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Propagating Political Views to the Public – From New People’s Society to The Taiwan Shinminpo
Propagating Political Views to the Public – From New People’s Society to The Taiwan Shinminpo

Publication date: 29 Oct 2021
Author: Lee Yi-ling, Hsieh Min-ro |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

Yang Zhao-jia, one of the leading figures of the New Cultural Movement in Taiwan under Japanese rule, once said, “Newspaper and parliament are the two major driving forces for the promotion of civilization and social development.” Hence, the two core missions of the Taiwanese Cultural Association were running a newspaper and petitioning for the establishment of a Taiwanese parliament, which embodied their stand of unarmed resistance against colonial racism and had far-reaching impact on the enlightenment of Taiwan’s national consciousness.
2021 marked the centenary of the founding of the Taiwanese Cultural Association. In commemoration, the Archives organized a feature exhibition on The Taiwan Shinminpo, the only private Taiwanese-run newspaper during the Japanese colonial era. Selected collections of historical materials including personal documents, image data, diaries and passports were displayed and reviewed to illustrate that The Taiwan Shinminpo served to awaken and enlighten the people, boost national morale and propagate their political views to the public. Echoing the founding goal of the Taiwanese Cultural Association, The Taiwan Shinminpo opened a new page for Taiwanese to strive for democracy and freedom with a foothold in Taiwan and eyes looking at the world!

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"The Diaries of Taiwan Governor-general Den Kenjiro" Now Online
2012-03-07

As a part of the "International Collaboration of Taiwan Historical Resources Acquisition Project," the Institute of Taiwan History acquired and published the diaries of Den Kenjiro, Taiwan’s eighth Governor-general. In 2011, digitized annotations and full-text of 610,000 words of the diaries were collected in the "Taiwan Diary Knowledge Bank." Den’s diaries from 1919 to 1923 are now available online.

Den Kenjiro (1855-1930), born in Hyogo prefecture, was the first civilian Governor-general of Taiwan with a deep understanding of Sinology. Before being appointed to Taiwan, he served different posts, including the Chief of Police Department of the Kanagawa Prefecture, Director of Railway Bureau, member of House of Peers, Minister of Post and Communication, etc. During his term as Governor-general (1919-1923), Den promoted the policy of assimilation and carried out various reforms: he reformed the locality system, legalized Taiwanese-Japanese intermarriage, abolished caning as a criminal punishment, and expanded the public education system. He even recruited Taiwanese for high civilian positions as well. All these implementations are important issues for research on Japanese colonial rule.

Among the 19 Japanese governor-generals of Taiwan, Den Kenjiro was the only one who kept detailed records of his daily life and personal viewpoints on state affairs in Chinese for 40 years. Hence, his diaries are definitely valuable primary sources for studying modern Japan and Taiwanese history. You may explore Den Kenjiro’s diaries through the "Taiwan Diary Knowledge Bank."


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