Surrender and Takeover

In October 1945, the Nationalist government held a surrender ceremony in Taipei, formally ending Japan's fifty-year colonial rule over Taiwan. However, the joy of "retrocession" was quickly overshadowed by numerous problems during the takeover. Chen Yi's civil-military unified administration, the uneven quality of incoming officials, administrative barriers caused by language differences, and the wholesale transformation of Taiwan's existing institutions rapidly intensified social tensions.

During this period, the United States played a critical role as observer. American military liaison groups stationed in Taiwan closely documented the chaos of the takeover process and repeatedly reported Chen Yi's governance failures to Washington. These reports later became essential archives for understanding Taiwan's political situation in the early post-war period.

This volume includes rare historical photographs of the surrender ceremony, American military observation reports, and the historic scene of Ando Rikichi signing the instrument of surrender, presenting the complex historical turning point from colony to motherland's embrace, from hope to disillusionment.