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Where did I Leave My Footprints? Lin Xian-tang’s Journey to Europe

Publication date: 28 Nov 2013
Author: Ou Yi-han |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

Lin Xian-tang (1881-1956), one of the figures in Traveling in Time Exhibition, was the leader of the Lin Family from Wufeng, Taichung. On May 15, 1927, he took the Fengshan Ferry from the Keelung Port with his two sons Pan-long and You-long starting to travel around in Europe and America. They spent 378 days visiting ten countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland. In his diary, Lin Xian-tang wrote of what he had seen in his journey and hoped to broaden Taiwanese’s knowledge of Western culture. Now, let’s follow Lin’s steps by reading The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan in 1927 to visit Europe!

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V. Conclusion

Although John Thomson was not the only western traveler in Taiwan in the 19th century, his travel journal is invaluable for the research into the history of Taiwan society. Furthermore, what he recorded is regarded as precious historical source for the research of Anthropology especially the Austronesian peoples. Since the equipment and techniques of photography was in the development stage and made photographing be a difficult and complicated job at that time, John Thomson still actively recorded and discovered fields that he had never experienced. Although John Thomson only stayed in Taiwan for one week, he still recorded and photographed a lot of things that he had seen. When we are reading Through China: with a Camera, we can learn how he viewed this exotic island, Taiwan. Moreover, people living nowadays are also curious about John Thomson and want to know his stories and the history of Taiwan through his photographs.


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