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03/28 (Thu)

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100 Years of Taiwanese Voice & 30th Anniversary of ITH

The 30th anniversary of the ITH coincides in 2023 with the centennial of the launching of ‘Taiwan Minpao.’ Both institutions are important milestones for the people of Taiwan coming into the process of exercising their self-awareness, voicing their opinions accordingly and forging a consensus around the issue. With ‘100 Years of Taiwanese Voice’ and ‘30th Anniversary of ITH’ as focal points, the exhibition makes use of specially selected diaries, newspapers, old books, manuscripts and photographs retracing the 1920s and how contemporary Taiwanese popularized ideas by means of the press, thereby sowing the seeds of conviction for change. The founding and subsequent development of the ITH help to explore Taiwan’s journey from the yoke of martial law to the state of diversity as well as the evolution of Taiwanese history from a marginal academic discipline to a new frontier in mainstream academic research.

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II. Merchant Guilds in Lugang

A Brief History of Lugang

In 1784, the Qing government allowed a trade route to be formed between Lugang and Quanzhou. Since Lugang is nearer to China’s shore, it became a prosperous port city and rapidly developed. Quan Guild, a trade organization that mainly conducted business with Quanzhou, had more than one hundred members at its peak. However, Lugang fell into decline due to sedimentation and the fact that the longitudinal railway built by the Japanese colonial government did not stop there.

鹿港不見天街
鹿港不見天街
Figure 6: A street called “Bu jian tian” (pedestrian can’t see the sky because roofs are too tight) in Lugang.
Source: Identifier: A0167_00_00, Taiwan Rare Book Collections

A Brief Journey through Lugang

Although Lugang was no longer prosperous, many of its precious historic buildings have been preserved due to the city’s economic position in history. As the second official open port, it also left abundant historical materials created by companies in the city.

Take the Hsu family in Lugang as an example. This family came from Quanzhou, Fujian during the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty. Hsu Zhi-hu (1841-1901) was part of the first generation to settle down in Niuxutou, Lugang. Niuxutou was a center for agricultural products such as “Lugang rice.” In the 1870s, Hsu Zhi-hu conducted rice trading and managed Qian-he hao and Chun-cheng hao. At the beginning of Japanese colonization in 1895, the Hsu family temporarily evacuated to Quanzhou. In 1897, the year that Taiwanese had to decide their nationality, Hsu Zhi-hu went back to Taiwan to continue his business. In the early colonial period, Qian-he hao had become one of the six largest companies in Lugang. Its business partners distributed throughout Taipei, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen.

1896年11月17日,泉州東益號給鹿港春盛號貨單和貨批
Figure 7: The transaction list sent from Dong-yi hao to Chun-cheng hao on November 17, 1896.
Source: Identifier: T0366D0302_03_0002, Hsu Zhi-hu Family Papers in Lugang, Taiwan Archival Information System
1896年乙未割臺之際,泉州許經烟給鹿港母親黃井的家書
Figure 8: The letter sent from Hsu Jing-yan, who lived in Quanzhou, to his mother Huang Jing, who lived in Lugang, in 1896.
Source: Identifier: T0366D0302_01_0014, Hsu Zhi-hu Family Papers in Lugang, Taiwan Archival Information System
1896年8月3日,順發號給謙和號的碼子單
Figure 9: The transaction list sent from Shun-fa hao to Chun-cheng hao on August 3, 1896.
Source: Identifier: T0366D0302_03_0013, Hsu Zhi-hu Family Papers in Lugang, Taiwan Archival Information System
 

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