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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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Reminisce the Century-old Stores Lin-fu-zhen Store and Qian-yuan Pharmacy on Dihua Street
Reminisce the Century-old Stores Lin-fu-zhen Store and Qian-yuan Pharmacy on Dihua Street

Publication date: 2013
Author: Chen Qiu-jin |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History
Photo: The Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

The first image of Dihua Street in Da-tong district, Taipei is an old street full of Chinese medicine shops, dried goods stores and fabric stores. Reminiscing the development of Dihua Street, it is located in an area called “Dadaocheng” which became a street in 19th Century. Foreign companies came to Tamsui and built their career after Tamsui Customs Wharf was established in 1860. The trading of tea activated the commercial developments in Dadaocheng area. In the end of the 19th Century, Dadaocheng became the trading hub in northern Taiwan. In the Japanese colonial period, comparing to the inner part of Taipei city where Japanese settled in, Dadaocheng, located outside the city, was an important spot where Taiwanese wholesaling groceries gathered. In the end of the 20th century, the once prosperous Dadaocheng gradually declined because the economic activities in Taipei city shifted eastward bit by bit as the city continued to develop. Through the dilemma between urban renewal and historical sites protection, Dihua Street, the core of Dadaocheng, has retrieved its historical ambiance by launching monument protection projects and establishing cultural activities sites. Although much has changed in the past hundred years, several old stores have withstood the test of time. In 2013, the Traveling in Time ExhibitionThe Chen Family’s Tai-yi-hou in Nagasaki, showcased the commercial letters between Japan and Taiwan. Through reading the correspondence, we are able to trace the commercial trading clues which were left by the century-old stores on Dihua Street of Dadaocheng.

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