這篇論文有兩個目的，一是釐清臺灣戶口普查中籍別類屬形成與轉變的歷史、社會、與政治過程；二是定位籍別類屬在戰後臺灣政治與社會體制中的意義與角色，特別是它與當代臺灣族群關係的關連。針對第一個目的，本文首先探究歷次戶口普查中，籍別項目的統計類屬與統計方式之變化。除了將籍別類屬變化區分為四個階段之外，也經由歷史材料分析，對最初測量方式形成與促成兩次轉變發生原因提出解釋。針對第二個目的，本文將根據前述歷史性材料的鋪陳，提出一個解釋分析架構，將官方統計中籍貫別在戰後臺灣政治制度中的意義與作用，進行理論性定位。本文指出，戰後遷臺的國民政府在中國法統想像之下，因為團結人民以及代表中國的統治需要，而產生籍別類屬分類制度。這種以中國各省份為單位的籍貫區分，在國民政府因為臺灣省民曾受日本長期統治而無法立刻信任的疑慮，以及反攻大陸的政治需要下，在臺灣所建構的臨時性政治制度中，扮演重要角色。這些臨時性政治制度對於臺灣省民造成政治與文化上差別待遇的結果。1970年代以後，由於國民政府國際地位的變化，中國法統的政治意識形態開始受到嚴厲的內部挑戰。新興的反對政治勢力在1980年代以後開始發展臺灣主體想像以對抗政府的中國法統想像。過去臨時性政治安排，開始被詮釋為歧視臺灣人政策；族群平等成為政治反對運動的主要訴求。由以「中國」為範圍的「省籍」分類轉變到以「臺灣」為範圍的「族群」分類，代表著新形態的社會群體關係之理想。隨著臺灣主體想像之擴散，政治制度開始進行本土化變革，籍貫區分制度也漸漸失去原先功能。在國會全面改選改革方向被確定之後，本籍登記制度才被廢止。最後，本文也討論了臺灣族群現象發展的特色，亦即：族群的概念是被發展來對抗民族主義的論述，以及族群關係的發展與國家認同爭議的同時並行。

The two purposes of this article are to a) identify the historical, social, and political processes behind the formation and transformation of ethnic categorization in Taiwan's population census procedures, and b) to locate the position of ethnic categorization in the political and social systems of postwar Taiwan. The author describes how ethnic characteristics in the general population were categorized by the Republic of China (ROC) government across seven censuses conducted between 1956 and 2000, then uses the data to propose a four-stage transformation. An explanatory framework of political institution re-construction by Mainland Chinese in Taiwan during the postwar era is offered to position the role and function of ethnic categorization. The author argues that categorizing people in terms of their geographic origins in China or Taiwan was institutionalized by the ROC government under the banner of "Chinese national imagination" to meet the political goals of unifying people and claiming legitimacy for its efforts to retake the mainland. Categorization played an important role in the temporary political institutions that were established by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) regime to claim that it was still the legitimate ruler of China. However, categorization also revealed the regime's lack of trust in the Taiwan people to show loyalty to the Chinese nation, which the government suggested was the result of five decades of Japanese colonial rule. The end result was an institution in which Taiwanese were under-represented both politically and culturally. After 1971 (when international support for the KMT regime declined), Chinese national ideology came under intense internal challenge, with the emerging opposition advocating an alternative Taiwanese national imagination. According to demands for ethnic equality, temporary political arrangements were interpreted by opposition groups as institutions of ethnic discrimination against Taiwanese. The transformation of categorization from Chinese "original domicile" to Taiwanese "ethnicity" entailed not only a change in imagined societal boundaries, but also in ideal patterns of inter-group relations within the society. The original domicile categorizations system was eventually abolished after major institutional changes occurred in the early 1990s. The author addresses the circumstances under which the ethnicity concept became salient in Taiwan, and how it was used to counteract a nationalist discourse rather than an explicit racist ideology. Thus, ethnic relations in Taiwan developed concurrently with a dispute over national identity, rather than within a less controversial national boundary.