(A 1911/2 Map of Japan incorporating Taiwan and the Pescadores)The Japanese forces arrived in Danshui on June 9, 1895. There were locally organized resistances which for some reason remain little known outside of Danshui. The following is taken from Danshui's town history now amended and translated into English:
光緒二十一年 (一八九五)
Guan-xu Year 21 (1895)
五月十四日[note: this is a lunar calendar date - June 6 in western calendar]，台灣民主國總統唐景崧得淡水滬尾稅務司英人馬士(H-C C Morse) 幫助，乘德輪鴨打(Arthur) 號逃至廈門。滬尾舉人李應辰(1860-1922) 聯滬尾十八莊，壯丁五百人與各地義軍聯結，定於十四日合力打擊日軍，因唐景崧逃亡，計畫中止。
[On the 14th Day of the Fifth Month, President Tang Jing-Song (1841-1903) of the short-lived Taiwan Democratic State (May 26 - June 6, 1895), with the help of Danshui Customs Chief - a Brit named H-C C Morse, got on the German ship Arthur and escaped to Amoy. A local gentleman Mr Li Ying-Chen (1860-1922) raised a 500-men militia from the 18 villages of Hobe (Danshui). And together with the militiamen from other areas, they were to attack the Japanese Army on this day. This plan was, however, called off because of Tang's desertion.]
五月十六日，日軍少將川村景明(Kawamura Kageaki - 1850-1926) 率兵入臺北城，命中西中佐(Nakanishi) 率大隊西取淡水，當晚兵宿關渡。當日，李應辰滬尾義軍迎戰日軍一中隊於士林，激戰兩小時，敵軍不支而退，義軍也退向大屯山深處。
[On the 16th, Lt Gen Kawamura Kageaki (1850-1926) led an army and entered the City of Taipei. He ordered Lt Col Nakanishi to take one battalion, go west, and invade Danshui. This army camped in Guan-du for the night. On the same day, Li Ying-Chen's militia engaged one Japanese company in Shi-lin. After two hours of intense fighting, both sides retreated with Li's back deep into TaTuan Mountain.] (Note: Two months later, Li was wounded in a battle and had to evacuate from 鹿港Lu-Kang to Amoy together with his family.)
五月十七日，日中西中佐率部至滬尾。日軍大本營參謀步兵大佐福島安正(Fukushima Yasumasa -1852-1919) 率佐藤(Sato)憲兵大尉等六十人，通譯官十一人，乘八重山(Yaeyama)軍艦，由基隆至滬尾，入海關署，設淡水事務所。
[On the 17th, Nakanishi's men entered Danshui. In addition, Chief of Staff of Japanese Headquarters Col Fukushima Yasumasa (1852-1919), together with Military Police Major Sato and 60 others, plus 11 Translator Officers arrived from Keelung on board of warship Yaeyama. They took over the Customs Office and set up a Tansui (Danshui) Township Office.]
五月十八日，日軍奪滬尾及基隆港稅務，並派兵偵察八里坌，派遣軍艦三艘，清掃淡水港口地雷。日軍設淡水電信通信所。日軍撤淡水事務所，改置淡水支廳，隸台北縣。
[On the 18th, the Japanese took over the taxation affairs of Danshui and Keelung harbors. Scouts were sent over to Bali. Three warships swept the mines of Danshui Harbor. They had also established a tele-communications office, revoked the township and changed it to the Tansui Branch Office of the Taipei Prefecture.]
十一月十七日（日曆一月一日）七時許，金包里(今金山)義軍簡大獅 (1870-1900) 部約六百餘名，出江頭(今關渡)以攻淡水，日軍淡水守備隊會赤羽(Akahane?)支隊，憑淡水街天公廟至墓地為陣，戰至八時，在淡水街兩軍肉搏戰，日軍憑壁防禦，砲火熾烈，義軍乃退街外高地。
[On the 17th Day of the 11th Month - Jan 1, 1896, at around 7AM, a 600-men militia led by Jien Da-Shi (1870-1900) of Gin-Shan came out of Guan-du and attacked the Japanese military in Danshui. The Japanese fought from the now Tamkang University area, near the public cemetery, until about 8AM. The battle then shifted into hand-to-hand combat fought inside the town itself. The Japanese, hiding behind the walls, fired back intensely. The militia had to withdraw to the higher grounds outside of town.] (Note: Mr Jien continued his unsuccessful fight against the Japanese and had finally surrendered in 1898. In 1899, he snuck back to Hokkien but was extradited back to Taipei where he was executed. His plea to die in China went unheeded.)
十九日，台北各地紊亂，英人派艦至淡水保護僑民。
[On the 19th, Taipei and other areas descended into chaos, the British sent a battleship to Danshui to protect its citizens.]
Eventually, after about 5-6 months, the resistance in Taiwan gradually subsided (but never totally stopped). There had been no support from China and none was forthcoming, either. Tang Jing-Song (left, the "10-day President") lived out his life in luxury. He was the biggest patron of the Guang-Xi opera and in his spare time wrote poetry. And yet, he is now enshrined in 淡水忠烈祠 - for reasons still unknown. The only achievement that the Danshui-ren know of was his successful escape back to China. Even the shots fired at Arthur from the stranded Qing soldiers had failed to stop him. It is said (of Tang) that "英雄懦夫僅是一念之差而已 (the difference between a hero and a coward is only a mere change of heart)" - a very accurate description indeed.There was more. According to 連橫Lien Heng's 台灣通史Comprehensive Taiwan History: ...「李文魁馳入撫署請見，大呼曰：『獅球嶺亡在旦夕，非大帥督戰，諸將不用命』。景崧見其來，悚然立；而文魁已至屏前。 即舉案上令架擲地曰：『軍令俱在，好自為之』。文魁側其首以拾，則景崧已不見矣。景崧既入內，攜巡撫印，奔滬尾，乘德商輪船逃。砲台擊之，不中。文魁亦躡景崧後至廈門，謀刺之。事洩，為清吏所捕，戮於市。」- A subordinate of Tang's, Commander Li Wen-Quei, who had just lost Keelung to the Japanese, barged into the President's Office in Taipei and pressed for Tang to personally lead the battle at Shi-chiu Ling, the gateway to Taipei. A terrified Tang did not want any part of it and merely threw down a rack of "Orders" and exclaimed "The military orders are all here, do your best!!" Li picked up the orders and saw from the corner of his eyes that Tang had already disappeared [onto Danshui and then Amoy...] Li later secretly followed Tang to Amoy and plotted to have Tang assassinated. He was caught and killed in public by Qing officials.
And how did those stranded leader-less soldiers return to China? That is another story.
What happened to Li or Jien and people of their ilk when they went to China? How did the Ching rulers take them in? Didn't Japan lean on China? After all, China ceded Taiwan to Japan. This would seem to be a sticky situation. If China harbored them, weren't they in a way reneging on the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki?
回覆刪除"There had been no support from China and none was forthcoming, either. Tang Jing-Song (left, the "10-day President") lived out his life in luxury." Why would they? I don't understand the logic; it seems to counter the terms of the Shimonoseki agreement and also give the Japanese the justification to continue fighting China.
The continued resistance led to the Japanese coming down hard on the Taiwanese population, see the 1896 Yunlin Massacre, Houbiling, a city near Kaohsiung that was wiped off the map in 1902, etc.
"And how did those stranded leader-less soldiers return to China? That is another story." Isn't there a story of one leader, I forget who, that escaped after leading a rebellion, in drag? This is an interesting account of the messy years following China's 1895 desertion of Taiwan.
It was indeed a bit confusing. Tang et al, the Qing officials, were merely assigned to Taiwan (Chiu Fong-Jia was a Taiwanese although an appointed Qing official). They were simply recalled by the Qing Gov't which maintained something like: if you guys wanted to fight on, you were on your own, and the Gov't would disavow any such knowledge. No one believed that China would give up Taiwan so readily and did expect the Gov't to change its mind if enough public outcry. Since these people were just following the orders to return to China, nothing untoward happened to them, except Tang was barred from any government positions for his role in the Taiwan Democratic State. This "republic" was a ploy: (1) if recognized internationally, then Japan would lose the right to occupy and would be regarded as invading a sovereign nation, and (2) to keep Taiwan as part of China until things blew over. 劉永福 was asked to take over the presidency after Tang had disappeared, but he had refused strenuously (probably did not want to offend the Qing Court). He and Tang both had been described to have escaped in drag - the Chinese way of saying they were cowards. Liu and his Black-flag army were famous for defeating the French in several battles during the Sino-French War in Tonkin. The Taiwanese certainly did not expect his running away leaving his army behind. These leaders had all vowed to live and die with Taiwan before the Japanese came. They petitioned the Qing, published patriotic poems, rallied the crowds, etc, that certainly had fooled the Taiwanese. They left with vast sums of silver dollars in the middle of night or in disguise so as not to be intercepted and robbed by the rioting Qing soldiers.
回覆刪除The locals were left holding the empty bag. Organized resistance was crushed one after another. A few leaders are now recognized and honored.
Of those wealthy Taiwanese who escaped to China, some and some of their family members returned to Taiwan during an amnesty period offered by the Japanese. And at the same time, the Taiwanese were allowed to emigrate to China, very few did.
Later on many did return. It is rumored that they played an instrumental role in compiling the infamous kill sheets during the 2-28 Massacre in 1947. Simply put, the KMT didn't know who to go after; they needed inside info. These people were called the Half-Mountain People. Some stayed on in Taiwan. Others were carpet-baggers, who, after replenishing their funds on the backs of the Taiwanese, moved on to America and other Western destinations.
回覆刪除I sometimes get people picking at my blog, telling me I am not Taiwanese and that I don't have a right to have a voice in Taiwan matters. The English is impeccable. Call me paranoid, but I guess some of these comments were made by the descendants of the Half-Mountain people, who are now living cozily overseas (see anonymous comment #7 here on this post: http://patrick-cowsill.blogspot.com/2008/05/four-year-anniversary.html).
BTW, I was interested to find information on the migrant workers from China who came to Taiwan during the 1930s. They did menial labor, filling the same role as Thai and Filipino workers today. A few were also professionals. They worked for Western multi-nationals.
Hey, once again, great post. Merry Christmas too.
I have looked up the comment. It is a familiar refrain although not from the descendants of the 1/2-Mt people. He was re-packaging racism which is based on ignorance, impeccable English notwithstanding. Also those who live cozily in the US are not the 1/2-Mt people, either - they went to the US directly from China around 1949.
回覆刪除The black list, if any at all, was by low-level people. The controversy now is that those who did the finger-pointing are still protected by law (beyond the statute of limitation). This may never be resolved.
Thanks for the comment. Have a Happy New Year. And I'll look around and see what's available re the migrant workers.
"The black list, if any at all, was by low-level people." It's an interesting topic. What do you know about it?
回覆刪除I know you don't agree with the Melissa J. Brown numbers on Taiwanese and Aborigines. Actually, I've been doing a bit a of rethink on it - notice I haven't brought it up recently on my blog. Perhaps the numbers wouldn't be as high as 88 percent.
BTW, some people live in the US cozily and still care about Taiwan, and not on these terms. They care about Taiwan and hope it can continue on its own way. They've done some pretty hard work to open the eyes of Americans there, and Taiwanese here, on what was going on / is going on.
回覆刪除Happy New Year from one living cozily in Taiwan.
It is certainly interesting. Have you noticed the conspicuous absence of physicians from Taiwan politics? Dig deeper, then you'll understand why (and who the stool pigeons were). And this is just one part of the 228 Incident.
回覆刪除Re-thinking is good. Try 8.8%. Brown's numbers are politically useful as you probably are aware of. The composition of Taiwanese people did change with time. After Shi-Lang died, migrants from China arrived in waves. These were the Hokkiens and the Hakkas all of whom never did inter-marry with the Aborigines. Even during the Shi-Lang rule, Qing officials often noticed sudden increase in Han women and children population in the outlaying villages. People smuggling was a big business complete with specially designed junks. (One was recently discovered, buried in mud, in China.)
Indeed, some self-exiled Taiwanese, having been traumatized by the white terror, still care about Taiwan.
Taiwan is home to all who care, regardless of race or creed, cozily or otherwise.
Happy New Year!!
Could you tell me where do you get the news above ? It's really cool and good !I really hope to know where is it from !Thanks a lot! from Stella
回覆刪除Dear Stella,
回覆刪除Thank you for your input. As indicated in the post, the info is from Danshui town history, see:
http://www.tamsui.gov.tw/about_tamsui/index.php?id=12&type=0
Have fun!