S5-E10 – Taiwan in the “Teens” (1911-1919)

THE TAIWAN HISTORY PODCAST – FORMOSA FILES

TRANSCRIPT

S5-E10 – Taiwan in the “Teens” (1911-1919)

Release Date: April 23^rd, 2025

Time: 27:49

PLEASE NOTE: This transcript was created by AI; it may not be entirely accurate. Any errors are the result of the AI transcription, and Formosa Files is not liable for the content in this transcript. Thank you, and use AI responsibly 😊

Today, we're looking at the years 1911 to 1919, when Taiwan was a Japanese colony. Okay, John, the second decade of the 20th century. What do we call that decade?

The 1910s? Yes, that's the most common one.

The 1910s. Okay, will you allow me a little rant here? 1910, 1920, 1930, then we get to 2000. It was acceptable in the year 2000, but after that, it should have been 2001, 2002.It frustrates the something out of me.

I like the flexibility.

The Taiwan History Podcast, Formosa Files, is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Frank C. Chen Foundation.

My rant aside, the 1910s was a busy decade. Let's see what happened in the world in those years.

Okay, China's imperial era ended, 2000 years of imperialism. There was World War I, and I'm definitely one of those people who believe World War I gave us World War II, especially because of how it ended, the treaty and all that. There was the Russian Revolution of 1917, and there were Wilsonian dreams of self-determination.

Hey, Yankee boy, Wilsonian dreams. That needs some explaining for our listeners. I don't think I've ever in my life been called Yankee boy before. Very nice. Okay, but good point. Wilsonian dreams refers to the idealistic vision of US President Woodrow Wilson.

After World War I, he pushed for a world order based on democracy, collective security, self-determination, and self-determination would mean people had the right to choose their nationhood. In other words, to be free of imperial control. His big idea was the League of Nations, sort of a prototype for the United Nations.

Which spoiler alert, as I recall, the US never even joined it. It was a case of do as I say, not as I do. A case of circumstance, even though President Woodrow Wilson was one of the main architects of the League, the US Senate refused to ratify the treaty largely due to concerns that joining the League would drag the US into future foreign wars without congressional approval.

Wilson went on a nationwide US tour to gain support, but he suffered a stroke and without his leadership, the opposition prevailed. So ironically, the country that proposed the League of Nations never became a member. That's correct.

And for all of Wilson's preaching about democracy and self-determination, all that, he, it must be said, was also a rabid racist, just for our woke people out there. One little stain on his character. But anyway, Wilson's ideas did have a big impact.

Actually, it was in Asia. Intellectuals took notice of his talk about this self-determination thing and they said, hey, maybe this could apply to us. Despite Wilson's high talk, the reality was different.

The Treaty of Versailles gave Germany's former colonies in China to Japan instead of returning them to China. Yeah, Japan had been part of the Allies in World War I and they got the prize of pieces of German China. And it sparked the May 4th Movement of 1919, a major turning point in modern Chinese history.

But let's go back a little. Imagine being in Taiwan in 1911 as there's revolution in China. And then later in the decade, talk of self-determination.

These are intoxicating changes, hopes and desires. So we're telling the story of Luo Fu Xing. So the Luo is like Luo Dong, the Fu is Fu as in blessing, Zhu Fu Ni, and the Xing is Xing like star.

He was born February 24th, 1886 in Batavia, the Dutch East Indies, which of course is present day, Jakarta, Indonesia. He was ethnically Chinese. His laojia, his hometown, was in Guangdong, the province near Hong Kong.

He was a member of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, the Tongmenghui, which was dedicated to overthrowing Manchu rule, the Manchu rule, the Qing dynasty. He participated in the Huanghuagang Uprising, sometimes called the Second Guangzhou Uprising, Guangzhou Canton, near Hong Kong. Later, he went to Japanese rule Taiwan, where he set up anti-Japanese organizations and was a key figure in the Miao Li incident.

The Miao Li incident, hmm, not well known, is it? Because it didn't really get as far as being an incident. Well, a big incident. Okay, so a non-incident sounds exciting.

Trust me, there's a narrative arc here. Narrative arc, okay. Well, then let's go back to the beginning.

Luo Fuxing's father was a Hakka from eastern Guangdong, who moved to Java in the Dutch East Indies for business. His mother was a Chinese Indonesian with Dutch and Indonesian ancestry. Yes, and in the photos we have of him, Luo Fuxing has quite a European appearance.

He was born in Indonesia, but in 1887, so he's just one year old, Luo went to China with his parents. Nine years later, he went back to Batavia with his father and studied at a Chinese language school while also learning Dutch. At the school, he was exposed to revolutionary ideas.

In 1903, Luo's grandfather moved to Japanese ruled Taiwan for business. Luo Fuxing, a teenager, followed and settled in Miao Li, where he attended elementary school and learned Japanese. He's moving around a lot, as did many of these overseas Chinese.

Guangdong people often went to Southeast Asia. And while those in Fujian usually went to Taiwan, there were large communities of Fujianese in Southeast Asia too, in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines. And Luo hasn't finished moving yet.

In 1906, Luo Fuxing returned to Guangdong with his grandfather. While passing through Xiamen, he encountered revolutionary propaganda and became interested in joining the fight. Back in his hometown, he worked as a primary school teacher.

He joined the Tongmen Hui. He later traveled to Singapore and Batavia, teaching at Chinese schools while secretly recruiting overseas Chinese to join the revolution. And he also worked in Burma, serving as a newspaper clerk operated by this organization.

During his time, he often wrote anti-Qing political pieces, but under his names, of course. John, that Tongmen Hui, like altogether a unity association thing, that became the KMT later, right? It's like a precursor to the KMT, to the Kuomintang. That's right.

Founded by Sun Yat-sen and became the KMT, basically. Hmm. So in 1911, that famous year, Luo led militia men he had recruited in Java back to Guangdong to participate in the Huang Guagang Uprising.

So that's in English, the Yellow Flower Mound Uprising. And Luo was one of the few who survived this Yellow Flower Uprising. Yeah.

Here's a dramatic piece from a 1985 government publication article. And a quote from a book, the biography of Luo Fuxing, written by his granddaughter, quote, Amidst the chaos of battle, with cries and gunfire all around, Luo Fuxing leapt onto the left wall of the courtyard, taking the high ground to cover the assault. Unfortunately, a stray bullet struck his left leg, causing heavy bleeding. In pain, he fell and took shelter in a corner of the wall. According to the article, the wounded Luo was rescued by a fellow revolutionary surnamed Hu, who took him home, tended to his injuries, and saved his life. A failed uprising, and the dead were buried together in one grave.

This would be called the Yellow Flower Mound. And the uprising is remembered annually in Taiwan on March 29th. Remembered as Youth Day, though it's not a public holiday.

Youth Day, because a lot of the dead were idealistic young men. And John, I think it's worth noting, there were what, like a dozen uprisings in those years before they were successful? I mean, and they all failed? I forget the exact number, but it sounds about right. Yes.

Yeah. So this is one of these failed uprisings. But the Qing Dynasty was on its last legs, and success for the rebels would come soon.

Luo fled China for British Hong Kong, and later made his way back to Batavia to help plan another revolt. On the night of October 10th, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out in China. So October 10th, National Day.

That one is a public holiday. Luo began organizing another militia to support this uprising. However, upon reaching China, he learned that a peace agreement had been reached between the North and South, and the militia was ordered to disband.

The revolution had succeeded. So January 1st, 1912, we see the founding of the Republic of China. Luo Fuxing left China and returned to Taiwan, where he established a Tongmenhui branch.

He based his activities in Dadaocheng, Taipei. And he's engaging in this underground effort to get rid of the Japanese. Yes, he's traveling between Taipei and Miaoli.

He recruited participants through various groups to conceal his identity. He posed sometimes as a ginseng seller, a teacher, a traveling medicine man. Through his personality, the strength of will he had, he managed to recruit revolutionaries.

He also smuggled weapons from China into Taiwan. Miaoli is near Taichung, and it is a major Hakka center in Taiwan. There's two places in Taiwan that have big Hakka populations, one in the South and one in the North, and that would be Miaoli.

So it makes sense for him to be going there. So he's collecting weapons, and they're not for hunting. It was for a revolution to overthrow Japanese rule.

By February of 1913, he'd gathered about 500 members and was planning an uprising. And so now we come to the Miaoli incident. Now I mentioned smuggled weapons.

Some were stolen from a police station in September, 1913. The police investigated and eventually uncovered the networks Luo had established across Taiwan. And on December 16th, Luo tried to flee to China.

He tried to get on a boat in Danshui, but was discovered and arrested. And among the underground groups, only one, one in Miaoli County, had engaged in an actual armed action by attacking a police station. Other members had not carried out any violent uprising activities.

The Japanese authorities set up a temporary court in Miaoli to try those involved. And this is the event that became historically known as the Miaoli incident. A total of 921 people faced justice.

Luckily for them, the majority had not actually done anything, and therefore the majority were not prosecuted. On March 3rd, 1914, the court issued its verdict. Of the 921 people, 285 were sentenced to prison terms.

Twenty, including Luo Fuxing, were sentenced to death. And they were executed by hanging at the Taipei prison. So before his hanging, Luo wrote a poem in prison titled, A Song of Blessings for My Republic.

So we have a translation here, and I'll read it. China thus becomes even stronger. Together we bless the distant frontiers.

People across the four seas are brothers. The nation's roots grow prosperous and long. Sun, a true healer of our land.Joy spreads across the central plains. The immortal brings a divine elixir. One man bears a thousand woes for the people.

And he's talking about ROC founder Sun Yat-sen. Yeah, that's right. Luo Fuxing was only 29 years old.

Before his execution, he wrote a final message. To not die at home is to be remembered by my descendants forever. To die in Taiwan is to be remembered by all Taiwanese forever.

Hmm, I like some of these pre-execution statements by some of these revolutionaries. To not die at home is to be remembered by my descendants forever. Hmm, and remembered he would be.

After World War II, the Republic of China government took over Taiwan, and this martyr became rather useful for propaganda purposes. Yeah, he was anti-Qing and also anti-Japanese. Yeah, anti-Qing, anti-Japanese, and dead, which is always useful for governments who want to control the messaging.

Absolutely, yes. To honor this man, this revolutionary, in February 1946, there was a school renamed as Fuxing Elementary School in Taipei. His remains, which had been dumped in a so-called traitor’s graveyard in Taipei.

But locals built this martyr shrine in Miaoli. And in 1953, his remains were finally reinterred there. And President for Life, Chiang Kai-shek, bestowed a plaque.

I don't know if he actually went there, but he sent a plaque that read, Eternal Model of Loyalty. Yes, this President for Life stuff, Eryk, he was re-elected, all right? He just served consecutive terms for decades until he passed away.

Right, right, yes, yes.

Yes. Speaking of the government of that time, there's a passage in that Taiwan government publication article from 1985, which I mentioned before, and it gives a taste of things. Yeah, it really lays on the Chinese patriotism.

It's more your linguistic style, shall we say, so I'll let you read it. Okay, that was a dig. Let's see how this goes.

Okay, an article from 1985, quote, Luo Fuxing did not live to see the revolution succeed. In both of these pivotal events, he played the role of firewood, fueling the revolution with his boiling blood and youthful life, raising the flames that would one day lead to victory and Taiwan's restoration. John, I love mixed metaphors as much as the next guy, but flames leading to restoration? That's a bit too far for even me.

Yes, yes. Anyway, so decades later, he was still remembered. March 3rd, 2014, President Ma Ying-jeou remarked, Luo Fuxing is not only a martyr of Miao Li in Taiwan, but also a martyr of the Republic of China.

It was precisely because of the efforts of devoted revolutionaries from all over that the Qing dynasty was overthrown. Taiwan's connection with the Republic of China is deep and complex. Some people would take a different view on that particular bit of thinking.

So soon after this Miao Li incident, there was another failed uprising, this time down in rural Tainan. Yes, and it's in 1915, 20 years in the Japanese rule. This uprising was something of a surprise.

It was thought that Japanese rule had been accepted, well, by most, apart from indigenous people up in the mountains, 20 years into rule. Yes, this uprising was the relatively little known Tapani incident of 1915. It's named after the village of Tapani, now Yujing in Eastern Tainan.

It was the largest single act of Han Chinese armed resistance during the Japanese colonial era. More than a thousand people died in fierce fighting and hundreds from executions or during imprisonment. But this uprising had little to do with what had recently happened in China.

There were multiple causes, and I don't know, I think it's fair to say nationalism wasn't one of them. Right, so the motivations for the uprising were a combination of millenarianism and economic dislocation. The latter point involving sugar monopoly, land taxes, confiscation.

Okay, yeah, it's hard to say, but millenarianism probably needs some explanation. It has the word millennium in it, but that has nothing to do with the turn of the millennium. In the scriptures of the Christian religion and perhaps in other religions as well, there's a belief in a thousand years of peace after the arrival or re-recoming of the savior or something like this.

I can't even say the word, John, can you? Millenarianism. There you go, millenarianism. It basically refers to a belief that a dramatic transformative event led by usually some sort of messianic figure will bring about a new ideal era, maybe a thousand years long.

And it generally is supposed to come after a period of suffering or catastrophe. So in the Bible, it's the Antichrist and all of that, and then you get a thousand years of happiness. I think the best example in this region is probably the Taiping Rebellion in China in the mid-1800s.

The Taiping Rebellion, yeah, that was led by a man claiming to be the younger brother of Jesus. Yeah, I love this story except for the fact that it was probably the most bloody civil war in history. Correct, yes.

Apart from that, it's interesting. Yes, unfortunately. Oh, what a lunatic.

We're going to have to cover that in more detail at some point because it's just too fascinating. So like the Taiping Rebellion, yeah, the spark for the Tapani Rebellion in Taiwan was religious. It didn't happen out of thin air, though.

It's like a combo, you know, deep religious customs, a tradition of revolts. Yeah, the rebellion started with a former policeman, Yu Qingfang. He was a self-appointed saviour, so he's your messianic figure.

He's been chosen by heaven to rally the forces of righteousness and drive out the Japanese. And this messianic rhetoric of apocalypse and salvation tapped into old beliefs in the region and specifically drew on those espoused by a secret society that Yu had belonged to and had been jailed for his involvement with this secret society. This former policeman, Mr. Yu, he gets freed from prison.

Then associates himself with a temple in Tainan, where he raises money, recruits followers, and finds co-conspirators. Yu's followers had to kneel before him, and if they wanted immunity from the enemy's bullets, well, it was available by purchasing magical amulets. Yes, and worse, follow a vegetarian diet for 47 days.

Really? That's so painful for you? I could definitely handle that, but not so sure about the magical amulets. Actually, I'm pretty sure they didn't work, did they? And this planned insurrection was rather quickly derailed by Japanese authorities. They made arrests, and the rebel attacks on police stations ended with a battle.

A decisive one-sided battle in Tapani. The rebellion, which saw aborigines allied with Han Chinese, lasted a little over a month. Yu was arrested and executed.

So how would history remember this uprising? For the Japanese authorities, the uprising was simple banditry. When the KMT took over, they preferred to see the rebels as patriots inspired by the Chinese Revolution of 1911. OK, so let's now turn to the end of the 19-teens and the only Japanese governor general to be buried in Taiwan.

Baron, which is a title, not a name, Baron Akashi Motojirō. He was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the seventh governor general of Taiwan, serving from June of 1918 to October of 1919. So just 16 months in the job.

And it wasn't his first time in Taiwan. He'd been here much earlier with the Japanese takeover of Taiwan, which lasted from May to October in 1895. After that, he traveled widely around the world as an intelligence officer.

And in all the conflicts Japan was involved in, or in places Japan had interests, he'd be there gathering info, setting up espionage and intelligence networks, influence networks. His work was especially important in the Russo-Japanese War. So that's 1904, 1905.

Yeah, he really played a big part in that, helping Japan win it. And yeah, he destabilized Russia. Thank you.

That Russo-Japanese War was incredible because it was the first time, I believe, in modern history where non-white people had defeated white people and they were like, oh, this can happen. Yeah, that was a huge revelation. It sent shockwaves around the area.

Yeah. So this guy, Motojiro, is a spy. But I also see from wiki here that it says, quote, he was known for his talents as a poet and also a painter.

An interesting chap. So much so that in Japan, he's being the subject of countless novels, movies, comic books, documentary programs. In 1918, Akashi Motojiro was promoted to general and appointed as the governor general of Taiwan and also got that title of baron.

During his brief time as governor, he made great efforts to improve the infrastructure and economy of Taiwan. We're talking about like electrification projects, irrigation. Yes.

So despite his short time in office, Akashi is considered one of the more productive governor generals during Japan's 50 years of rule. A quick note on his term, there were 19 governor generals in 50 years. So an average of just over two and a half years, which is a bit of a revolving door.

As for infrastructure, these were big, long-term projects, which would change everything. I mean, this guy, Akashi Motojiro, organized the Taiwan Electric Power Corporation, which is the predecessor to Taipower in 1919. And as part of that, launched the Sun Moon Lake Hydro Electricity Project.

He also convinced the Japanese government to green light another highly expensive project, the Jianan Irrigation Canal. Wow, it's more of a canal network. It was a massive project that transformed agriculture in southwestern Taiwan.

And he also made changes to education and managed to end the rule that Taiwan could only be governed by military officers. From him on, civilians could also serve in the position of governor general. So this spy, this infrastructure builder, this painter, this poet, this governor, he fell ill and died a little over a year after taking office.

And this was while he was visiting his home back in Fukuoka, Japan. He was 55 years old and the only governor general of Taiwan who died in office. And although he died in his homeland in Japan, he was taken back to Taiwan for burial because it was written in his will.

He wanted to be buried in Taiwan to, quote, serve as a national guardian and a guardian spirit for the people of Taiwan. Just three days after his death, his body is on a ship headed to Keelung. A state ceremony was conducted at the Sanbanqiao Cemetery in central Taipei.

And Taiwanese donated a large amount of money for a construction of a memorial. He would be shown a little less respect when the nationalist retreat came to Taiwan in 1949, though. There was a shortage of accommodation, and the refugee soldiers and family members built a military dependence village on the cemetery grounds, and they were joined by job seekers from the countryside.

Yeah, literally on the cemetery grounds, the graveyards. You would think the feng shui would not be good for that, but... This was illegal housing, but the authorities turned a blind eye. People had to live somewhere.

And the fact that they were willing to live atop buried corpses, well, it does show you the desperation. Yeah, definitely. Over time, the cemetery just disappeared under the shacks.

It was Taipei's largest illegal settlement, containing over a thousand households. The settlement was forcibly demolished in March 1997, despite strong local resistance. I think the residents there thought the compensation was insufficient.

The Taipei mayor at the time was Chen Shui-bian, and he pushed forward with it. Buildings were cleared, and the site turned into a park, Lin Sen Park. And from this dependence village, the gravestones and two torii emerged.

One of the torii, these Japanese gates, was in honor of Akashi Motojirō. His remains were exhumed in 1999 and reinterred at another cemetery. And one can see his memorial torii, that Japanese gate, in Lin Sen Park today.

It's good to preserve these historical legacies. Anyway, any last thoughts, Eric? Well, there's an obvious contrast between Akashi Motojirō choosing to be buried in Taiwan, and Chiang Kai-shek, as well as his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, both entombed above ground in separate mausoleums, awaiting their return to China, which I am personally in favor of. Yes, good point, good point.

For me, I'd just like to thank the people writing the Wikipedia pages for Taiwan's history, both the English language ones and the Chinese ones. The quality of information is really good, and the sources given are highly useful. So, thanks to all those people for the hard work.

Yeah, xie xie. All right, thank you for listening to Formosa Files, and make sure you tell a friend who hasn't heard about the podcast yet how awesome we are. How's that? Sounds good to me.

All right, I'm Eryk Michael Smith. Bye.

I'm John Ross. Bye.