after the nationalist government fled the mainland in 1949, they brought mandarin and promoted it in taiwan. then everyone in the roc had to learn mandarin. but, unlike the people in mainland china, the taiwanese never changed to simplified chinese characters and so they have always used traditional chinese characters. in the past, students were not allowed to speak their mother tongue in school and were expected to speak only mandarin. taiwanese, hakka, and native languages were considered bad until the early 1990s, when education in these languages began to be taught in some school systems. they were promoted, but by this time, many young people could speak only mandarin.