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My dear

I dont even know the purpose of this

Hello everyone! Welcome to Taiwan Bar

Today we're going to talk about Taiwan's modernization

Which might bring to mind

Liu Ming Chuan in the Qing Dynasty

and Chiang Ching Kuo's Ten Major Construction Projects

What about this gap in between?

Hmmm...Let's pause for a second and think about this

Ahem! Why is this gap always ignored?

The Modernization under Japanese rule

In 1895

Japan took over Taiwan according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki

Japan took this island in the middle of nowhere

and tried to turn it into a twinkle, twinkle little star

♪ How I wonder what you are ♪

So they made Taiwan modernize with them

But before explaining

why we're so unfamiliar with this gap

We're gonna have to say what's in the gap first

Ahem!

Here we go!

Taiwan's modernization under Japanese rule

included the visible change of infrastructure

and also the invisible change of lifestyle

In terms of infrastructure

First we're going to talk about Goto Shinpei's Urban Planning.

For example

the Governor-General's Office

which is now the Presidential Office Building

Also

You get the point

In addition

the two major harbors that led to Taiwan's economic take-off

(Garsh!)

The Port of Kaohsiung and the Port of Keelung

Along with the omnipresent Bank of Taiwan

And the ever-so-famous Guishan Power Plant

These were all built by Goto Shinpei

Recruited by Goto

Hasegawa Kinsuke designed the Western-line railway

Besides the infrastructure

the change of lifestyle

and customs were highlighted in the modernization as well

Japan considered foot binding

the queue hairstyle

and the use of opium as the Three Vices of Taiwan

As for the use of opium...

You can smash that link to review everything about that

After the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911

People started snippin' them queues

and freein' them shoes

In 1915

the Governor-General of Taiwan

used the Baojia system for...

And this reformation was successfully carried out under the police

Since girls didn't need to bind their feet anymore

they could work harder

and contribute more to Taiwan's economic growth

(a-hyuk!)

Aside from eradicating the three vices

Japan also stressed the importance of being punctual and obedient

First, about punctuality

The Governor General introduced the concept of a 7-day week

and set Sunday as a day off

So all the peeps who used to bust their asses off 24-7

started to have downtime

and though

"Hmmm...what am I gonna do with all this spare time?"

partay!!

And thus all kinds of recreational activities started to pop out

partay!!

Besides the week system

Japan also brought in the Standard Time System

With the introduction of Greenwich Mean Time

The concept of time changed from the Chinese Sexagenary cycle

into stuff like"eight p.m."

...or so

In terms of obeying the law

With the support of Baojia system

the police kept it sooooo peaceful that

People in Taiwan didn't even need to lock their doors at night

The Governor General also introduced the Western law system

so Taiwan's judiciary evolved from the guillotine

to a modern system with judges and lawyers

(Take double the payback!)

In the early years

these new rules were forced on the Taiwanese by the police

But after a while

People got used to it

and became punctual and obedient on their own

Let's clarify something real quick

Ano...

Everyone seems to think that

calling Taiwan a "Ghost Island" is a new thing...

The plague was a serious problem

at the beginning of the Japanese rule

You might get to Taiwan

and immediately want a free return in 7 days

So even a hundred years ago

people were already calling Taiwan

To solve this public health issue

the Governor General put in work

to set up public health and medical systems

The National Taiwan University Hospital was founded

aka the TGG Medical School at that time

Also

the Baojia system was in charge of supervising health ed

As a result

the Taiwanese became more civilized

That's why you don't see us spitting on sidewalks

or dropping doo-doos whenever, wherever

Also

the mortality rate dropped a lot

The population of Taiwan grew from 3 million people

to SIX POINT SIX MILLION

Uh...

Okay, we now know that

many antique and prestigious architectures we see nowadays

along with the change of lifestyle

A huge part was due to the Japanese rule in the past 50 years

Well... besides being “accidentally” forgotten by the KM...

by the ca--mpus

Another reason is because the Japanese Rule

was in essence a colonization

And that makes many people unwilling to admit the good parts

For example

Both at work and in education

It was obvious that the Taiwanese were excluded

Japanese people not only occupied most of the government positions

For the same position

Taiwanese people got paid much less

In terms of education

Taiwanese people either went to worse schools

or couldn't even go to schools

In addition to this unfair treatment

Agricultural exploitation was even worse

Remember Kodama Gentaro and Goto Shinpei?

They thought sugar manufacturing not only attracts investment

it's also the foundation of a colonial economy

So Goto went to Nitobe Inazo

who later wrote

to um...

reform the sugar industry

The next year

the Imperial Conference passed the

"Taiwan Sugar Business Encouragement Rules"

which restricted sugarcane sales to certain corporations

The price was directly controlled

No matter how bad the price was

Taiwanese farmers had no choice but to suck it up

This kind of colonial injustice

left sad Taiwanese farmers with happy Japanese capitalists

And the consequence of this exploitation

led to the saying

Al-righty

After telling you about both the exploitation

and how Taiwan was modernized under the Japanese rule

We have finally bridged the 50-year-gap!

Back to our topic

When we look back at this part of history

Either overpraising

or denigrating Japan's influence on Taiwan

is actually harmful for a full understanding of this period

Both can easily lead to bigotry

and make us victims to our own preconceptions

Like seeing a hot chick on the street

but when she turns around

(a-hyuck!)

Uh...

Okay, that's all for today

Let me finish this brandy

And we'll see you next time!

Bye!