Academic works, in all disciplines, have studied at length the legacy of immigrant outsiders' domination of Taiwan since the 17th century up to the democratization process in the 1990s. Since then, many scholars have paid attention to the island's ethnic cleavages distinguishing four major groups: the aboriginals, Hokklo (Hokkien speakers), Hakka and mainlanders (waishengren). This static picture has changed drastically since the early 1990s as a result of two major streams of migrants: guest workers and migrant women who married local Taiwanese men, this type of migration being more permanent in nature. The new immigrant groups are now larger than both aboriginals and first-generation mainlanders, and are gaining citizenship and thus voting rights.
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