今天在台灣，「中國人」身分充滿爭議，在不少人心中甚至成了負面而令人嫌惡的東西。台灣人與中國人這兩者變成二分對立的身分，糾纏在統獨問題與藍綠鬥爭裡。 為解決並超克這問題，本文先從四百年來台灣的中國人移民歷史中探討台灣人身分本身的隱含問題，及其在台灣造成的侷限性。接著從這60 年來國際局勢的變動中，來追尋中國人身分變化在台灣所走過的歷史軌跡，並指出1949 年以後的兩岸斷裂與冷戰局面才是如今中國人身分的問題所在。 在國際局勢再次面臨巨大變化的今天，本文進一步從數千年的中國歷史中，尋找台灣人重新再作中國人在歷史上、現實上、以及心理上的合理性。本文指出台灣話／閩南語是更為古老的中國話，是無須與華語二分對立的；中國人的身分基本不是來自血緣，在其幾千年的歷史中歷經過無數次的大混血，是較為包容的身分概念；而雖然在1895 年乙未割台後，台灣被迫暫時從中國的現代化過程中脫勾，但整個日據時期台灣的啟蒙知識分子還是不斷地從中國大陸的辛亥革命、五四運動，以及社會主義革命中汲取思想資源與感情能量。所有這些都是今天台灣人可以引以為超克兩岸分斷體制的心理基礎。 本文最後指出如今更重要的問題在於「作什麼樣的中國人」。而這個問題必須是開放性的，答案必須具有前瞻性。就是說中國人身分的界定必須不能被任何政治勢力所壟斷，而今天正是我們共同超克這難題的時候。

In today’s Taiwan, to have a Chinese identity has become very controversial, even negative or distasteful. The two identities, Taiwanese and Chinese, being trapped in unification/independence issue and blue/green struggles, have been dichotomized and turned mutually exclusive. In order to overcome this situation, this paper at first explores the intrinsic problem of Taiwanese identity and its limitation from 400 years of “Taiwanese” history. It then explores the changes in Chinese identities in Taiwan during the last sixty years, parallel to changes in the international political scenes. It is argued here that the cross-strait division under the cold war system was the main cause of the current identity problem. This paper further looks into thousands of years of Chinese history to seek likely rationalities for Taiwanese to be Chinese again. It not only covers historical, cultural, linguistic and psychological aspects, also refers to the connection of the modernization processes on both sides of the strait. Finally, this paper discusses the most important question, that is, what kind of Chinese we would like to be. It argues that the definition of new Chinese should be beyond the interference of any political powers, and open to any people who identify themselves as Chinese.