將「大陸」作業系統更新為「海洋」——

為航向世界的高中、大學生準備一套 「台灣科普」雙語補充教材：TAIWAN A to Z

 

綜觀台灣歷史，當台灣被鎖進東亞大陸，往往伴隨著非主體性的功能作用與窒息；當台灣回歸海洋、朝向世界，豁然開朗！

 

十七世紀末，佔據台灣的鄭氏集團打著「反清復明」的旗號，引來陸權大國清帝國對台灣的注意，台灣繼被荷蘭、西班牙、明鄭政權統治之後，被清帝國佔領，卻有將近兩百年的時間，只被視為其東亞大陸領土之外的邊疆小島，除了在島上部署重兵以防再次被用來抗清之外，滿清帝國還實施了嚴格的海禁與渡台禁令，以隔絕台灣。

台灣在經濟上被刻意限制為被動的殖民附庸，昔日作為自主海上貿易中心的輝煌地位被徹底剝奪。直到十九世紀末，清帝國遲鈍地明白「沒有海權，陸權將不保」之際，滿清已在甲午戰爭中潰敗，將台灣這處產權永久割讓出去。

從東亞大陸的角度看過來，台灣只是彈丸之地、毫不起眼。

但如果將視角拉上雲霄，從自由浩瀚的太平洋看台灣，她是黑潮洋流交匯多樣生物的起點，是五千年前南島語族航向太平洋的文明母島，是大航海時代歐亞貿易交匯的海上十字路口，是自冷戰時期即浮上海面的第一島鏈戰略咽喉。如今，更是世界第 12 大貿易出口國，也是自由世界不可或缺的矽晶圓堡壘。

台灣，是世界的台灣、海洋的台灣，從來就不屬於歐亞大陸板塊。當清帝國在 1895 年永久登出台灣的主權，台灣自此就不在舊中國的領土清冊裡，何況是宣稱繼承滿清的不論是哪一個新中國。如今，更不該再被強行拉進「中國內戰」的敘事，被框進「一個中國」的極權牢籠裡。

法理與事實都不容退讓：台灣自 1996 年起，主權已永遠屬於台灣人，由所有被她包容接納、願意由衷為她付出，不只是利用她、搾取她的島民所共有——台灣就是台灣，絕非中國的一部分。

這份主權的擁有與確信，是台灣人無論與哪個國家對話往來的尊嚴與自信，任誰都無法剝奪。

然而，這份確信正經受一場不見煙硝的隱形認知戰，台灣的年輕世代正被四面八方的陸權極權敘事層層包圍——手機演算法裡的抖音短影音、街邊小吃店電視播送的威權側寫新聞、社群平台上無孔不入的代理人操弄。這些鋪天蓋地的數位滲透，試圖將新世代的大腦重新灌回那套依附於陸權的集權作業系統。

這就是為什麼，我們認為有必要，為即將航向世界的 18 歲公民，發起《26 堂台灣通識課｜TAIWAN A to Z》計畫。

面對這場全面性的認知與記憶抹除，我們需要一套立足本土、對話世界的「知識基礎建設」，以公民社會的角度看待歷史，將複雜的地緣政治板塊、自然地景、核心產業、法理主權等，進行高密度的轉譯，打造一座屬於新世代的雙語知識彈藥庫——將舊的陸權作業系統更新為面向世界的海洋，看清這座島嶼的前世今生，才能真正立足台灣，一起帶著勇敢與自信，航向世界。

這同時是一封遞給世界的邀請函：當你踏上這座在西太平洋上持續抵抗颱風、地震、極權的奇蹟之島，也許你內心那座最堅韌、又最溫暖的島嶼，將與這片土地和島民同頻共振。

這套補充教材以雙語呈現，面向台灣公民，也面向全世界。這項工程不屬於任何黨派，屬於所有渴望看到台灣走向世界的每一個人。

這趟駛向全球的思想啟航，需要您的實體支援，您的每一次贊助、每一份購買，都是在為台灣 18 歲的準公民，砌上一塊立足台灣、面向世界的鋼鐵基石。

讓我們的下一代，迎向海風，挺直腰桿，勇敢自信，與自由世界同行！

 

Founder & Chief Editor: Lumos Ông

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Upgrading the Obsolete Continental Operating System into an Ocean-Facing Worldview

Engineering a bilingual supplemental curriculum in “Taiwan Popular Science” for high school and university students as they navigate the global stage: TAIWAN A to Z

 

“Looking across Taiwan’s history, whenever the island was locked within the narrative of the East Asian continent, it was reduced to a non-subject, subservient tool plagued by stagnation and confinement. Yet, whenever Taiwan returned to the ocean and embraced the world, its horizons opened up with absolute clarity.”

 

At the end of the 17th century, because the Zheng Kingdom used Taiwan as a base to “oppose the Qing and restore the Ming,” it drew the attention of the Qing Empire—a continental land power. Following the Dutch, the Spanish, and the Zheng Kingdom, Taiwan was occupied by the Qing Empire. Yet, for nearly two centuries that followed, the Qing viewed Taiwan merely as a frontier island far outside its vast East Asian continental territory. Aside from deploying heavy military forces on the island to prevent it from being used as an anti-Qing bastion again, the empire enforced strict maritime bans and the Taiwan Migration Prohibition.

The island was stripped of its former glory as an autonomous maritime trade center; economically, it was deliberately suppressed into a passive colonial tributary. It was not until the late 19th century that the Qing Empire sluggishly realized that “without maritime power, land power cannot be sustained.” By then, the Manchu regime had already been defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War, permanently ceding away its property rights over Taiwan.

From the continental perspective, Taiwan was merely a speck of dust, entirely inconsequential.

But when we elevate our perspective into the clouds and look at Taiwan from the vast, free expanse of the Pacific Ocean, she is revealed as the birthplace of life where the Kuroshio Current converges, the ancestral mother island from which the Austronesian peoples set sail into the Pacific five thousand years ago, the maritime crossroads where Euro-Asian trade intersected during the Age of Discovery, and the geostrategic choke point of the First Island Chain that surfaced during the Cold War. Today, she stands proud as the world’s 12th largest exporter and an indispensable technological fortress—the ‘Silicon Counter-Fortress’—for the free world.

Taiwan belongs to the world and to the ocean; she has never belonged to the Eurasian continental plate. When the Qing Empire permanently logged out of its sovereignty over Taiwan in 1895, Taiwan was removed from old China’s territorial registry once and for all—let alone the registries of any subsequent ‘New China’ claiming to inherit the Manchu empire’s legacy. Today, Taiwan should never be forcefully dragged back into the outdated narrative of a ‘Chinese Civil War,’ nor should she be trapped inside the authoritarian cage of ‘One China.’

Both in law and in fact, there is no room for compromise: Taiwan is Taiwan, and she is absolutely no part of China. Since 1996, the sovereignty of Taiwan has belonged permanently and irrevocably to the Taiwanese people—collectively held by all islanders who are embraced by her, who choose to contribute to her future from the bottom of their hearts, rather than merely exploit her assets.

The ownership and absolute conviction of this sovereignty is the very source of confidence and dignity for the Taiwanese people when engaging with any nation in the world—a truth that no one can ever strip away.

Yet, this very conviction is currently enduring an invisible, smokeless war of cognition. Taiwan’s younger generation is being systematically hemmed in from all sides by authoritarian continental narratives—from the weaponized TikTok algorithms on their phones to the skewed authoritarian framing on local diner TVs, and the pervasive manipulation by proxies across social platforms. This sweeping digital infiltration seeks to force-reinstall a rigid, continental-aligned totalitarian operating system directly into the minds of the next generation.

This is not merely a threat to Taiwanese agency; it is a profound historical irony. The sheer stagnation and regression of this totalitarian propaganda operate as though the very milestones of Chinese intellectual history—the blood-soaked pursuits of the Hundred Days’ Reform, the hard-learned lessons of the Late Qing New Policies over a century ago, and even the early Republican clamor for democracy and science during the May Fourth Movement—were entirely erased from the evolution of human civilization, all for the singular, desperate purpose of dragging a free, maritime Taiwan back into the totalitarian, continental narrative of “Great China Rejuvenation.”

This is precisely why we launched 26 Lessons in Taiwan General Education | TAIWAN A to Z for our 18-year-old citizens about to voyage into the world. To counter this wholesale erasure of cognition and memory, we urgently require an intellectual infrastructure rooted in our own soil yet capable of global dialogue. By examining history through the lens of civil society, this project delivers high-density translations of our complex geopolitical plates, natural landscapes, core industries, and legal sovereignty, forging a bilingual intellectual arsenal for the next generation.

Only by upgrading this obsolete, continental operating system into an ocean-facing worldview, and by looking clearly at the past and present of this island, can we truly anchor ourselves in Taiwan—and together, sail toward the global stage with courage and conviction.

This is also an invitation extended to the world: when you set foot on this island of miracles in the Western Pacific—a land that continuously withstands typhoons, earthquakes, and authoritarianism—perhaps the most resilient yet warmest island within your own soul will find its resonance with this soil and its people.

Presented entirely as a bilingual supplemental curriculum, this initiative speaks directly to Taiwanese citizens and to the world. This grassroots project belongs to no political party; it belongs solely to everyone who wishes to see Taiwan stand tall globally.

At the same time, this global journey of intellectual autonomy requires your tangible support. Every sponsorship and every purchase is a solid steel brick laid to reinforce the foundation of an 18-year-old Taiwanese citizen as they stand firmly on this island and look out to the world.

Let our next generation face the ocean breeze, stand tall, and move forward—Brave and Confident: One with the Free World.

 

 

Founder & Chief Editor: Lumos Ông

 

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