在這篇文章中，作者將透過對一九九五年臺北市「終戰事件」的討論，來了解台灣近年來在「尋找認同」過程中的困境和可能的轉機。首先，作者提出「社群認同」和「族國認同」兩個理論概念，作為討論台灣社會認同經驗的分析工具。分析的焦點將放在「國定假日—集體記憶的制度化」之上，因為在民族國家操控集體意識的各種方法之中，國定假日的慶祝是最具有儀式功能的一項社會機制。在進入「終戰事件」的討論之前，作者就台灣社會中的兩種族國主義—「中華民國族國主義」和「台灣族國主義」——加以論述，並以在兩種族國主義的相互對抗下，所產生外省社群的困境和反應做為討論「終戰事件」的起點。作者質疑：終戰觀點的出現，固然反映了另類思考，但若繼續以族國主義國定假日的模式來制度化集體記憶，這樣的做法是否適當？本文認為，與其說「光復╱終戰」的爭執是還給歷史真相，倒不如說是台灣社會統獨雙方在搶奪集體記憶解釋權時橋頭堡攻防戰的開始，對於各種族國主義者而言，為了強調統一或獨立的正當性，過去的諸般歷史人物、事件都必須因此重新上裝出場，準備為新的政治秩序衝鋒陷陣。「光復與終戰」之爭正為「使用過去為現在服務（using the past for the present）」的族國主義式歷史編纂（nationalist historiography）提供了最佳的註腳。
英文摘要
With reflection on the 1995 Retrocession Incident in Taipei, this article discusses the dilemma in which Taiwan is caught during its recent search for a new identity. Two analytical concepts are proposed to study the changing identity experiences of Taiwan: "secondary-community identity" and" nation-state identity." National holiday, argued by the author as a socio cultural mechanism for institutionalizing collective memory, is the primary focus of this paper. It is held that the remembrance activities associated with national holidays serve to ritualize conscience collective. Against the backdrop of escalating debates between "ROC Political Nationalism" and "Taiwanese Political Nationalism," the identity dilemma experienced by the 1949 immigrants was examined as a point of departure for discussion on the 1995 Retrocession incident in Taipei. The author questions that while the perspective of Chung-chan" (end of war) did provide alternative thinking on interpreting historical events, the ceremonial activities as observed by Taipei City Hall on National Holiday perpetuates the practice of nationalistic historiography. In fact, the controversy surrounding Retrocession/Chung-chan is, the author argues, less an effort for historical understanding than a fight for the right of interpretation between competing nationalist ideologies. The 1995 Retrocession Incident in Taipei serves well to illustrate how nationalist historiographers of one kind or the other use "the past" for the concerns of today or tomorrow.
