Learn mandarin - Fighting Foreign Aggressors

CHINA / Backgrounder

Fighting Foreign Aggressors

(www.chinataiwan.org)
Updated: 2003-07-21 19:03

An isolated island in the sea, Taiwan became the target of colonists
since the mid-16th century. The patriotic Taiwan people have waged many
prolonged struggles against foreign aggressors to defend the territory
and national dignity of the Chinese. Their battles with the Dutch and the
Japanese invaders were the most heroic.

Sweeping Out the Dutch. Early in the 17th century, the Netherlands broke
through the hegemony of Spain and Portugal and began colonization in the
East. It invaded Penghu twice, first in 1603, later in 1622. In 1624, the
army of the Ming court drove the Dutch out of Penghu. The Dutch general
was captured and the rest of his army withdrew to Dayuan (today's Anping
District of Tainan City) in southern Taiwan. Two years later, Spanish
invaders occupied Jilong, Danshui and the area around. The Dutch took
Spain's position in Northern Taiwan in 1642 and turned the whole of
Taiwan into its colony.

Taiwan struggled against Dutch colonialism for 38 years. Finally, in
April 1661, General Zheng Chenggong left for Taiwan from the island of
Jinmen with an army of 25,000 sailors and hundreds of gunboats. With the
support and co-operation of the Taiwan people, the court army swept the
Dutch invaders out of Taiwan in February 1662. In his letter to the Dutch
governor appealing to the latter to surrender, Zheng Chenggong wrote:
"Taiwan is China's territory and has been under Chinese jurisdiction for
a long time. I have come to take it and the place is now mine."

Zheng Chenggong and his son Zheng Jing and grandson Zheng Keshuang then
ruled Taiwan for the following 22 years. During this period, known as
"The era of Ming Zheng," Taiwan's economy and culture developed rapidly.
In 1683 when the Qing army entered Taiwan, Zheng Keshuang pledged
allegiance to the Qing court and thus placed Taiwan under the control of
China's central government once again.

Fighting the Japanese. In 1894, the Japanese imperialists launched an
aggressive war against China. China lost the war and the Qing government
signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan in April 1895 under which
China ceded Taiwan and the Penghu islands to Japan. Taiwan became a
colony of Japan, and then for over half a century the people of Taiwan
struggled for their liberation and reunification with the motherland.

When the news that it had been ceded to Japan reached Taiwan in the
spring of 1895, people surrounded the governor's office to express their
anger. Shopkeepers in Taibei went on strike. Taiwan scholars who were
attending the national examinations for government officials in Beijing
submitted a joint letter to the Qing court, declaring the Japanese
invaders were their enemies and refusing to surrender to them, they would
rather fight until the last man had died on the battlefield. Local
nobility also telegraphed the Qing court, expressing their willingness to
defend Taiwan.

Japan occupied Taiwan in May 1895 with a large military force. The Taiwan
people immediately took up arms and organized a people's anti-Japanese
army, which persisted in armed struggle for seven years.

Beginning in 1907, under the influence of the bourgeois revolution that
was in the offing on the mainland, the people of Taiwan staged a
succession of armed uprisings to protest against Japanese colonial rule.
There were the Beipu Uprising in Xinzhu County in 1907, the Linyipu
Uprising in Nantou County in 1912, the 1913 uprising in Miaoli County and
the 1915 Xilaian Uprising in Tainan County.

Around the year 1919, the tide of the national democratic movement on the
mainland hit Taiwan. Progressive organizations and societies emerged
everywhere to arouse the people to fight against Japanese oppression.
Their slogans were: "Oppose the aggressive war of imperialism!" "Down
with the Japanese imperialists!" "Recover Taiwan!"

After the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the Japanese invaders
strengthened their fascist rule by placing Taiwan under a "war
system"-the Chinese language was forbidden and a process of assimilation
forced on the Taiwan people. Those who revolted were mercilessly
suppressed. But the Taiwan people never submitted to the invaders.
Numerous protests and uprisings took place, including a miners' strike in
Yilan County, an uprising against the war in Gaoxiong, Liujia and other
places, the revolt of draftees in Taibei, Jilong and Gaoxiong, and
activities secretly organized by students of the Taibei University
against the Japanese. Many returned to the mainland to take part in the
Anti Japanese War.

Related Full Coverages

NPC session ends, Premier meets journalists

Premier Wen Jiabao answers questions from foreign and domestic
journalists after the conclusion of the annual session of the National
People's Congress in Beijing March 14, 2006. The annual meeting of the
top lawmaking body closed at the Great Hall of the People. [Xinhua]
UNSC members meet for Iran nuke issue

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

� Bird flu control long-term task: Vice Premier

� Top legislature mulls abolishing agricultural tax regulation
� Hebei court hears deadly land dispute case
� Top legislature mulls abolishing agricultural tax regulation
� Top legislature mulls abolishing agricultural tax regulation

Today's Top News 

� US senators to visit China to talk trade issues

� Aviation industry to get boost

� Stringent checks on products assured

� US editors on visit for deeper insight

� Wen: We're keeping close eye on secessionist moves

Top China News 

� President Hu preaches morality to the Chinese

� Heinz baby cereal may contain GM rice

� China sets minimum age for TV contestants

� Toll hits 21 in N. China coal mine blast

� China to press on with reforms: Premier Wen

Learn mandarin