*
Homepage

 

04/15 (Wed)

Opening Hours 9:00-17:00

*
Travel Literature: Travel Writing during Wartime (1938 - 1944)

Publication date: 27 Oct 2022
Author: Lee Yi-ling, Chu Feng-chung |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

The Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica, in the years past unearthed a precious collection of the published works in 1938 – 1944 of “Taiwan Shin Min Pao” and its successor “Shing Nan News”, the only newspapers launched by the Taiwanese during the colonial rule of Japan. This piece goes through a selection of the accounts of travel that are of interest and, with the descriptions given by travelers from Taiwan and Japan to be complemented by such colorful collections as photographs, travel tickets, old papers, postcards and others, it invites you to read through the tracks of the travelers in question over tens of thousands of miles across Beijing, Manchukuo, the United States, Germany, Burma and Vietnam and discover the landscapes around a turbulent world in the midst of war from nearly a hundred years ago and the heart-felt worldviews of the travelers.

*
I. Lin’s Footsteps in the United Kingdom

Lin Xian-tang arrived in London on June 27 and started to visit places near London. On July 23, he went to London Zoo seeing many animals that he rarely saw, such as apes, parrots, insects, qilins and rhinos. What impressed him the most was that lions and tigers in one cage could live peacefully (see figure 1). On July 28, they visited the zoo again and went to see reptiles first this time. They not just saw many kinds of snakes that they had never seen before and even saw one big snake shedding its skin. They also saw many kinds of fishes like glowing eels, and other species such as birds, cats, and fur seals. In addition to seeing animals, Lin Xian-tang and his sons spent some money riding elephants and camels (see figure 2&3). Even though they ended up encountering sudden heavy rain, getting wet in the rain, and getting separated from others who went to the zoo together, they still had a memorable journey.

Figure1: The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan on July 23, 1927.
(Source:The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan, the digital archives of the Archives of Institution of Taiwan History)

Figure2: The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan on July 28, 1927.
(Source:The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan, the digital archives of the Archives of Institution of Taiwan History)

Figure3: Elephants in London Zoo in the 1920s.
(Source:Travel in a New World, the digital archives of the Archives of Institution of Taiwan History)


11F., South Wing, Building for Humanities and Social Sciences, 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei City 11529,
Taiwan Tel: +886-2-2652-5181 Fax: +886-2-2652-5184 【Contact us
Copyright © 2010 Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica. All Rights Reserved