Literature

Taiwan 2001

Literature

Early Taiwanese Literature

Aboriginal Traditions

The aboriginal peoples settled on the island of Taiwan thousands of years ago and developed distinct oral narratives, languages, customs, and cultures. For centuries, aborigines on Taiwan have been marginalized in the expression of Taiwanese culture. As each tribe has its own language and customs, intertribal communication or coordination is weak. Only recently was some progress made for such intertribal purposes, and the major event that drew different tribes together was the 1985 Wu Feng Incident 吳鳳事件, in which the statue of Wu Feng, a fictional deity invented by the Han 漢 Chinese to domesticate the "barbaric" aborigines, was crushed. Quite a few aboriginal intellectuals joined their people in the demonstration, urging the government to drop the ethnocentric Wu Feng mythology in the primary school textbooks and to pay more attention to the crisis the aboriginal population was facing.
Since 1980, aboriginal intellectuals have tried to recreate their own past by reexpressing their peoples' oral traditions. A large body of oral narratives about creation myths and tribal heroes have been transcribed and circulated in the form of parallel texts, in which the original aboriginal languages are spelled out in romani-zation and accompanied by Chinese translation. The texts are not only intended for Chinese-speaking audiences, but are also primarily used as textbooks for the younger generations in the aboriginal population. For many aboriginal intellectuals, such texts literally constitute the last utopian hope for their traditions to be transmitted in the struggle for cultural survival, fully aware of the brutal fact that even their children are resisting the use of the native tongue. As a result, indigenous languages and literatures are on the verge of disappearance.
Chinese Immigrant Literature

Between 1612 and 1844, quite a few Chinese intellectuals visited or stayed in Taiwan, most notably the Ming poet Shen Kuang-wen 沈光文, who was forced to land on the island by a typhoon in 1662 and afterward played an important role in forming a Taiwanese poets society under the name of Tung-yin 東吟. Like Koxinga 鄭成功, who came with his soldiers and conquered the island in 1661, Shen was loyal to the Ming emperors, even though China had by then been taken over by the Ching rulers. His poetry was mostly composed in regulated verse, expressing his patriotic feelings and nostalgia for the empire lost. Shen was thus instrumental in planting the seeds of classical Chinese literature on the island. Students were trained to familiarize themselves with the grand Chinese literary tradition. The lyric subjects were often on exotic landscapes or the poet's own inscapes of consciousness that had little to do with the social reality of Taiwan. As a consequence, for more than two hundred years, there were only a few memorable pieces composed in prose narrative by high officials who happened to be in Taiwan for a brief period. Examples are Chu-lo-hsien chih 諸羅縣志 by Chen Meng-lin 陳夢林 (who arrived in Taiwan in 1716) and Hsiao-liu-chiu man-chih 小琉球漫誌 by Chu Shih-chieh 朱士玠 (who stayed from June 1763 until August 1764).
Several local Taiwanese poets began to make their names known during the mid-19th century, among them Tsai Ting-lan 蔡廷蘭, Chen Chao 陳肇, Huang Ching 黃敬, Cheng Yung-hsi 鄭用錫, and Lin Chan-mei 林占梅. They were literati and cultural elites writing in the mode of classical Chinese lyric, and as intellectuals who played important roles in Taiwan's history, their influence on local culture remains strong. In response to the colonial world of the late Ching period and in reaction to their precursors, Taiwanese poets of the next two decades became more devoted to everyday subjects and were often committed to expressing nationalist sentiment. Tang Ching-sung 唐景崧 and Chiu Feng-chia 丘逢甲 were two prominent officials and poets who got deeply involved in establishing the Democratic Taiwan Nation 臺灣民主國 on May 25, 1895, upon hearing the news that the Ching court had ceded Taiwan to Japan. Other major poets of this generation, such as Chen Wei-ying 陳維英 and Wang Kai-tai 王凱泰, were equally interested in describing ordinary people and popular culture. In many ways, they opened paths toward a more dynamic and democratic era of literary production, the period of Taiwanese literature under Japanese rule (1895-1945).
Early Colonial Literature

On April 17, 1895, in the Treaty of Shimonoseki--which put an end to the first Sino-Japanese War--the Ching empire ceded Taiwan and the nearby Pescadores to Japan. Subsequently, the Japanese army landed on Taiwan on May 29, 1895, but met fierce resistance from the Taiwanese, who had proclaimed independence. The Taiwan Republic established by a group of cultural elite and local people lasted only ten days; however, the Taiwanese fought the Japanese troops for four months before surrendering Tainan City in October 1895. Sporadic guerrilla resistance to the colonizer continued for some 20 years. The casualties on both sides were quite heavy; more than 10,000 Taiwanese died. As a result, the Japanese gradually modified their policies to seek the acquiescence of the Taiwanese elite and began to introduce modern technology and social reforms, instead of resorting to military or political force.
Between 1895 and 1913, a minor group of national elite, mostly poets writing in the classical Chinese tradition, returned to China, thinking that they could not survive colonialism. The remaining local elite tried, on the other hand, to preserve their cultural heritage, retain ties with other provinces, and develop their distinctive arts of improvisation in the midst of colonial banality and brutality. Hung Chi-sheng 洪棄生 was probably the most famous writer of the period. He refused to cut off his queue, withdrew from public life, and wrote in classical Chinese, to make the point that he was identifying himself with the Ching. In his poetical and prose works, Hung constantly referred to the society and culture of Taiwan of the time to reveal his patriotism and nationalism. However, the most important literary event in the first 20 years under Japanese occupation was the establishment of the Li Poetry Society 櫟社, of which the key members included Lien Ya-tang 連雅堂, Lin Chih-hsien 林痴仙, Lin Hsien-tang 林獻堂, and many others. The society was responsible for publishing an influential journal on poetry and poetics, Taiwan Wen-i Chiu-chih 臺灣文藝舊誌; it was also instrumental in supporting nationalist movements. Lien's monumental work on Taiwan's history, A Comprehensive History of Taiwan 臺灣通史, remains a classic in the field.
In 1911, Liang Chi-chao 梁啟超 visited Taiwan and brought with him ideas of Western enlightenment and experimental literature. Even though Taiwanese writers of the time were versed in the classical Chinese tradition, they were forced to confront the colonial reality and to work in more realistic modes of literary expression. This made a shift toward modern literature inevitable.

Copyright (C) May 2001, Government Information Office. All rights reserved. Site design by L.F. Lee
Best viewed with Netscape 4.x or IE 5.x (medium font) at 800 x 600 True Color (32 bit) resolution

		Literature
		Early Taiwanese Literature Aboriginal Traditions The aboriginal peoples settled on the island of Taiwan thousands of years ago and developed distinct oral narratives, languages, customs, and cultures. For centuries, aborigines on Taiwan have been marginalized in the expression of Taiwanese culture. As each tribe has its own language and customs, intertribal communication or coordination is weak. Only recently was some progress made for such intertribal purposes, and the major event that drew different tribes together was the 1985 Wu Feng Incident 吳鳳事件, in which the statue of Wu Feng, a fictional deity invented by the Han 漢 Chinese to domesticate the "barbaric" aborigines, was crushed. Quite a few aboriginal intellectuals joined their people in the demonstration, urging the government to drop the ethnocentric Wu Feng mythology in the primary school textbooks and to pay more attention to the crisis the aboriginal population was facing. Since 1980, aboriginal intellectuals have tried to recreate their own past by reexpressing their peoples' oral traditions. A large body of oral narratives about creation myths and tribal heroes have been transcribed and circulated in the form of parallel texts, in which the original aboriginal languages are spelled out in romani-zation and accompanied by Chinese translation. The texts are not only intended for Chinese-speaking audiences, but are also primarily used as textbooks for the younger generations in the aboriginal population. For many aboriginal intellectuals, such texts literally constitute the last utopian hope for their traditions to be transmitted in the struggle for cultural survival, fully aware of the brutal fact that even their children are resisting the use of the native tongue. As a result, indigenous languages and literatures are on the verge of disappearance. Chinese Immigrant Literature Between 1612 and 1844, quite a few Chinese intellectuals visited or stayed in Taiwan, most notably the Ming poet Shen Kuang-wen 沈光文, who was forced to land on the island by a typhoon in 1662 and afterward played an important role in forming a Taiwanese poets society under the name of Tung-yin 東吟. Like Koxinga 鄭成功, who came with his soldiers and conquered the island in 1661, Shen was loyal to the Ming emperors, even though China had by then been taken over by the Ching rulers. His poetry was mostly composed in regulated verse, expressing his patriotic feelings and nostalgia for the empire lost. Shen was thus instrumental in planting the seeds of classical Chinese literature on the island. Students were trained to familiarize themselves with the grand Chinese literary tradition. The lyric subjects were often on exotic landscapes or the poet's own inscapes of consciousness that had little to do with the social reality of Taiwan. As a consequence, for more than two hundred years, there were only a few memorable pieces composed in prose narrative by high officials who happened to be in Taiwan for a brief period. Examples are Chu-lo-hsien chih 諸羅縣志 by Chen Meng-lin 陳夢林 (who arrived in Taiwan in 1716) and Hsiao-liu-chiu man-chih 小琉球漫誌 by Chu Shih-chieh 朱士玠 (who stayed from June 1763 until August 1764). Several local Taiwanese poets began to make their names known during the mid-19th century, among them Tsai Ting-lan 蔡廷蘭, Chen Chao 陳肇, Huang Ching 黃敬, Cheng Yung-hsi 鄭用錫, and Lin Chan-mei 林占梅. They were literati and cultural elites writing in the mode of classical Chinese lyric, and as intellectuals who played important roles in Taiwan's history, their influence on local culture remains strong. In response to the colonial world of the late Ching period and in reaction to their precursors, Taiwanese poets of the next two decades became more devoted to everyday subjects and were often committed to expressing nationalist sentiment. Tang Ching-sung 唐景崧 and Chiu Feng-chia 丘逢甲 were two prominent officials and poets who got deeply involved in establishing the Democratic Taiwan Nation 臺灣民主國 on May 25, 1895, upon hearing the news that the Ching court had ceded Taiwan to Japan. Other major poets of this generation, such as Chen Wei-ying 陳維英 and Wang Kai-tai 王凱泰, were equally interested in describing ordinary people and popular culture. In many ways, they opened paths toward a more dynamic and democratic era of literary production, the period of Taiwanese literature under Japanese rule (1895-1945). Early Colonial Literature On April 17, 1895, in the Treaty of Shimonoseki--which put an end to the first Sino-Japanese War--the Ching empire ceded Taiwan and the nearby Pescadores to Japan. Subsequently, the Japanese army landed on Taiwan on May 29, 1895, but met fierce resistance from the Taiwanese, who had proclaimed independence. The Taiwan Republic established by a group of cultural elite and local people lasted only ten days; however, the Taiwanese fought the Japanese troops for four months before surrendering Tainan City in October 1895. Sporadic guerrilla resistance to the colonizer continued for some 20 years. The casualties on both sides were quite heavy; more than 10,000 Taiwanese died. As a result, the Japanese gradually modified their policies to seek the acquiescence of the Taiwanese elite and began to introduce modern technology and social reforms, instead of resorting to military or political force. Between 1895 and 1913, a minor group of national elite, mostly poets writing in the classical Chinese tradition, returned to China, thinking that they could not survive colonialism. The remaining local elite tried, on the other hand, to preserve their cultural heritage, retain ties with other provinces, and develop their distinctive arts of improvisation in the midst of colonial banality and brutality. Hung Chi-sheng 洪棄生 was probably the most famous writer of the period. He refused to cut off his queue, withdrew from public life, and wrote in classical Chinese, to make the point that he was identifying himself with the Ching. In his poetical and prose works, Hung constantly referred to the society and culture of Taiwan of the time to reveal his patriotism and nationalism. However, the most important literary event in the first 20 years under Japanese occupation was the establishment of the Li Poetry Society 櫟社, of which the key members included Lien Ya-tang 連雅堂, Lin Chih-hsien 林痴仙, Lin Hsien-tang 林獻堂, and many others. The society was responsible for publishing an influential journal on poetry and poetics, Taiwan Wen-i Chiu-chih 臺灣文藝舊誌; it was also instrumental in supporting nationalist movements. Lien's monumental work on Taiwan's history, A Comprehensive History of Taiwan 臺灣通史, remains a classic in the field. In 1911, Liang Chi-chao 梁啟超 visited Taiwan and brought with him ideas of Western enlightenment and experimental literature. Even though Taiwanese writers of the time were versed in the classical Chinese tradition, they were forced to confront the colonial reality and to work in more realistic modes of literary expression. This made a shift toward modern literature inevitable. Copyright (C) May 2001, Government Information Office. All rights reserved. Site design by L.F. Lee Best viewed with Netscape 4.x or IE 5.x (medium font) at 800 x 600 True Color (32 bit) resolution