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Let’s read newspaper－Contents of The Taiwan Shinminpo and Kounan Shinbun
Let’s read newspaper－Contents of The Taiwan Shinminpo and Kounan Shinbun

Publication date: 04 Jul 2022
Author: Lee Yi-ling |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

The Taiwan Minpao, The Taiwan Shinminpo and the subsequent Kounan Shinbun (Kounan News) constituted the newspaper series published between April 1923 and March 1944. However, surviving copies of the daily published since 1932 were few. In view of the importance of this newspaper series, the Institute of Taiwan History began gathering remaining copies both in Taiwan and abroad, and discovered an exclusive collection of The Taiwan Shinminpo (1938-1941). The newspapers carried diverse contents, including political and economic affairs, local news, arts and new knowledge, which are rare and precious historical materials for research on Taiwan history during World War II.

Reviewing the daily newspapers published since April 1932, this article attempts to elucidate the layout format and language use as well as main contents and subject matters covered in the columns. Moreover, it further analyzes the particularity and variations in choice of contents as time evolved and the environment changed. This article provides an in-depth introduction to this newspaper of the Taiwanese, and invites you to read the newspaper and revisit major and minor happenings of Taiwan past.

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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
 
‹ I. Tainanfu: The Qing Official to Tainan up III. Merchant Guilds in Bangkah ›

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