Chapter 7 Section 4: The hard struggle period of Han culture in Taiwan (Japanese occupation era)

Just when Taiwan's economy and culture were developing rapidly and flourishing, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 (the 20th year of Guangxu) broke out.The following year, China suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceding Taiwan to Japan.Since then, Japan has practiced colonial rule in Taiwan for half a century. The Japanese colonists regarded Taiwan compatriots as "second-class citizens" and deprived them of all freedom and basic human rights. One person was "convicted" and his neighbors were implicated. Even the slightest resistance was brutally suppressed and massacred.They wantonly occupy farmland, forests, and hunting grounds, monopolize the trade of all important agricultural and sideline products, and list the daily necessities of the people as "government monopoly products". Monopoly capital excludes and suppresses private capital in Taiwan.

The Japanese colonists not only carried out cruel political oppression and economic plunder to the people of Taiwan, but also carried out cultural and spiritual destruction, forcing differential education and forced assimilation policies. The Japanese colonists divided elementary schools in Taiwan into three types: (1) elementary schools, which only accept Japanese children, with the best teachers and equipment, and the most abundant funds; (2) public schools, which exclusively accept Taiwanese children, with excellent teachers and equipment. Very bad, the funding is much less than that of primary schools; (3) "Education Center", which only accepts "Fantong", and the police are in charge of teaching, there is no equipment at all.The teaching content also adopts three different curriculum systems. Public schools graduate in six years, and their level is only below the fifth grade of elementary schools.All elementary schools teach in Japanese, prohibit reading Chinese, and instill the concept of Japanese nationalism in Taiwanese children through so-called "self-cultivation" and "history" courses.

As for secondary and higher education, the Japanese colonists even adopted a policy of discrimination against Taiwan compatriots.Restrict Taiwanese students from entering middle and higher schools.All high-level middle schools accept only Japanese students.They set up various industrial schools and vocational supplementary schools to recruit young Taiwanese to study, so as to train a labor force with certain knowledge and skills for them to drive and enslave. The Japanese colonial authorities were very afraid of Taiwan compatriots having advanced knowledge, and deliberately restricted the development of higher education.It was not until 1928 that the first university, Imperial University (the predecessor of Taiwan University), was founded in Taipei, and it mainly recruited Japanese students. Even if a very small number of Taiwanese students were recruited, they were only allowed to study medicine and agriculture.According to statistics, in 1944, there were 357 Tai University students, and only 85 Taiwan students, 80 of whom studied medicine.Moreover, Taiwanese students are often "unemployed after graduation".

After the outbreak of the Second World War, in order to consolidate Taiwan, an important strategic base for the "Southern Advance", the Japanese invaders launched the "Royalization Movement" in Taiwan after September 1937, and further transformed "differential education" into " "Forced assimilation policy": First, ban the use of Taiwanese and Chinese, and force the use of Japanese; all schools at all levels will suspend Chinese language courses, cancel the Chinese version of newspapers; close all Chinese temples, demolish all kinds of gods, strictly prohibit Han people from worshiping ancestors, and force Taiwanese Taiwan compatriots went to Japanese shrines to "worship", and they all worshiped Japan's "Amaterasu Emperor"; they also promoted the "surname change movement", forcing Taiwan compatriots to change to Japanese names and wear Japanese kimonos; Han people celebrate the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year and more.The evil purpose of the Japanese colonists is to destroy the religious beliefs and customs passed down from generation to generation by the Taiwan compatriots, and then wipe out all the traditional Chinese culture and national spirit in Taiwan, and replace them with Japanese culture, so that the majority of Taiwan compatriots become subservient colonists. slave.

The brutal policy of cultural destruction carried out by the Japanese colonists aroused strong dissatisfaction and resistance from the majority of Taiwan compatriots.Taiwan's patriotic intellectuals with strong national consciousness have adopted various methods and waged an indomitable and tenacious struggle to maintain and preserve China's traditional culture. As early as the beginning of Japan's occupation of Taiwan, Taiwanese intellectuals who were unwilling to surrender had set off an upsurge in advocating Sinology, writing old-style poems, and collecting local documents to compile history books.The Japanese colonists practiced enslavement education and opened various types of schools, while Taiwan compatriots confronted each other by opening Chinese "study rooms" or private schools, "If you run a public school, I will run another private school."At that time, "study rooms" and private schools run by Han people spread all over Taiwan and flourished for a while.The Japanese colonists were very jealous. After the implementation of the "Royalization Movement", they simply prohibited the opening of private schools and ordered all "study rooms" to be closed.However, many private school teachers still ignore the ban and attend classes secretly, teaching Chinese in Hokkien or Hakka.

In the fierce struggle against Japanese colonial enslavement education, patriotic Taiwan compatriot Lin Xiantang made outstanding contributions. In 1914, he mobilized patriots in Taichung to donate money, built a school building by himself, settled teaching expenses, and founded Taichung No. 1 High School (now Taichung No. 1 Middle School).Patriotic Taiwan compatriots from all over the country have followed suit and established a number of private schools one after another to compete with the "official schools" run by the Japanese colonial authorities.According to statistics, in 1938, there were as many as 20 private schools of various kinds in Taiwan (excluding private schools).

Not long after Japan took over Taiwan, people in Taiwan's intellectual circles spontaneously organized literary groups such as "Poetry Society" and "Wen Society" with various names throughout Taiwan.They read Chinese books, wrote Chinese characters, wrote Chinese poems, founded literary and artistic publications, and created a "Sinology Movement" with considerable momentum.Among them, the famous poets and essayists include Lian Heng, Hong Qisheng, Hu Nanming and others.Their famous works such as "General History of Taiwan" (Lianheng), "Jihezhai Poetry and Prose Collection", "Yinghai Qisheng Ji" (Hong Qisheng), "Five Songs" (Hu Nanming), still have a great influence today.

After the "May 4th" Movement, Taiwan's literary and art circles took on a new look under the influence of the New Culture Movement in mainland China. In the 1920s, represented by Zhang Wejun and Lai He, they vigorously advocated vernacular Chinese, opposed old literature, and advocated new literature.Among them, well-known writers with greater influence include Yang Yunping, Cai Qiutong, Huang Shihui, Yang Shouyu and others.They formed a group and created many new literary works in vernacular to expose the dark reality of life under Japanese colonial rule, which had a great influence.

From the end of the 1920s to the mid-1930s, Taiwan's literature and art entered a new period of vigorous development and maturity. Progressive literary and art groups such as "Nanyin Society" and "Taiwan Literary and Art Alliance" have sprung up one after another and are very active. A large number of talented and well-known writers of new literature have emerged, such as Yang Kui, Wu Zhuoliu, Guo Qiusheng, Zhang Shenqie, Huang Deshi, Yang Hua, Wu Yongfu, Liao Hanchen, Wang Yulang and others founded many literary publications and created many new literary works full of the spirit of the times and full of strong national consciousness.

From the end of the 1930s to the mid-1940s, in order to cooperate with the "Imperial Civilization Movement", the Japanese colonists brutally suppressed Taiwan's literary and artistic circles. All progressive literary and artistic publications were forced to suspend publication, and Taiwan's new literary movement was unprecedentedly destroyed.However, the patriotic and progressive writers and artists were still unwilling to give in. Some sneaked back to the mainland, some went "underground", and some insisted on writing with obscure and tortuous brushwork. With clever dealings and struggles with the so-called "Huangmin Literature", many excellent works are still published.

During the 50 years of Japanese colonial rule, Taiwan’s patriotic intellectuals fought hard and bravely to maintain and preserve the traditional culture of the motherland, so that the Japanese colonists not only failed to achieve the evil goal of destroying Chinese culture, but on the contrary, Make Chinese culture more popular in Taiwan, the treasure island of the motherland.Following Japan's defeat and surrender in 1945, Taiwan returned to the embrace of the motherland, and Chinese culture reappeared!