BIBLIOGRAPHY
Taiwan was joined to the Asian mainland in the late Pleistocene, until sea levels rose about 10,000years ago. Fragmentary human remains have been found on the island, dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, as well as later artifacts of a Paleolithic culture. More than 8,000 years ago, Austronesians first settled on Taiwan. The languages of their descendants, who are known as the Taiwanese aborigines nowadays, belong to the Austronesian language family, which also includes the Malayo-Polynesian languages spanning a huge area, including the entire Maritime Southeast Asia.
In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of southern Fujian, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. The Qing imperial government tried to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, issuing a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Immigrants mostly from southern Fujian continued to enter Taiwan. The border between taxpaying lands and savage lands shifted eastward, with some aborigines becoming Sinicized while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts between groups of Chinese from different regions of southern Fujian, and between southern Fujian Chinese and aborigines. The Qing dynasty was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and Taiwan and Penghu were ceded in full sovereignty to the Empire of Japan. Inhabitants wishing to remain Qing subjects were given a two-year grace period to sell their property and move to mainland China. Very few Taiwanese saw this as feasible. On 25 May 1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at Tainan and quelled this resistance on 21 October 1895 Guerrilla fighting continued periodically until about 1902 and ultimately look the lives of 14,000 Taiwanese, or 0.5% of the population. Several subsequent rebellions against the Japanese were all unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese colonial rule. On 25 October 1945, the US Navy ferried ROC troops to Taiwan in order to accept the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in Taipei, as part of General Order No. 1 for temporary military occupation. General Rikichi Ando, governor-general of Taiwan and commander in-chief of all Japanese forces on the island, signed the instrumental of surrender and handed it over to General Chen Yi of the ROC military to complete the official turnover. Chen Yi proclaimed that day to be Taiwan Retrocession Day, but the Allies considered Taiwan and the Penghu islands to be under military occupation and still under Japanese sovereignty until 1952, when the Treaty of San Francisco look effect. |
Taiwanese aborigine
Qin Dynasty Symbol
Japanese colonial soldiers marching
Celebrating Taiwan's retrocession at Taipei City Hall, 1945
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