The Language policy of the Kuomintang in the 1950s and 60s was characterised by the promotion of Mandarin in schools and public institutions, and the suppression of Japanese, the previous lingua franca, as well as Hokkien and Hakka, the languages of the islanders of Chinese ancestry. This was carried out as part of a larges assimilation project that comprised China-centred education and political rhetoric.
These policies have been accused by some, such as DPP politician Peng Ming-min, of forming a deliberate language barrier to keep the Taiwanese from gaining a proportionate share of power in the administration and the private sector, and artificially enforce the social division.
