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Listening to the World Locally – The Homecoming Tour of Taiwanese Musicians
Listening to the World Locally – The Homecoming Tour of Taiwanese Musicians

Publication date: 20 Aug 2024
Author: Lee Yi-ling, Wang Li-Chiao | Staff member at the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

Ninety years ago, in August 1934, a group of young Taiwanese musicians embarked on the first Western music concert tour in Taiwan’s history. The Homecoming Concert Tour began with great fanfare during the scorching summer of the South Island, kicking off at the Taipei Medical School Auditorium. With a packed itinerary, the tour traveled southward, stopping at public assembly halls in Hsinchu, Taichung, Changhua, Chiayi, and Tainan, before culminating in a final performance at the Kaohsiung Youth Hall. Despite the demanding schedule, the musicians delivered exquisite piano melodies and harmonies to audiences across Taiwan, sparking widespread acclaim.

This article focuses on Taiwan’s first “Homecoming Concert Tour,” which was rapidly organized in just over a month. The program primarily featured Western musical compositions. During the scorching summer of the South Island, this grand musical feast unfolded with enthusiasm, traveling from north to south with seven performances. It offered audiences across Taiwan an auditory delight, broadened their horizons, and brought Western music closer to the local population. This tour marked the beginning of Taiwan’s musical diversity and led to Taiwan’s music being recognized on the Olympic stage, where Taiwanese music shone brightly on the global scene.

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Shao Yu-lin’s Diary (1953-1954) on Taiwan Diary Knowledge Bank now released
2017-08-01

Shao Yu-lin (1909-1984), whose pseudonym was Wenbo, was born in Yin Xian, Zhejiang. Shao studied in Japan in his early years. After his graduation from Kyushu Imperial University and the graduate school of Tokyo Imperial University, he went back to Republic of China and had held the position of chief in the Soviet–Japanese Section of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, consul general of R.O.C in Yokohama, director general of Intelligence Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Military Affairs Commission’s representative in Korea. After he returned to Taiwan, he served as a national policy advisor to the president, and the chief of Policy Research Institute of Office of the President. In 1957, he was appointed ambassador to Turkey. He went back to Taiwan in 1964 and served as a consultant in Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also had been the director of Institute of Japanese Studies in Chinese Culture College.

Shao Yu-lin left 10 volumes of diaries which were written in 1953-1957, 1966, 1971-1975. The content of his diaries has been interpreted and transcribed verbatim. Shao Yu-lin’s Diary would be uploaded to Taiwan Diary Knowledge Bank after Dr. Hsieh Kuo-hsing, the director of Institute of Taiwan History, reviewed the full-text transcription and the interpretation. Now Volume I of Shao’s Diary (1953-1954) is released and it contains 37 pages and about 30,000 words. The following volumes will be scrutinized and open online progressively. We welcome public register an account on Taiwan Diary Knowledge Bank to retrieve the records. Currently, there are 12 personal diaries and 1 organizational journal containing approximately 40,000 pages and 14.3 millions of words.


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