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In the literature on Taiwan's local politics, there are two major opinions about the causes o f Taiwan's local factionalism. The first view emphasises the importance o f socio-cultural factors in the creation of factions in Taiwan's local units. Traditionally, the family has had an im portant influence on personal activities in Chinese society because traditional Chinese Confucianism is an intense familialism that took precedence over all other social relations. As Wen Tsung-I pointed out, Chinese peasant society is characterised by its strong emphasis on the family, paternalism, and regionalism. Relationships built upon the primary groups a ffe ct not only individual, but also collective behaviour.2 Similarly, those characteristics are commonly shared by Taiwanese society.

Traditional peasant characteristics contributed to the creation o f factions in Taiwan's local society because they provided advantageous conditions for local elites to call for support from personal networks to engage in political activities.3 In other words, traditional socio-cultural roots and relationships provided the foundations of Taiwan's local factions. Under electoral

competition, these roots and relations were easily employed by local elites to group themselves, and mobilise support to run election campaigns and com pete for public offices. Excessive electoral contests Inevitably lead to the creation of local factions.'’

Both Jacobs and Gallin also highlighted the Im portance of traditional soclo-cultural roots In the origins of Taiwan's local factions. They claimed that Taiwan's local factions did not exist at the time of Japanese rule, but began to emerge after local elections were regularly held by the KMT from 1950 onwards. The goal of winning election campaigns drove local elites to group themselves in order to expand their political Influence and strength. Excessive electoral competition enlarged traditional social as well as cultural cleavages, and concentrated interest relations between local elites, providing fertile ground for the development of local factions.5 In general, this perspective deems that Taiwanese local factions should be seen as primarily by-products of Its Chinese culture.

The second view of the origins of Taiwan's local factions focuses on the significance of the KMT regime's political management. As both Chu Yun-han and Wu Nai-teh stated, local factions were deliberately cultivated by the KMT. Since the KMT was an outsider regime from the start. It had to rely on local elites to penetrate the local community. However, the 28 February Incident In 1947 and the KMT's political re-establishment In the early 1950s had deterred old local elites from participating in politics. The implementation of land reforms further removed the Influence of the old local elites. Under such circumstances, the KMT used Its political control and economic resources to build relations with the newly emerged local elites through the patronage system.4

What is more, the KMT cultivated a t least two factions in every county and district in order to offset the strength of each, so that the KMT could easily gain control over local factions. Also, the KMT used its nomination power to switch between factions to occupy city-county and hs/ang-township executive offices and thus prevent political dom inance by any single local faction. A discussion of how the KMT established and controlled its alliance relationships with local factions follows in section 4.3. Briefly, both Chu Yun-han and Wu Nai-teh argued that the existence of factions in Taiwan's local units is a feature of a political system delicately created and managed by the KMT. Through clientellst alliances with local factions, the KMT's governance in Taiwan could be maintained.7

The first perspective is clearly deficient in explaining the actual developm ent of Taiwan's local factions. As Tsai Ming-hui and Chang Mao-kuei pointed out, elections had been implemented in some districts in 1935 under Japanese rule. Nonetheless, local political factions were unseen in Taiwan at that time. Though local elections were held regularly from 1950, factions still did not emerge across the whole island. In the early 1950s. some districts had no local factions a t all. In other words, the emphasis on socio-cultural factors ignores the effects of the political system and political change on the development of local factions.8

On the other hand, the emphasis on the e ffect of the KMT's political management seems Insufficient to explain why local factions are capable of mobilising the support from local society, why the KMT had to establish alliance relationships with local factions, and how local factions could help the KMT to establish its rule over Taiwan. In all, the political management perspective ignores the unique power structure and organisational characteristics of local

factions. In addition, it takes no account of the effects of historical, social, and economic conditions on the development of factions in the local units.’

In the light of the evident weakness of both the socio-cultural and political perspectives, Tsai Ming-hui and Chang Mao-kuei suggested that Taiwanese local factions were neither simple outgrowths o f Taiwan's traditional socio­ cultural roots, nor the outcom e of the KMT's institutional designs. Rather, they were institutions developed under the special historical, social, economic, and political circumstances o f Taiwan's pre- and post-war experiences. Taiwanese local factions emerged from a transformation o f remaining social cleavages through major historical processes, i.e. pre-war colonisation, the transition from Japanese colonisation to the Nationalists' political regime, the land reforms in the early 1950s, and the implementation of local self-governance (home rule).10 This view was shared by Joseph Bosco."

According to Lee Hsiao-feng's study, local elites already existed at the time of Japanese rule. A number of social leaders were allowed by the Japanese government to join assemblies at various levels. These assemblies served as honorary institutions w ithout legislative power, enticing the co-operation of Taiwanese local leaders. Local elites retained their influence, regardless of the transition of political regime, when the KMT took over the sovereignty of Taiwan from Japan in 1945. In the 1946 elections for county councillors and provincial assemblymen, 292 of 740 county councillors (39.46 per cent) and 22 of 47 provincial assemblymen (46.81 per cent) had previously held public offices under Japan's colonial government.12

However, the 28 February Incident in 1947 and the KMT's political re­ establishment in the early 1950s re-built the landscape of elite structure In the local units. The accomplishment of land reforms further changed the socio­

econom ic system and power structure of local society. The old local elites becam e passive to participate in politics. Local politics was now dominated by new forces which emerged with the implementation of local elections in 1950 and 1951. These newly emergent elites soon filled the political vacuum and c o ­ operated with the KMT to pursue political and economic privileges.

In short, Taiwan's local factions consisted of local elites who had already established a certain influence over local society based on their econom ic resources and social status. But, they had had no, or only a few, political experiences during the period of Japanese rule. They were not totally new political recruits who emerged because of the KMT's holding elections or deliberate cultivation. After the old local elites who were unwilling to accede to party discipline or co-operate with the regime had been eliminated from the political stage by the KMT regime, they filled the political vacuum and developed a patron-client relationship with the KMT.

Political com petition provided Institutionalised means for the new local elites to pursue political privileges through public offices. Nevertheless, excessive electoral com petition inevitably forced them to resort to traditional socio­ cultural roots and primary relationships as a basis for running election campaigns. With the implementation of local elections, the new local elites soon came to dom inate the local political landscape. They grouped into a number of factions. The newly emerged political forces in the local units were in due time institutionalised Into the KMT's political system after the regime's ruling capability was established in Taiwan.

The creation o f Taiwan's local factions was assisted by two environmental factors. The first o f these was the KMT's political management. As I have mentioned earlier, the KMT after 1949 sought to eliminate factionalism within Its

own ranks, but actively encouraged a depoliticised form o f factionalism in local society. Political fostering and manipulation inevitably brought about conflict between local political leaders. Besides, the KMT closed national politics to local elites in order to maintain the immigrant elites' dominance. Limited resources also played a role in intensifying the competition between indigenous elites. Intense com petition compelled local elites to group themselves in order to expand their political strength.

Furthermore, the KMT adopted corporatism to m anage the economy and civil society in order to prevent an autonomous populist politics. It controlled and demobilised all modern social sectors through the pre-emptive incorporation of business and professional associations, labour unions, state employees, journalists, intellectuals, students, and other targeted groups. Therefore, the growth of social fabric in private society was seriously blocked. The only remaining weft and warp of the civil society were the lineage groups, private enterprises, and some religious groups.’5 It indirectly encouraged the locals to pursue their personal interests through patron-client ties, thus providing fertile ground for the development of factions in Taiwan's local units.u

Second, Taiwan's inferior socio-economic developm ent in the 1950s and 1960s promoted the growth of local factions. According to Wakabayashi Masatake, the unemployment rate was as high as 10 per cent in the early 1950s. Illiteracy covered over 30 per cent of the population. Political and economic resources were distributed unevenly and were dominated by local leaders. These conditions naturally increased the need for patronage between Individuals to seek mutual aid.15 However, clientelism contributes to the growth of ethnic, linguistic, and religious fragmentation and arbitrariness in the distribution of resources, leading to the spread of local factions.