Taiwan's Retrocession to China in October 1945 marks the returning of Taiwan to a Chinese political entity, in this case the Republic of China.
Despite what the name suggests, the Chinese administration better resembled foreign occupants. Taiwan was considered a conquered territory, whose resources were exploited and looted to help the war effort against the Communists on the Mainland, all of which dealt heavy blows to the Taiwanese economy. A popular Taiwanese proverb describes the events as: "The dogs are gone, the pigs have arrived."1
Taiwan was widely seen as different to Mainland China, since it had just spent the past half century on the side of Japan and hadn't experienced the chaos and turmoil of early 20th century China. While the local Taiwanese interpreted these differences as a basis for Taiwan to maintain more autonomy, ROC officials saw them as reason for increased reintegration measures. This view was only reinforced by the dissent and unrest on Taiwan, such as the 2-28 Incident.
