This paper traces a lost dimension of national identity in Taiwan, which used to dominate the national identity discourse in the late 1980s’, namely the self-identification as a base for anti-communist restoration in the Chinese Mainland. The purpose is to show, both empirically and interpretively, how an identity discourse could evolve through politics of identity and into a tool of completely different purpose before its total demise. The identity is presented in this paper as a discursive strategy of self-management at the personal as well as the national levels.