Taiwan before 1945

1
Taiwan before 1945

• The Portuguese
• In 1544, a Portuguese ship sighted the main
  island of Taiwan and dubbed it "Ilha Formosa",
  which means "Beautiful Island.
• But the Portuguese made no attempt to colonize
  Taiwan.

2

• The Dutch
• In 1624, the Dutch established a commercial base
  on Taiwan and began to import workers from Fujian
  and Penghu as laborers, many of whom settled.
• The Dutch made Taiwan a colony with its colonial
  capital at Anping, Tainan (??, ??)

3
The Island of Formosa, 1640
4

• ??? Zheng Cheng-gong
• (also known as Koxinga)
• Zhengs naval and troop forces of Southern Fujian
  defeated the Dutch in 1662, subsequently
  expelling the Dutch government and military from
  the island.
• There is a temple dedicated to Zheng and his
  mother in Tainan City.

5

• Zheng Cheng-gong in different political views
• 1. He was considered a national hero in Mainland
  China because he expelled the Dutch from Taiwan
  and established Chinese rule over the island.
• 2. During the Japanese control of Taiwan, he was
  honored as a bridge between Taiwan and Japan for
  his maternal linkage to Japan.

6

• Zheng Cheng-gong in different views
• 3. The Chinese Nationalist Party (or KMT
  Kuomintang) regarded him as a patriot who
  retreated to Taiwan and used it as base to launch
  counterattacks against the Qing (?)Dynasty
  government on the Mainland.
• As such, the Nationalists used to frequently
  compared Cheng to their own leader, Chiang
  Kai-shek.

7

• Zheng Cheng-gong in different views
• 4. Recent Taiwan Independence supporters have
  presented him in a positive light, portraying him
  as a native Taiwanese hero seeking to keep Taiwan
  independent from a mainland Chinese government.

8

• Taiwan under the Qing Dynasty
• In 1683, following the defeat of Zhengs grandson
  by Admiral Shi Lang (??), the Qing (?) Dynasty
  formally controlled Taiwan.
• In 1887, the Qing government upgraded Taiwan to a
  full province, with its capital at Taipei. This
  was accompanied by a modernization drive that
  included building Taiwan's first railroad and
  starting a postal service.

9

• Japanese Colonization
• Qing China was defeated in the First
  Sino-Japanese War (189495), and ceded Taiwan to
  Japan.
• The Japanese
• extended the railroads and other transportation
  networks
• built a sanitation system
• rice and sugarcane production greatly increased

10

• Japanese Colonization
• Still, the ethnic Chinese and Taiwanese
  aborigines were classified as second- and
  third-class citizens.
• Large-scale anti-Japanese violence continued in
  the first decade of rule.
• Japan launched over 160 battles to destroy
  Taiwan's aboriginal tribes during its 50-year
  rule of the island.

11

• Japanese Colonization
• Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide
  assimilation project to bind the island more
  firmly to the Japanese Empire.
• The plan worked very well. Tens of thousands of
  Taiwanese joined the Japanese army.
• For example, former ROC President Lee Teng-huis
  (???) elder brother served in the Japanese navy
  and died while on duty in February 1945.

12

• Japanese legacy
• Japan's rule of Taiwan ended following the defeat
  in World War II, but the Japanese occupation had
  long lasting effects on the island
• Taiwanese tend to have a positive view over
  Japanese.
• Most aged Taiwanese speak fluent Japanese many
  even considered themselves Japanese.
• Taiwan is considered the most Japan-friendly
  country in the world.
• Significant parts of Taiwanese infrastructure
  were started under the Japanese rule. (Even the
  ROCs current Presidential Building was also
  built during that time)