What is "taishang"

Taishang is an informal term used to describe Taiwanese businesspeople who do business in mainland China. The term literally translates into English as "Taiwan Business." There is no official definition for the term "taishang" and there are no official statistics on the number of Taishang working in mainland China. Unofficial estimates circulating in 2011 suggested that between 1 million and 3 million Taiwanese citizens (including family members) lived in mainland China. Simply living in mainland China, however, does make a Taiwanese citizen a taishang.