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Taiwan 2002 |
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History |
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History of TaiwanThe history of Taiwan is a story of both frustration and miracles. Taiwan, isolated and poorly developed, had been a neglected island before the 17th century. But during the age of exploration and maritime conquest by Europeans, Taiwan attracted world attention owing to its strategic location and natural resources. First came the Dutch (1624) and the Spanish (1628), who colonized parts of northern and southern Taiwan. Cheng Cheng-kung, who was loyal to the fallen Ming dynasty, defeated the Dutch in 1662 and set up a government on Taiwan to defy the Manchus, who had established the Ching dynasty. The Manchus conquered Taiwan in 1683, and ruled it until 1895 when Taiwan was ceded to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War. Eventually, Taiwan returned to Chinese rule under the Nationalist government at the end of World War II.
Earliest InhabitantsTaiwan's first inhabitants left no written records of their origins. Anthropological evidence suggests that Taiwan's indigenous peoples are from proto-Malayan ancestry. Their vocabulary and grammar belong to the Malayan-Polynesian family of modern day Indonesia, and they once shared many Indonesian customs such as tattooing, using identical names for father and son, gerontocracy, head-hunting, spirit worship, and indoor burials. Over 500 prehistoric sites in Taiwan, including many dwelling areas, tombs, and shell mounds, have provided more and seemingly contradictory clues to the origins of Taiwan's aborigines. The majority of prehistoric artifacts discovered so far, such as flat axes, red unpolished pottery, decorated bronze implements, and glass beads, suggest an Indonesian connection. However, other items, such as painted red pottery, red polished pottery, chipped stone knives, black pottery, stone halberds, pottery tripods, and bone arrowheads, suggest that Taiwan's earliest settlers might have come from the Chinese mainland. Many other questions remain unanswered. Were these prehistoric remains left by the ancestors of today's indigenous peoples? The question is a complex one, but many anthropologists have suggested that the remains discovered so far have no proven connection to the present indigenous cultures in Taiwan.What is known for certain is that large tribes of indigenous peoples, plus many Han people from the Chinese mainland, were already living in Taiwan when the Portuguese first visited the island in 1582 after a shipwreck. European ColonizationWhen Portuguese navigators first came upon Taiwan in mid-16th century, struck by the tremendous beauty of its green mountains rising steeply of the blue-green waters of the Pacific, they exclaimed Ilha Formosa, meaning "beautiful island." The island has thus been known as Formosa in the West for centuries after. Portuguese interest in the island was limited, for survivors of the shipwreck left Formosa for Macao and never returned after staying for only six weeks on the southwest coast.The next groups of Europeans to come to Taiwan were the Dutch and the Spanish. In 1622, the Dutch East India Company established a military base on the Pescadores Islands (Penghu 澎湖), but were forced out by the Chinese and moved to the much larger island of Taiwan in 1624, where they established a colonial capital and ruled for the next 38 years. Two years later, the Spanish also occupied Northern Taiwan to counter-balance the Dutch expansion, building Keelung and Tamsui as their bases for trade and Christian missions, but were ousted by the Dutch in 1642. The Dutch carried out an economic policy of mercantilism. Taiwan became a trading and transshipment center for goods between a number of areas, such as Japan, China, Batavia (Jakarta), Persia, and Holland. To increase the trade surplus, the Dutch induced the Chinese to migrate to Taiwan to grow sugarcane and rice in 1630s and thus initiated an agricultural revolution. The amount of land under cultivation was largely increased, and sugar and rice had since become principal products until recent years. Taiwan mainly played a role of a Dutch entrepot for trading among China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Taiwan's exports to China included rattan, deer hides, deer horns, and medical herbs. The island's imports from China included raw silk and silk textiles, porcelain, and medicine, but most products were re-exported either to Japan, Batavia, or Europe. Imports to Taiwan from Batavia included spices, amber, tin, lead, cotton, and opium, most of which were traded to China or Japan. Before the Dutch arrived, the Chinese on Taiwan had enjoyed free trade with the Japanese without taxation, trading mainly silk and deer hides in exchange for silver. Continuing the same trade, the Dutch added with a new item, sugar. The Dutch efforts proved to be successful, Taiwan turned to be one of the most profitable branches of the Dutch East India Company in the Far East, accounting for 26 percent of the company's world profits in 1649. In addition to economic development, Dutch missionaries were also active in converting Taiwan's population to Christianity. Protestant missionaries established schools where religion and the Dutch language were taught. It was recorded in 1659 that the Dutch had converted to Christianity more than 6,078 out of 10,109 inhabitants in their parishes. Settlement by Han people in Taiwan dates back to the 16th century, but large-scale immigration did not begin until 1630s when the Dutch started developing Taiwan's agriculture. While the Dutch were colonizing Taiwan, China was going through a period of civil wars, followed by the invasion of the Manchus, who eventually established the Ching Dynasty in 1644, and the resistance wars in the south until 1661. At the same time, pirates repeatedly ravaged coastal towns. The endless wars, famines and robberies severely threatened the peaceful life of average Chinese. Consequently, thousands of people, especially from the coastal provinces of Fujian 福建 and Guangdong, migrated across the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan. It has been estimated that about 40,000 Chinese were living in Taiwan in 1662. Mass migration to Taiwan changed the character of the island. Recognizing the urgent need for industrious farmers, the Dutch employed the new immigrants, providing them with oxen, seeds, and implements. Because all land in these areas belonged to the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch were able to profit enormously from collecting heavy rents from the Chinese tenants. Although settlers petitioned to be allowed to buy and own the land they were tilling, so that they could pay taxes instead of rent, the Dutch rulers refused. Unemployment, mistreatment by the colonial rulers and collection of a new poll tax increased tensions. In September 1652, frustrated Chinese farmers revolted against the Dutch. The rebellions were violently suppressed by the Dutch, who slaughtered about 3,000 peasants. Cheng Cheng-kung and Defeat of the DutchAs Manchu troops poured into northern China, many Ming loyalists escaped southwards, where they resisted the foreign invasion for over 20 years. One of the most celebrated resistance fighters was Cheng Cheng-kung 鄭成功, also known as Koxinga 國姓爺. Son of an international trader and pirate Cheng Chi-lung 鄭芝龍 and his Japanese wife, Cheng forced the Dutch out in 1662 and made Taiwan his base for counter-attacking the Manchus on the mainland until 1683.Cheng Cheng-kung and his son built the first Confucian temple in Taiwan, set up schools for the young, and enacted Chinese laws and customs. During their rule, a steady stream of Chinese continued to arrive in Taiwan and settlements sprang up in increasing numbers along the western coast. Agriculture developed primarily in the southern part of the island. Industry consisted of refining sugar, tile manufacturing, and salt production. Trade, which had begun under the Dutch, continued with neighboring areas, such as China, Japan, and Southeast Asian countries. Ching Rule Over the IslandCheng's son and grandson ruled Taiwan for 22 years before surrendering control of the island to the Manchus in 1683, following military defeat. Taiwan was ruled by the Manchus for 212 years until 1895.Under Ching rule, agriculture expanded northward and southward, and increasing numbers of Chinese left the mainland to settle on the island, despite laws restricting emigration. Rice and sugar, first developed under the Dutch rule, were cultivated all over the island and exported to China, Japan, and even Australia for some time. Four ports in Taiwan were forcibly opened to foreign trade following the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858. Tea and camphor, which had large markets in the world, became major cash crops for earning foreign exchange. Being the producing areas of new crops, as well as coal, northern Taiwan surpassed southern Taiwan as new economic center, resulting in Taipei's superseding Tainan as the new political capital. However, the conflicts between the immigrant and the aborigines intensified due to the Chinese encroachment on the mountainous areas for producing tea and camphor. The new resources of Taiwan attracted international attention. Apart from trading with Taiwan, some countries even attempted to occupy Taiwan. Japan occupied southern Taiwan for a short time in 1874 and the French attacked northern Taiwan in 1884-85. Foreign interest in the island made the Ching court realize Taiwan's importance as a gateway to the seven provinces along China's southeastern coast. Consequently, through the 1870s and 1880s, a number of progressive and ambitious Ching officials sent to Taiwan succeeded in strengthening defenses, exploiting coal, and constructing telegraph lines between central and southern Taiwan, as well as with Fujian Province across the Taiwan Strait. In 1885, the Ching dynasty made Taiwan its 22nd province. During the more than two centuries of Ching rule, Taiwan was fully integrated into the Chinese empire, with numerous Taiwanese attending traditional academies and passing civil service examinations. Japanese Colonization
During its 50-year rule of Taiwan, Japan developed programs designed to supply the Japanese empire with agricultural products, create demand for Japanese industrial products, and provide living space for emigrants from an increasingly overpopulated home country. The colonial government eventually introduced an industrialization program aimed at building Taiwan as a base for executing a "South Forward Policy" of colonial expansion into Southeast Asia. The period of Japanese colonization can be roughly divided into three periods. The first, from 1895 to 1918, involved establishing administrative mechanisms and militarily suppressing armed resistance by local Chinese and indigenous peoples. One of the largest revolts, the Tapani Incident 礁吧哖事件 of 1915, resulted in the deaths of several thousand Taiwanese. During this period, the Japanese introduced strict police controls, carried out a thorough land survey, standardized measurements and currencies, monopolized the manufacture and sale of important products (such as salt, sugar, and pineapple), began collecting census data, and made an ethnological study of the island's indigenous peoples. During the second period from 1918 to 1937, Japan consolidated its hold over Taiwan. Compulsory Japanese education and cultural assimilation were emphasized, while economic development was promoted to transform the island into a secure stepping stone from which Japan could launch its southward aggression. The third period, which started in 1937 and lasted until 1945, entailed the naturalization of Taiwan residents as Japanese. The Chinese on Taiwan were forced to deny their heritage by adopting Japanese names, wearing Japanese-style clothing, eating Japanese food, and observing Japanese religious rites. Chinese dialects and customs were discouraged and Chinese language schools closed. Heavy industry and foreign trade was strongly emphasized during this period, coinciding with the Second World War. Japanese development of its Taiwan colony was extensive in areas such as railroads, agricultural research and development, public health, banking, education and literacy, cooperatives, and business. Transportation Infrastructure: Recognizing the importance of transportation to Taiwan's economy, the colonial rulers constructed 2,857 miles of railroad lines, modernized harbors, and built 2,500 miles of highways. Irrigation and Agriculture: Irrigation was considered the key to further developing Taiwan's agriculture, which was plagued by uneven rainfall. Concrete dams, reservoirs, and large aqueducts formed an extensive irrigation project that brought thousands of acres of poor farmland into production. Arable land for rice production increased by more than 74 percent and sugar cane, by 30 percent. The enormous increase in sugar cane production is considered to be one of the most spectacular achievements of Japanese colonization. Over a period of 30 years (1905-1935) the area planted in sugar cane increased 500 percent and output skyrocketed. By 1939, Taiwan was the world's seventh largest sugar producer. Industry: The Japanese policy of an agricultural Taiwan and industrial Japan did not call for significant development of Taiwan's industry. Factories during the period were small--95 percent had fewer than 30 workers. Finally, during World War II, military necessity led the Japanese to develop in Taiwan strategic industries including aluminum, chemicals, oil refining, metals, and shipbuilding. Around 90 percent of Taiwan's foreign trade was with Japan, mostly agricultural. Hydroelectric Power: Heavy rainfall and swift mountain streams on the island made hydroelectric power attractive to colonial administrators. In the 1930s, a large-scale project utilizing Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 and the Choshui River 濁水溪, greatly increased electric power, thus boosting aluminum, chemical, and steel alloy production. Despite the Japanese success in transforming Taiwan into a society that, economically, was rather modern in comparison with its neighbors, alien rule came at a heavy cost. Economic development was primarily for the benefit of Japan and not Taiwan. The Taiwanese were denied self-government and democracy and kept out of high positions at all levels of society. People were taught to see themselves as Japanese instead of Chinese, and in fact, during the Second World War, tens of thousands joined the Japanese military. Liberation from colonial rule would only come with the total defeat of Japan in 1945 and Taiwan's return to China.
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