 The “1992 Consensus” was an agreement supposedly reached by Taiwan and Mainland China’s proxies, namely the Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and Mainland China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits in 1992; this has been fundamental for PRC’s cross-strait political claim that Taiwan and Mainland China belong to one China. However, the former leader of KMT, Ma Ying-jeou, defined the “1992 Consensus” with “one China, respective interpretation,” the DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen did not accept this; instead, the DPP considered the 1992 meeting to be only a foundation laid for benevolent cross-strait relations (Chen, Citation2017). Raised in 2011 by the Tsai-led DPP, the “Taiwan Consensus” was intended to replace the “1992 Consensus” and set foundations for cross-strait interactions. It specified that the biggest consensus within Taiwan regarding sovereignty is to maintain the status quo and democratic mechanisms ought to be sought to tackle cross-strait issues.

7 From 1945 to the late 1990s, the KMT-led government promoted monolingualism (of Mandarin) and heavily suppressed local languages including Hoklo, Hakka and aboriginal languages to reinforce the “Chinaisation” ideology.

8 In the 1950s, tai ke originally derived from the derogatory attitudes of Mainlanders (waishengren referring to mainland Chinese of different regions who decamped to Taiwan following the KMT defeat around 1949) towards Native Taiwanese (benshengren referring to Hoklo and Hakka people who emigrated from the Mainland in the seventeenth century). Waisheng ren referred to Taiwanese people, using a slightly derogatory term, tai ke, to imply they are impolite, vulgar, and unable to speak standard Mandarin. In the 1970s, Tai ke largely referred to ‘Taiwanese tourists.’ Chang (Citation2006) uses the term “Taiwan continuum” to explain the historical development and complexities of tai ke and notes that in the past it reflected the identity change of Taiwanese people in the era of globalization.

9 Dwagie, (in Hoklo dialect pronounced as Toa-ki, in Mandarin as dazhi) is the stage name of Tseng Kuan-jung, who is famous for performing in Hokklo language. However, in “Hot Taiwanese Girl,” he performs in Mandarin, with some Hokklo expressions.

10 Despite the high visibility of the persona in Tsai’s online and offline campaigns, its storyline in the music has not attracted much attention. Up until 1 March 2020, Dwagie’s YouTube “Hot Taiwanese Girl” video was viewed around 253,000 times, while many of his music videos reached more than one million views.