Becoming Taiwanese: Ethnogenesis in a Colonial City, 1880s to 1950s

440 Pages·2019·42.654 MB·English

by  Evan N. Dawley

Becoming Taiwanese
Harvard East Asian Monographs 420

Becoming Taiwanese
Ethnogenesis in a Colonial City, 1880s to 1950s
Evan N. Dawley
Published by the Harvard University Asia Center
Distributed by Harvard University Press
Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London 2019
© 2019 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
Printed in the United States of America
The Harvard University Asia Center publishes a monograph series and, in coordination with
the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Korea Institute, the Reischauer Institute of
Japanese Studies, and other faculties and institutes, administers research projects designed
to further scholarly understanding of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries.
The Center also sponsors projects addressing multidisciplinary and regional issues in Asia.
The Harvard University Asia Center gratefully acknowledges a generous grant in support of
the publication of this work from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Schol-
arly Exchange.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dawley, Evan N., author.
Title: Becoming Taiwanese : ethnogenesis in a colonial city, 1880s–1950s / Evan N. Dawley.
Other titles: Harvard East Asian monographs ; 420.
Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Published by the Harvard University Asia Center,
2019. | Series: Harvard East Asian monographs ; 420 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018034040 | ISBN 9780674237209 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Ethnicity—Taiwan—Keelung City—History—19th century. |
Ethnicity—Taiwan—Keelung City—History—20th century. | Nationalism—
Taiwan—History. | Keelung City (Taiwan)—Social conditions—19th century. |
Keelung City (Taiwan)—Social conditions—20th century. | Japan—Colonies—Asia.
Classification: LCC DS799.9.K44 D39 2019 | DDC 951.249—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034040
Copy-editing by Julie Hagen
Index by Mary Mortensen
Printed on acid-free paper
Last figure below indicates year of this printing
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19
For Alan, who did not get to see this,
and for Katy, who did

Contents
List of Figures, Tables, Maps ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xvii
Note to the Reader xxi
Introduction 1
1 Building and Populating a Vanguard City 27
2 “Love of City and Love of Self”: Constructing Identities
in the Crucible of Jilong 78
3 “Civilization Enters Here”: Local Elites, Social
Organizations, and the Reterritorialization of Jilong 119
4 Sacred Spaces: Religions and the Construction
of Identities 161
5 Realms of Welfare: Social Work and Border Defense 205
6 Defining New Boundaries in the Reconstruction
of Jilong, 1945–1947 247
7 Ethnicity, Nationalism, and the Re-creation of Jilong,
1945–1955 290
viii Contents
Epilogue: History, Memory, and the Usage and Utility
of Taiwanese Ethnicity 331
Glossary 349
Bibliography 353
Index 391
Figures, Tables, Maps
Figures
1.1 Three Views of Taiwan: The Rain of Kiirun, left panel 30
1.2 Three Views of Taiwan: The Rain of Kiirun, center panel 31
1.3 The Jilong train station 46
1.4 The Osaka Shipping Company building in Jilong 50
1.5 Jilong’s import and export trade, 1897–1944 51
1.6 Population of Jilong, by origin, 1898–1941 56
1.7 Composition of Jilong population, by origin, 1905–41 58
1.8 Shintanagai (Ch., Xindian) Street in the islander district
of Big Jilong 62
1.9 Gijū (Ch., Yizhong) Street in the Japanese district of
Small Jilong 63
1.10 Yan Yunnian 64
1.11 Yan Guonian 64
1.12 Xu Zisang 64
1.13 Ishizaka Sōsaku 65
1.14 Kimura Kutarō 65
1.15 Ōmi Tokigorō 65
1.16 A coal mine owned by Kimura Kutarō 69
1.17 A coal mine owned by Yan Yunnian 70
2.1 The Japanese red-light district in the Denryōkō district
of Jilong 88
2.2 The Jilong Aquarium 90
x Figures, Tables, Maps
2.3 The new Jilong city government building, 1932 101
3.1 The former post office in Jilong 133
3.2 Jilong Public Hall 135
3.3 Panoramic view of Jilong’s harbor (detail) 138
4.1 Qing’an Temple 169
4.2 Dianji Temple 170
4.3 Jilong Shrine 179
4.4 Kubōji Temple 181
4.5 Water lanterns 189
4.6 The procession of a deity-welcoming festival 197
5.1 Headquarters of the Jilong Fraternity Group 217
6.1 A Japanese family selling their belongings 254
6.2 Japanese awaiting deportation 255
6.3 Bombed buildings in Jilong 261
6.4 Rebuilding Jilong after the devastation of war 265
Tables
2.1 Japanese language comprehension among Taiwanese
in Jilong, 1932–35 108
5.1 Cases handled by welfare commissioners in Jilong
and northern Taiwan 220
6.1 Jilong’s wartime and postwar populations 263
7.1 The fate of Japanese temples in Jilong, 1950s 316
Maps
1.1 Taiwan and the southeast coast of China 33
1.2 Jilong harbor, circa 1860 48
1.3 Prewar Jilong 49