Japanese Occupation in Taiwan

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I was reading some articles about Japanese occupation in Taiwan, and to my surprise, the whole occupation ordeal was more interesting than I expected. My grandfather on my father’s side was relatively heavily influenced compared to my other extended family, at least from my perspective, by the Japanese assimilation because to this day he still sings old Japanese songs decades ago. To be honest, I enjoy those songs. I like the ring of history and tradition in those songs. Since, we’re already talking about Japan, I would like to share my thoughts on Japanese colonization of Taiwan.

The occupation is mainly divided in three parts:

1. Military rule (1895-1918)
2. Forced assimilation (1919-1937)
3. WWII era (1938-1945)

I will talk about the first two phases. I want to group the WWII era together with the post-war era in Taiwan, which will be in a future post.

Phase 1: Military rule

Many might heard of the first Sino-Japanese War, which took Taiwan away from the Qing Dynasty around 1895 to Japan. However, few might heard of the Taiwan-Japanese War (also called 乙未戰爭) in 1896. Because the Taiwanese people don’t want Japanese to colonize them, they stirred up a huge resistance. During Phase I, a lot of people grouped together to form rebellions to disrupt Japanese rule in Taiwan. Resistance was going on basically everywhere. However, because Taiwan did not go through the process of modernization (as opposed to Japan during the Meiji Restoration), most of the rebellions were brutally suppressed. A lot of people were killed and injured. But the rebellions didn’t stop until around the 1910s.

It is also important to note that the Taiwan aborigines were also involved in the resistance. They also formed some kind of resistance to fight against the invading colonizers. However, again, because of the lack of modern equipment, the aborigines suffered a lot.

The Japanese, although having modernized their weapons and other infrastructure, still met some difficulties in colonizing Taiwan. Other than the fierce resistance and harassment all over the island, the Japanese had to deal with the climate. Because of the geographical location of Taiwan, the Japanese sometimes would get sick.

There was this phenomenon going on in Taiwan. I’m not sure if this is still used in parenting these days. But, if a child starts crying, the parents would tell the child to stop because “the police will come and get you”. Because of the authoritarian rule of Japanese police over the citizens, people hated those police. Lai Ho, a writer, described this situation in the form of a short story called “The Steelyard” (一桿秤仔). Unfortunately, the English translation is currently unavailable.

Phase 2: Forced Assimilation

After years of resistance, Taiwanese started to realize that it was futile to fight against the Japanese with relentless assaults. Although those actions can result in epic stories and folklore to pass down on generations to come, realistically speaking, it’s a very draining process – many people were sacrificed after all. Therefore, more people turned to another form of fighting: the pen-and-paper way. The Japanese, on the other hand, due to their own liberal expansion in the National Diet, changed their way of colonization also. Instead of using military force, they turned to education and other infrastructural institutions. The governors in Taiwan (all Japanese of course) mostly had the same goals – to assimilate Taiwanese under japan, to make Taiwan an extension of the Japanese Empire, and to educate Taiwanese to serve under the Japan Emperor. Of course, other than those, economic incentives also drove dozens of Japanese companies to invest in Taiwan, which, in turn, provided Taiwan with improved infrastructure.

All that aside, another reason that made Taiwanese people gradually shifted their focus from fists to pens was an event that happened in mainland China. Across the Taiwan Strait, in Beijing, a movement was going on. That movement was the May Fourth Movement, a movement that defined the New Culture Movement – to establish a Chinese identity by unifying the culture, language, and ideas, and to establish a government that embraces science and democracy. The 1919 May Fourth Movement had made its way to Taiwan, giving birth to a new generation of fighters.

The most famous product under this cultural movement in Taiwan is definitely the creation of the Taiwanese Cultural Association (1921) (TCA). Quite coincidentally, it’s created in the same year as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). So, while Beijing was celebrating the 100th anniversary of their current ruling party last year, Taiwan was celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Taiwanese Cultural Association. Another famous product was the creation of the Taiwanese Communist Party (1928) (TCP) (different from the Taiwan Communist Party established in 1994). Similar to their Chinese then-counterpart (the CCP), the TCP advocates Marxism, Leninism, and other communist ideologies. However, different from the CCP, the TCP did not succeed in becoming the main party in Taiwan. After the Kuomintang (KMT) retreat to Taiwan, the leader of the party, Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石) enacted the Martial Laws, opening up the authoritarian period of Taiwan. During the Martial Law period, the communist party were heavily damaged because the KMT did not like communism at all. In the end, it died down.

The TCA had a goal. It was to unify Taiwanese under a unified Taiwan identity. As a result, a lot of rallies were carried out during this period, even in Tokyo. The Taiwanese had sent numerous letters to the Japanese National Diet for a Taiwan Parliament. But, as expected, those letters were all dismissed. However, as TCA grew bigger and bigger and more and more influential, it got split into different factions, most notably, the reformists and the radicals (I can already taste the French Revolution). The reformists argued for a self-rule under the Japanese, while the radicals laughed at the concept of “self-rule” and argued for independence. The radicals also hoped to gain support from China, hoping that China can help Taiwan achieve emancipation. This argument even got into the field of linguistics. The more moderate people would argue for a standardized language that does not involve an alphabetization of Mandarin or Taiwanese, while the more radical ones would argue for an alphabetization of Taiwanese. Interestingly, the alphabetization of the Mandarin language was partially achieved by Mao Zedong. He also simplified the Chinese characters in order to increase literacy among people. Of course, the downside was that the meaning behind those characters drastically decreased. The cultural significance was less meaningful. However, at that time, increasing literacy was important in order for development.

Japanese Influence in Taiwan

Albeit military rule and forced assimilation, Japanese influence in Taiwan is definitely not to be ignored easily. The most notable ones were language and education. For language, Japanese was listed on the curriculum of all schools. As a result, everyone who attended school had to learn Japanese. Although graduation rate wasn’t high, most authors during that time wrote in Japanese, such as 呂赫若, a forgotten figure in Taiwanese literature (I might write a post just about him). For education, the National Taiwan University, the top-ranked Taiwan high-education institution was established under Japanese colonization. Another huge influence Japan brought with them was the infrastructural development in Taiwan. Because Taiwan had a lot of resources, Japan spent a lot of money in developing the infrastructure in Taiwan in order for more profit. During this time, a lot of Taiwanese merchants also ventured Southwest to other Asian countries to do trade.

Conclusion

Japanese colonization was a relatively controversial topic to talk about. Because I didn’t spend most of my time in Taiwan, I failed to grasp a general consensus from people I know regarding Japanese colonization. In other words, I don’t know what people around me in Taiwan think about Japanese colonization. So, I will just lead to my own conclusion based on my observations.

During Japanese colonization, Taiwanese gradually shifted their direction from violent resistance to an exploration of their own identity. Japanese treated Taiwanese somehow brutally but also shifted to a softer approach via education modifications with hopes of assimilation. Either way, good or bad, Japanese colonization brought a new generation of Taiwanese that seek for an identity, which will spread its influence throughout the island, both spatially and temporally.

Further Readings

1. Shih-Shan Henry Tsai – Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West, published by Routledge in 2015 with ISBN: 978-0-7656-2328-7.
2. Wikipedia – Taiwan under Japanese Rule
3. A-chin Hsiau – Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism, published by Routledge in 2000 with ISBN: 0-415-22648-1.