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Having evolved to become a daily, The Taiwan Shinminpo, capitalized on national spirit, was in competition with other dailies with imperialist backing. As a weekly, it used to focus on political and economic enlightenment and criticism of social issues; its mission now as a daily emphasized accurate and prompt news reporting and active release of public opinion from Taiwanese standpoint. The layout and contents covered domestic and foreign political and economic news, happenings in local regions on the island itself, and diverse aspects including social culture, life entertainment, literature and arts. For cultural enlightenment and to broaden the international outlook and vision of the Taiwanese, special attention was paid to publishing overseas experiences or travel notes of elites. In addition, there were new columns contributed by experts in medicine, law, and parenting, offering information that was professional and authoritative but also entertaining. Take the 1933 edition for example. The layout comprised 8 pages with pages 4-6 in Japanese and the rest in Chinese. The front and fourth pages covered international updates and political news of the central government in Japan. Home news and related commentaries were on pages 2, 3 and 5; economic news on page 7, and literary and art columns on pages 6 and 8. From March 1934, the 4-page evening news was published; together with the 8-page daily, 12 pages of news were released each day. The circulation soared to more than 30,000 copies. However, such good times were short-lived. Following the rise of Japanese militarism and increasing tension in the international arena, Japan was on a war footing. In 1936, Kobayashi Seizō, a military attaché took office as Governor-General of Taiwan; in 1937, all Chinese pages in newspapers were removed, leaving only coverage in Japanese. The function of The Taiwan Shinminpo to speak out public opinion of Taiwanese was much constrained and gradually obliterated. The operation became increasingly difficult. Most of the reports at that time had a strong militaristic flavor. In addition to domestic and foreign political and economic news, there were also war updates, local news, market prices, disaster reports, and radio schedules. The Taiwan Shinminpo, a beacon of the Taiwanese national standpoint, made splendid achievements under the heavy hands of the colonial government and in the highly competitive newspaper market. Every report and each edition were schematized to convey messages from the editorial board to the public, sometimes explicitly, sometimes subtly, and often with compromise as dictated by the political situation. Nevertheless, as the only private Taiwanese-run newspaper, The Taiwan Shinminpo not only provided a channel for Taiwanese educated youth to promote their ideals, but also offered the general public views different from those of the ruling power, making remarkable contributions to the cultural enlightenment and political awakening of Taiwan society.
Figure 17: Front-page news of The Taiwan Shinminpo dated July 15, 1938
Source: The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 2674 (1938-07-15), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119). The front page of The Taiwan Shinminpo reported mainly political news of the central government in Japan and international updates, such as the situation of the war against China, major international affairs, national policies and personnel updates. The headline, as shown, was the decision of the Japanese cabinet to cancel the 1940 Tokyo Olympics.
 Figure 18: An episode of Chen Ping-huang’s overseas travels, 1933
Source: The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 827 (1933-06-10), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119). From May 1933, The Taiwan Shinminpo published in the literary page 18 episodes of Chen Ping-huang’s overseas travels. Chen was the former Shanghai bureau chief and had lived overseas in Annam, Java, Borneo, Sumatra and other places in his childhood when his father traveled a lot for business. Upon graduation from St. John’s University in Shanghai, he continued his master study in the United States. He had rich overseas exposure. The articles contained mainly his personal experiences, the comparison between the American and Chinese culture, and ironic criticism of the old and bad habits of Taiwan.
  Figure 19: Passport application record of Wang Tien-teng and an episode of his Nanyang Travel Notes
Source: The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 804 (1933-05-18), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119); Foreign Passports Issued, October-December 1932 (T1011_03_135), Passports Issued and Recovered by the Government-General of Taiwan (T1011). In November 1932, Wang Tien-teng set off from Keelung to visit Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Java, Singapore and Johor. On his way back, he stopped at Hainan Island, Hong Kong, Kowloon and Amoy, finally reaching Keelung and ending his trip of more than two months. His experiences were published in The Taiwan Shinminpo under the title ‘Nanyang Travel Notes’ in 13 episodes which described overseas customs, scenery, parliamentary systems, and different colonial policies, offering readers a glimpse of the social culture and current situation of the southeast Asian region. One could see from the travel notes that he visited many places although there was only one record of his passport application for Java.
 Figure 20: News on Yang Zhao-jia and others’ visit to Korea and Japan in 1933
Source: The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 942 (1933-10-04), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119)  Figure 21: Photos of Yang Zhao-jia and others’ visit to Korea and Japan in 1933
Source: Photos of Taiwan Local Autonomy Alliance (LJK_08_01_0060002), Yang Zhao-jia Collection (LJK). On October 4, 1933, members of the Taiwan Alliance for Home Rule, Yang Zhao-jia, Yeh Ching-yao, and Yeh Jung-chung, took the Midzuho Maru first to Moji and then to Korea. The purpose of this visit was to understand more the implementation of self-government in Korea from the political, legal and public perspectives. After that, they went to Japan to exchange views with the central government. Later, Yeh Ching-yao, and Yeh Jung-chung returned to Taiwan first. Details of their visit to Korea were reported in The Taiwan Shinminpo and Yang Zhao-jia also kept related photos.
 Figure 22: Reports of Fuzhou-Amoy Delegation organized by The Taiwan Shinminpo, 1933
Source: The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 927 (1933-09-18), No. 944 (1933-10-06), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119) In addition to publishing overseas travel notes of elites of that time, The Taiwan Shinminpo also organized delegations for visits abroad. In September 1933, the Fuzhou-Amoy delegation was to be held with passport application exempted. Consequently, the number of applicants far exceeded the quota and lots needed to be drawn for the actual participants. This 31-member delegation was led by Yoshitomi Yasuyuki (the then Head of the Advertising Department). In the afternoon of September 20, they set off from Keelung, arrived in Fuzhou the following morning, visited the Consulate General and other places. On September 24, they took the Daikyumaru Ferry to Amoy and Gulangyu, visited the Japanese Consulate, Japanese Residents’ Association and Shuzhuang Garden. They returned to Taiwan on October 3. Details of the visit were published in The Taiwan Shinminpo from October 6-12.
 Figure 23: Fuzhou-Amoy Delegation led by Yoshitomi Yasuyuki (left), 1933
Source: Taiwan Jinshikan (T1013_01_003_0107), Rare Books Stored by Bank of Taiwan (T1013), The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 937 (1933-09-28), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119) The Taiwan Shinminpo reported about the Fuzhou-Amoy Delegation led by Yoshitomi Yasuyuki (left) and a photo taken at Gulangyu. Amoy.
 Figure 24: Reports of correspondent Chan Chao-chin in Guangdong and her passport application record
Source: Foreign Passports Issued, April-June 1939 (T1011_03_161), Passports Issued and Recovered by the Government-General of Taiwan (T1011), The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 2954 (1939-04-23), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119). In April 1933, Chen Chao-chin, a correspondent of The Taiwan Shinminpo, applied for a passport to Guangdong and Hong Kong for business purpose. On April 23, the newspaper carried three reports of her visit in Guangdong, bringing updates of China to readers.
 Figure 25: News for learning Japanese, September 1939
Source: The Taiwan Shinminpo No. 3098 (1939-09-14), Records of The Taiwan Shinminpo (T1119). The fourth page of The Taiwan Shinminpo evening edition featured news for learning Japanese. Similar to the present-day Mandarin Daily News, Chinese characters in the main text were accompanied by kana phonetic script. The target readers were school-aged children, and the contents published were mostly related to schools or children, such as calligraphy works, creative writings, nursery rhymes or stories of public school students, or role models to instill the qualities that school children should possess. |
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