Brief History of Taiwan (II)

        After the Zheng-family regime was destroyed, there was a debate over whether or not to bring Taiwan into Qing Empire's realm. The Kangxi Emperor (康熙皇帝) disagreed to annex Taiwan in the beginning, but was later convinced by Shi Lang (施琅) that Taiwan has its strategic significance. However, generally speaking, the Qing dynasty ruled Taiwan with a passive attitude in first 190 years.

        In early period under Qing rule, immigration from the mainland to Taiwan was under rigid limitations. For example, only single Fujianese men were allowed to immigrate Taiwan, leading the phenomenon of "Tangshan grandpa, no Tangshan grandma (有唐山公，無唐山媽). " The Han settlers (漢人移民), as well as the aborigines had suffered many hardships since food, land, water, and other kinds of resources were scarce at that time. Consequently, armed conflicts occurred regularly between the aborigines and the Han people, or between settlers from different provinces and prefectures. In addition, revolts broke out quite often. During Lin Shuangwen's rebellion (林爽文事變), the most massive one, three county seats (縣城) once fell into 30,000 rebels' occupation, and it took two years to stamp out the riots. The combative climate could be proved through the proverb "every three years an uprising; every five years a rebellion (三年一小反、五年一大亂)."

Lin Shuangwen's rebellion

"The Qing army laying siege to Daliyi Village" (清軍圍攻大里杙)

photo credits to: twnpluplu.blogspot.tw

        Not until the second half of the 19th century did Qing Empire notice the importance of Taiwan in their maritime defense strategy. In 1860, China lost in the Second Opium War (第二次鴉片戰爭); according to unequal treaties, four treaty ports in Taiwan were forced to be opened to trade with Western countries. In 1871, four Ryukyuan (琉球) vessels met a violent typhoon and one of them drifted to the southern tip of Taiwan. Fifty-four members of its crew were killed by the Paiwan aborigines due to some misunderstanding. This accident brought about Japanese invasion of Taiwan against the aborigines in 1874.

Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1874)

photo credits to: ihc.apc.gov.tw

        In response to changes in the international situation, the authorities began to alter its policies towards Taiwan. These policies were implemented to develop infrastructure, education, and fortification. In the aftermath of the Sino-French War (中法戰爭), administrative divisions are adjusted as well: Taiwan was declared a separate province in 1885, divided into four prefectures (府/直隸州), eleven counties (縣), and three sub-prefectures (廳). Liu Mingchuan (劉銘傳), the first governor of the Taiwan Province, was dedicated to modernizing Taiwan. Under his leadership, a railway was built from Keelung to Taipei, becoming the earliest railroad system of Taiwan and China.

Liu Mingchuan

photo credits to: www.epochtimes.com

        Less than a decade later, First Sino-Japanese War (甲午戰爭) broke out. Failure of the Qing Empire led to the end of its rule over Taiwan.  The island of Taiwan and Penghu was ceded to Empire of Japan as a result of Treaty of Shimonoseki (馬關條約) in 1895. Unwilling to accept the fact of cession, some Taiwanese managed to resist Japanese forces. Although there were resistance movements such as the short-lived Republic of Formosa (臺灣民主國), and the militia organized by people island-wide, they couldn't withstand the fierce offensive launched by Japanese and were finally suppressed.