The Japanese Colonial Era

The Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded Taiwan in April 1895. The Republic of Formosa's president fled within ten days, but fighting continued south until Tainan opened its gates in October. In 1896 Japanese troops burned 4,925 households in Yunlin.

From 1898 Kodama Gentarō and Gotō Shinpei ruled through land surveys, household registers and a police post in every village. An opium monopoly paid for it. The railway opened in 1908; the Chianan Canal followed in 1930.

From 1921 Lin Hsien-tang petitioned Tokyo fifteen times for a Taiwanese parliament, and never won. Chiang Wei-shui founded the Taiwan Cultural Association. In October 1930 Mona Rudao led the revolt at Musha. The next summer, Kano reached the Kōshien final.

In 1937 the newspapers' Chinese pages were shut down and war with China began. Taiwanese were pushed to take Japanese names. Indigenous volunteers went to New Guinea. In 1945 bombs hit the Government-General. At night, Wu Zhuoliu wrote.