The Sino-French War in Taiwan
In 1884 a war fought far away over suzerainty and control of Vietnam suddenly washed up on Taiwan's shores. As relations between the Qing and France broke down over the Vietnamese question, the fighting spread along China's southeastern coast, and Taiwan — an isolated island guarding the maritime approaches to Fujian — became overnight a frontline in a contest between great powers. For the island's inhabitants it was a disaster that fell from the sky without warning, and they called the whole ordeal the 'Western barbarians' revolt.' The first blow fell on the north. Admiral Courbet, commander of the French Far Eastern squadron, sought a bargaining chip against the Qing and turned his guns on the port of Keelung and its surrounding coalfields. Keelung's coal was an indispensable fuel for steamships and warships, and its strategic value was immense. In August 1884, under cover of naval gunfire, French troops stormed ashore and seized the town, and for a time gunsmoke hung over the mountains and shore of northern Taiwan while fear gripped the population. The true turning point came at Tamsui, today's Danshui. On 8 October 1884 the French attempted an amphibious landing at the mouth of the Tamsui River, only to meet fierce resistance from Qing forces under General Sun Kai-hua, fighting alongside local militia. Exploiting familiar terrain and shore defences, the defenders threw the French back into the sea — a rare and celebrated victory on Taiwan's front in the war, remembered as the Great Triumph of Tamsui and passed down through generations of Tamsui residents. Frustrated on land, the French changed tactics and declared a blockade of the entire island. Their fleet cut off Taiwan's shipping and supply lines, choking off imports and battering the local economy, effectively marooning the whole island in the open sea. The French then sailed south and occupied the poorly defended Pescadores, seizing the archipelago that commands the Taiwan Strait, and for a time the campaign settled into stalemate. Overseeing the island's defence was Liu Ming-chuan, who had been rushed to Taiwan by the court as imperial commissioner for military affairs. Based in the north, he marshalled limited troops and resources to contend with the French along the Keelung–Tamsui line. In the south, the Taiwan intendant Liu Ao organised the defence of the Tainan region on his own, shoring up the walled city and its harbours. Yet the friction and rivalry over authority between Liu Ming-chuan and Liu Ao had already begun to surface during the war, and that rift would bring bitter consequences. The war finally ended in 1885 with a wider peace between China and France. As the treaty was signed, the siege and blockade were lifted, and French forces withdrew from Keelung and the Pescadores, bringing to a close the conflict that had swept over northern Taiwan and its outlying islands. For the shaken islanders life could return to its ordinary rhythms, though the scars the war had left on the land and in memory did not fade easily. Brief though it was, the war taught the Qing court a hard lesson about Taiwan's strategic value. Long dismissed as a peripheral island on the empire's edge, it had now proven to be a linchpin of the entire southeastern coastal defence. Within months of the war's end the court resolved to separate Taiwan from Fujian and elevate it to a full province, appointing Liu Ming-chuan as its first governor. The guns of the Western barbarians' revolt had, unexpectedly, pushed open the door to a new era for Taiwan.
Vol. 2 · Imperial Frontier
Crossing the Black Ditch
1624–1662
Formosa in the Age of Exploration
Vol. 1
The Dutch Arrival
Vol. 2
Fort Zeelandia
Vol. 3
Spanish Northern Taiwan
Vol. 4
The Hamada Yahee Incident
Vol. 5
Indigenous Encounters
Vol. 6
The Madou She War
Vol. 7
The Sinckan Script
Vol. 8
The Deer That Built an Empire
Vol. 9
The Guo Huaiyi Rebellion
Vol. 10
A Map That Changed a Dynasty
Vol. 11
The Siege of Fort Zeelandia
1662–1683
The Kingdom of Tungning
Vol. 1
Koxinga's Kingdom
Vol. 2
A King Imprisoned by Wrath
Vol. 3
The Eastern Conquest
Vol. 4
Zheng Jing's Reforms
Vol. 5
The Architect of Tungning
Vol. 6
Han Settlement
Vol. 7
Vanishing Plain Warriors
Vol. 8
The Anping Secret Pact
Vol. 9
The Last Imperial Dream
Vol. 10
The Tears of Lady Dong
Vol. 11
The Twilight of the Boy King
Vol. 12
The Ultimate Duel
Vol. 13
Prince Ningjing's Martyrdom
Vol. 14
The Fall of Tungning
1683–1895
Taiwan Under the Qing Empire
Vol. 1
Qing Incorporation
Vol. 2
Crossing the Black Ditch
Vol. 3
Dispatches from the Frontier Sea
Vol. 4
The Birth of Hsinchu
Vol. 5
The Babao Canal
Vol. 6
The Liugong Canal
Vol. 7
The Duck Lord's Revolt
Vol. 8
The Dajiaxi Uprising
Vol. 9
The Land Brokers
Vol. 10
Rebellions and Unrest
Vol. 11
How Chiayi Got Its Name
Vol. 12
Wu Sha Opens the Kavalan Plain
Vol. 13
The Opening of Kavalan
Vol. 14
King of the Black Flag
Vol. 15
The Caogong Canal
Vol. 16
Dazhongye and the Shrines
Vol. 17
The Golden Ports
Vol. 18
The Literati of Hsinchu
Vol. 19
The Subgroup Feuds
Vol. 20
Opening of Treaty Ports
Vol. 21
Observers at the Edge of Empire
Vol. 22
The Medical Mission in Southern Taiwan
Vol. 23
The Rover Incident
Vol. 24
The Aboriginal Frontier
Vol. 25
Sovereignty of the Mountains
Vol. 26
Opening the Mountains
Vol. 27
The Sino-French War in Taiwan
Vol. 28
Taiwan as a Province
Vol. 29
The Last Generation of Gentry
Vol. 30
First Steam Locomotive
1895–1945
The Japanese Colonial Era
Vol. 1
The Treaty of Shimonoseki
Vol. 2
The Yiwei War
Vol. 3
Armed Resistance
Vol. 4
The Opium War
Vol. 5
Modern Infrastructure
Vol. 6
The Greatest Thief
Vol. 7
The Taroko War
Vol. 8
Sun Moon Lake Hydropower
Vol. 9
The Chianan Canal Miracle
Vol. 10
Taiwan Parliament Petition
Vol. 11
Awakening the Taiwanese Soul
Vol. 12
The Chih-ching Incident
Vol. 13
The New Literature Movement
Vol. 14
The Erhlin Incident
Vol. 15
The Taiwanese People's Party
Vol. 16
The Taiten Exhibition
Vol. 17
Seediq Bale
Vol. 18
The Koshien Dream
Vol. 19
Kōminka Movement
Vol. 20
Wartime Mobilization
Vol. 21
The Takasago Volunteers
Vol. 22
Orphan of Asia
1945–1949
Post-War Transition & 228
Vol. 1
From Cairo to Taipei
Vol. 2
Surrender and Takeover
Vol. 3
The Shibuya Incident
Vol. 4
Homecoming of the Overseas
Vol. 5
De-Japanization
Vol. 6
The Parliamentary System
Vol. 7
The Constitutional Convention
Vol. 8
The Early Economic Crisis
Vol. 9
The February 28 Incident
Vol. 10
The 27 Brigade
Vol. 12
The Battle of Wuniulan
Vol. 15
The Dilemma of Native Elites
Vol. 16
Chiang Kai-shek's Diary
Vol. 17
Voices from Elite Diaries
Vol. 18
The American Perspective
1950–1979
Authoritarian Era
Vol. 1
Party-State Governance
Vol. 2
The White Terror
Vol. 3
Disillusioned Intellectuals
Vol. 4
Cold War Frontline
Vol. 5
The Luku Incident
Vol. 6
Purge of Indigenous Elites
Vol. 7
Military Power Purge
Vol. 8
Cross-Ethnic Alliance
Vol. 9
A Declaration of Independence
Vol. 10
The Economic Miracle
Vol. 11
Cultural Control
1980–1999
Democratic Transition
2000–Present
Modern Taiwan
Vol. 1
The First Party Turnover
Vol. 2
The SARS Storm
Vol. 3
Taipei 101
Vol. 4
Cross-Strait Dynamics
Vol. 5
One Island, One Day
Vol. 6
A Letter from the Cape
Vol. 7
Sunflowers in the Chamber
Vol. 8
Treasures Beneath the Skies
Vol. 9
Love Without Distinction
Vol. 10
Transitional Justice
Vol. 11
The Voices of the Land
Vol. 12
Taiwanese Identity — Who Am I?
Isle of Time is a digital exhibition dedicated to presenting Taiwan's history with scholarly rigor and editorial clarity. We believe that understanding the past is the foundation for knowing the present.
Learn more →