Journal #1 . What is my culture In a multi racial society , there is often an intermingling among the various races, hence a mixture of their unique cultures . It is important in such a society for people to unite. This is not in direct clash with the view that racial identity must be preserved . My dad is from Taiwan and my Mom is from Vietnam which means I hold two passports from two different countries . Because of my background, it’s easy for me to describe the cultures of both Taiwan and Vietnam. What I plan to express about Taiwan comes from the knowledge I acquired from primary school until secondary school. Most people think that Taiwan is part of China, but in fact Taiwan is an island located about 100 miles away from China. It was originally part of China, but in 1949, the communists seized the Mainland forcing the nationalists to retreat to Taiwan. From then on, Taiwan was known as Free China. The leaders of the Republic of China, (Free China) hoped that someday the communists would be driven away. Consequently, they started to build Taiwan as a military base for their own purposes. Even so, their dreams were never accomplished, and instead their efforts turned Taiwan into a powerful country. There is an interesting story behind Taiwan's name. Along with Free China, Taiwan also has two other names, "Taiwan" the name used today, and "Formosa". "Taiwan" means "terraced bay" to the mountain tribal people who were the original inhabitants of Taiwan. When the immigrants from China migrated to the island 3 hundred years ago, they kept hearing the tribal people say "Taiwan". As a result, they assumed that the island was called "Taiwan". Formosa, on the other hand, was a name used by the Portuguese sailors in the 1600s. It means "beautiful island".