Liu Ming-ch'uan (1836-1895) was the first governor of Taiwan and one of the most far-sighted modernizers of his time. He defended Taiwan against French invasion, elevated the island's administrative status from prefecture to province and initiated engineering of the first railroad and electrical power system in China.
Liu was born to a farmer's family in Hofei, Anhwei province, and began his career as a soldier. In 1854, when the Taiping rebels were advancing on his native place, Liu and his friends organized a militia force and repulsed the invaders. He then joined the Huai (Anhwei) Army under the command of Li Hung-chang. With the end of the rebellion, Liu was made commander-in-chief of Chihli , a province in Northeast China, and subsequently was made a noble.
After achieving fame, Liu became aware that he lacked a classical education. At the age of 32, he decided to become a scholar and retired to his native place. In 1880, when the Manchus were having territorial disputes with the Russians, Liu Ming-ch'uan was summoned to Peking to offer his counsel and then was appointed governor of Fukien province.
Toward the end of 1883, China and France came to blows over Yunnan and Annam. Governor Liu was instructed to strengthen the defense establishments of Taiwan, then a prefecture of Fukien province. In July of the following year, he came to Taiwan with an army of 20,000 and demarcated the Penghu (Pescadores) and Taiwan into five defense areas. The front area was located in Penghu and the rear in eastern Taiwan. The remaining areas were in northern and western Taiwan. Fortresses at Penghu, Keelung, Tamsui and Anping were reinforced.
Governor Liu Ming-Ch'uan. (File photo).
The French attacked Keelung in early August. Their objectives presumably were gold and coal mines in the vicinity. In the ensuing nine months, they gained footholds north of Taipei but were repulsed in March of 1885 and turned to Penghu. Vice Admiral Courbet, commander of the invading forces, died there shortly after occupation of the isles. Tales of the time say he was killed by the garrison troops. Peace was negotiated. The French withdrew in the summer of 1885.
As a result of the confrontation with the French, the Manchus came to recognize the strategic importance of Taiwan and in 1887 made it a province with Liu Ming-ch'uan as governor. From the beginning of the Dutch colonization period in 1624, the capital of Taiwan had been at Tainan in the south. With Penghu as the relay station, a southern capital expedited communication with the mainland.
But the new governor was interested in developing Taiwan's economy. As he saw it, the administrative center should be moved north. Production of tea, camphor, sulfur, coal and gold were centered in the Taipei area and exports moved out of the ports of Keelung and Tamsui.
The first Taiwan Provincial Government was set up at the site of the present-day Taipei City Hall. To secure money to modernize the new capital, then a small town partially inhabited by aborigines, Governor Liu established a land cadastration office to rationalize collection of taxes. Within a couple of years, annual revenues had been increased from 180,000 to 670,000 taels of silver.
Two of the oldest locomotives used in Taiwan are on permanent display in Taipei's New Park. The German locomotive at left was used from 1889 to 1924. British locomotive at right had a period of service from 1895 to 1926. (File photo).
At just this time, chemist were stressing the importance of camphor as an ingredient of celluloid, smokeless explosives, fireworks and a number of other products. Taiwan was supplying more than 90 per cent of the world's camphor. Governor Liu set up a monopoly bureau to handle the production and distribution of both camphor and sulfur. This was followed by the addition of establishments for reclamation, posts and telegraph, public health, foreign trade and banking. Europeans were employed to supervise technical offices and schools. New buildings emerged along Hengyang Road and Chungking South Road.
Recalling that the Japanese had planned to take over the island only a few years before the French assault, Governor Liu built an arsenal in Taipei and purchased supplies of modern armaments from Armstrong-Vickers of England and Krupp of Germany to strengthen batteries at strategic points.
By the time of Liu's inauguration, there was a telegraph line between Tainan and Changhua in central Taiwan. He had the line extended to Taipei and then to Keelung. To facilitate communications with the mainland, he engaged a Danish engineer, Emanuel Hansen, to lay a submarine cable between Tainan and the mouth of the Min River in Fukien via Penghu.
Of all his modernization projects, the most noteworthy were the electrification of Taipei city and the laying of railroad track from Keelung and Hsinchu. Electricity was introduced at government establishments in downtown Taipei in 1887 and subsequently extended to the businesses and residences in the West Gate and North Gate areas.
Close-up of the first eight locomotives to haul cars along the Taiwan railroad. It was imported from Germany. (File photo).
Construction of railroads was first opposed by local residents, who believed in Chinese geomancy. Excavation of tunnels and disturbance of the ground would be sure to offend the "earth gods." Authorities in Peking held similar views. As early as 1880, when he was summoned to the national capital, Liu Ming-ch'uan suggested that a railroad be built in North China so that troop movements could be expedited in time of emergency. The proposal was too far ahead of the time and was rejected.
As a result of this experience, Governor Liu memorialized the Throne in 1887 to the effect that the railroad could be built without subsidy from the central government. Furthermore, the government would save 300,000 taels of silver by not having to build a number of bridges.
Upon approval by the Throne, the Provincial Government raised funds by issuing 1.2 million taels worth of public bonds and hired engineers from England and Germany. Engineering was more difficult than the governor had thought. In the excavation of one tunnel, work began at both ends simultaneously. When workmen approached the center, it was found that the levels differed by 14 feet. Some tunnels collapsed and embankments were washed away in the Keelung area, which is one of the world's wettest.
Through a process of trial and error, China's first railroad linked Taipei and Keelung in 1889. There were six stations. An American who made the trip gave this account of his experience:
"The passenger coach was of the short type familiar to travelers in Europe, and was divided into two compartments, or rather had one small section, seating four, reserved at one end but opening into the main compartment... No attempt at decoration was visible although the small first class section had a poor apology for cushions...
"The car was now fast filling up with all sorts of animal freight. A crate of chickens, two large round baskets with three young pigs in each, innumerable pairs of chickens and ducks, a quarter of pork, baskets of vegetables, and all sorts and varieties of boxes, bundles, and other goods. There seemed to be no rule as to what should be carried in the coaches... On looking out of the rear coach, the track appeared something like a pair of gigantic cork screws flattened out...
Bulleting issued by Governor Liu urging people and troops to resist the French invaders. Prizes were offered for the sinking of enemy ships - 50,000 taels of silver for a warship, 10,000 for ammunitions vessel and 1,000 for a sampan. In the end, the French pulled forces out of Taiwan area. (File photo).
"Now the conductor appeared and commenced the collection of fares. Few were provided with tickets, the others desiring to pay, or as it proved, not to pay, on the train. The conductor assumed a most perfect composure, as though his work had been one round of pleasure, and then, seizing a chicken from one of the delinquents, a sort of combination pillow and small trunk from a second and a roll of filthy clothing from another, he returned to my small compartment, tranquil and apparently satisfied."
Governor Liu then planned to extend the railroad southward to the old capital of Tainan. In 1891, as engineering was proceeding at Hsinchu, about 70 kilometers south of Taipei, he was dismissed because political enemies were jealous of his success. This time he was ill of malaria and too weak to fight back. Shao Yu-lien, his successor, discontinued rail construction under the pretext that there were too many tunnels to dig in the Miaoli area.
Before the Japanese occupation of 1895, there were 8 locomotives, 20 passenger coaches and 26 freight cars. Trains ran four to six times a day. Passengers averaged between 400 and 500.
Liu Ming-ch'uan left Taiwan for his native place in the summer of 1891. Three years later, with China at war with Japan, Emperor Kuang Hsu asked for his counsel. Liu was too ill and begged to be excused. He died three months after the cession of Taiwan to Japan.