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In the mid-18th century,
the people of Taiwan was dragged into
imperialism from both the East and the West.
The conflict in Asia began with
the *** War in 1840.
International battles such as the Mutan Village Incident
and the Sino-French War
took place in Taiwan in succession.
In 1885,
the Qing government decided to make Taiwan a province
and appointed Liu Ming-Chuan
its first governor.
Liu also wanted to
modernize Taiwan.
But ten years later, Japan defeated the Qing government
in the First Sino-Japanese War.
In the end, Liu gave up this island
situated at the outskirts of the Qing Empire.
Then the Japanese
with the arrogance of conquerors,
arrived at their first
colony overseas.
What they didn't expect was
the fierce resistance from the islanders,
whose courage and endurance
far exceeded those of the Qing army.
If you want to know more about Taiwan,
the Treaty of Shimonoseki will tell you all.
Japan's weapons
After the Meiji Restoration
at the end of the 19th century,
Japan had become a modernized country.
It began to use arms to increase its influence.
But the Qing Empire didn't want to lose
its position as the suzerain of East Asian countries.
Thus, in 1894,
the interference of these two countries in
the internal affairs of Korea
resulted in the First Sino-Japanese War.
As the Qing government lost the war,
the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed.
The fate of Taiwan
was now in the hands of the rising Japanese Empire.
On April 17, 1895,
a rumor got around in Taipei
that Li Hong-Zhang had signed a peace treaty
with Prime Minister lto Hirobumi in Japan
and that the Qing Empire had ceded
Taiwan and Penghu to Japan.
Once the news was spread,
the people of Taiwan,
especially government officials, wealthy merchants,
landowners, and intellectuals,
were shocked, angered and worried.
Although the Treaty of Shimonoseki stated that
Japan could take the Liaodong Peninsula,
intervention by Russia, Germany and France
forced the Japanese government
to give up that already secured asset.
This turnout gave hope
to people who did not wish
to see Taiwan in Japan's hands.
Tang Ching-Sung, the governor of Taiwan,
was hinted by the Qing government
to use international law and public opinion
to stop the cession of Taiwan.
Therefore, men such as
Chiu Feng-Chia, Lin Chao-Tong
and Lin Wei-Yuan successively joined
the cause to establish The Taiwan Republic.
Meat buns...
Delicious meat buns...
At the end of the 19th century,
Taiwan had a population about three million.
Most of them are descendents from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou
of the Fujian areas and of the Hakka immigrants.
The government officials serving in Taiwan
were appointed by the emperor in Beijing.
You have great taste.
This fabric would be tailored into a beautiful robe.
Oh, it's not for clothing.
At that time,
silver and bronze coins were used in trade,
and agriculture was the base of life.
Compared to Japan and modernized countries
in Europe and America,
Taiwan was still a closed society.
Thank you.
Watch your step.
We no longer know who designed
the flag of the Taiwan Republic.
Since The Taiwan Republic
still supported the Qing Empire,
whose flag featured a dragon,
a tiger was chosen instead.
The Taiwan Republic is claimed to be
the first republic in Asia.
Its reign title is Yongqing,
meaning always belonging to the Qing Empire.
President Tang Ching-Sung even declared
The Taiwan Republic would shield the Qing Dynasty.
Yet, how did the people of Taiwan
look at The Taiwan Republic?
This was how Davidson,
an American reporter in Taipei
at that time, described it.
I expected that the memorable day would find the streets filled
with holidaymakers arrayed in their best clothes.
The houses gay with flags,
and the day noisy with firecrackers.
But it was not so.
All things jogged along as usual.
The pretty tea girls picked their tea
no with addition to their all time coquettishness,
and the tea box makers and painters worked along
in their usual busy style.
Not a new flag or firecracker in the settlement.
On this day,
an official seal was cast,
Tang Ching-Sung was nominated as president of The Taiwan Republic and
Liu Yung-Fu as brigadier general of Tainan.
Tang knelt down twice and kowtowed six times to
receive the seal, but the Japanese Navy was approaching
and the situation was tense,
so the unfinished ceremony
was postponed until the following day.
After 21-gun salute,
the blue flag with a yellow tiger
of the Taiwan Republic was hung.
But when the flag was raised,
it started to pour.
The tiger, painted on with yellow chalk,
was washed off.
This seemed to foreshadow
the future of the Taiwan Republic
On May 31, 1895, Japanese troops landed
on Yenliao on Taiwan's Northeast Coast.
On June 2nd,
Li Jing-Fang, the son of Li Hong-Zhang,
handed Taiwan over to Japanese representative
Kabayama Sukenori on a ship outside of Keelung.
On June 3rd,
Japanese troops surrounded Keelung on land and sea.
The Regular Army of the Qing government
was defeated at Shihchiuling, Keelung.
The defeated soldiers rushed into Taipei,
set fire and pillaged the city.
On the evening of June 4th,
Tang Ching-Sung abandoned
the 10-day old Taiwan Republic
and boarded a German ship back to Xiamen.
After Tang left,
Taipei went into chaos.
Local and foreign merchants
living in Taipei hoped the
Japanese army would soon arrive to restore order.
So they delegated Koo Hsien-Jung,
a general store owner,
to meet with the Japanese in Keelung
and to ask them to enter the city.
On June 17,
General Kabayama Sukenori of Japan
at Taiwan Provincial Administration Hall in Taipei
held a commencement ceremony
and became the first Japanese Governor-General to Taiwan.
With that, Japan officially won
its first overseas colony.
After the ceremony,
Japanese troops began to move south,
preparing for the take-over.
American reporter Davidson
described the take-over process
as follows:
Since Taiwan was already taken by a treaty,
the Japanese mistakenly believe
that establishing themselves upon the island would be a simple matter.
They never suspected that campaign would prove
even more arduous than the north China conflict
by which they had won it.
When Japanese soldiers crossed the Tamsui River
into Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli areas,
they were welcomed by smiling civilians
waving white flags.
However, few soldiers who fell behind
often got attacked by militiamen.
Fire!
While the Japanese troops moved south,
some groups of heavily armed men
who wanted to protect their homesteads,
making use of topographical advantages,
fought a guerilla warfare with these intruders.
The Japanese couldn't distinguish
the civilians from the rebels.
So Taoyuan and East Hsinchu,
were swept down without discrimination.
But it brought the contrary effect.
It drove people
who weren't anti-Japanese activists
to join the rebels.
When the Japanese entered Taipei,
the highly esteemed scholar Wu Te-Kung from Changhua
was invited by the magistrate of Taiwan county
to discuss details of resistance to the Japanese.
Besides recruiting local warriors and grouping them
Wu also collected funds from community members
to keep the group going.
I heard local gents and leaders in Taoyuan, Hsinchu
and Miaoli like Wu Tang-Hsin, Chiang Shao-Chu,
Huang Nan-Chiu, and Hsu Shiang
led warriors against the Japanese.
I admire their courage and strength,
but what worries me now
is my men.
They can hold up against
a disorderly group of bandits.
But regarding
Japanese troops with modern arms,
I don't think my people can fight against them.
The Japanese continued to call for reinforcements
to drive the rebels in Taoyuan,
Hsinchu and Miaoli southward.
Finally, a large-scale fighting broke out
in Baguan Mountain area.
The anti-Japanese militants
were almost wiped out
at this battle.
Hold.
They're out.
Hold.
Fire!
When I got back to the city,
90% of the houses were empty.
Trees and plants withered
and streets were deserted.
Many women lost their husbands and sons.
An epidemic was going around.
Life was even harder.
Being desperate,
I only asked for a life of peace with my family.
Being stationed in Tainan, Liu Yung-Fu, the leader
of the Black Flags, didn't send reinforcements
to fight the Japanese in Northern and Central Taiwan
Instead, taking advantage of the raging battle,
he founded the Taiwan Republic in Tainan
to reorganize defense forces and to wait for
the Qing government to send reinforcements.
The Black Flags are coming...
The Black Flags are coming...
The Black Flags are coming...
The Black Flags re coming...
The Black Flags are coming...
In October 1895,
Japanese troops approached Tainan.
Liu knew he could not fight them.
Following Tang Ching-Sung's footsteps
he went back to China.
At this time,
the Qing government retreated completely from Taiwan.
Japan had many weapons.
They fought from Taipei to Tainan.
Black Flags were against White Flags.
The people of Taiwan were scared.
To protect their lives,
they stayed at home.
One had better prepare black flags and white flags.
It is better for a person to protect himself.
What does it say?
I don't understand.
What does it say?
Let me see.
What happened?
The Japanese allow us
to choose our nationality in two years.
Those who don't want to live under their rule
must move back to China
or to wherever the foreigners are in two years.
Why does it happen?
How come we have to leave?
We get used to life here but they want us to move.
We have a life here.
What should we do?
Yeah.
After taking over Taiwan,
based on the agreements of the Treaty of Shimonoseki,
Japan gave people in Taiwan a chance
to choose their nationalities.
Those who did not want to become Japanese citizens
had to register within two years
and leave Taiwan.
When the deadline was up,
people who registered to leave Taiwan,
were more than 4500
which was only 0.16% of the total population.
Even though the Japanese government issued Law 63
and established a colonial ruling system in Taiwan
under the lead of Taiwan Governor-General,
Japanese and Taiwanese living on this island
had to obey different sets of laws.
The rights and benefits of the Taiwanese
were far less than those of the Japanese.
But most Taiwanese
didn't want to abandon the homes
which they have worked so hard to build.
Taiwanese have treated Taiwan as a place
where they can settle down.
Your Excellency.
Your Excellency.
During the Qing administration,
Taiwan did not have a police force.
After the Japanese ruled Taiwan,
they used policemen to maintain social order
and to carry out administrative orders.
The Japanese government gave these policemen great power.
What one did every day
could be interfered by the policemen.
Let me weigh that.
Japanese police were very strict.
Sometimes they exercised violence.
A catty and a half.
Your Excellency.
How much does that weigh?
One catty.
Is that so?
You ***.
What's your name?
Chen Ching-Chung.
At that time Japanese policemen
used local hooligans
as agents
to abuse and harm Taiwanese.
So those working for the Japanese were called
"Three Legs" or Japanese lackeys.
Seven to eight years
after the Japanese rule,
local powers and leaders,
in order to protect their profits,
began a long-term fight against the Japanese
and hid.
The Japanese government issued
the Gangster Penalty Order to execute bandits.
It also offered favorable conditions
to people who surrender.
Then it waited for the right time to counterattack.
Chien Ta-Shih, Ko Tie-Hu and Lin Shao-Mao,
who later came to be known
as the three great anti-Japanese heroes,
were exterminated one by one.
As for the gents and scholars,
the Japanese government tried to win their support
so as to form a new group of local leaders.
In 1896,
military policeman Takahashi and CaptainTogo
came to my house.
I told them I was old
and sick to turn down the offer.
In the spring of 1897, I didn't expect
Murakami Yoshio, the prefect of Taichung county,
would more than one time send his interpreter
to see me.
This time I didn't dare decline.
So that's how I became a counselor.
In order to profit more
from the colony of Taiwan,
during the Japanese rule,
the Japanese completed several infrastructures
At the end of 1895, when Goto Shimpei was
health consultant at the Office of Governor-General,
he hired Mr. Burton, a British engineer,
to help construct tap water and drainage systems.
Here and here
This will supply fresh water
for the people of the city.
Good.
How long will it take?
It will take several years.
It depends on whether everything goes smoothly.
Good...
In 1898,
the waterworks of Taipei were completed.
Tap water officially entered Taiwan's history.
With that,
Taiwan
metamorphosed into a modern society.
In 1900,
Count Kodama Gentaro, Taiwan Governor-General,
held a conference on cultural issues.
More than 150 provincial graduates
and tributary scholars were invited to this event.
I took a northbound train from Hsinchu.
It left at 9 o'clock
and arrived at Tataocheng at 12.
It was like magic
for the distance of two places to be shortened.
I guess with water and fire
the train runs faster than the light.
That should be what people mean.
In 1900, the Office of Taiwan Governor-General
held a conference on cultural issues
Wu Te-Kung and other scholars took a train
to visit the new armaments and facilities
the Japanese government constructed in Taiwan.
This is great.
For the city of Taipei,
This is very convenient
Of course,
For the Japanese Empire,
this is an outstanding achievement.
I'm very happy.
We visited a battleship at the Keelung Harbor
and saw the army performing drills.
The machines at the sawmill
were as fast as lightening.
The camphor plant was also very advanced.
Camphor products are machine packed like cigarettes,
which saves a lot of time and energy.
It was amazing.
We also visited the electricity plant
and the pharmaceutical plant,
demonstrating the wonders of chemistry and physics.
The hospital trained doctors and nurses,
which set precedents.
My daughter is getting married.
I see.
Congratulations...
Let me give you a discount.
Thank you...
In 1899,
The Bank of Taiwan was founded.
Monetary law and currency reform were carried out.
In the past, the Taiwanese thought only coins made of
precious metals such as silver and bronze
were of value.
After the monetary system was unified,
they began to understand
the modern financial concept
that paper money was also value-based currency.
During the Japanese administration,
to develop agriculture in Taiwan and industry in Japan
was its economic policy.
In Taiwan new sugar plants were constructed
to replace old sugar mills.
The tall chimneys of new sugar plants
became Taiwan's new landmarks.
Taiwan's sugar industry flourished.
During World War I,
the production of beet sugar stopped in Europe.
As a result, Taiwan's sugar sold not only in Asia,
but also in Europe, America and Australia.
It was the golden time of Taiwan's sugar industry.
*** was gradually prohibited.
It was not abolished until the 1930s.
Foot-binding and queues,
however, were meant to be abolished at once.
It, nevertheless, took several years
for the practices to end.
The abolishment of foot-binding
not only liberated the women of Taiwan,
but also supply
female workforce for the Taiwanese society.
This was the beginning of a profound effect
on the emancipation of Taiwanese women.
In southern mountains of China,
was born a holy ruler and talented subject
who has the ability to rule a country,
and the ambition to bring peace to the country.
He has his right-hand man and faithful subjects,
and the help of three religions
(Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism).
Holy gods and Buddha come to the world to preach.
He has myriads of disciples
and can do many things.
The heavenly master comes.
All the people should follow him.
But as Taiwan underwent modernization,
an anti-Japanese rebellion with religious coloring
erupted in 1915:
The Xilai An Incident.
Under the imperial decree of the Taming Compassion State,
I, Commander Yu, will bring peace to Taiwan.
In the 5th lunar month of 1915
The Japanese have been in Taiwan for 20 years,
but their days are numbered.
Neither the heaven nor the earth will tolerate them.
Gods and men are in anger.
Damn!
Damn!
Damn!
Damn!
I will rise up and fight on mandate of the heaven.
Yu Ching-Fang used folk religion
to appeal to the people.
He declared that divine power had appeared in Taiwan
and would establish Taming Compassion State.
His followers increased day by day,
which alarmed the Japanese intelligence.
The Japanese government commanded to arrest
Yu and his followers
who retreated to Xilai An (Xilai Temple),
nowadays' Yujing and Nanshi areas in Tainan.
With traditional swords and religious instruments,
they fought modernized Japanese troops.
We regretted deeply.
Furiously killing people,
the Japanese
lost their humanities.
Being protected by gods,
I enforced justice on behalf of the Heaven.
What did he say?
Fire!
The Xilai An Incident
was the resistance of the pre-modern people
against a modernized police force.
Then Japan had finished the Meiji Restoration.
The 1911 Revolution in China
had also come to an end.
Yet Yu and his party
still imagined a Boxer-type rebellion.
Even though they fought heroically,
their rebellion still ended in tragedy.
The end of the Xilai An Incident
marked the end of
armed anti-Japanese forces in Taiwan.
The new generation of Taiwanese
who received Japan's western-styled education
launched political and social movements
that were quite different in spirit and in contents.
At the beginning of the Japanese rule,
the government resorted to pacifying the aborigines
and make investigations into their forest resources,
cultures, and customs
of the areas they lived in.
Only when Sakuma Samata became the 5th Taiwan
Governor-General, did the aborigine suppression begin.
With superior military backup,
the Japanese moved the Qing Empire's Detaining Line
to the aboriginal territory.
Some major sections
even had electric barb wires
to prevent aborigines from crossing.
In 1910
when the Japanese government
finished deploying the Detaining Line,
they began armed attacks on aborigine tribes.
The aborigines could not fight the armed Japanese.
Anti-Japanese activities were gradually quelled.
In 1915,
aborigine tribes in Taiwan,
like the Han Chinese,
were under the control of the Japanese government.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Good evening.
A handsome man.
A handsome man.
A handsome man.
A handsome man.
Issho naru means to sleep together.
Iro otoko means a handsome man.
Kirei onna. Come on.
Kirei onna means a beautiful woman.
The teacher is coming...
Dad, the teacher is here.
In 1898,
the Japanese government turned
Japanese centers into six-year public schools
offering a new form of education.
But to Taiwanese families at that time,
since this new form of education
no longer offered an imperial examination system,
they'd rather have their children tend farming.
So Japanese elementary school teachers
had to pay house calls
to persuade parents
to send their children to school.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Good afternoon, Teacher.
After 1910,
when the Japanese rule became stable,
Taiwanese families were more willing
to send their children to these new schools.
After six-year study at the elementary school,
some even attended vocational or teacher's schools.
The new education system
unavoidably tried to instill ideas
of Japan's greatness
to attain the goal of assimilating Taiwanese.
It also provided common knowledge,
and liberal arts courses,
which developed the Taiwanese's
scientific spirit and world views.
It also built a strong foundation
for the future cultural and social reform movements.
The Japanese Empire treated Taiwan,
their first colony overseas,
with benevolence and strictness.
Compared with the passivity of the Qing Empire,
this treatment was far more aggressive.
It was a totalitarian rule
that opted to control the society
from top to bottom.
The various forces
that had existed in local communities
were consequently demolished.
Taiwan was a pre-modern society
that was lax and closed off.
But under the Japanese rule,
It gradually became
a coherent and modern society.
In 1919,
the Japanese government carried out
“ Japanese extensionism, ” an assimilation policy,
which would turn Taiwan into a part of Japan,
and would treat it as equally as Japan proper.
That year, the Office of Governor-General,
the highest Japanese government institution
in Taiwan, was completed.
The Japanese rule of Taiwan
reached a stable stage.