About Taiwan History

There are records about Taiwan in China's earliest history book "Shang Shu". At that time, the residents of Taiwan were called "island barbarians". During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, sent generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi to lead troops to Taiwan. Afterwards, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty also sent people to Taiwan three times. During the Southern Song Dynasty, troops began to garrison Penghu. The Yuan Dynasty had begun to set up an "inspection department" in Penghu, which was responsible for managing the civil affairs of Taiwan and Penghu. It was administratively affiliated with Tong'an County, Quanzhou, Fujian (today's Xiamen), and had officially become part of the administrative region of China.

According to a large number of relics of Taiwanese residents from 2,000 to 3,000 years ago excavated in Funan Township, Taitung County in 1980, it can be confirmed that they came from the mainland and were the ancient Yuepu people who crossed the sea from the southeastern coast. For thousands of years, mainland coastal residents have been constantly crossing the sea to settle in Taiwan and Penghu to make a living. For example, Shi Jianwu, a Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty, led his people to cross the sea and settle in Penghu. During the Ming Dynasty, there was a severe drought in Fujian. In order to solve the livelihood of the hungry people, there was a planned emigration to Taiwan. Tens of thousands of hungry people were recruited to colonize Taiwan. Nowadays, the vast majority of residents in Taiwan come from the mainland. It can be said that Taiwan and the mainland are one flesh and blood, and are connected hand and foot.

In ancient times, Taiwan had many names such as "Daiyu", "Yingzhou", "Dongkun", "Yizhou (state)", and "Liuqiu (ball)". By the Ming Dynasty, local place names such as Jilong, Tamsui, Dadan, etc. were often used instead of the name of the entire island. The name Taiwan originated in the 23rd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty, that is, 1684. At that time, the Qing government established the Taiwan Prefecture. Since then, Taiwan has become the official name representing the entire island, and it has been used to this day.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese government’s management of Taiwan was very strict and effective. In order to prevent Japanese pirates from invading the mainland, the defense of Penghu and Taiwan was strengthened. First, a "Inspection Department" was set up in Penghu, and later a "Ranger" was added. Each island was equipped with 20 ships and 800 soldiers. Troops were stationed in Keelung and Tamsui all year round.

The colonialists invaded Taiwan and Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan

In the early 17th century, the colonial expansion activities of European powers gradually extended to Asia. In 1544, a Portuguese voyage ship sailed through Taiwan and looked at the island. The scenery was beautiful, so it called it "Iraformosa", which means "Beautiful Island".

In 1604, the Dutch East India Company's fleet took advantage of China's weak military presence on the Penghu Islands and invaded the area, but was driven away by the Ming Dynasty army at the end of the year. In 1622, the Dutch invaded again and were expelled again in 1624. Soon, the Dutch took advantage of the chaos in the mainland at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the Chinese government had no time to take care of Taiwan. They occupied southern Taiwan. Later, they drove away the Spanish who occupied northern Taiwan and occupied the entire island of Taiwan. In 1661, the anti-Qing general Zheng Chenggong decided to cross the sea and regain Taiwan as a base to resist the Qing Dynasty. On April 2, he led more than 25,000 troops from Xiamen, Fujian Province, on hundreds of large and small warships, sailed to Taiwan via Penghu, and launched a fierce attack on the Dutch invaders who occupied Taiwan. After several fierce battles, the invaders were trapped in the stronghold. During the war, the Netherlands sent troops to rescue several times, but Zheng Chenggong was defeated at sea. On February 1, 1662, seeing that the situation was over, the Dutch invaders had no choice but to sign the surrender document and evacuate Taiwan. The 38-year history of the Dutch occupation of Taiwan came to an end.

After Zheng Chenggong regained Taiwan, he established a formal local government and established one prefecture and two counties for governance. He strongly called on mainland people to immigrate to Taiwan, reclaim land, develop production, set up education, and develop trade. Taiwan's economy has developed greatly as a result.

The Qing government sent troops to Taiwan and its management of Taiwan

Zheng Chenggong died of illness shortly after regaining Taiwan, and his son and grandson successively governed Taiwan. At this time, the Qing government, which had established its dominance in the mainland, held talks with it several times, but to no avail. In 1683, the Qing government decided to use force to solve the Taiwan issue. In the Battle of Penghu, the Qing army won. The morale of Zheng's army was shaken, and the morale of the Taiwanese people collapsed. Therefore, Zheng Keshuang, the grandson of Zheng Chenggong, formally requested submission to the Qing government in August. After the Qing government governed Taiwan, it first established the Taiwan Prefecture in Tainan, which administered three counties under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province. In 1885, Taiwan Prefecture was upgraded to Taiwan Province and became one of the provinces of China. During the 212 years from 1683 to 1895, the Qing government recruited residents from the southeastern coast to migrate to Taiwan and carried out large-scale development of Taiwan. They opened coal mines, set up machinery bureaus, built roads, railways, set up post offices, and opened new schools. Taiwan has been developed and its economy has gradually developed.

The cession of Taiwan and its impact on the psychology of the Taiwanese people

The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894 broke out, and the Japanese army seized the Penghu Islands in the subsequent war. The war finally ended with the Qing government's defeat and suing for peace. On April 17, 1895, Li Hongzhang, the Imperial Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Qing government, and Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese Plenipotentiary, signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki at Chunfan Tower in Shimonoseki (now Shimonoseki), Japan, which included Taiwan, its affiliated islands, and the Penghu Islands. Together with the Liaodong Peninsula, it was ceded to Japan, making Taiwan and the Penghu Islands a Japanese colony. When the news of the Taiwanese cessation came, the whole Taiwan was in an uproar, and the public sentiment was boiling. The people "if they heard thunder at midnight, they would be shocked and distraught. They would rush to tell each other and gather in the city, day and night, and their cries could be heard in the fields." Taiwanese gentleman Qiu Fengjia and others jointly sent a message to the Qing government, saying: "The land of my hometown is a place where righteousness will live or die. I am willing to defend it to the death with Fu Chen."

Taiwanese officials, Jinshi, and Juren in Beijing jointly wrote to the Supervisory Council: "Today, once commissioned and abandoned, we are expelling loyal and righteous people to serve Japanese pirates. Taiwanese people will inevitably die, but death is painful. ". More than 1,300 people including Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao held a rally to oppose the cessation of Taiwan.

Although Taiwan was ceded to Japan, the Taiwanese people still resisted tenaciously against the Japanese army. After more than 10 bloody battles and paying a heavy price, the Japanese army finally occupied the entire territory of Taiwan. From then on, in the 50 years until 1945, despite the Japanese colonial authorities' efforts to strengthen their rule, the Taiwanese people's resistance struggle never stopped.