Southern Min

Southern Min, also known more prominently as Hokkien or Taiwanese, has the largest percent of speakers, at 72% of the population of Taiwan.  Around 83% of these native Southern Min speakers are bilingual with the official Taiwanese language of Mandarin Chinese.

During the Japanese colonial rule, Southern Min was subjected to restrictions, alongside all other languages in Taiwan at the time.  However, after the defeat of Japan, leadership in Taiwan choose to include Southern Min with Japanese as the targeted two languages that were prohibited from being used in public spaces.  Though no reason can be found for this move against a Chinese dialect during this particular time, it sets the stage as an early indicator that there was not an overwhelming support for differing languages in Taiwan and as a precursor for the later restrictions placed on these differing languages under the KMT from the the 1950s to the late 1980s.

Yet, in the 1990s and under the push of the DDP (Democratic Progressive Party), there was a renewed movement, that continues on today, to revive dialects and native languages within the educational system.  These programs started with Southern Min dialect and were later expanded to the other dialects and native languages.

This video has examples of the differences between Mandarin Chinese and Hokkien (Southern Min) in phrases: