(6) The Taipei Period
The ten years between the setting up of the county administration in Taipei in 1875, and the time Taiwan became a province of China in 1886, is known as the Taipei Period.
With the opening of Tamsui as a trade port, the prosperity of the northern part of Taiwan therefore, a matter of mere accident that the Taipei Period should follow closely upon the heels of the Tamsui Period. The setting up of the Taipei Hsien Administration was the idea of Shen Pao-chen, and given justification by the aggressive designs on the part of Japan. Japan began to entertain such designs on Chinese territory early in the Meiji era, when the Japanese wrested the Ryukyu Islands from China, and looked longingly at Taiwan. In 1872, a Japanese contingent, under the command of Tsugumichi Saigo, on the pretext that some Ryukyu Islanders had been massacred by the mountain tribes of Mao Tan Hsieh, occupied the coastal area around Heng Chun at the southern tip of Taiwan for half a year. Curfew was declared along the coastal area of the Chinese mainland. Charged with the security of Taiwan, Shen Pao-chen, head of Nautical Affairs in Fukien, proposed that, in due recognition of the importance of Taiwan, the Inspector General in Fukien should be stationed in Taiwan in winter and spring. He further proposed strengthening coastal defenses, building fortresses, erecting a network of wires, promoting trade and setting up additional hsien to strengthen the local government. Although Shen Pao-chen was appointed Governor General of Kiangsu and Chekiang in 1875, he saw most of his recommendations adopted by the Imperial Court.
Whereas the whole of Taiwan was originally placed under the jurisdiction of one county, an additional county administration, recommended by Shen Pao-chen, was now set up in Taipei, with jurisdiction over all territories north of Changhua, including the mountain regions. Henceforth, recognition was given to the equal importance of the north and the south.
Under the Taipei County Administration, there were 3 hsien: Tamsui Hsien in the north, Hsinchu Hsien in the west, (formerly belonging to the Tamsui Bureau) and I Lan Hsien in the east, (formerly belonging to the Ko Lan Ma Bureau). Tamsui Hsien was where Taipei now stands. When the Tamsui Hsien was set up, there used to be a river port by the name of Meng Chia (name given by mountain tribes meaning log-craft). The fertility of the plain, together with the abundance of water, was a contributing factor in the prosperity of this rural area. Near the coast are the Kwan Yin and Ta Tun Mountains, which served to protect the coastal area.
The setting up of new administrative units in 1875 was meant to meet the needs of the time. In the same year, the Heng Chun Hsien administration was set up south of Feng Shan. The eastern part of Taiwan underwent a drastic change with the setting up of three new bureaus: the Keelung Bureau, which had responsibility for the defense of the coastal area in the north, the Pu Li Hsieh Bureau, with jurisdiction over the mountainous region in the vicinity of Sun and Moon Lake, and the Pei Nan Bureau, with jurisdiction over the coastal area facing the Pacific Ocean south of Su Ao. It is obvious that among the purposes for setting up new hsien administrations in Pu Li Hsieh and Pei Nan were the education of the aboriginal tribes and the exploitation of the abundant natural resources in those regions. Although Shen Pao-chen's stay in Taiwan was but a brief one, he was able to lay a firm foundation for progress. His work was carried on, and successfully, by Liu Ming-chuan.
(7) The Taichung Period
In 1874 Shen Pao-chen's proposal to make Taiwan an integral part of China was rejected by the Imperial Court. It was not until 1885, following the Sino-French War, that Taiwan became one of the provinces of China.
In that year, General Liu Ming-chuan, a native of Anhwei then serving as Inspector General of Fukien, built up a formidable military force in Taiwan. A French invasion force was repelled by Anhwei troops under his command at Keeling and Tamsui. Following the conclusion of the war between China and France, the Imperial Court in September, 1885, adopted Tso Tsung-tang's recommendation to accord Taiwan the status of a province. Thereupon, Liu Ming-chuan was appointed Inspector General of Taiwan.
Liu Ming-chuan was as great a scholar as he was a military figure. He earned the eternal gratitude of the nation by the sterling services he rendered Taiwan during his 6-year tenure of office between April, 1887, and May, 1892. A man of foresight, he proposed making Taichung (then known as Taiwan Hsien) the provincial capital of Taiwan.
Although Taipei, for lack of facilities in Taichung, served as the temporary capital of Taiwan, Taichung remained the legal capital of the province. It was the view of Liu Ming-chuan that, as the capital of Taiwan, Taichung would become the focal point between the north and the south and the east and the west.
In 1888 he proposed the construction of a trunk line linking up Keelung, Taichung and Heng Chun, and another line across the mountains from Taichung to the port of Hualien on the east coast via Pu Li Hsieh in order to remove any obstacle to the free flow of thoughts and merchandise between the eastern side of the mountains and the west. As envisaged by Liu Ming-chuan, Taichung became a key to the whole island following the completion of the two railways.
The part played by Shen Pao-chen in devising the administrative machinery of Taiwan and the equal development of the northern and southern parts of the island has already been touched upon. It was the opinion of Liu Ming-chuan that the administration of Taichung required further readjustment. He felt that the province should comprise three counties, that the Taiwan County in Tainan should be renamed Tainan County, that Taichung should be renamed Taiwan County, and that Tainan, which used to go by the name of Taiwan Hsien, should be renamed Anping Hsien. The present Taichung Municipality had its beginnings in 1889. It used to be a hamlet northeast of Changhua Hisen. It was Liu Ming-chuan's idea to make Taichung the seat of the hsien, county and provincial governments.
Although the seat of the provincial administration was moved by Shao Yu-lien, Liu Ming-chuan's successor, to Taipei, the development of Taichung kept pace with the development of the province. It is for this reason that the writer calls this period the Taichung Period.
At that time, Taichung County comprised four hsien and one bureau, namely, Taiwan Hsien, Changhua Hsien, Yunlin Hsien (situated at Tou Lu Chen midway between Changhua and Chiayi), Miaoli Hsien (situated at Miaoli Chen, southwest of Hsinchu), and Pu Li Hsieh Bureau. Taipei County comprised three hsien and two bureaus, namely, Tamsui Hsien, Hsinchu Hsien, I Lan Hsien, Keelung Bureau and Nanya Bureau (mountainous terrain south of Taipei Hsien). Tainan County comprised four hsien and one bureau, namely, Anping Hsien, Chiayi Hsien, Fengshan Hsien, Hengchun Hsien and Penghu Bureau. Taitung (formerly known as Peinan Bureau) was promoted to a district. The whole province, therefore, was composed of three counties, one district, three bureaus and 11 hsien.
By comparing the administrative set-up of Taiwan at the time of Liu Ming-chuan with the proposal made by the Taiwan People's Political Council to divide the provincial administration into 16 hsien and five municipalities, we can see the foresight of Liu Ming-chuan. With the exception of Taoyuan, Nanrao, Kaohsiung and Hualien, all the other hsien had their beginning when Taiwan was made a province. Even the new hsien could be traced back to earlier beginnings. A case in point is Nantao, whose connection with Pu Li Hsieh Bureau is obvious. The fact that three new hsien were added to Taichung County further attests to the foresight of Liu Ming-chuan.
The modernization movement in China, which began in the mid-decades of the 19th century, was slow and unspectacular, except in Taiwan. Liu Ming-chuan's project to construct trunk line railways across the island found fulfillment as section after section of railway was opened to traffic. The Taipei-Keelung Section was completed in 1892. Two years later, the Taipei-Hsinchu Section was completed. Further progress was interrupted the next year when hostilities broke out between China and Japan.
The two ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung (formerly known as Chi Hou) were also built under the direction of Liu Ming-chuan. At that time, vessels from Taiwan traded not only with Hongkong and Shanghai, but also with Manila, Saigon and Singapore.
Liu Ming-chuan also sent experts to the South Sea area on observation tours. The Chinese Maritimes Steamship Navigation Company was set up in Singapore to foster foreign trade. So profitable was the export trade, and so large was the surplus of exports over imports, that the people enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, and this prosperity in turn made possible the undertaking of further projects.
England was, at that time, the foremost commercial power, followed by the United States and Germany in that order. Liu Ming-chuan knew only too well that an island like Taiwan must develop its resources in order to achieve a position of self-sufficiency and stability. Obsessed by the problem of production, he established the Coal-Mining Bureau and the Camphor Bureau, both government-owned enterprises. He found another source of natural wealth by tapping the forests. He gave concrete expression to his concern over education by building modern schools for the propagation of western ideas and special schools for the aborigines. Electric lights were installed in Taipei in 1889. This was followed in rapid succession by the construction of water works and the building of hospitals. The steel bridge spanning the Tamsui River also dates from the same time. Taipei had, by then, assumed the aspects of a modern city.
Although deeply concerned with construction projects, Liu Ming-chuan had not neglected the problem of defense. He built fortifications around Keelung, Tamsui, Anping and Chi Hou where he installed large cannons. He further set up a munitions factory in Taipei. Liu Ming-chuan proved himself a statesman of high caliber by his ability to see the actual needs of Taiwan and his ability to meet those needs. He made Taiwan a model for the whole of China economically and otherwise.
He showed great respect for the local leaders and was not ashamed to seek their advice. The respect he showed them was readily reciprocated. The amazing progress made in Taiwan was partly, due to the able leadership of Liu Ming-chuan and partly to the interest of the people of Taiwan in public welfare, their industriousness, their perseverance and their pioneering spirit. One of his closest associates was Lin Wei-yuan, the son of Lin Kuo-hua, a civic leader in Taipei.
A sound foundation for the modernization of Taiwan had been laid by Liu Ming-chuan. When the Japanese came, they merely carried on where he left off. It was a great misfortune that Taiwan, to which he had given so much of himself, should have fallen to the Japanese four years after his term of office. He himself died in the winter of 1897.
(8) The Keelung Period
The strategic importance of Taiwan to the defense of China has long been recognized. When Chu I-kwei rebelled against the authorities in 1721, Lan Ting-yuan joined the General Staff Headquarters in Taiwan to help suppress the rebellion. In his "Chronicles of the Anti-Rebellion Campaign," he foresaw the danger of attack from Japan and the necessity of adopting effective measures to strengthen the defenses of the island.
Although the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 was fought in the Korean, Liaotung and Shantung peninsulas, the Japanese, with an eye on Taiwan, continually patrolled and surveyed the waters in the vicinity of the island. The Penghu Islands fell under Japanese attack. When, on April 17, 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to the Japanese, so great was the uproar among the Taiwan population that the transfer ceremony had to take place on board a warship outside the Keelung harbor.
On May 1st, 1895, the people of Taiwan, clamoring for autonomous government, established "The Republic of Taiwan" with a parliament. They then elected Inspector General Tang Ching-sung President. Thus was established the first democratic republic in Asia. Chiu Feng-chia, a native of Changsha and a scholar of note, was placed at the head of the volunteer forces and was given the task of troop-training. A fishery corps was also organized. When the Japanese swooped down on isolated Taiwan, the people put up such a heroic struggle against impossible odds that tales of their courage are still being told today.
The Japanese occupied Taipei in June, 1895. With the arrival of the Japanese Governor General, Sukenori Kabayama, a military and civil administration was set up. The Taiwan Republic came to an end with the occupation of Tainan by the Japanese Army and Anping by the Japanese Navy in the month of October. Taiwan thus became a Japanese colony after a period of 220 years as part of the Chinese Empire.
Prior to the outbreak of World War I, the Japanese made a detailed survey of the land and the forests, developed the sugar industry and aimed at raising sufficient revenues to cover administrative expenses. By 1915 Taiwan had achieved not only economic solvency, but was able to make an annual contribution of 100,000,000 yen to the Japanese Government.
During World War I, all foreign economic enterprises were ousted from Taiwan, so that all profits accrued to the Japanese. Tremendous progress was made in the textile, machinery, pottery and chemical industries. With the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities in 1931, a beginning was made in the heavy industries to meet wartime needs. The manufacture of aluminum is a case in point. The electric plant at Sun and Moon Lake, completed in 1934, was able to generate 143,000 kilowatts. The availability of cheap and abundant power gave a tremendous boost to the economic prosperity of Taiwan. As regards mining, considerable progress was made in coal-mining, petroleum-mining and the gas industry.
When war broke out in the Pacific, Taiwan became a sort of aircraft-carrier from which the Japanese conquered Malaya. The economy of Taiwan was typical of that of a colony. Rice and sugar accounted for 80 per cent of the exports to Japan, while imports consisted mainly of Japanese manufactured goods. In 1938, half of the 1,200,000 tons of rice produced in Taiwan was exported to Japan. In the same year, out of a total sugar output of 1,460,000 tons, 1,000,000 tons was shipped to Japan. In other words, trade with Japan accounted for 90 per cent of the foreign trade of Taiwan.
The busy port of Keelung, the port nearest Nagasaki, served as an artery regulating the flow of merchandise between Taiwan and Japan. It is for this reason that the author calls this period the Keelung Period.
According to statistics compiled in 1941, half a century after Taiwan was placed under Japanese rule, the Japanese population on the whole island amounted to only 370,000, mostly merchants and government servants. One-third of this number resided in Taipei (population at that time: 340,000). The population ratio between the Japanese and the Chinese on the whole island was 1 to 18.
The success or failure of Japanese enterprises on the island depended, to a large extent, on the success or failure of the Japanese immigration policy. It was said by Sata Kojiro, former Chief of the Investigation Section of the South Manchuria Railway, that the Chinese were of a superior race, and that it would not be wise to overlook so potentially capable a race.
The Japanese Administration in Taiwan was a military one. There was so little fraternization between the Japanese and the Chinese that the attempt on the part of the Japanese to assimilate the Chinese population met with a singular lack of success. Laboring under political and economic oppression, the people of Taiwan gave expression to their indomitable spirit in a series of heroic, though unsuccessful, anti-Japanese movements. Their unconquerable spirit inspired Chiu Feng-chia to rhapsodize in one of his poems: "From time immemorial, most patriots have been islanders." The Taiwan people are, by blood, of the purest Chinese stock. Blessed with a distinguished cultural tradition, they laid great stress on character and honor. Their patriotism and revolutionary spirit moved them to revolution more than 100 times under the reign of the Japanese.
Under the rule of the Japanese, the poets gave vent to their frustrated patriotic feelings by writing poetry, so that over 50 poets' associations s prang up almost overnight. The most representative poet of that time was Lien Heng, the author of "A General History of Taiwan." His ancestors had immigrated to Tainan from Fukien after the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. Lien Heng was born in 1878, and died in 1936 at the age of 58. When, according to the Shimonoseki Treaty, Taiwan was ceded to Japan, Lien Heng was not yet twenty. The loss of Taiwan was so great a shock to him that he vowed to devote his life to writing and took upon himself the responsibility to preserve the literary tradition of Taiwan. He consequently collected all old publications on Taiwan, Chinese and foreign, that he could lay his hands on, and delved into the native folklore in search of reference material for his undertaking. After twenty years of unremitting labor, he completed his "A General History of Taiwan." This work, published in Japan in 1919 and containing 88 chapters, covered a period of over 1,000 years between the Sui Era and the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. In the preface to the book, he observed that so long as a cultural tradition survives, there is always hope of recovering lost ground.
It is now generally recognized that Lien Heng is a very great historian and that he may rightfully take his place with such literary giants as Wan Chi-yeh and Chuan Hsieh-shan.
During this time, the Chinese people could not for a single minute reconcile themselves to the loss of the beautiful island, or forget the plight of their oppressed compatriots in Taiwan. Consequently, the recovery of the island ranked high among the objectives of the revolutionary movement. When the Hsing Chung Hui was set up in Honolulu by Dr. Sun Yat-sen one year after the loss of Taiwan, he made it clear that the recovery of Taiwan and the consolidation of China were among his primary objectives.
After the establishment of the Republic of China, Lien Heng had occasion to visit Peking. While visiting the temple of Wen Tien-hsiang to pay his respects to the last prime minister of the Sung Dynasty, he was moved to write a poem containing the following lines: "Although the mainland has been recovered, the island of Taiwan still remains under foreign bondage." His feeling was that until Taiwan was recovered, the revolution could not be considered as a complete success.
In 1914, when Dr. Sun Yat-sen was on his way to Japan following the second failure of his revolutionary movement, he stayed over in Taiwan for a few days. His visit gave a tremendous uplift to the morale of the island revolutionaries who had the opportunity of meeting him. When he died on March 12, 1925, a memorial service arranged by private organizations was held in Taipei. A eulogy, the chanting of which was forbidden by the Japanese authorities, contained the lines: "We can hardly hold back our tears as we look towards the mainland in the west." Realizing that the recovery of Taiwan depended on the consolidation of their mother country, a number of Taiwan-born young men went to mainland China to join the revolutionary movement.
The year after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the determination to recover Taiwan was reiterated at the National Provisional Assembly of the Kuomintang. At the Cairo Conference in 1943, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek made it clear that all Chinese territory taken by Japan, including Taiwan, Penghu Islands and the Northeastern provinces, should be returned to China. When the Japanese surrendered unconditionally on August 15, 1945, Taiwan again became a part of China after having been subjected to Japanese rule for 51 years.
(9) The Kaohsiung Period
The Japanese surrender ceremony took place on October 25, 1945 in Taipei. The work of repatriation of Japanese residents was completed by the end of April, 1946. A little more than four years after the recovery of Taiwan, the Chinese mainland was lost to the Communists, so that Taiwan has become the only base from which the Chinese people can carry on their anti-Communist and anti-Russian operations.
The population of Taiwan in 1951 is estimated at 7,500,000, or 1,200,000 more than the 1945 figure. The history of Taiwan is a history of immigration movements. The recent influx of Chinese from the mainland who remained loyal to the Government is, in its magnitude, unparalleled in the history of Taiwan.
Despite the fact that Taiwan had undergone a 50-year period of foreign rule, the national spirit of the people has remained untarnished. Taiwan has become a miniature China. In the classroom, young people from the four corners of the mainland are now sitting side by side with young people from Taiwan and receiving their training on the same playgrounds. Taiwan, therefore, has become a melting pot of young men from all over China. It is in this province that feelings of nationalism and patriotism find their most eloquent expression.
Taiwan has become a spiritual rock of ages not only for the Chinese, but also for all democratic nations in the Western Pacific. Fengshan has become a training base for the Army, Tsaoying for the Navy, and Kangshan for the Air Force. All the three bases are in the vicinity of Kaohsiung. It is here that the revolutionary torch is kept burning. Under training in these bases are not only new troops, but a new race. A new cultural spirit is being engendered. A new breed of serious, alert and hardy patriots is undergoing continuous training. They have already given an amazing account of themselves in the landings of Mamoy and Kinmen. At a time when the current of history is in flux, this flourishing new force represents not only the new hopes of China, but also the ideals of freedom-loving peoples throughout the world. It is for this reason that the author calls this current period the Kaohsiung Period. The war that is going on is, when reduced to fundamentals, a war of ideologies, a war between different cultures. It is, in other words, a war between the democratic and totalitarian forms of government, a war between freedom and brute force, a war for survival against Red Imperialism. In order to keep alive the hopes of the 400,000,000 Chinese compatriots on the mainland, it is necessary that we show them by our action the ideals for which we are fighting.
Taiwan possesses many advantages denied to other places. During the past four years, the scars of war have practically disappeared. The development of hydroelectric power, agricultural production, mining and industries has gone on apace. The hydroelectric plant at Sun and Moon Lake and the Aluminum Factory at Kaohsiung are characteristic of the modern age. To carry on a war on a total footing, the means of livelihood must first be assured. In his book "Plans for National Reconstruction," Dr. Sun Yat-sen explained in great detail what he meant by war on a total footing. It is our hope that Taiwan will develop into a model area envisaged by Dr. Sun, an experimental area for a new administration. It is imperative that we redeem our honor. It is hoped that the 7,500.000 of our countrymen in Taiwan will bear in mind the glorious deeds of the revolutionaries of Taiwan as well as those of the mainland while endeavoring to build up a new Taiwan that will serve as a model for the new China.
*This is the second of a series of two articles. The first one entitled "Taiwan: A Historical Sketch Up to 1875" appeared in our April issue.