Flight gear.

Light beer.

My dear.

I don't 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.

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, the Taipei Guest House, close to the NTU Hospital aka The TaiGueHousePital.

And the Clinique between Toronto and Istanbul aka The Clitorl- 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. (Nobody even knows that!)

These were all built by Goto Shinpei.

Recruited by Goto, Hasegawa Kinsuke designed the Western-line railway, connecting Keelung to Kaoshiung since 1908.

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.

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 thought, "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.

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 "The Ghost Island".

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.

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, "The dumbest thing to do, is to let the Japanese weigh your sugarcanes."

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!