Mainland Chinese

Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in a region considered a "mainland". It is frequently used in the context of areas ruled by the People's Republic of China, referring to people from mainland China as opposed to other areas controlled by the state such as Hong Kong or Macau.

The word mainlander can refer to two different groups:

In the context of demographics of Taiwan, the term mainlander when applied to a Taiwan resident most likely refers to waisheng ren.

The translations of waishengren (Chinese: 外省人; pinyin: wàishěngrén; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gōa-séng-lâng) and benshengren (本省人; běnshěngrén; pún-séng-lâng) into English poses some interesting difficulties. The usual English translation of waishengren is Mainlander, although many waishengren find this translation uncomfortable since it implies that waishengren are residents of mainland China, when they are all residents of Taiwan. Benshengren, which literally translates to "this province's person" and is sometimes translated as "native Taiwanese", refers to the people native to Taiwan before the Republic of China took over rule of Taiwan in 1945 and the mass of mainlanders following the Chinese Civil War. Most academic literature uses the terms waishengren and benshengren directly. The terms rarely come up in the English-speaking media.

Many supporters of Taiwan independence object to the term "extra-provincial people", because it implies that Taiwan is a province of China, and prefer the name "new immigrant" (新住民; POJ: sin-chū-bîn). The latter phrase has not become popular in Taiwan and is extremely unpopular among waishengren themselves.

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