MUSICAL TAIWAN UNDER JAPANESE COLONIAL RULE:

A HISTORICAL AND ETHNOMUSICOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

by

Hui‐Hsuan Chao

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Music: Musicology)
in The University of Michigan
2009

Doctoral Committee:

Professor Joseph S. C. Lam, Chair

Professor Judith O. Becker
Professor Jennifer E. Robertson
Associate Professor Amy K. Stillman
© Hui‐Hsuan Chao 2009
All Rights Reserved
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Throughout my years as a graduate student at the University of Michigan,

I have been grateful to have the support of professors, colleagues, friends, and

family. My committee chair and mentor, Professor Joseph S. C. Lam, generously

offered his time, advice, encouragement, insightful comments and constructive

criticism to shepherd me through each phase of this project. I am indebted to my

dissertation committee, Professors Judith Becker, Jennifer Robertson, and Amy

Ku’uleialoha Stillman, who have provided me invaluable encouragement and

continual inspiration through their scholarly integrity and intellectual curiosity. I

must acknowledge special gratitude to Professor Emeritus Richard Crawford,

whose vast knowledge in American music and unparallel scholarship in

American music historiography opened my ears and inspired me to explore

similar issues in my area of interest. The inquiry led to the beginning of this

dissertation project. Special thanks go to friends at AABS and LBA, who have

tirelessly provided precious opportunities that helped me to learn how to

maintain balance and wellness in life.

ii
 Many individuals and institutions came to my aid during the years of this

project. I am fortunate to have the friendship and mentorship from Professor

Nancy Guy of University of California, San Diego. For my archival research in

Taiwan, I specially appreciate the assistance of the librarians at National Taiwan

University Library. I would also like to acknowledge the funding from the

Center for Chinese Studies of the University of Michigan, the Horace H.

Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan, and the

Chiang Ching‐Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Their

financial support made the research for and writing of this dissertation possible.

Finally, I thank my parents for their generosity, patience and unwavering

faith in supporting me through the long years of pursuing a doctoral degree. My

appreciation also goes to my loving husband, Jih‐Chiang Tsai, whose

companionship has made this journey more meaningful.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................. ii

LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................... ix

LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ xii

NOTES ON ROMANIZATION .................................................................................. xiii

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... xiv

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION: THE COLONIAL LEGACY OF MUSICAL TAIWAN ..............1

I. Format of the Dissertation .......................................................................6

II. A Political‐Cultural History of Taiwan................................................16

III. Colonialism and Music ..........................................................................34

IV. Musiking and Japanese Colonization of Taiwan................................42

CHAPTER TWO

THEORIZING AND HISTORICIZING MUSICAL TAIWAN UNDER JAPANESE

RULE.................................................................................................................................47

iv
 I. The Soundscape of Musical Taiwan: the Dynamics in Historical

Perspective ...............................................................................................48

II. Current Scholarship on Historicizing Musical Taiwan .....................55

III. The Trajectory of Taiwan Historiography in Post‐1949 Taiwan ......60

IV. Musical Taiwan, the Development of Music Studies, and

Musicology...............................................................................................72

CHAPTER THREE

MUSIKING CITIZENS IN EARLY COLONIAL TAIWAN: 1895‐1906...................87

I. Education in Meiji Japan: the Role of Kokugo and Shōka ...................89

II. Education for the Colony.......................................................................99

III. Musiking Shōka: Political and Educational Functions as Reflected in

Repertoire (object) and Performance Occasions (site) .....................109

IV. Musiking Japanese Colonialism in Taiwan: Negotiating Shōka and

Education ...............................................................................................147

V. Conclusion .............................................................................................155

CHAPTER FOUR

MUSIKING TAIWANESE TIME AND SOCIETY....................................................158

I. Constructing Japanese Time and Society in Taiwan........................160

v
 II. Shisei Kinenhi: Celebrating the Inauguration of Japanese Rule. .....170

III. Tenchōsetsu: the Japanese Emperor’s Birthday..................................178

IV. Conclusion .............................................................................................189

CHAPTER FIVE

MUSIKING COLONIAL RITUAL AND RITUAL SPACE: THE TAIWAN JINJA

MATSURI .......................................................................................................................191

I. Shinto and Jinja in Meiji Japan ............................................................192

II. Building the Taiwan Jinja: the Historical Development..................195

III. The Taiwan Jinja Matsuri: the Programs ...........................................203

IV. Musiking Inside and Outside the Taiwan Jinja ................................209

V. Musiking Jinja and Musiking Colonization ......................................222

VI. Conclusion: Musiking Colonial Reality .............................................226

CHAPTER SIX

MUSIKING ELITE AND RELIGIOUS TAIWANESE: CONFUCIAN

CEREMONIAL MUSIC AFTER JAPANESE COLONIZAION..............................228

I. Confucian Temples in Taiwan: a Historical Development .............230

II. Confucian Ceremonial Music and Dance..........................................232

III. Formation of Confucian Ceremonial Tradition in Qing Taiwan ...239

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 IV. Transformation of Taiwanese Confucian Ceremonial Tradition after

Japanese Annexation ............................................................................249

V. Negotiating Confucian and Colonial Realities .................................255

VI. Conclusion .............................................................................................264

CHAPTER SEVEN

MUSIKING TAIWANESE MODERNITY AND LOCALITY .................................266

I. The Colonial and Modern Infrastructures in Taiwan......................267

II. The Cross‐island Railroad Construction and Its Celebrations .......270

III. Concluding Remarks: Musiking Colonial Modernity .....................288

CHAPTER EIGHT

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: COLONIAL TAIWAN’S NEW AND

HYBRIDIZED SOUNDSCAPE....................................................................................292

I. The Social‐Cultural Policy of Non‐Interference: Negotiating

Colonial Authority and Local Traditions ..........................................293

II. Musiking Colonial Taiwan ..................................................................301

III. Conclusion .............................................................................................314

APPENDICES ................................................................................................................318

vii
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................337

viii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

1‐1: The Presidential Hall Concert in December, 2006, honoring Taiwanese

folksong singer Chen Da and songwriter Deng Yuxian and performed by

musicians of various backgrounds and musical styles. ..............................................5

1‐2: Map of Taiwan: Taiwan in Asia and West Pacific. .............................................18

1‐3: Major cities of Taiwan.............................................................................................19

3‐1: Izawa Shūji................................................................................................................96

3‐2: The Japanese teachers and Taiwanese students of the two programs of the

Japanese Language Lab in Miaoli, ca. 1896‐1898......................................................106

3‐3: Development of Colonial School System in Taiwan, 1895‐1906. ....................109

3‐4: Masugu ni tateyo (“Stand up straight!”), nicknamed “song of discipline,”

taught by Izawa Shūji to his Taiwanese pupils at Shizangan gakudō. ....................112

3‐5: Musical example: Kigensetsu (“Empire Day”). ..................................................115

3‐6: The holiday and ceremonial shōka used in Taiwan: Kimigayo (Japanese

national anthem). ..........................................................................................................117

3‐7: The holiday and ceremonial shōka used in Taiwan: Tenchōsetsu (Emperor’s

birthday). ........................................................................................................................118

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3‐8: The holiday and ceremonial shōka used in Taiwan: Ichigatsu tsuitachi (January

1st). ..................................................................................................................................119

3‐9: Musical Example: Sumeramikuni (“The country the Emperor reigns”) .........122

3‐10: Musical Example: Yūkannaru suihei (“Courageous sailor”)...........................123

3‐11: Musical Example: Karasu (“The Crow”)...........................................................125

3‐12: Musical Example: Kazoe uta (“Counting song”)..............................................127

3‐13: Music Example: Taue (“Rice planting”)............................................................133

3‐14: The short version of Chō junnan rokushi no uta (“Song to mourn the six

teachers”). Melody by Takahashi Fumishi, texts by Kabe Iwao, 1900. .................136

3‐15: The long version of Chō junnan rokushi no uta (“Song to mourn the six

teachers”). Melody by Takahashi Fumishi, texts by Kabe Iwao, 1900. .................137

3‐16: Funukui (“Opium addict”), 1901. Melody by Takahashi Fumishi, text by

Sugiyama Bunsato. .......................................................................................................140

3‐17: Taiwan shūyū shōka (“Taiwan round tour school song”), 1910. Melody by

Takahashi Fumishi, text by Ui Hideru.......................................................................142

3‐18: Musical example: Hotaru no hikari (“Glow of fireflies”).................................145

4‐1: Taiwan Sōtokufu (Governor‐General’s Office) .................................................173

4‐2: A Taiwanese parade in the celebration of the Japanese emperor’s birthday,

Tenchōtsetsu, in November 1895..................................................................................186

5‐1: Prince Kitashirakawa (second left) at the camp site in Taiwan ......................197

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5‐2: The Taiwan Jinja in a bird’s eye view painting, which shows the architecture

and it surrounding environment ................................................................................202

5‐3: The Taiwan Jinja, ca. 1905.....................................................................................203

5‐4: Musical example: Nigimitama (“Spirit with Gentle Virtue”) ...........................216

5‐5: Young Taiwanese geishas with their musical instruments. ............................220

6‐1: Music Example: the first song, Zhaoping, in Qing Confucian ceremonial

music. ..............................................................................................................................236

6‐2: Drums (upper frame) and bell‐set (lower frame) used and stored in Tainan

Confucian Temple, ca. 1931 .........................................................................................238

7‐1: Map of the cross‐island railroad system ............................................................275

7‐2: Prince Kan’in and the Taiwan aborigines at the Governor‐General’s

residential mansion.......................................................................................................287

8‐1: A religious festival in Taipei’s Dadaocheng district, ca. early 1900s. ............298

8‐2: Zhang Fuxing and his ensemble in recital, ca. 1920‐1923. ...............................304

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table

3‐1: Lessons in Readers of Citizens, volumes seven and eight for the fourth grade,

and the songs suggested by Akinami Sei. .................................................................131

4‐1: Colonial Administrative System of Taiwan, August 1895 – February 1896..168

5‐1: Taiwan Jinja Matsuri liturgy and corresponding gagaku music pieces..........206

6‐1: The six stages of the sacrificial offering of the Confucian ceremony.............235

7‐1: The segmental completion of the cross‐island railroad system......................276

xii
 NOTES ON ROMANIZATION

This dissertation uses the pinyin style in rendering Chinese terms, and the

Hepburn style in rendering Japanese terms. For most Chinese and Japanese

personal names, I follow the convention of family name first and given name

second. Taiwanese place and personal names in the early twentieth century were

pronounced in the local languages or dialects; but for the convenience of current

day readers the names will be rendered in Mandarin Chinese by pinyin.

However, for place names and personal names that are familiar in the English

speaking world, the familiar or conventional spellings are given: for example,

Taipei instead of Taibei, Tokyo instead of Tōkyō, Sun Yat‐sen instead of Sun

Zhongshan. The romanization of some personal names follows the form used by

the individuals themselves in their published works: for example, Kun‐Liang

Chiu instead of Qiu Kunliang.

xiii
 ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines Taiwanese musical experience and musical life

in the early Japanese colonial period, beginning in 1895, to understand how the

Japanese and the Taiwanese negotiated their historically imposed roles through

music. When Japan colonized Taiwan, Japanese colonizers faced the problem of

how to establish governance on the newly acquired territory, while the

Taiwanese confronted the uncertain future of becoming the colonized. The

decade following the colonial annexation, 1895‐1905, was a transitional period

when both Taiwanese and Japanese negotiated new historical experiences and

cultural agendas. Music was an essential part of their encounter.

This dissertation applies the theoretical concept of musiking – the

manipulation of sonic and non‐sonic objects of music in musically particularized

sites and with musically strategic and driven processes to negotiate specific

agendas with targeted partners – to analyze Taiwan musical experiences in the

early Japanese colonial period. The Japanese colonizers and the Taiwanese

colonized subjects presented and manipulated musical works and performances

(objects) in several major venues and occasions (sites) in order to negotiate their

xiv
concerns and agendas (processes). Such a portrait of colonial Taiwan thus

addresses the dynamic interactions between the foreign colonizing power and

the local colonized population through musical activities. By analyzing how

Japanese and Taiwanese musiked together for their own agendas in the early

colonial period, this dissertation argues that the emerging new and hybridized

soundscape of colonial Taiwan, comprised of a diversity of musics and cultures,

set the foundation for the development of the modern and complex musical

Taiwan in the twentieth century.

xv
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION: THE COLONIAL LEGACY OF MUSICAL TAIWAN

On November 3, 1895, the residents of Taiwan witnessed a celebration

marking the beginning of a new era of political, social and cultural experiences

on the island. On this day, the Sōtokufu, the Headquarters of the Governor‐

General, and its fifteen newly‐opened local administrative offices on the island

celebrated the Japanese emperor’s birthday. Many musical sounds marked and

enhanced the festive atmosphere of the celebration. The Japanese military band

played music for the ceremony hosted by the Governor‐General, and in other

locations Japanese soldiers and governmental staff entertained themselves by

singing military songs, dancing to folksongs, and watching and listening to

performances of jōruri, narrative shamisen music, and rakugo, comic storytelling.

The Taiwanese, in the cities where the Japanese had set up local administration,

participated in the celebration by staging performances of operas and music

ensembles. In Danshui, Lugang, and a few other cities, young Taiwanese

students learned to sing the Japanese national anthem “Kimigayo” at the

1
ceremony. In Miaoli, the Austronesian aborigines improvised singing and

dancing in the celebration.

More than a hundred years later in December 2006, a concert in the

Presidential Hall featured another feast of musical sounds representing Taiwan’s

soundscape. The Presidential Hall concert series was launched in 1991 by Lee

Teng‐Hui, the first Taiwan‐born President of the island. The concert series

continued through the 2000s by the second Taiwan‐born President, Chen Shui‐

Bian. In the December 2006 concert, the program paid homage to two famous

figures of Taiwanese music: the legendary folksong singer Chen Da, and the

famous songwriter Deng Yuxian. Chen Da (1906‐1981) was a legendary folk

troubadour from the Hengchun peninsula at the southern tip of Taiwan. Chen

Da was especially known for his improvisational and poetic rendition of the

Holo language folksong ”su siang‐ki,” which had traveled to many corners of

Taiwanese society and produced many variations. 1 The image of the partially

handicapped Chen Da singing folksongs to yueqin (“moon guitar”)

accompaniment was iconic in informing the Taiwanese of a forgotten music

1Hsu Tsang‐Houei identifies this song as one of two folksongs that had traveled to other areas of
Taiwan and thus had many derivative titles and tune renditions. See Hsu Tsang‐Houei, Taiwan
yin yue shi chu gao (Taipei: Quan yin yue pu chu ban she, 1991), 124. Here I adopt the song title
“su1 siang1‐ki1” provided in Lü Chuikuan, Taiwan chuan tong yin yue gai lun: ge yue pian (Taiwanese
Traditional Music: vocal music) (Taipei: Wu nan tu shu, 2005), 77. The Holo Taiwanese language
has seven or eight tone, and the number 1 denotes the level tone.

2
tradition. 2 Deng Yuxian (1906‐1944), a first‐generation Taiwanese songwriter

working in the burgeoning phonograph market of the Taiwanese popular song

in the 1930s, created many beloved melodies that continue to be performed by

current day Taiwanese in many different arrangements and styles. His legacy

includes the most famous songs of “Wangchunfeng” (“Longing for the Spring

Breeze”) and “Yuyehua” (“Flowers in a Rainy Night”). 3 Deng Yuxian and his

works represent par excellence the new Taiwanese historical and cultural

experiences that began with the celebrative musical sounds in 1895.

To pay homage to folksong singer Chen Da and songwriter Deng Yuxian,

the December 2006 Concert program presented folksongs from the southern part

of the island where Chen Da had lived, songs inspired by Chen Da’s life story,

and selected songs composed by Deng Yuxian. The songs and their

arrangements were performed in the different styles of folksong, bel canto duet,

mainstream pop, and Western Classical string and percussion ensemble.

2 Chen Da’s discography includes, for example: (1) Si‐xiang‐qi: Chen Da zi tan zi chang [Su‐siang‐ki:
Chen Da singing and plucking] (Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu yin shu guan, 1998), Audio CD. (2) Shan
Cheng Zou Chang (Fulao Folk Songs in Taiwan Island) (Taipei: Wind Records, 2000), Audio CD. (3)
Chen Da yu Hengchun diao shuo chang [Chen Da and the narrative music of Hengchun tune] (Taipei: Di
yi ying yin, 2000), Audio CD. (4) Hengchun ban dao jue xiang: you chang shi ren Chen Da [Last Voice
of the Hengchun Peninsula: Chen Da the troubadour] (Yilan xian: Center for Traditional Arts, 2006),
Audio CD.
3 A biography of Deng Yuxian can be found on <http://www.taiwan123.com.tw/musicface/face03‐

2.htm>, or in Cai tuan far en gong gong dian shi wen hua ji jin hui (Taiwan Public Television
Service Foundation), Taiwan bai nian ren wu zhi (The Record of Taiwan Great Men), vol. 1 (Taipei:
Yushan she, 2005), 120‐28. His complete works are recorded in two audio CDs titled Yuyehua:
Deng Yuxian zuo pin quan ji (1) (Flower in a Rainy Night : Music Works of Mr. Teng Yu‐Hsien(1)), and
Wangshunfeng: Deng Yuxian yin yue zuo pin quan ji (2) ( Looking forward to spring wind blow : music
works of Mr. Teng Yu‐Hsien (2)) (Taipei, 1994), Audio CDs.

3
Musicians performing in the concert came from varied backgrounds including

amateur singers pursuing authentic folksong singing style, semi‐professional

singers, professional instrumentalists trained in Western Classical music, pop

stars specializing in Holo language songs, and singers of aboriginal descent. 4 In

Figure 1‐1, the upper two images show the musicians honored in the concert, and

the lower four images visually epitomize the performers’ variety of musical,

ethnic, and stylistic backgrounds.

4Information on the concert program is provided at

<http://www.president.gov.tw/1_art/concert/music8/list.html>; information on the performers is
available at <http://www.president.gov.tw/1_art/concert/music8/performer.html>.

4
Figure 1‐1: The Presidential Hall Concert in December, 2006, honoring Taiwanese
folksong singer Chen Da and songwriter Deng Yuxian and performed by
musicians in various backgrounds and musical styles. 5

The celebration of the Japanese emperor’s birthday in 1895 and the

Presidential Hall Concert in 2006, although one‐hundred‐and‐ten years apart,

shared and projected the essential features of musical Taiwan: the complexity

and diversity of musical genres, styles, and cultures. The 1895 celebration drew

5Image of Chen Da is scanned from the liner notes cover of Shan Cheng Zou Chang (Fulao Folk
Songs in Taiwan Island); image of Deng Yuxian is scanned from Taiwan Public Television Service
Foundation, Taiwan bai nian ren wu zhi (The Record of Taiwan Great Men), 122. Images of the
performers of this concert are downloaded from the webpage
<http://www.president.gov.tw/1_art/concert/music8/performer.htm>.

5
elements from the many cultures of Taiwan; the colonized Taiwanese and the

colonizing Japanese encountered each other with their own distinctive musical

sounds. Even among the colonized Taiwanese, different ethnic, regional, and

cultural groups joined the celebration with localized and diverse musics. The

2006 concert featured a wide range of musical styles that the Taiwanese now

consider as their own, a diversity that is a result of the geopolitics and history of

Taiwan. In other words, although the two musical events appeared differently in

content, presentation, and contexts, they were connected by a complex history

that musical Taiwan has developed in the last four centuries. In particular, the

historical experience beginning in 1895 significantly impacts how the Taiwanese

perceive their music cultures. Colonization, local musical traditions, foreign

cultural influences, and the interactions of these elements catalyzed the

formation of musical complexity of modern Taiwan. This dynamic and organic

process began in the first decade of Japanese colonization of Taiwan when the

different groups musically negotiated their co‐existences on the island.

I. Format of the Dissertation

Thinking about the commonality of these two musical events more than a

century apart, I ask what kind of socio‐cultural mechanism was generated upon

Japanese colonization of Taiwan (1895‐1945) to pave the way for the subsequent

6
development of the complex and dynamic musical Taiwan in the twentieth

century? What were Taiwanese musical experiences like in the early Japanese

colonial period, when the Japanese explored ways to govern the colony and the

Taiwanese were confronted with the uncertain future of becoming the colonized?

I will answer these questions by analyzing the soundscape of colonial Taiwan.

Contemporary Taiwanese who heard the 2006 Presidential Hall Concert

would easily identify the Japanese colonial legacy as represented by the works of

Deng Yuxian and the Western‐style musical rendition of many songs in the

program. Trained in Japan, Deng worked in the Taiwanese phonograph market

begun with Japanese capital; his songs entail a significant chapter of Taiwanese

historical and musical experience as a Japanese colony. The Japanese

colonization ignited an irreversible trend of the Taiwanese embracing Western‐

style music through colonial education, and as a result the colonial musical

legacy is almost exclusively associated with Western music and popular songs.

On the other hand, the folksong performances of the 2006 concert would

remind the Taiwanese of a musical tradition that had existed prior to Japanese

colonization and continues to exist and evolve today. The folksong and many

Taiwanese musical traditions do not have clearly identifiable sonic traces of

Japanese influence and therefore are usually not associated with the “colonial

legacy,” and so the fact that these traditions lived on through Japanese

7
colonization invites us to probe the relationship between the colonial polity and

local traditions.

Therefore, I argue that when thinking about the colonial legacy of musical

Taiwan, the scope of inquiry should expand beyond the implementation of

Western‐style music. While Western‐style music did become a primary source of

Taiwanese musical creativity in the twentieth century, many musical sounds

appeared in colonial Taiwan as a result of Japanese and Taiwanese interaction in

and around music to achieve their respective agendas. In other words, the role of

music in Japanese colonial Taiwan is closely connected with the colonial polity

and the negotiations generated by colonization. A history which addresses the

complexity and diversity of Taiwanese musical experiences can only be

produced through investigating the musically related political, social, and

cultural negotiations commanded by the colonial context.

To understand the dynamics and complexity of musical Taiwan under

Japanese colonization, this dissertation approaches musical Taiwan using the

concept of musiking. In his efforts to historicize Chinese music of the past, Joseph

S. C. Lam proposes the concept of musiking to frame his analysis of the

multifaceted and multivalent phenomenon that we call music and music culture.

To flexibly and inclusively investigate the meanings and operations of musics

and music cultures, Lam argues that music should be broadly defined, and can

8
be examined as a discourse that manipulates music as objects, sites, and

processes. 6 To underscore such a perspective and its use as an analytical

framework, Lam thus coined the term “musiking” and explains:

to “musik” is to negotiate musically. Musiking is a discourse that people

flexibly and strategically negotiate with one another, manipulating music
as an object, a site, and a process of not only musical compositions,
improvisation, performance, listening, interpretation, negotiation,
teaching, learning and other related activities, but also of supporting
deeds of musical production and consumption, which include but are not
limited to the manufacturing and handling of musical instruments,
writing and publication of music theories and narratives, and preparation
and use of notated scores of musical works. 7

6 Christopher Small pioneered the theory of musicking, which emphasizes thinking of music as
performance of meanings and social interactions. See Christopher Small, Musicking: the meanings
of performing and listening (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press/University Press of New England,
1998), 8‐10. A musical performance is essentially a ritual in which a group of people uses musical
sounds for its members to explore, affirm, and celebrate the relationships they are engaged with
one another (ibid., 183). To analyze musicking of all kinds, ranging from a symphony concert to
jogging with a walkman, Small instructs his readers to examine: (1) the relationships between
those taking part in the event and the physical setting, (2) the relationships among the
participants, and (3) the relationships between the sounds that are made for the event (ibid., 193).
Small’s theory of musicking, groundbreaking and provocative in its liberation of our notion of
music from musical works and their notational representations, focuses instead on the meanings
of human engagement with musical sounds. However, the theory provides little structure to
analyze music cultures and musical events in historical contexts in which the observation and
interpretation of the social and musical relationships require further contextualization. Inspired
by the theory of musicking, Joseph S. C. Lam’s theory expands the scope and provides working
parameters to analyze music cultures ethnographically or historically.
7 Joseph S.C. Lam, “Male Bonding in Ming China,” NAN Nü 9 (2007): 81‐83. I am grateful to

Joseph Lam for his discussion of the concept with me, and to the access to his earlier manuscript,
“Musiking Masculinities in Late Ming China” (paper presented at Musiking Late Ming China
Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, May 1‐2, 2006). For further examples of Lam’s
implementation of the concept in analyzing Chinese music culture, see Lam, “Male Bonding in
Ming China”: 86‐106; Joseph S. C. Lam, “Imperial Music Agency in Ming Music Culture” in
Culture, Courtiers and Competition: the Ming Court, 1368‐1644. ed. David Robinson (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2008).

9
 In short, to musik is to negotiate or discourse musically, manipulating

sonic and non‐sonic objects of music in musically particularized sites and with

musically strategic processes to negotiate specific agendas with targeted partners.

This theoretical concept provides new leverage for exploring and interpreting

historical musical Taiwan, studies of which are plagued with a relative lack of

notated and audio‐visual resources of specific musical works or events.

Implementing the theory of musiking, this dissertation probes the

soundscape and social‐political negotiations of musical Taiwan in the early

Japanese colonial period. It was a time when Taiwanese society experienced a

sudden change of polity and faced an uncertain future while the Japanese

explored ways to effectively rule Taiwan. Both the Taiwanese and the Japanese

had to play historically imposed roles to negotiate the particularized agendas of

their time and place in colonial Taiwan. They negotiated with the tools available

to them, which ranged from military force and cultural appeasement to armed

insurgence and voluntary collaboration. One of the means of negotiation, and

resultant discourse, was musiking.

As the Japanese colonial authorities developed policies and adjusted their

methods of governing Taiwan, they also musiked. To propel their negotiations

and achieve their goals, they appropriated various types of musical sounds and

objects to mark political and social sites where they could enforce and bargain

10
colonial realities. In short, the Japanese colonial administration musiked to

interact with and engage the colonized Taiwanese. In return, the Taiwanese used

music to generate platforms and processes through which they could resist or

negotiate with their Japanese colonizers. Through their musiking efforts, both

groups laid the foundation and mechanism for the development of musical

Taiwan in the twentieth century.

To illustrate the dynamics of musiking as a colonial discourse, this

dissertation focuses on Taiwanese and Japanese musiking in the first decade of

the colonial period (1895‐1905), drawing on both primary and secondary sources.

The first includes archived documents such as papers of the Japanese colonial

government, newspapers published in colonial Taiwan, newsletters of the

Taiwan Education Society, newsletters of the Japanese Language Academy

Alumni Association, and other publications by various colonial offices and

affiliated institutions. The secondary sources include published studies written in

English, Chinese, and Japanese which examine colonial Taiwan, the musics of

Taiwan, and other related subjects.

To establish the historical context of musical Taiwan in the Japanese

colonial period and introduce the related theoretical issues, in this chapter I will

provide a brief political‐cultural history of Taiwan, and a survey of how

ethnomusicological scholarship has approached colonialism and music. To

11
understand colonialism and music beyond established views, I argue that

colonial musical Taiwan provides a case study to investigate how a colonial

polity, Japan in this case, strategically colonized a new and foreign territory,

Taiwan in this case, through musiking with a wide spectrum of musical objects,

activities, and negotiation processes. Following this introduction in Chapter One,

this dissertation will explore musical Taiwan in the early Japanese colonial

period in seven following chapters. Chapter Two, “Theorizing and Historicizing

Musical Taiwan,” will present the soundscape of musical Taiwan in historical

perspective, review how musical Taiwan has been historicized in contemporary

Taiwan, and discuss how the issues of historiography, identity politics, and

music scholarship in post‐WWII Taiwan have shaped the conceptualization and

writing of the music history of Taiwan.

Chapter Three, “Musiking Citizens in Early Colonial Taiwan: 1895‐1906,”

discusses shōka (songs and singing in Japanese schools and in colonial schools in

Taiwan) as an integral part of colonial policy and education through analyzing

repertoire, venues of performance, and negotiations of control, resistance, and

submission between the Japanese and the Taiwanese.

Chapter Four, “Musiking Taiwanese Time and Society,” discusses

Japanese‐controlled and structured Taiwanese daily life and society through

colonial holidays and commemorations. Holidays and commemorations are

12
important tools for a community or a state to construct, shape, or negotiate their

collective identity – who they are and how they project who they shall be.

Holiday celebrations and commemorative activities are marked by music, which

serves as both an expression of and a catalyst for this negotiation. Within the first

decade of colonization, for example, the Japanese colonial government not only

transplanted Japanese national holidays to Taiwan but also created several

commemorations specific to the colony. The fourth chapter discusses the

musiking of colonial holiday celebrations in the Japanese remaking of Taiwanese

society.

Chapter Five, “Musiking Colonial Ritual and Ritual Space: the Taiwan Jinja

Matsuri (Taiwan Shinto Shrine Festival)” provides a case study of the ritual site

of Taiwan Jinja, the first Shinto shrine built on the colony, and its musical

negotiations. Among the holidays and commemorations installed by the colonial

government, the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri was distinctive in its musical sounds, sites,

and imperial connotations. For the imperial and wartime Japan of the twentieth

century, Shinto shrines and worships were tools for intensive wartime

mobilization and ideological control. In the colony Taiwan, the same endeavor

was seen in the soaring number of Shinto shrines built all over the island and the

forced change of family ancestral altars to Shinto sanctuaries in the late colonial

period of the 1930s and 1940s. However, Shinto shrines had entered Taiwanese

13
life since the early colonial years. This chapter shows how musiking facilitated

the penetration of a foreign visual and religio‐political representation of the

empire into Taiwanese life and society.

Chapter Six, “Musiking Elite and Religious Taiwanese,” examines the

musiking of the Taiwanese literati‐elites who attempted to restore and continue

their Confucian/Chinese identity and values by performing the Confucian

ceremony (jikong) in the Confucian temples. The Taiwanese literati‐elites

musiked with the Japanese colonial authority to negotiate their right to continue

the tradition of ultimate cultural importance to them. When the Japanese

colonial authority encouraged the Taiwanese to continue performing the ritual,

they musiked a tactic to ease the tension and build rapport with local social

leaders. By analyzing the elites’ musiking with the Japanese colonizers, this

chapter underscores how colonization deeply impacted the Taiwanese elites’

communal formation and their negotiating positions and tactics.

Chapter Seven, “Musiking Colonial Modernity and Taiwanese Locality,”

discusses one of the most important modernizing and musiking projects

launched by the colonial government. This was the cross‐island railroad,

originally proposed to facilitate better military control of remote areas, but which

subsequently became the economic artery of the island. This railroad project was

celebrated with musical and theatrical performances as segments of its

14
construction were completed. As celebratory music sounded in various

Taiwanese locales, it marked the arrival of modernity in those places.

Chapter Eight, “Conclusion: Colonial Taiwan’s New and Hybridized

Soundscape,” highlights the Japanese non‐interference cultural policy toward

existing Taiwanese musical practices. This policy was an important factor that

allowed the diverse historical and cultural forces in Taiwan to work together to

lay the foundation for the twentieth‐century Taiwanese soundscape. This chapter

also underscores the dynamic nature of musiking and its indispensible role in

Japanese colonialism. The musiking between Japanese colonizers and their

Taiwanese subjects generated a mechanism of cultural change and a new

Taiwanese soundscape, from which twentieth‐century musical Taiwan

developed to incorporate diverse musical styles and traditions into its culture.

The discussion of colonial musical Taiwan in this dissertation, however,

does not include the musiking between the Japanese and the Taiwan aborigines.

The Austronesian (Malayo‐Polynesian) aborigines have lived in Taiwan since

prehistory. By the time of Japanese colonization, many of the aborigines in the

plains had, to some extent, adopted the customs of their Chinese‐Taiwanese

neighbors who formed the dominant majority population. The Japanese did not

design a special policy to govern the Plains aborigines and in principle treated

them the same as the Han Chinese. The aborigines living in the mountains,

15
however, formed a target group over which the Japanese colonial authority

sought to exert control. Isolation, coercion, and violence – often with the

knowledge supplied by anthropological studies – were used to suppress the

insubordinate aborigines. 8 Because of the distinctive nature of the Taiwan

aborigines, Japanese policies to control the aborigines differed greatly from their

policies to govern the Chinese‐Taiwanese. The negotiation and musiking

between the Japanese and aborigines is an important story of Japanese

colonization of Taiwan, but it is a subject beyond the scope of this dissertation.

II. A Political‐Cultural History of Taiwan

The culture and history of Taiwan has been constantly shaped and

reshaped by various types of foreign forces and colonizations, such as maritime

commercialism, immigrant settlements, and imperial expansion. In other words,

political and cultural authorities from outside the island have exerted significant

impacts on local society, which evolved over time accordingly. The locality of

Taiwan has historically dictated both its isolation from and connection with other

parts of the world. The small oval‐shaped mountainous island borders the West

Pacific Rim and the East Asian Continent. Only about 100 miles from China’s

8Early Japanese campaigns to control the Taiwan aborigines can be seen in Bureau of Aboriginal
Affairs, Taihoku, Formosa. Report on the control of the aborigines in Formosa (Tokyo: Tōyō printing
co., 1911).

16
southeast coast, Taiwan is also in close sailing distance to the Philippines in the

south and to the Ryūkyū Archipelago, Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, in the

northeast. Taiwan is an ethnically and culturally complex locality and as a result,

musical Taiwan is composed of layers of musics, hybrid in nature, and not

without internal contradictions. In figure 1‐2, the map of Taiwan in East and

Southeast Asia and on the West Pacific Rim demonstrates the geographical

relationship of the island to nearby regions.

17
Figure 1‐2: Map of Taiwan: Taiwan in Asia and West Pacific. 9

9Modified from the map downloaded from

<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/asia_east_pol_2004.jpg>. The original
map is in the public domain. I thank University of Texas Libraries for making the scan available
online.

18
Figure 1‐3: Major cities of Taiwan. 10

10Map modified and downloaded from

<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/formosa_1896.jpg>. According to the information
provided on the page <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/taiwan.html>, this map is originally
published in Scottish Geographical Magazine, Volume XII: 1896. I thank University of Texas
Libraries for providing the scan online.

19
 Prehistorical and Aboriginal Taiwan

Archaeological evidence suggests that humans settled on the island of

Taiwan as early as the Paleolithic Age, 13,000 BCE. 11 Traces of the Neolithic

civilization of Austronesian (Malayo‐Polynesian) settlers are dated from 4,000

BCE, and by 2,500 BCE, agriculture appeared on the island. 12 Taiwan’s location

in the Pacific Rim and its proximity to the Asian continent and Southeast Asia

suggests that Taiwan could have served as a stepping stone for the Austronesian

people in their migration from Southeast Asia to the Pacific islands. The

linguistic diversity of the Austronesian languages of the Taiwan aborigines

suggests that the island was once a dispersal center of the Austronesian language

family. 13 The origin and migration of the Austronesian aborigines to and from

Taiwan remains puzzling, however, and scholars are still trying to formulate

theoretical explanations to link archaeological traces, ethnographic facts, and

linguistic data. 14

11 John F. Copper, Taiwan: Nation‐State or Province? (Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 1999), 21.
12 John Robert Shepherd, Statecraft and political economy on the Taiwan frontier, 1600‐1800 (Stanford,
CA: Stanford University Press, 1993), 28.
13 Ibid., 27‐28.

14 The origin(s) of the Austronesian aborigines of Taiwan is not only part of the larger question of

the migration of the Austronesian culture but also a politically charged question of how Taiwan’s
ancient connection with the Chinese mainland or the Southeast Asian continent is to be
established. For an analysis, see Michael Stainton, ʺThe Politics of Taiwan Aboriginal Origins,ʺ in
Taiwan: a New History, ed. Murray A. Rubinstein (Armonk, NY, 1999).

20
 Entering the maritime trade network

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Taiwan entered the network of

world maritime trade. In 1430 the famous Chinese voyager Zheng He (1371‐1433),

who led seven maritime expeditions to Indonesia, India, and as far as East Africa

between 1405 and 1431, visited the island after a shipwreck and reported seeing

the aborigines, but the Chinese Ming court did not intend to explore the island. 15

Sixteenth‐century Portuguese sailors voyaging through East Asian seaways

spotted the island and called it Formosa, a name used in the West used to refer to

the island until the mid‐twentieth century.

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, Chinese and Japanese

merchant‐pirates used Taiwan as a rendezvous for trade. 16 To optimize this, the

Japanese sailed to Taiwan and built a small colony in northern Taiwan until

Japan’s isolationist policy commanded their withdrawal in 1628. 17 A few

thousand Chinese fishermen and farmers from the impoverished region of

southeast coastal China sought to work or settle in Taiwan for a better

livelihood. 18 Some Chinese learned to speak the aboriginal languages and

15 Denny Roy, Taiwan: a Political History (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003), 11.
16 Kuo‐tung Chen, “Zhuan yun yu chu ko: He ju shi qi de mao yi yu chan ye (Transit and Export:
Trade and Commerce in Taiwan during the Dutch Period)” in Fu’ermosha: shi qi shi ji de Taiwan,
Helan yu Dong Ya (Ilha Formosa: the emergence of Taiwan on the world scene in the 17th century), ed.
Shi Shouqian (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2003), 55‐56.
17 Roy, Taiwan: a Political History, 12.

18 Yang Yanjie, He ju shi dai Taiwan shi [History of Taiwan in the Dutch Occupation] (Taipei: Lian jing

chu ban shi ye gong si, 2000), 43‐50.

21
became mediators of trade between the aboriginal villagers and Chinese and

Japanese merchants. 19

The Dutch Era (1624‐1661)

In the seventeenth century, European maritime powers seeking to expand

business profits in Southeast Asia and East Asia began to show greater interest in

the island. The Dutch, after several attempts to negotiate trade with Ming China,

arrived at southwest Taiwan in 1624 and built a trade entrepôt in Tayouan,

today’s Tainan. The Dutch intended to use Taiwan as a transit center to pursue

trade of Chinese silk, textile, china, and gold with Japanese silver. 20 The Spanish,

attempting to rival the Dutch in East Asian trade, arrived from the Philippines at

northern Taiwan in 1626. The Spanish did not establish a strong base, and in 1642

the Dutch expelled the Spanish and brought the whole island under their control.

Supervised by the Dutch East Indian Company based in Java, the Dutch

soon strategically expanded their control over Taiwan. As Taiwan’s

administrators, the Dutch invested in the island to secure the source of goods

and develop the land to increase the supply of food. The Dutch endeavors left

important cultural and economical imprints. To control the circulation of goods

Ibid., 49.
19

Chen, “Zhuan yun yu chu ko: He ju shi qi de mao yi yu chan ye (Transit and Export: Trade and
20

Commerce in Taiwan during the Dutch Period)”, 63‐69.

22
and services, the Dutch first used military power to coerce alliance from the

aborigines, and then deployed missionaries to inculcate the aboriginal villagers

through opening churches and schools. 21 The Dutch induced the aboriginal

youngsters to attend village schools by imposing penalties, and by dispensing

clothes or rice to those who came. 22 Dutch missionaries developed a Romanized

writing system for the aboriginal languages. Taught by the missionaries in

church schools, the aborigines of the southwestern plains employed this writing

system in their subsequent dealings with Chinese immigrants.

At the same time, to better sustain the food supply for Dutch expatriates

in Taiwan, in the 1630s the Dutch administration began to recruit Chinese

workers to labor in farming, mostly from the Fujian province across the strait. 23

Yams, sugarcane, and rice were among the products the Dutch attempted to

grow. 24 The Dutch hence facilitated the first influx of Chinese immigrants to

Taiwan. As a result, Taiwan under the Dutch colonization moved toward a

21 The Dutch administrative and missionary activities among Formosan aborigines can be seen in
William Campbell, Formosa under the Dutch: described from contemporary records, with explanatory
notes and a bibliography of the island (Taipei: Ch’eng‐wen Publishing Company, 1972[03]).
Information of the Dutch operation of church schools in the aboriginal villages is seen in Yang,
He ju shi dai Taiwan shi [History of Taiwan in the Dutch Occupation], 107‐119.
22 Yang, He ju shi dai Taiwan shi shi [History of Taiwan in the Dutch Occupation], 113‐14.

23 When the Dutch arrived in Taiwan in 1624, the Chinese in Taiwan were mostly traders running

business with the aborigines. By the end of the Dutch era in 1661, Taiwan’s Chinese population
was mostly agriculture colonists coming from China through Dutch incentives. For a brief
description of Chinese traders, see Shepherd, Statecraft and political economy on the Taiwan frontier,
1600‐1800, 83‐85.
24 Chen, ʺZhuan yun yu chu ko: He ju shi qi de mao yi yu chan ye (Transit and Export: Trade and

Commerce in Taiwan during the Dutch Period)ʺ, 72‐73.

23
multi‐racial society in which interracial tensions arose between the native

aborigines, the Dutch rulers, and the Chinese settlers who began to advance their

own economic security and control of natural resources on the island. 25

The Ming‐Zheng Era (1661‐1683)

In 1661, when China’s Ming dynasty was collapsing, Ming loyalist

General Zheng Chenggong (1624‐1662) defeated the Dutch and claimed Taiwan

to build a base for his revival of the Chinese regime. Known to the Europeans as

Koxinga, General Zheng was born to a Chinese trader‐pirate father and a

Japanese mother and fought for the ailing Ming dynasty to counter the rising

Manchu Qing regime, which took over Beijing, the Ming capital, in 1644. General

Zheng and his successors established a government modeled after the Ming

administration, and opted to continue the former Dutch trade network. 26 The

Zheng regime induced large influxes of Chinese immigrants to Taiwan: soldiers

and some elites came to Taiwan to follow the Zheng government, which claimed

to succeed the Ming regime, and many people fled their destroyed homeland. To

cut off Chinese support to the Zhengs, the Qing government forced coastal

25 Roy, Taiwan: a Political History, 17.

26 Copper, Taiwan: Nation‐State or Province?, 26.

24
residents to move inland and forbade fishing and sailing. 27 It is estimated that

during the two decades of Zheng rule, the Chinese population in Taiwan reached

120,000 or more, comparable to or above the aboriginal population, estimated at

100,000 to 120,000 people. 28 The Zheng regime operated for two decades and

surrendered to the Qing in 1683, and the Qing court put the island on its political

map.

The Qing Era (1683‐1895)

The Qing dynasty ruled Taiwan from 1683 to 1895. The Qing policy of

governing Taiwan in general was biased toward preventive control rather than

planning and development. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth

century, when European and Japanese powers again showed commercial and

territorial interest in Taiwan, that the Qing government substantially modified its

Taiwan policy. Qing China’s early Taiwan policy, John Shepherd theorizes, was

simultaneously focused on preventing the island, in its strategic peripheral

location, from becoming a rebel base, as well as on maintaining the island’s

status quo, one that depended on a balanced economic relationship between the

27 The regulation, called qianjie (“relocate boundary”), forced coastal residents to abandon fishing
and move inland to fortress China’s southeast coast. The command was intended to cut off any
possible logistic aid to the Zheng regime in Taiwan, but at the same time forced the coast
residents to flee the impossible life caused by the regulation. Wu Micha, ed., Taiwan shi xiao shi
dian [Chronolony and Dictionary of Taiwan History] (Taipei: Yuan liu chu ban she, 2000), 30.
28 Wan‐Yao Chou, Taiwan li shi tu shuo: shi qian zhi 1945 nian [Taiwan History in Iconography:

Prehistory to 1945], 2nd ed, (Taipei: Lian jing chu ban shi ye gong si, 1998), 66.

25
aborigines and the Chinese immigrant‐settlers. 29 Therefore, the Qing policy

makers closely regulated Han Chinese immigration to Taiwan; if uncontrolled,

their continued influx might potentially threaten the economic and ecological

environment of the aborigines, and subsequently, the issue of frontier stability

and security.

In their attempts to manage the Taiwan frontier, the Qing administration

was constantly challenged by the task of managing the increasing Han Chinese

population, who arrived legally or illegally regardless of official policy.

Throughout the Qing period, the Chinese population in Taiwan grew much

faster than the aborigines and contributed much to the island’s population

increase. For example, by 1735 the western plains of Taiwan, where most of its

population lived, had seen a triple increase of inhabitants from 1684; by 1777, a

six‐fold increase had occurred and the total population reached almost 840,000

people. 30 In 1811, the census estimated the total population of Taiwan was

1,944,737. 31 Since the early Qing rule in the late‐seventeenth century, the number

of Chinese immigrants had grown so much that they became the dominant

group controlling the resources and power of Taiwan.

29 Shepherd, Statecraft and political economy on the Taiwan frontier, 1600‐1800, 3.

30 Gary Marvin Davison, A short history of Taiwan: the case for independence (Westport, Ct.: Praeger,
2003), 30.
31 “Qing dai Taiwan ren ko tong ji [Population statistics of Qing Taiwan],”

<http://thcts.ascc.net/template/sample6.asp?id=rc10> (accessed February 21, 2009).

26
 Recognizing the importance of protecting aboriginal land rights against

the large influx of Chinese settlers, the Qing administration demarcated

borderlines to separate the two groups, and forbade the Chinese to develop land

across the line. However, the Qing policy still failed to protect the aborigines

from losing their land to the Chinese.

Several factors contributed to the failure of this well‐intentioned policy.

First, the aborigines relied on the income generated from deer products to pay

the heavy tax demanded by the Qing government. The deer population quickly

shrank, due to the Chinese turning forest into agrarian land, and the aborigines

could no longer hunt enough deer. Losing this income, many aborigines were

forced to sell their land to the Chinese in order to pay the tax. Second, when the

aborigines and the Chinese conducted transactions of land acquisition and

tenancy, the aborigines were dealing with the unfamiliar yet sophisticated

Chinese schemes of private ownership, mathematical calculation, and

bookkeeping. Such rules were undoubtedly in favor of the Chinese, and many

aborigines simply lost their land due to a set of concepts foreign to their culture.

Third, early Qing policy required emigrants to Taiwan to leave their family

behind on the mainland. As a result, intermarriage between Chinese men and

aboriginal women frequently occurred and the next generations more easily

27
adopted the Chinese customs of naming, inheritance, and lifestyle. 32

Consequently, the dominant population group of Chinese further marginalized

the aborigines through land redistribution, intermarriage, and acculturation. In

short, the most significant feature of Qing Taiwan was the making of aboriginal

Taiwan into Sinicized Taiwan.

The Chinese domination of Taiwanese society, however, did not erase

differences; it only created social and cultural layers generated by the differences

in race, ethnicity, regional and dialectal bonds, and lifestyles. Even among the

Chinese settlers, cultural and social differences existed and developed. For

instance, the majority of Chinese immigrants came from the region of southern

Fujian Province and eastern Guangdong Province, and spoke the Holo or Hakka

dialects. The regional and dialectal differences extended to their new homes in

Taiwan, and generated hostilities and armed conflicts.

By the 1860s, the rebellious Taiwanese society went through a new phase

of social transformation. A small number of locally formed literati‐elites emerged

to become the social leaders of public affairs and local communities. 33 Since

32 I summarize this analysis based on Chou, Taiwan li shi tu shuo: shi qian zhi 1945 nian [Taiwan
History in Iconography: Prehistory to 1945], 84‐94.
33 A case study of a locally grown Taiwanese gentry clan is provided in Johanna Menzel Meskill,

A Chinese pioneer family: the Lins of Wu‐feng, Taiwan, 1729‐1895 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1979). After generations of settling in Taiwan, the Lin clan of central Taiwan
finally transformed itself from wealthy landlords to gentries by producing members who
obtained literati titles through the Chinese governmental examination system. In the second half
of the nineteenth century, members of the Lin clan were engaged in public service in both the

28
Taiwan was a largely immigrant society, early social leaders were often wealthy

landowners or merchants; very few came from the class of literati, who acquired

leadership through Confucianist education and literacy, which allowed them to

succeed in state examinations and enter governmental officialdom. The literati

class is thus a cultural mark of traditional Chinese civil society. The formation of

a literati class in Taiwan thus signified a transformation of the immigrant society

into a more stabilized society which could support the emergence of a well‐

educated group of social‐cultural leaders. This class formation indicated that

Taiwanese society in the mid‐nineteenth century was developing a new character,

unseen in its earlier phases. 34

The Japanese Colonization (1895‐1945)

In 1895, Japan won the Sino‐Japanese war and acquired Taiwan as a

colony. The Japanese aimed to extract as much economic profits from subtropical

mainland and Taiwan, and thus rose to become one of the most politically influential families in
Taiwan.
34 Two competing theories, nativization (tuzhuhua) and sinicization (neidihua), have tried to

explain the mechanism leading to the growth of the literati elite class in Taiwan. The former,
proposed by Chen Qinan, emphasizes that the immigrants had settled into the new home and no
longer bore the mentality of immigrants, thus the formation of Taiwanese literati class was a
locally grown phenomena. Chen Qinan, Taiwan de chuan tong Zhongguo she hui [Traditional Chinese
Society in Taiwan] (Taipei: Yun chen wen hua, 1987). The latter, proposed by Li Guoqi,
emphasizes that the stabilizing immigrant Taiwanese society was becoming like the civil society
of the Chinese homeland, and therefore would form the literati class. Li Guoqi, “Qing dai Taiwan
she hui di zhuan xing ‐‐ nei di hua di jie shi [Transformation of Qing Taiwanese Society: the
explanation of sinicization].” Li shi yue kan (Historical Monthly), no. 107 (1996): 58‐66. Both theories
first appeared in the 1970s, and the authors have since published on the subject matters.

29
Taiwan as possible. Toward that goal, the Japanese needed to establish colonial

rule in the political and economic spheres. When the Japanese first arrived in

Taiwan, Taiwanese society did not yet have an established power structure that

the Japanese could quickly take over, 35 so the Japanese colonial authority

explored many avenues of control and governance. Their endeavors included

militarily suppressing insurgencies, establishing an effective administrative and

policing system, controlling the opium problem with a governmental monopoly,

implementing colonial schools, and even tolerating Taiwanese social customs

and cultural practices to reduce immediate resistance. These endeavors were

successful. By the end of the first decade of colonization, the colonial government

had become financially self‐sufficient, and Japan soon began to profit from what

the Taiwanese land and people could provide. 36

To push the island further as a profitable colony of their empire, the

Japanese launched modernizing projects in Taiwan to maximize economic

exploitation and facilitate colonial governance. Modern institutions such as

railroads, banks, power plants, postal services and telecommunication helped to

introduce material modernity to the Taiwanese. More profoundly, modern

35 Ming‐Cheng Lo, Doctors within Borders: profession, ethnicity, and modernity in colonial Taiwan
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 29‐30.
36 Zhong Shumin, “Ri ju chu qi Taiwan zong du fu tong zhi quan di que li, 1895‐1906 [The

Consolidation of the Ruling Power of the Governor‐Generalʹs Office in Taiwan in Early Japanese
Colonization, 1895‐1906]” (MA thesis, National Taiwan University, 1989), documents the
strategies the Japanese colonial government undertook to consolidate its political control of the
island and to achieve financial independence.

30
education introduced by the colonial government penetrated deep into

Taiwanese thinking. Living as colonized people, the Taiwanese began to inquire

into their own identity in relation to the Japanese empire, the world, and the

island. The experiences of colonization and modernization added a great deal of

complexity to the answers the Taiwanese found.

Taiwan since 1945

The Japanese colonization of Taiwan ended in 1945 when Japan was

defeated in World War II and the allies decided to return Taiwan to the Republic

of China, reversing the result of the Sino‐Japanese war five decades before. In

1949, the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, hereafter KMT) lost the civil

war with the Chinese Communists and fled to Taiwan, taking the island as its

last political and military base. The KMT retreat generated a large, twentieth‐

century influx of mainland Chinese immigrants to the island. Operating the

Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, the KMT vowed to soon return to and

reclaim mainland China. To ensure its position and governance as the only

political power, party, and authority in Taiwan, the KMT installed Martial Law

in 1949, suspending the constitutional rights of the Taiwanese population such as

freedom of speech, party formation, and congressional election. To counter

Communist China and its revolutionary character, the KMT nicknamed Taiwan

31
“the Free China,” and positioned itself as the guardian of traditional Chinese

culture.

To this end, the KMT promoted its interpretation of Han Chinese culture

as the orthodox and representative manifestation for all Chinese. As a result of

the KMT political and cultural dictatorship, the local cultural expressions of

Taiwan were regulated, if not suppressed, and the historical, cultural, and

experiential differences between the Taiwanese and the mainland Chinese were

minimized. The native Taiwanese, defined as the descendants of those who came

to Taiwan prior to 1945, felt marginalized and distrusted by mainland Chinese,

symbolized by the KMT. The natives’ history of frontier development and

colonization was silenced.

Nevertheless, the KMT dictatorship brought period of political and social

stability to Taiwan, welcoming foreign investment and promoting economic

development and industrialization. In short, the four decades of KMT rule (1945‐

1987) in Taiwan were politically oppressive but economically successful. Along

with rapid industrialization, Taiwanese society experienced sweeping

modernization and generated a fascination with Western culture, especially

American.

The lifting of Martial Law in 1987 opened the door to a new era of political

and cultural history in Taiwan, a development heralded by a number of

32
historical factors. Cold War politics in the 1970s isolated Taiwan when the United

Nations and international diplomats no longer recognized KMT‐controlled

Taiwan as the official government of China; instead, the mainland‐based

People’s Republic of China (PRC) took the UN’s China seat in 1971. In 1979, the

United States established diplomatic ties with the PRC, and the KMT‐led

Republic of China on Taiwan terminated official diplomatic relationships with

the US. Ostracized by the international community, the KMT government could

no longer sustain its purported goal of mainland recovery, which justified its

dictatorial government and the presentation of itself as the guardian of orthodox

Chinese culture while repressing local cultures.

Seeking to reconstitute the KMT government in Taiwan, Chiang Ching‐

Kuo (1910‐1988), the KMT leader and ROC President in the 1970s and 1980s,

lifted Martial Law in 1987 and furthered Taiwan’s democracy. Since then, the call

of bentuhua (indigenization/nativization) became widely heard in Taiwan, and

the Taiwanese rapidly strove to reposition Taiwan in relation to China by

redefining Taiwanese identity, nationality, and culture. In other words, answers

to the questions of “who the Taiwanese are” and “what Taiwan is” have become,

since 1987, the critical issues that are now openly debated and manipulated.

Inevitably, the bentu wenhua (indigenous and local cultures) of the aborigines and

the Holo and Hakka immigrant‐settlers have now resurfaced and dominate the

33
public debates on what constitutes “Taiwanese culture”, pushing the “Chinese

culture” once vehemently promoted by the KMT from the top of the cultural

pyramid.

III. Colonialism and Music

Any historicization of Taiwan must take into account its varied colonial

experiences as a colony of maritime entrepôt, a colony of Chinese immigration‐

settlements, a colony of imperial expansion, and a geopolitical entity of internal

colonization. Among all the colonial histories of Taiwan, it was the Japanese

colonization that ushered in the political and cultural forces that heralded

Taiwan’s arrival into the modern era. Thus, historicizing musical Taiwan in the

Japanese colonial period must confront the issue of colonialism and its

relationship to modernity as well as the native music culture.

Colonialism is usually perceived to exercise a negative impact on local

cultures through the imposition of politically‐engineered discourses of hierarchy

and a purposeful economic system, forces that profoundly impact how the

colonized perceive their culture and the lifestyles which sustain certain cultural

elements. Yet, although some societies have found that colonization significantly

contributes to the disappearance or change of traditions, other colonial and post‐

colonial societies have found continuously thriving local cultures. Hence,

34
relationships between colonial polities and local cultures are often much more

complicated and intertwining than a simplified narrative of “repression and

destruction” can explain. Since colonization creates contexts that force different

cultures to interact, clash, converge and/or diverge, inquiring into the dynamic

negotiations between the culture within and the polity without is essential to

understand music culture in a colonial context.

As a modern phenomenon found throughout the world, colonial

expansion reached its zenith in the nineteenth century and the first half of the

twentieth century; it was rather quickly dismantled after World War II. Much of

the world today has experienced some version of a colonial past, and many parts

of the world still struggle with what was left by colonialism. Colonialism refers

to “the specific form of cultural exploitation that developed with the expansion

of Europe over the last 400 years.” 37 Edward Said succinctly explains that

colonialism “is the implementing of settlements on distant territory”, almost

always as a consequence of imperialism, which prescribes “the practice, the

theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant

territory.” 38

37 Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, Post‐colonial studies: the key concepts (London;
New York: Routledge, 2000), 45.
38 Edward W. Said, Culture and imperialism (New York Knopf, 1993), 8, cited in Ashcroft, Griffiths,

and Tiffin, Post‐colonial studies: the key concepts, 46.

35
 Jürgen Osterhammel provides a definition of colonialism that describes

the relationship between the dominating metropolis and the distant colony:

“Colonialism is a relationship of domination between an indigenous (or forcibly

imported) majority and a minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decision

affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the

colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often defined in a distant

metropolis. Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population, the

colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and of their ordained mandate

to rule.” 39 Commenting on this relationship, Ania Loomba defines colonialism as

a practice of “conquest and control of other people’s land and goods.” 40 This

practice occurred in many parts of the world and its operation varied from place

to place; yet the universal feature of colonialism was, however, the fact that “it

locked the original inhabitants and the newcomers into the most complex and

traumatic relationships in human history.” 41

In sum, colonialism involves a particular process of action and dialogue

between a local population and an outside power. The distance between the

metropolis and the colony means that the colonizers and the colonized often

have incompatible ethnic and cultural differences. To harness the colonized

39 Jürgen Osterhammel, Colonialism: a theoretical overview, Shelley L. Frisch trans. (Princeton &
Kingston: Markus Wiener Publishers & Ian Randle Publishers, 1997), 16‐17.
40 Ania Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism (London ; New York Routledge, 1998), 2.

41 Ibid., 2.

36
majority, the powerful minority must adopt measures of control, ranging from

violence and forceful co‐optation to inventing deliberate discourses of cultural

hierarchy and acculturation. The protagonists of colonial contact are constantly

engaged in such negotiation.

Since colonialism is such a widespread and penetrating phenomenon, it

invites close examination. Study of colonial impact upon colonized societies

generates fascinating case studies of cultural, social, and historical change. For

music scholars, the music cultures of colonized societies provide an arena to

study the processes and mechanisms of musical creativity, continuity, adaptation,

and hybridity. Music can be examined as a form of the expressions, actions, and

dialogues of the colonizers and colonized. For instance, the music of non‐

Western societies colonized by Western powers has served as a prism through

which to examine musical imagination and discourses between the West and the

Other. Nineteenth‐century European operas, such as Aida and Madame Butterfly,

for example, made musical theatre a location of seeing, hearing and imagining

the exotic Others. 42 Such orientalizing representations are not a European

monopoly; similar representations were also produced by Japan. The popular

theatre revue Takarazuka showcased an exuberant representation of the colonized

exotic Others of Japan for ideological discourse during WWII. In such shows,

42Further discussions of Orientalism and opera can be found in, for example, Ralph P. Locke,
“Reflections on Orientalism in Opera and Musical Theater,” The Opera Quarterly 10 (1993).

37
ethnographical knowledge was utilized to not only portray, visually and aurally,

the Japanese empire and its colonies on stage, but also to shape popular attitudes

toward the war and to meet the needs of wartime mobilization. 43

An identifiable and widespread outcome of colonialism in music is the

acceptance of Western‐style music by non‐Western societies, and the unique

music generated by this acceptance. Many colonized societies have created

hybridized musics that blend the familiar elements of local traditions with

Western elements brought by their colonial rulers. Hybridized musics have

motivated music scholars to focus on musical products as evidence of musical

transformation. Musical traditions or works that appear to be free of audible

Western elements may not, however, be free of colonial “contamination.” Judith

Becker’s study of the Javanese Gamelan demonstrates that even though gamelan

music possesses little audible influence of Western music, gamelan musicians

have adopted Western influence in several ways. The development of written

notation in orally transmitted gamelan music, for example, stemmed from the

Javanese contact with European fashion, primarily Dutch, in the nineteenth

century. 44 Becker notes that maintaining gamelan in the Javanese court was

43 Jennifer Robertson, “Staging Ethnography: Theatre and Japanese Colonialism,” in Anthropology

and Colonialism in Asia and Oceania, ed. Jan van Bremen and Akitoshi Shimizu (Surrey: Curzon
Press, 1999); Robertson, Takarazuka: sexual politics and popular culture in modern Japan (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1998), 89‐138.
44 Judith Becker, Traditional Music in Modern Java (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1980), 12‐

17.

38
encouraged by the Dutch colonizers as they ruled through controlling the

Javanese court and nobles. 45

As hybridized music becomes a mainstream cultural phenomenon in

many societies, music scholars have begun to analyze it as evidence of cultural

changes and dialogues, which are always complex and dynamic. Thus some

ethnomusicologists have formulated systems and terminologies to gauge the

processes and meanings of musical hybridity. Bruno Nettl, Margaret Kartomi,

and Mervyn McLean are among the ethnomusicologists who attempted to

develop appropriate terminology and typology to describe the musical outcomes

as exhibited in musical artifacts. 46 Further, scholars of colonialism have used

music as a means to gauge colonial experiences particularized by history and

geography. For example, Terrance O. Ranger studied the origin, development,

and diffusion of beni ngoma, a popular cultural form in Tanzania and Kenya and

a team dance that mocked the European band music of the British and German

colonization. 47 Ranger argues that hybridization of traditional ngoma dance and a

newly introduced European musical form demonstrates the East African

45 Ibid., 26.
46 Margaret J. Kartomi, “The Process and Results of Musical Culture Contact: a discussion of
terminology and concepts,” Ethnomusicology 25 (1981); Mervyn McLean, “Towards a Typology of
Musical Change: missionaries and adjustive response in Oceania,” The World of Music 28 (1986);
Bruno Nettl, “Some Aspects of the History of World Music in the Twentieth Century: Questions,
Problems, and Concepts,” Ethnomusicology 22 (1978); Bruno Nettl, The Western Impact on World
Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1985).
47 Terence O. Ranger, Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890‐1970. (Berkeley: University of

California Press, 1975).

39
response to modernity when they had limited space to express their creativity.

Thus beni ngoma is a form of social commentary as well as an articulation of

colonial experiences.

Recent ethnomusicological interests in colonialism and music propose to

reflect on colonial contact as a channel allowing the colonized society to exercise

their creativity by indigenizing new musical elements and vocabularies imported

by colonial forces. Amy K. Stillman documents and traces the spread of

Protestant hymnody in several Pacific Island societies through missionary routes.

Contesting the anthropological and ethnomusicological obsession with finding

what is “pre‐contact” and “pre‐Christian” as the traditional and the authentic,

Stillman argues that after generations of practicing hymnody and embracing

Christianity, many Pacific Islanders considered hymnody their “traditional

music” and developed their own distinctive styles in which to render the hymn

performance. For these Pacific Islanders, the process of indigenization has made

a genre of foreign origin into a tradition. 48 Thus, the nostalgic quest for the

remains of the “pre‐contact” era is itself a colonial imposition. Stillman’s

arguments are echoed by Michael Webb, who demonstrates that the Tolai of

Papua New Guinea have mastered European musical vocabulary introduced by

the missionaries. Instead of reviving a pre‐contact music, the Tolai use the

Amy Kuʹuleialoha Stillman, “Prelude to a Comparative Investigation of Protestant Hymnody in

48

Polynesia,” Yearbook for Traditional Music, no. 25 (1993): 89‐99.

40
imported musical material to create a new national Papua New Guinea music

that manifests their national identity. 49 Veit Erlmann’s studies of South African

music similarly demonstrate another example of Africans appropriating and

remaking Western music into a distinctively South African musical form. 50

As Stillman argues, only when music scholars liberate themselves from

the stereotypical notions of colonial vs. pre‐colonial, new vs. traditional, and

hybridized vs. authentic, and so forth, can they begin to view colonial contact as

opportunities for cultural creativity, when human acts of expressing, perceiving,

indigenizing and negotiating converge to make music. Salman Rushdie has

insightfully commented that India has made English into one of the many Indian

languages. 51 Like Indian English, the many forms of hybridized, syncretic, or

newly‐created musical idioms that mix Western and non‐Western musical

elements attest to the cultural and human dialogues between colonizer and

colonized.

The relationships between colonialism and music are therefore dynamic

and complex. To assess and evaluate the impact and effect of colonization on the

49 Michael H. Webb, “’Pipal bilong music tru’/’A truly musical people’: Musical culture,
colonialism, and identity in northeastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, after 1875.” (PhD
dissertation, Wesleyan University, 1995).
50 Veit Erlmann, African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance (Chicago: University of

Chicago Press, 1991); Erlmann, “Migration and Performance: Zulu Migrant Workersʹ
Isicathamiya Performance in South Africa, 1890‐1950,” Ethnomusicology 34: 2 (1990).
51 Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981‐1991 (London: Granta/Penguin,

1992), 64, cited in Osterhammel, Colonialism: a Theoretical Overview, 104.

41
music of local native communities, many social and cultural factors need to be

investigated. For the case of Japanese colonial Taiwan, the process of how

imported vocabularies and apparatuses were appropriated and indigenized to

become Taiwanese cultural heritage needs to be examined in detail, with

reference to the political and cultural forces of the colonial society. In addition,

the dynamics of how colonial polity interacted with native musical practices

need to be explored in order to comprehensively understand musical Taiwan

under Japanese colonization.

IV. Musiking and the Japanese Colonization of Taiwan

Japanese colonialism is often recognized as singular among its

contemporary colonial colleagues. The singularity of Japanese colonialism,

however, does not lie in its non‐European‐ness or Japanese‐ness. After all,

Japanese colonial practices stayed within the fundamental operation of modern

colonialism. The singularity, as Mark Peattie points out, was Japan’s close

distance to its colonial subjects, a closeness that Western colonial powers and

their colonies did not share. This regional character meant Japan had a racial and

cultural affinity to its colonial subjects in Taiwan and Korea. 52 Hence, Japan often

52Mark R. Peattie, “Introduction.” in The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895‐1945, ed. Ramon H. Myers
and Mark R. Peattie (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 7. Japan later broke away
from this racial and cultural affinity in its imperial expansion into the Pacific territories. But the

42
found its colonies in conditions similar to its own history before the Meiji

Restoration and modernization in 1868. Given this experience, the Japanese

colonizers naturally opted to repeat the Meiji modernizing projects in their

colonies. 53 Taiwanese historian Wan‐Yao Chou also called what the Japanese

pursued in Taiwan “a Meiji Restoration on a smaller scale,” an apt allusion to the

emphatic modernizing character of Japanese colonial operations, and the

similarity of the policies implemented in Meiji Japan and colonial Taiwan. 54

To launch the modernization‐colonization project in Taiwan, the Japanese

colonial administration established institutions and infrastructures modeled after

Japan, including education, the legal system, urban planning, land surveying,

and campaigns for social change. At the same time, the colonial administration

needed to broadly engage itself with Taiwanese society to better control the

colony so that it could be more effectively molded into the intended shape. On

the other hand, the Taiwanese must respond to colonization, the very reality of

their everyday life. In the process, the Japanese manipulated music to advance

their political agenda, and the Taiwanese responded through music in multiple

ways, a fact that colonial newspapers in Taiwan extensively reported. Looking

into the occasion, the venue, the function, and the types of musical performances,

neighboring East Asian colonies of Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria remained Japan’s most
important colonies.
53 Ibid., 23.

54 Wan‐Yao Chou, Taiwan li shi tu shuo: shi qian zhi 1945 nian [Taiwan History in Iconography:

Prehistory to 1945], 2nd ed. (Taipei: Lian jing chu ban shi ye gong si, 1998), 142‐44.

43
I argue that engaging in music is one of the most basic schemes the Japanese

utilized to colonize Taiwan while the Taiwanese utilized to express their needs of

living in a colonial society. Musiking allowed the Japanese and the Taiwanese to

negotiate their subjectivity, intentions, and existence in their colonial social and

cultural contexts.

To musik is to negotiate with music as object, site and process. 55 When

Christopher Small coined the word “musicking” and proposed using “music” as

a verb instead of noun, he problematized the convention of equating musical

works with music, and emphasized performance, in which people participate to

establish social relationships and meanings. 56 Joseph S. C. Lam’s theory of “to

musik/musiking” takes the concept further to emphasize human engagement

and discourse in musical activities; thus he proposes to approach music “as a

nexus of people’s expressions and interactions in particular times and places.” 57

With this analytical framework, music no longer needs to be approached solely

as specific musical works produced or assigned for the intended performance or

consumption; music can be flexibly approached as objects that embody or

represent sonic expressions, or as sites that musical sounds particularize so that

55 Joseph S.C. Lam, “Male Bonding in Ming China,” NAN Nü 9 (2007): 81.
56 Small, Musicking: the meanings of performing and listening, 9.
57 Lam, “Male Bonding in Ming China,” 81f.

44
individual participants can strategically negotiate their agendas with targeted

partners in specific times and places.

Musiking thus allows flexible and meaningful examination of the

negotiations generated in the Taiwanese soundscape in early Japanese

colonization, when the Japanese and Taiwanese engaged with one another in a

newly‐created context. In the first decade of colonization, numerous musical

activities occurred in Taiwan in diverse locations, featuring different contents,

and involving a large number of participants. These musical events expressed

and catalyzed the implementation of the colonial polity. As such, musiking is a

prism that reveals the different dynamics of musical and colonial Taiwan.

In the next chapters, I will analyze Japanese and Taiwanese musiking in

the early colonial period. I will begin by describing the ways the Japanese

musiked to implement colonization, and then move on to explain Taiwanese

musiking to maintain their traditions. The Japanese “colonizing through

musiking” was a comprehensive process. The tactics involved implementing

music education in colonial schools, installing colonial holidays and celebrations

with music, creating a specific ritual and music space of the Taiwan Jinja (Taiwan

Shinto Shrine) to symbolize colonial governance, and celebrating the

modernizing project of the cross‐island railroad. Taiwanese musiking was

characterized by the Taiwanese elites’ attempts to maintain the Confucian temple

45
ceremony and by the continuation of traditional musical life in colonial Taiwan.

In either Japanese‐initiated or Taiwanese‐maintained musiking, the colonizers

and the colonized generated their intended expressions and communications

through performing, hearing, and referencing musical objects, and manipulating

them at particularized sites to strategically advance their specific agendas. By

musiking with one another, the Taiwanese and the Japanese generated a new

and hybridized soundscape that subsequently became the foundation of

twentieth‐century musical Taiwan.

46
 CHAPTER TWO

THEORIZING AND HISTORICIZING MUSICAL TAIWAN UNDER

JAPANESE RULE

Two major forces have constructed most contemporary knowledge about

musical Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule: the larger framework of post‐1949

Taiwan historiography, and the efforts of music scholars applying musicological

and ethnomusicological methods to study musical Taiwan. In other words, post‐

1949 Taiwan historiography prescribes how the Taiwanese conceptualize their

past; and this conceptualization guides how the Taiwanese historicize their

musical experiences.

This chapter begins with an overview of musical Taiwan’s soundscape in

historical perspective, and how musical Taiwan has been historicized in two

representative music histories. Then it will discuss the trajectory of post‐1949

historiography of Taiwan to contextualize the development of music studies,

particularly with respect to the treatment of colonial musical Taiwan. Post‐1949

historiography positions Taiwan in relation to China, and thus can only see

47
Japanese colonial Taiwan and its music culture through a “Chinese” prism. The

epistemology of music studies in Taiwan is based on genres and styles, and as a

result, contemporary historical narratives of musical Taiwan are informative

about individual genres, but have not yet extensively explored the dynamic

interactions between Japanese colonialism and local Taiwanese music cultures.

I. The Soundscape of Musical Taiwan: Dynamics in Historical Perspective

As demonstrated in Chapter One, Taiwan’s political and cultural past

over the last four centuries was dominated by foreign powers. Beginning in the

seventeenth century, the political authorities that ruled Taiwan came from

outside the island, bringing immigrants and their cultural practices and forcing

interactions between natives, locals, and newcomers. This pattern of interaction

shaped the development of Taiwanese society and culture as a diverse and

layered phenomenon. Musical Taiwan developed in this historical context as a

complex, dynamic, hybrid, and even contradictory soundscape.

Therefore, musical Taiwan must be investigated and understood with

reference to its geopolitical and cultural history. The foundation of musical

Taiwan was first launched by the aborigines, who were ancient immigrants to

the island. Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests that the aboriginal

Taiwanese, namely the Austronesians who arrived, settled and left the island in

48
waves of migration, lived in the plains as well as the mountains of the island.

The varied geography allowed them to live in isolation or in contact with other

tribes and new immigrants. They probably built a musical culture that was

nourished by intermittent episodes of both cultural contact and isolation.

Starting in the seventeenth century, colonization and immigration‐

settlement into Taiwan intensified, a development that forcibly and quickly

added layers of cultural dynamics and interactions. In the mid‐seventeenth

century, Dutch colonization forced aboriginal Taiwan to confront European and

Christian elements. Christian hymns, whether sung in the Dutch language or in

the aboriginal languages, came and faded as the Dutch ruled Taiwan and were

subsequently expelled. Brief as it was, the Dutch colonization of Taiwan

nevertheless left practical legacies, which included written and romanized forms

of the aboriginal languages. The Dutch/Christian influence on aboriginal musical

Taiwan can hardly be pinpointed today; but it is a historical fact that should be

recognized and probed.

From the late‐seventeenth to the late‐nineteenth century, a large and

continuous influx of Chinese immigrants not only modified the ethnic and

cultural landscape of Taiwan, but also its soundscape. As aboriginal Taiwan

became Sinicized Taiwan, the Chinese music cultures brought by the immigrant‐

settlers dominated the Taiwanese soundscape. Some of the aborigines, especially

49
those of the southwestern Plains, became absorbed into the world of the

increasing Chinese population and its cultural influences. Intermarriage,

acculturation, and ecological‐economic change contributed to the voluntary and

involuntary integration of the Plains aboriginal Taiwanese. Consequently, Qing

Chinese bureaucrats and local history editors wrote some descriptions of the

exotic songs, dance, and musical instruments of Plains aborigines. 1 In present‐

day Taiwan, the musical sound of the southwest Plains aborigines can only be

heard in an ancestral worship ritual performed by a small group of Siraya

descendants. 2

As the increasing Chinese immigrant‐settlers brought regional popular

musical practices from the mainland, their genres generated new native or

pseudo‐native musical traditions. Commoner immigrants from the Fujian

province, for example, transmitted Holo folksongs, while elite immigrants from

the same region brought nanguan music in ensemble form and enjoyed operas

accompanied by nanguan music. Nanguan (lit. “southern pipes”), also named

nanyin (lit. “southern music”), is performed by a core ensemble composed of the

pipa (pear‐shaped lute), sanxian (three‐stringed lute), erxian (two‐stringed fiddle),

1 Hsu, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [Music History of Taiwan: First Draft], 11‐18.
2 Lü, Taiwan chuan tong yin yue gai lun: ge yue pian (Taiwanese Traditional Music: vocal music), 36‐37.

50
dongxiao (vertical end‐blown flute), and paiban (wooden clappers). 3 The Hakka‐

speaking population from western Fujian and eastern Guangdong brought their

folksong tradition of shange, mountain songs, and practiced several types of bayin

music. The bayin music used in celebrations such as temple festivals and

weddings is performed exclusively by large and small suona (oboe‐like reed

instruments) and percussion instruments of gongs, cymbals, and drums. For

recreation and entertainment, a bayin ensemble is led by a flute or suona and

features string instruments of two‐string fiddles in various sizes and plucked

lutes. 4 In addition to musical traditions specific to the coastal regions and dialects,

other mainland musical styles and genres also came to Taiwan during the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For example, beiguan, a musical and operatic

style sharing common roots with northern Chinese operas such as the Peking

Opera, came to Taiwan and was transformed into a unique Taiwanese musical

and linguistic style. Operas from the Fujian, Guangdong, and Chaozhou areas

also became popular among the Taiwanese. The small group of powerful literati

embraced yayue, refined and civilized music, and practiced qin (seven‐stringed

3 Nora Yeh, “Nanguan Music Repertoire: Categories, Notation, and Performance Practice,” Asian
Music 19 (1988), provides a survey on nanguan music in the ensemble form.
4 Zheng Rongxing, “Taiwan ke zu chuan tong yin yue [Traditional Music of the Taiwanese

Hakka],” in Taiwan yinyue yuelan [Survey of Music of Taiwan], ed. Chen Yuxiu (Taipei: Yushanshe,
1997), 108‐111.

51
zither) music, poem reciting, and Confucian ritual music. 5 The gentry, as a

matter of fact, subsequently became critical sponsors and transmitters of

Confucian ritual and music in the local Taiwanese Confucian temples.

By the late‐nineteenth century, musical Taiwan boasted many genres and

styles associated with race, ethnicity, linguistic and regional origin, and social

class. The prominent aboriginal Taiwanese of the seventeenth century and before

became marginal, but aboriginal music of the mountain tribes and some Plains

tribes were still heard as a minority voice in the newly‐transformed Taiwanese

soundscape, one that was now dominated by the operas, music ensembles, and

folksongs of the Holo‐ and Hakka‐speaking immigrants.

In the twentieth century, two distinctive ruling powers, the Japanese and

the KMT, came to the island from outside and introduced new musical sounds

which further transformed the Taiwanese soundscape. The Japanese annexed

Taiwan in 1895 and introduced modern and Westernized cultural practices.

Shōka, Japanese school songs modeled after Western school songs and modified

for Japanese schools came to the island in 1895 and soon became a critical and

pan‐Taiwanese musical experience. Shōka subsequently paved the foundation for

Taiwanese people to accept and adopt Western‐style music. In the late‐1920s to

5For a case study of Taiwanese elites’ musical engagements, see Yang Xiangling, “Qing ji Taiwan
zhu qian di fang shi shen di yin yue huo dong ‐‐ yi Lin, Zheng, liang da jia zu wei zhong xin
[Musical Activities of the Qing Taiwanese Elites of the Hsinchu region: cases of the Lin and
Zheng clans]” (MA thesis, National Taiwan University, 2001).

52
the mid‐1930s, the need for music to accompany silent film viewing generated a

Taiwanese phonograph market of popular songs, most of them created and

performed by Taiwanese who were educated in colonial schools and had

acquired their modern musical experiences and knowledge through shōka.

During the relatively stable and prosperous colonial decades, traditional

Taiwanese musical life continued and even thrived. Mainland Chinese troupes

were recruited by the Taiwanese to perform in the newly developed venues of

commercial theatre in the cities and towns of colonial Taiwan. 6 Through these

troupes the Taiwanese learned of and became fascinated with genres fashionable

and popular in the mainland, such as the Peking Opera. The cross‐strait

theatrical traffic stimulated the rise of gezaixi (a.k.a. the Taiwanese Opera), the

only native‐born Taiwanese operatic genre, in the 1920s and 1930s.

Japanese music scholarship also contributed to the changing Taiwanese

soundscape, and left a lasting epistemological legacy in the field of Taiwan

aborigines and their musics by consolidating scholarly curiosity upon the

Austronesian minority. Since the early colonial period, Japanese scholars,

commissioned and sponsored by the colonial government, had traveled

6 Xu Yaxiang has provided analyses about the cultural inspiration the Taiwanese theatre obtained
from the frequent visits of mainland Chinese troupes during the Japanese colonial period. Xu
Yaxiang, Ri zhi shi qi Zhongguo xi ban zai Taiwan [Chinese troupes in Taiwan during the Japanese
colonial period] (Taipei: Nan tian shu ju, 2000). Xu Yaxiang, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi qu shi lun: Xian
dai hua zuo yong xia de ju zhong yu ju chang [On the History of Taiwanese Theatre and Operas in the
Japanese Colonial Period: theatrical genres and revenues in the field of modernity] (Taipei: Nan tian shu
ju, 2006a).

53
extensively throughout Taiwan to document the languages and cultures of the

aborigines. In 1900, two Japanese scholars pioneered the first systematic

classification of the Taiwan aborigines. 7 Throughout the colonial period, surveys

and research conducted by many institutions affiliated with the colonial

authority established a database for devising proper administrative policies to

control the aborigines. The Japanese fascination with Taiwan aboriginal musics

led musicologist Tanabe Hisao to travel to Taiwan in 1922, and in 1943

musicologist Kurosawa Takamoto visited all the major mountain aboriginal

groups and produced comprehensive documentation. 8 Japanese scholars

established aboriginal music as the unique aspect of the Taiwanese soundscape,

and made the minority voices of the aborigines highly noticeable in scholarly

inquiries.

7 Weng Jiayin, Yi lun Taiwan shi [Alternative Thoughts about Taiwan History] (Taipei: Dao xiang chu
ban she, 2001), 26. For a description of the early colonial anthropological research conducted
primarily by Inō Kanori (1867‐1925) and Torii Ryūzō (1870‐1953), see Paul D. Barclay, “An
Historian among the Anthrologists: the Inō Kanori Revival and the Legacy of Japanese Colonial
Ethnography in Taiwan,” Japanese Studies 21(2) (2001): 117‐136.
8 Taiwan was part of the trip Tanabe Hisao made to survey musics of the several Japanese

colonies. The imperial and colonial nature of Tanabe’s music trip is discussed by Shuhei
Hosokawa, “In Search of the Sound of Empire: Tanabe Hisao and the Foundation of Japanese
Ethnomusicology,” Japanese Studies 18 (1998). Kurosawa Takamoto’s documentation of Taiwan
aboriginal musics resulted in the monograph Taiwan Takasago‐zoku no ongaku (The music of
Takasago Tribe in Formosa) (Tokyo: Yūzankaku, 1973). An analysis of Kurosawa’s research and its
purposeful association with wartime Japanese imperialism can be seen in Ying‐fen Wang, “Music
Research and Japanese Imperial Colonialism: Putting Tanabeʹs and Kurosawaʹs fieldwork in
Taiwan in Context,” (paper presented at Society for Ethnomusicology 45th annual meeting,
Toronto, November 1‐5, 2000); and Ying‐fen Wang, Ting jian zhi min di: Hei Ze Long Chao yu zhan
shi Taiwan yin yue dia cha (Listening to the Colony Kurosawa Takatomo and the wartime survey of
Formosan music(1943)). (Taipei: National Taiwan University Library, 2008).

54
 As described above, musical Taiwan developed in specific historical,

cultural and political contexts. For that reason, the music history of Taiwan

cannot be narrated as a conglomeration of genres or as stylistic evolution. To

explain the cultural and historical dynamics of Taiwanese musical culture,

analysis of genres and styles must be coordinated with investigations of

historical, cultural, social and political dynamics.

II. Current Scholarship in Historicizing Musical Taiwan

To demonstrate both the achievements and limitations of the current

scholarship on musical Taiwan, a discussion of two recent music histories of

Taiwan will suffice. In 1991, Hsu Tsang‐Houei (Xu Changhui, 1929‐2001), a

leading Taiwanese composer and musicologist of the twentieth century,

published his Taiwan yinyueshi chugao [Music History of Taiwan: First Draft]

(hereafter First Draft) and attempted to give a general narrative of musical

Taiwan. First Draft discusses many genres and traditions, but its historical

perspective on musical Taiwan is essentially one of classification by type and

genre.

Hsu categorizes the music of Taiwan into three major categories, which

are Aboriginal music (yuanzhumin yinyue), Han Chinese folk music (hanzu minjian

yinyue), and Western‐style music (xishi xinyinyue). These three categories of

55
music came to Taiwan at different times, and Hsu uses them to construct musical

Taiwan as a phenomenon of three musical layers. Aboriginal music forms the

oldest layer of Taiwanese music culture, Han Chinese music traditions of the

Holo and the Hakka immigrant‐settlers the middle, and Western‐style music the

newest layer. 9

Such a historization is practical and convenient as it reflects, to some

extent, the historical and musical past of Taiwan, and coordinates the many

musical traditions of Taiwan into a linear history. It also explains the

transformation of the Taiwanese soundscape from the aboriginal to the Chinese

to the Westernized and the modern. The linearity of the historical narrative

suggests a residual and directional relationship between the three categories.

Hsu clearly shows the linear history by the way he approaches the

Japanese colonial period of musical Taiwan. Hsu historicized the Japanese

colonial period as a part of the third layer, when Western‐style music was

introduced and developed in Taiwan. Positioning the colonial period as a time of

modernization, Hsu cites specific aspects that demonstrated the grounding of

Western music in Taiwan. Hsu credits music education in the colonial schools as

the major institution that introduced Western‐style music, but focuses on

biographies of Taiwanese musicians, most of whom were educated in colonial

9 Hsu, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [Music History of Taiwan: First Draft], 3.

56
schools and then trained in Western Classical music in Japan. 10 Hsu’s

historicizing of Western‐style music in Taiwan is broad, as it includes popular

music and the phonograph market which developed in the 1930s. 11

As a pioneering work of the history of musical Taiwan, Hsu’s music

history of the Japanese colonial period is factual and informative: it identifies the

factors (colonial musical education) and personnel (musicians) that developed

Western music in Taiwan in the first half of the twentieth century. However,

Hsu’s history identifies the legacy of the Japanese colonial period only as the

introduction of Western music. Even within this realm, Hsu hardly explores the

dynamics of the colonial political and social context that contributed to and

defined Taiwanese acceptance and adoption of Western‐style music.

A little more than a decade later, Lü Yuxiu published her Taiwan yinyue shi

[Music History of Taiwan], explaining musical Taiwan with descriptions of

musical life and musical sounds. 12 Lü’s history is divided into two parts as she

utilizes two schemes to present musical Taiwan. In the first part, to narrate

Taiwanese musical life historically, Lü periodizes musical Taiwan according to

political history. Thus her periods of musical Taiwan include the pre‐historical,

Dutch (1624‐1662), Zheng kingdom and Qing period (1662‐1895), Japanese

10 Hsu, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [Music History of Taiwan: First Draft], 259‐69.
11 Ibid., 271‐74.
12
Lü Yuxiu, Taiwan yin yue shi [Music History of Taiwan] (Taipei: Wunan publication, 2003).

57
colonization (1895‐1945), post‐World War II (1945‐1987), and post‐Martial Law

era (1987 onward). Within each period, Lü describes the musical life or musical

sounds according to the three categories of music that Hsu establishes, which are

the aboriginal, the Han Chinese traditional, and the Western‐style. In the second

part, to explicate the musical styles and characters of each category, Lü employs

musical artifacts. Drawing from contemporary and historical ethnographic data,

Lü analyzes many kinds of musical objects – notation, transcription, recordings,

instruments, performance styles, and compositions.

Contrasting with Hsu’s linear progression of musical transformation, Lü

attempts to present the coexistence of major musical cultures in Taiwan

throughout its history by highlighting a multi‐cultural and multi‐ethnic musical

Taiwan. Focusing on the musical sounds and their styles, Lü provides short

descriptions of the general political and social contexts of the musical life she

describes. For instance, when discussing the Japanese colonial period, Lü lists

music studies and publication, aboriginal music, Han traditional music, and

Western‐style music as the major categories of musical Taiwan. 13 The coverage is

broader than Hsu’s discussion of the same historical period, but the resultant

picture is surprisingly similar. In her discussion of Western‐style music, Lü

includes more information about teachers, musicians, compositions, and

13 Ibid., 93‐145.

58
performance activities unearthed since Hsu’s publication in 1991. To understand

how actively the Taiwanese pursued Western music in the Japanese colonial

period, Lü describes the musical groups of small orchestras, bands, chamber

music ensembles, and choirs launched in Taiwan to practice and perform

Western music from 1920 to 1945. 14 However, the historical process of how the

Taiwanese accepted new musical experiences and developed Western musicality

from singing shōka remains under‐addressed. In other words, the connection

between the colonial music education that began in 1895 and the Taiwanese

active engagement with Western music since the 1920s remains an assumption

rather than knowledge explicated by proper data and interpretations.

To delineate multicultural Taiwan in the Japanese colonial period, Lü

provides descriptions of Han Chinese traditional music. Lü highlights nanguan

and beiguan, listing the names and activities of the old and new music clubs and

ensembles. 15 Lü cites the visit of Prince Hirohito to the colony of Taiwan in 1923

as a major factor stimulating the thriving nanguan and beiguan activities. 16 The

analysis, though centering only on one single event of the imperial visit, points to

what scholars of musical Taiwan have noticed but not yet fully probed: the

interaction between colonial polity and local music traditions.

14 Ibid., 132‐33.
15 Ibid., 119‐23.
16 Ibid., 120‐21; 122‐23.

59
 The achievements and limitations of these two general music histories of

Taiwan point to the challenges of historicizing musical Taiwan. Both Hsu and Lü

rely heavily on contemporary fieldwork and recordings and transcriptions to

imagine the history of musical Taiwan, and attempt to objectify the past with

sketchy historical records, so their interpretations find little evidential support

from the past. And since both histories specifically focus on musical sounds and

gloss over interactions between sonic expressions and non‐sonic forces in

musical Taiwan, the resultant narratives hardly project a comprehensive picture

of musical Taiwan of the past. The gap in the histories of Hsu and Lü exposes the

need to further examine the historiography of music of Taiwan, as the

methodology to properly historicize musical Taiwan is still being developed and

explored.

III. The Trajectory of Taiwan Historiography in Post‐1949 Taiwan

The two music histories of Taiwan discussed above by Hsu Tsang‐Houei

(1991) and Lü Yuxiu (2003) were written along the trajectory of post‐1949 Taiwan

historiography. In order to write a music history of Taiwan that transcends the

limitations of established historical narratives as represented by Hsu and Lü, a

review of their historiographic contexts is needed. Post‐1949 Taiwan

historiography is formulated, shaped and reshaped by Taiwan’s active and

60
passive involvement in post‐1949 Chinese politics, Cold War antagonism and its

dissolution from the 1950s to the 1980s, and the process of democratization that

brought new contexts to shape the meta‐narratives of history. 17

In 1949, the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang, hereafter KMT) lost the

civil war to the Chinese Communists and fled to Taiwan, an island that had been

a Japanese colony (1895‐1945) for five decades. In 1947, two years before the

KMT arrival and just after Taiwan was returned to China, Taiwanese living on

the island experienced bitter conflicts with the administrators sent by the KMT

government then in mainland China. The KMT officials did not understand

Taiwan and the Taiwanese people, whose culture and society had been deeply

transformed by five decades of Japanese colonization. When the KMT reclaimed

Taiwan from war‐defeated Japan, the Chinese did not expect to encounter a

society very different from that of mainland China and invested little effort to

understand the difference.

To quickly consolidate its rule of the island, the KMT chose to ignore the

Japanese colonial past of the Taiwanese. This meant that they wanted to

eradicate all Japanese residue in Taiwan, and to re‐absorb Taiwan and the

17Taiwanese scholar Zhang Yanxian summarizes the development of studying Taiwan history
and the evolving narrative views in post‐1949 Taiwan into three stages. According to Zhang, the
scholarly interest in studying Taiwan, the changing political contexts, and the evolving views are
closely correlated to each other. Zhang Yanxian, “Taiwan shi yan jiu di xin jing sheng [New
Spirits in Taiwan Historical Studies],” Taiwan Shiliao Yanjiu (Taiwan Historical Materials Studies)
no.1 (1993): 76‐86. Here I follow Zhang’s three stages to discuss the trajectory of post‐1949 Taiwan
historiography.

61
Taiwanese into the Chinese nation. To “(re)nationalize” 18 or “resinicize” 19 the

Taiwanese, the KMT emphasized the historical and cultural connections between

Taiwan and China, and focused on narrating Taiwan as an inseparable part of

China, which the KMT planned to someday reclaim. As a result, KMT

Nationalists promoted and sanctioned the study of Han China – history,

geography, literature, and the national language of Mandarin – and at the same

time suppressed knowledge about Taiwan. They considered learning about the

local (Taiwan) instead of the national (China) a deviation to bring attention to the

Taiwanese historical and experiential difference from the mainland Chinese,

which would potentially create a separatist discourse, one that the KMT did not

want to hear and thus labored to eradicate.

With the crisis of losing China to the Communists eminently felt,

narrating Taiwan into China became an urgent work for KMT historians. They

endeavored not only to explain the tie between mainland China and Taiwan but

also to justify the KMT stance and presence on the island. Thus, the early years of

KMT control of Taiwan (1949‐1960s) were filled with calls to preserve and revive

traditional Chinese culture on the island. These calls were in sharp contrast to the

Communists’ stance of revolutionizing China by demolishing its historical and

18 Allen Chun, “From Nationalism to Nationalizing: Cultural Imagination and State Formation in
Postwar Taiwan,” in Chinese Nationalism, ed. Jonathan Unger (Armonk, NY, 1996), 131.
19 Alan M. Wachman, Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization. (Armond, NY and London:

M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1994), 82.

62
cultural traditions, and allowed the KMT to project the image of being the

perpetuator of traditional Chinese culture. The KMT re‐shaped the Taiwanese

teaching and learning about China, and made research on Chinese history the

most important and exclusive concern of Taiwan’s academic establishment. 20

Given this political and social context, scholars studying Taiwan in this

period were only focused on describing it as historically and culturally connected

with the mainland. A representative example of such Taiwan historiography is

Guo Tingyi’s Taiwan Shishi Gaishou [Introduction to Taiwan’s Historical Events]:

It is no doubt that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China; it is related to

China just like the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Fujian, or Guangdong. The
difference is only geography: Taiwan is an island, and others are in the
mainland. However, because of the gap of the waterway, the few people who
have other thoughts may deliberately argue for its separation from China […].
[…] Because of the dividing waterway, Taiwan developed a little later than
other parts of China. But the huge achievement of the Chinese nation
(zhonghua minzu) here in Taiwan, the completeness of Chinesization
(zhongguohua) or sinicization (hanhua) of Taiwan, and the rapid cultural

20Q. Edward Wang, “Taiwan shi xue di bian yu bu bian: 1949‐1999 [Tradition and
Transformation: Historical Studies in Taiwan, 1949‐1999]: 1949‐1999,” Taida li shi xue bao [National
Taiwan University Journal of History] (1999): 331. The Taiwanese academia at this time was
dominated by Chinese scholars who came to Taiwan from the mainland following the KMT exile,
and very few native Taiwanese scholars worked in academia. This peculiar academic
environment was caused by the sudden change of the reign of Taiwan in 1945 and the quick
imposition of Mandarin as the only language usable in the public domain. A generation of
Taiwanese intellectuals was made “illiterates” because the politics forced them to lose the
cultural capital affiliated with the Japanese language education. A handful of Taiwanese chose to
stay in Japan, for it was the only place where they could capitalize on their acquired cultural and
educational assets. See Wan‐Yao Chou, Hai xing xi de nian dai: Riben zhi min tong zhi mo qi Taiwan
shi lun ji [The Time of Umiyukaba: Essays on Taiwan History in Late Japanese Colonial Period] (Taipei:
Yun chen wen hua, 2003), 12. Few Taiwanese intellectuals managed to learn and master
Mandarin Chinese, the new official language imposed on Taiwan; and even fewer were able to
work in an academic institution, which the exiled KMT polity needed to control the discourses it
produced for ideology and security concerns.

63
 progression have made Taiwan not only superior to some frontiers of the
mainland but also not inferior to the China proper (zhongyuan fudi). Taiwan is
truly the latecomer with high achievements. 21

It is apparent that Taiwan historians of the 1950s only wrote the history of

the island to claim or clarify the relationship between Taiwan and China as

inseparable.

The notion that Taiwan was an integral but regional part of China and

that Taiwan was a repository of traditional Chinese culture led to arguments that

Taiwan could serve as a gateway for Westerners and other outsiders to study

Chinese society, culture, and customs. These arguments were realistic because at

the time much of China’s territory was politically and physically inaccessible for

most Taiwanese or Western scholars of Chinese studies. Furthermore, this view,

needless to say, matched the KMT government’s self‐acclaimed image as the

guardian of orthodox Chinese culture. 22

This notion was not without some factual basis. The continuous influx of

Chinese immigrant‐settlers to Taiwan during the seventeenth, eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries made the Han Chinese a population and cultural majority

21 Guo Tingyi, Taiwan shi shi gai shuo [Introduction to Taiwan’s Historical Events] (Taipei: Cheng
Chung Bookstore, 1954), preface. This work by Guo is often cited as representing the official view
of advocating Taiwan as an inseparable part of China. The frequent citation of this work is
possibly due to the scarcity of general history of Taiwan and also because of Guo’s prestigious
position as the founder of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica.
22 Zhang, “Taiwan shi yan jiu di xin jing sheng [New Spirits in Taiwan Historical Studies],” 82.

Wang, ʺTaiwan shi xue di bian yu bu bian: 1949‐1999 [Tradition and Transformation: Historical
Studies in Taiwan, 1949‐1999]: 1949‐1999,ʺ 358.

64
on the island. Seen through the prism of such a majority, Taiwanese society was

a transplantation of Han Chinese culture, if not a duplicate. Given such

arguments, studying Taiwan became a means to understand Han Chinese society

and culture, traditional or modernized. 23 Studying Taiwan as Chinese society

was amplified by foreign scholars. The United States’ academia supported the

view that the “Chinese character” of Taiwan rendered the island as a substitute

to study China. 24 This view was practical during the Cold War years when US

Cold War policy gave Taiwan strategic value, and when it was difficult for most

Westerners to enter and study China under the Communists. 25

Under the umbrella of Taiwan’s assumed “Chineseness,” the island

became a lab site filled with empirical data about Chinese society and culture,

23 Taiwanese sociologist Chen Shaoxin (1906‐1966) discusses whether studying Chinese society
can be conducted in Taiwan in lieu of the phenomenon that Western scholars went to Taiwan or
Hong Kong to conduct China studies because of the inaccessibility to the actual China. Chen
Shaoxin, Taiwan di ren ko bian qian yu she hui bian qian [The Population Development and Society
Transformation of Taiwan] (Taipei: Lian jing chu ban, 1979), 1‐7. Calling Taiwan a “laboratory” of
studying Chinese society in a paper written in 1965/66, Chen points out that Taiwan could not
represent China, but the short history, small area, and available documents render Taiwan a
laboratory to construct patterns of population development and social transformation of a
Chinese society. In other words, to use Taiwan as a gateway to see China requires proper
contextualization so that the sociological and/or cultural data could be interpreted meaningfully.
24 Douglas Fix, “Mei guo xue shu jie di Taiwan shi yan jiu [The Study of Taiwan History in

American Academia].” Dandai (Con‐temporary) no. 30 (October1988): 57.

25 Several writers have pointed out the influence of US China policy during the Cold War era on

the self‐imaging of Taiwan, in addition to what had been propagated in Taiwan by the
Nationalist government. For example, Zhang, “Taiwan shi yan jiu di xin jing sheng [New Spirits
in Taiwan Historical Studies]”; and Wang, “Taiwan shi xue di bian yu bu bian: 1949‐1999
[Tradition and Transformation: Historical Studies in Taiwan, 1949‐1999]: 1949‐1999.” For a
critique and examination of treating Taiwan as a substitute for studying China in US academia,
see Fix, ʺMei guo xue shu jie di Taiwan shi yan jiu [The Study of Taiwan History in American
Academia]ʺ.

65
waiting to be excavated for study. 26 Taiwan as China, however, was a controlled

site of scholarly inquiry and historical narrative: scholars could only examine its

yield of data to advance the understanding of Han China. Whether Taiwan could

be different from mainland China was not an acceptable research question. The

assumption of Taiwan’s Chineseness worked as a safety valve to elevate Taiwan

into a pursuable subject in a time when China remained the ultimate center of

historical enquiry, and so Taiwan’s differences from China remained carefully

kept beneath the surface.

Such ideological and political control, however, could not last

permanently. Many events that took place in Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s

prompted questioning the KMT’s legitimacy and ideology. In 1971 the United

Nations recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate

government of China; until then, Taiwan, with the name Republic of China, was

the recognized China. With such diplomatic change, Taiwan not only lost its

membership in the United Nations but also its geopolitical identity as the official

and legitimate China. In the following years, Taiwan, carrying the title of ROC,

rapidly lost diplomatic ties with sovereign nations, one after another. In 1979 the

26Nevertheless, the notion that the Taiwanese society is undoubtedly a Chinese society extended
from the mainland was not unchallenged, especially considering the historical processes of
emigration, settlement, and colonization which occurred in Taiwan in just a few centuries. For a
critique of the research conducted in Taiwan by Western scholars to study Chinese society, see
Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong, Taiwanese Culture, Taiwanese Society (Lanham, MD:
University Press of America, 1994).

66
United Stated established official diplomatic ties with the PRC, recognizing its

legitimate authority over Chinese people and territory. The diplomatic

relationship between Taiwan and the US was downgraded to an unofficial

friendly tie. As a diplomatic outcast and losing the US as a crucial supporter,

“Taiwan” became a question. The Taiwanese people began to ask “what

Taiwan’s identity is”, and to imagine what kind of future any perceived identity

might lead the Taiwanese. The KMT’s call for returning to and reclaiming the

mainland from the iron curtain of the Chinese Communists, at one time the

ultimate call the Taiwanese had been demanded to embrace, became empty

ideological rhetoric. Questions of whether Taiwan’s future lay only in reunifying

into “the great China,” or if Taiwan could choose its own future, emerged in

many forms. 27 Responding to Taiwan’s national and cultural identity crisis, the

question of Taiwan became a theme widely explored in literary works, popular

songs, and public debates. 28 Differentiated identity discourses, once severely

repressed, could no longer be silenced. The China‐centered historiography could

27 Thomas Gold, “Taiwan’s Quest for Identity in the Shadow of China,” in In the Shadow of China:
Political Developments in Taiwan since 1949, ed. Steve Tsang (Honolulu, 1993), 176‐83.
28 Thomas Gold surveys identity issues represented in novels, short stories, and song lyrics. Ibid.,

182‐92. Chen Fangming has compiled a collection of articles engaging in debating the meanings
and contents of Taiwanese identity. Chen Fangming, Taiwan yi shi lun zhang xuan ji [Selective
Readings of Debates on Taiwanese Consciousness]. (Irvine, CA: Taiwan chubanshe [the Taiwan
Publisher], 1985). Taiwan’s diplomatic and identity crises also inspired a new style of songs and
lyrics, which later entered the mainstream popular music market. Zhang Zhaowei, Shei zai na bian
chang zi ji di ge [Whoʹs There Singing His/Her Own Songs?] (Taipei: Shibao Wenhua, 1994).

67
no longer maintain its unchallenged status as the official historical narrative, and

Taiwan became a focus of scholarly and historical investigation.

Having allowed Taiwan to become internationally isolated, the KMT

could no longer sustain Martial Law, which was launched in 1949 to suspend

democracy in order to expedite Mainland Recovery. Constructing a new strategy

for its own realistic survival in Taiwan, President Chiang Ching‐Kuo, who was

also the KMT party leader, lifted Martial Law in 1987. The act dissipated

authoritarian ideological control and ushered in growing democracy and

freedom in Taiwan. A new set of social and cultural dynamics emerged. As

Nancy Guy observes, after the late‐1980s the forces guiding social changes in

Taiwan no longer came from the party‐state; they came from the Taiwanese

people’s social needs. 29 Among free and perhaps contested expressions were

many previously prohibited topics. All were now open to discussion, and

contrasting sets of values and discourses could compete for audiences. No single

discourse would monopolize public attention as before.

In addition to the lifting of Martial Law in 1987, many other historical and

social factors also contributed to the development of a new Taiwan

historiography, one that challenged former notions that Taiwan could only be

understood as part of China. As a result of such efforts, many Taiwanese

29Nancy Guy, “How Does ‘Made in Taiwan’ Sound?: Popular music and strategizing the sounds
of a multicultural nation.” Perfect Beat 5:3 (2001): 2.

68
advocated for the revival of indigenous traditions and cultural expressions. First,

beginning in the 1980s, Taiwanese society saw a surge of the local, the native,

and the indigenous, and there were many attempts to redefine Taiwan as a

multicultural and multiethnic community. Second, especially since 1987, the

once‐repressed discourse of Taiwan independence was revived with the quest

for the indigenous and the Taiwanese. Third, the re‐opening of traffic between

Taiwan and mainland China since 1987 allowed Taiwanese to visit the

“fatherland”, and bring home mixed feelings of being different and/or connected

with mainland China. 30 When these mixed feelings are interpreted with reference

to the increasing Taiwanese business investment in China, they evoke intense

emotions that further color the charged issues of Taiwanese identity politics.

When socialist China, a political entity that always claims Taiwan as an

inseparable part of the “fatherland,” poses military threats to press Taiwan for

reunification, or takes diplomatic actions to further isolate Taiwan in

international relations, anti‐Chinese reactions often erupt. Intensely emotional,

the reactions often argue for Taiwanese differences and call for Taiwan’s

independence as a nation‐state. Fourth, both the academics and the general

public have since embraced intellectual curiosity in learning about Taiwan, a

subject matter that was marginalized due to previous cultural policies. Many

30Hai Ren, “Taiwan and the Impossibility of the Chines,” in Negotiating Ethnicities in China and
Taiwan, ed. Melissa J. Brown (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996), 83‐91.

69
people discover for the first time that they knew little about the place where they

were born and grew up, and that quest of knowledge inevitably brings new

perspectives of understanding and discoursing Taiwan.

The Taiwan historiography that has developed in the post‐Martial Law

era has two fundamental characters. First, instead of viewing Taiwan as a

frontier or extended part of Chinese society, the new historiography focuses on

understanding Taiwan in it own geopolitical terms, and on analyzing the ways

social and cultural forces converged and interacted on the island throughout its

history of maritime trade, immigration settlement, land exploitation, and foreign

colonization. This new Taiwan‐centered historiography impacts Taiwanese

nationalistic discourse. Two of the most prominent results are studies about

Aboriginal Taiwan, 31 and an open curiosity about Japanese colonial Taiwan. The

two topics were not completely left out in previous historiographical stages, but

were never given full attention. Their “non‐Chineseness” rendered them

marginal in discussions centering on Chinese culture and history. The Japanese

31 Lung‐chih Chang provides a critique of how studying the Plains aborigines (pinpuzu, “the
people living in the plains”) may lead to a new Taiwan historiography that breaks away from the
traditional Chinese‐Taiwanese centered historical view and moves toward a multiethnic and
multicultural point of view. Lung‐chih Chang, “Zhui xun shi luo di fu er mo sha bu luo: Taiwan
pin pu zu chun shi yan jiu di fan si (The Search for the Lost Tribes of Formosa: Reflections on the
Historical Study of Taiwan Plains Aborigines)” in Taiwan shi yan jiu yi bai nian: hui gu yu yan
jiu (Anthology commemorating a century of Taiwan historical research), ed. Fu‐san Huang, Wei‐
ying Ku, and Tsai‐hsiu Tsai (Taipei: Zhong yang yan jiu yuan Taiwan shi yan jiu suo chou bei
chu (the Preparatory Office for the Institute of Taiwan History Study, Academia Sinica), 1997),
257‐272.

70
colonial period of Taiwan was in fact an embarrassing topic in the historiography

that emphasized the oneness of Taiwan and China. Thus, many historical

discussions glossed over this period by only selectively and strategically alluding

to the anti‐Japanese struggles of the Taiwanese. These allusions fit into Chinese

nationalistic discourse, a prominent reaction to the Sino‐Japanese war in the

years of 1937 to 1945.

Second, identity politics has generated many difficult questions and

conflicting answers for Taiwan historiography. These include, for example,

questions and answers for “what is Taiwan?” “Who are the Taiwanese?” and

“What is Taiwanese identity?” The questions and answers cannot ignore or

remove reference to China, which casts a large shadow on Taiwan. Thus, identity

politics almost become an undertone of Taiwan historiography.

Whether the current boom in Taiwan historiography can eventually help

Taiwan find its own future by itself or with China is not a question historians of

Taiwan can answer. Nevertheless, the question historians of Taiwan and

Taiwanese culture cannot evade is how they can understand and interpret

Taiwan in meaningful terms. For a music historian of Taiwan, the immediate

concern is, how one can transcend the limitations of the music historiography

developed and implemented by former scholars?

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IV. Musical Taiwan, the Development of Music Studies, and Musicology

Music studies on historical and musical Taiwan followed the trajectory of

Taiwan historiography discussed above. Nevertheless, music study also follows

its own academic and social conventions. Teaching and research about Western

classical music and Westernized Chinese music dominates most of the academic

exercises in Taiwan’s research and educational institutions, while learning and

studying traditional and popular Chinese genres and native Taiwanese genres

take place as the marginalized existence of formalized music education. Music

scholars and the music historiography that Taiwanese musicologists produce can

be selective and biased, as hinted by what Joseph S. C. Lam has pointed out in

analyzing the pros and cons of contemporary Chinese music historiography and

its paradigm. 32 Political, social, cultural, ideological, and intellectual factors, as

well as the historian’s personal perspectives and experiences, critically influence

how Taiwan’s musical past has been historicized.

1949‐1960s, Music of Taiwan: the Archaeology and Lineage of Chinese Origins

The first account of musical Taiwan published after 1949 is Lü Sushang’s

Taiwan dianying xiju shi (Historical Documents on Film and Drama in Taiwan) in 1961.

Joseph S. C. Lam, “Chinese music historiography: From Yang Yinliuʹs A draft history of ancient
32

Chinese music to Confucian Classics,” ACMR Reports: Journal of the Association for Chinese Music
Research 8 (1995).

72
This monograph is not a history dedicated to the music of Taiwan, and Lü is not

a musicologist per se. Lü studied theatre and film in Japan and participated

actively in Taiwan’s theatrical life in the late Japanese colonial period and the

early KMT period. As the title indicates, a major portion of Lü’s work is about

the development of cinema in Taiwan; the remaining portion, however, covers

many theatrical genres seen in Taiwan, which includes spoken drama, radio,

puppet theatre, and a number of Chinese operatic traditions the Taiwanese have

adopted.

Lü’s approach to the theatrical part of musical Taiwan can be

characterized as genre‐oriented and origination‐focused. In its discussion of

traditional theatre, it traces the roots of Taiwan’s theatre to China and to the time

of the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). In its description of individual genres,

Lü’s history focuses on their Chinese origins. 33 In sum, Lü’s “history of musical

Taiwan” is a survey of the diverse theatrical genres in Taiwan, and an

explanation of their Chinese origins. As a singular publication which did not

attract much scholarly interest or debate, Lü’s work is atypical and its impact on

Taiwanese music historiography is hard to gauge. The genre‐oriented and

origination‐focused approach to musical Taiwan was, however, widely practiced,

33Except for gezaixi (often called “the Taiwanese Opera”), Peking Opera, and hand puppet theatre,
of which the more recent impacts of colonial policy on their development have been discussed.

73
and its use can be found in a number of subsequently published studies of

musical Taiwan.

1960s‐1980s: Musicology and the Search for Cultural Traditions

Musicological studies in Taiwan took off with the launching of the

Folksong Collection Movement (minge caiji yundong) of the mid‐1960s, which

called attention to the living musical traditions. Initiated by Hsu Tsang‐Houei

and Shi Weiliang, two composers trained in Western classical music, the

Folksong Collection Movement was modeled after the activities of Bartok and

Kodaly, who recorded Hungarian peasant songs and made creative use of the

collected materials into concert music compositions. Taiwanese folksong, for Hsu

and Shi, formed a viable source for composers to create “modern Chinese music”

with a national style. 34 Taiwanese folksong was, at the same time, a disappearing

Chinese cultural tradition that required preservation. The two composers thus

called for rediscovering and preserving the folksongs of Taiwan. In several trips

to the rural and mountainous areas, the collection teams recorded songs of the

Holo and the Hakka Taiwanese and of several Aboriginal tribes.

Although the Folksong Collection Movement ended after several field

trips, it pushed the musicological study of musical Taiwan to a new stage. Even

Hsu Tsang‐Houei, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [History of Music of Taiwan: First Draft] (Taipei:
34

Quan yin yue pu chu ban she, 1991), 326.

74
though the field recordings were meant to document folksong traditions, they

subsequently became research materials for musical scholarship and listening

material for the public. The scholarship, in turn, became a force that raised public

awareness of the vernacular and indigenous musics of Taiwan. The Folksong

Collection Movement thus triggered a social movement that valorized neglected

traditional music in Taiwan.

Discoursing Taiwanese folksongs as a traditional Chinese music echoed

the view that Taiwan was a repository of Chinese culture. This view generated a

number of studies on indigenous Taiwanese music culture, which were

conducted between the mid‐1960s to the 1980s to document and preserve the

tangible traditions of Chinese culture. The music scholarship developed in

conjunction with the Folksong Collection Movement was an idiosyncratic

combination of ethnography, history, and musical analysis. Most scholars and

students pursuing the scholarship were trained in Western Classical music, and

tended to emphasize sonic objects through their representation in notation,

recording, or transcription as entities whose musical structures can be analyzed

in terms of tones, scales, instruments, and performance styles. Because fieldwork

was the major tool to acquire these materials and develop detailed knowledge of

the traditions, the historical understanding of the genres often meant tracing the

origins of their existence. As a result, musical Taiwan was often historicized with

75
more references to its contemporary practices than to its historical manifestations.

Many historical and musical descriptions of Taiwanese music thus followed a

standardized narrative pattern. A typical study often provided some information

about the social‐cultural function of the genre it examined, and registered some

data about its origination in the mainland and its arrival in Taiwan. The bulk of

its description would take the form of a detailed musical analysis of tones, modes

and scales, rhythmic patterns and other technical features. 35

1990s and onward: Discovering Taiwanese Musical Experiences

Studies of musical Taiwan entered a new stage in the post‐Martial Law

period. Scholarly and public curiosity and social sentiment about indigenous

cultures and Taiwanese experiences have stimulated many efforts to find or

identify the contents of Taiwanese music culture and the traces of Taiwanese

musical experiences. As a result, many compilations surveying musical genres

were published in the mid‐1990s. 36 As information about musical Taiwan became

available, the methodology and scope of Taiwan musicology expanded. For

example, the social dimension of musical activities has become an integral part of

35 An example of this narrative pattern can be seen in Wang Zhenyi, Taiwan di bei guan [Beiguan of
Taiwan] (Taipei: Bai ke wen hua shi ye gu fen you xian gong si, 1982). This said, as one of the
pioneer studies of the beiguan music tradition in Taiwan, Wang’s work is nonetheless informative.
36 For example, Chen Yuxiu, ed., Taiwan yin yue yue lan [Music of Taiwan: A Reader] (Taipei:

Yushanshe, 1997); Yin yue Taiwan yi bai nian lun wan ji [Hundred years of Musical Taiwan: Essays]
(Taipei: Bailusi jijinhui, 1997); Bai nian Taiwan yin yue tu xiang xun li [A Journey to the Musical
Iconography of Taiwan: a hundred years] (Taipei: Shibao wenhua, 1998).

76
historical narratives of the music and musicians being examined. 37 By the same

token, popular music also became a legitimate topic of music research. 38

A prominent trend in the post‐Martial Law era of Taiwan musicology is a

growing interest in colonial Taiwan. Knowledge of this recent musical past of

Taiwan had been ignored in pre‐1987 music historiography of Taiwan. Credited

as a historical force that introduced Western‐style music to Taiwan, the Japanese

colonial period first attracted attention to the colonial schools and the music

education embedded therein, 39 and also to the pre‐WWII generation of music

teachers, performers, and composers. 40 Recognized as the era in which musical

37 For example, Ying‐fen Wang, “Taiwan nanguan yi bai nian: she hui bian qian, wen hua zheng
ce, yu nanguan huo dong [A Hundred Years of Taiwanʹs Nanguan: social transition, cultural
policy, and nanguan ensemble activities],” in Yin yue Taiwan yi bai nian lun wen ji [A Hundred
Years of Musical Taiwan: conference proceedings and essays], ed. Chen Yuxiu (Taipei, 1997); Yang
Xiangling, “Qing ji Taiwan zhu qian di fang shi shen di yin yue huo dong ‐‐ yi Lin, Zheng, liang
da jia zu wei zhong xin [Musical Activities of the Qing Taiwanese Elites of the Hsinchu region:
cases of the Lin and Zheng clans]” (MA thesis, National Taiwan University, 2001).
38 For instance, Zeng Huijia, Cong liuxing gequ kan taiwan shehui [Understanding Taiwanese society

through Popular Songs]. (Taipei: Laureate publisher, 1998); Zhang Chunlin, “Taiwan cheng shi ge
qu zhi tan tao yu yan jiu, min guo er shi ‐ qi shi nian [An Exploration of City Songs of Taiwan,
1931‐1981].” (MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 1990); Zhang Zhaowei, Shei zai na
bian chang zi ji di ge [Whoʹs There Singing His/Her Own Songs?] (Taipei: Shibao wen hua, 1994).
39 Liou Lin‐Yu (Ryū Ringyoku), “Meijiki niokeru Taiwan no shōka kyōiku: ‘Taiwan Kyōikukai

zasshi’ no kiji bunsaki wo chūshinni (The shoka education of colonial Taiwanese in the Meiji
period: As reflected in the periodical Taiwanʹs educational academy).” Tōyō ongaku kenkyū
(Journal of the Society for Research in Asiatic Music) 62 (1997); Liou Lin‐Yu (Ryū Ringyoku),
Shokuminchi ka no Taiwan ni okeru gakkō shōka kyōiku no seiritsu to tenkai [The establishment and
development of school song education on the colony Taiwan] (Tokyo: Oyamaka, 2005); Sun Zhijun, “Ri
zhi shi qi Taiwan shi fan xue xiao yin yue jiao yu zhi yang jiu [Music Education of Normal
Schools in Taiwan under Japanese Rule].” (MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 1997).
40 Chen Yuxiu and Sun Zhijun, Zhang Fu Xing: Jin dai Taiwan di yi wei yin yue jia [Zhang Fuxing: The

First Musician in Modern Taiwan]. (Taipei: Shibao wenhua, 2000); Lin Hengzhe, ed., Xian dai yin
yue da shi Jiang Wenye di sheng ping yu zuo pin [Life and Works of the modern music master Jiang Wenye]
(Irvine, CA: Taiwan Publisher, 1984); Zhang Huiwen, “Ri zhi shi qi nu gao yin Lin shi Hau di yin

77
modernity emerged in Taiwan, one that was heralded by the development of

phonograph, its commercial market and popular music industry, the relationship

between music technology and musical Taiwan was just beginning to be

examined. 41 For example, the Japanese scholars used recording technology to

document Taiwanese music cultures, especially the aboriginal musics, and this

deployment underscored the relationship between Japanese colonialism and its

facilitation of a musical epistemology of Taiwan. 42

The interest in Taiwanese musical modernity, however, does not stop

scholarly interest in traditional music, and in particular theatrical performances

in colonial Taiwan. The thriving Taiwanese theatrical life in the Japanese colonial

period has been explored by scholars of theatre. Several important factors had

contributed to the flourishing of Taiwanese theatre in colonial Taiwan, and

colonial and modernizing forces played important roles. The economic

development of Taiwan secured the financial patronage of temple festivals, the

yue sheng huo yan jiu, 1932‐1937 (A Taiwanese Female Singer: Lin Hauʹs Musical Life in
Japanese Colonial Period, 1932‐1937).” (MA thesis, National Taiwan Univeristy, 2003).
41 Taiwanese popular songs and the phonograph market are described in Zhuang Yungming,

“Taiwan liu xing ge qu liu shi nian [Sixty Years of Popular Song of Taiwan]”, in Tai wan shi yu
Taiwan shi liao [Taiwan History and Taiwan Historical Materials], ed. Zhang Yanxian and Chen
Meirong (Taipei: Zili wanbao, 1993); Zhuang Yungming, Taiwan ge yao zhui xian qu [A Memory of
Taiwanese Songs] (Taipei: Qianwei chubanshe, 1995). More details of the development of the
phonograph industry in Taiwan are available in Ye Longyan, “Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan chang pian
shi [History of Recordings in Japanese Colonial Taiwan]”, Taipei Wenxian zhi zi 129 (1999).
42 Ying‐fen Wang, “Ting jian Taiwan: shi lun Gu lun mei ya chang pian zai Taiwan yin yue shi

shang di yi yi (Listening to Taiwan: The Significance of Columbia Records as the Sources for
Taiwan Music History).” Min Su Qu Yi, no. 160 (2008), 169‐196.

78
most important venues of theatrical performances. 43 Economic development led

to urbanization, which stimulated the emergence of new performance venues of

public theatre in many city centers. The improved facilities attracted business

opportunities for recruiting mainland Chinese troupes to perform in Taiwanese

cities. 44 The use of technology, such as lighting and machinery, in stage design to

enhance the visual, dramatic and entertainment effects further secured the

Taiwanese audience’s fascination with theatre. 45 The flourishing of traditional

music propelled the burgeoning phonograph market to make recordings

featuring popular opera numbers and theatrical music from gezaixi, nanguan,

beiguan, and Peking opera. 46 In other words, the traditional and the modern in

musical and colonial Taiwan were not at odds with each other. Indeed,

Taiwanese musical modernity overlapped with its traditional practices and

generated unprecedented musical and theatrical experiences.

43 Kun‐Liang Chiu, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi ju zhi yan jiu: jiu ju yu xin jiu [Study of Theatres of Taiwan
in the Japanese Colonial Period: old and new theatres]. (Taipei: Zili wanbao chubanbu, 1992), 93‐106.
44 Ibid., 69‐77. In addition, Xu Yaxiang points out that among the Chinese societies Shanghai

erected the first modern theatre in 1908 and Taipei built the second theatrical venue of the kind in
1909. Xu Yaxiang, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi qu shi lun : Xian dai hua zuo yong xia de ju zhong yu ju chang
[On the History of Taiwanese Theatre and Operas in the Japanese Colonial Period: theatrical genres and
revenues in the field of modernity] (Taipei: Nan tian shu ju, 2006a), 3.
45 Xu Yaxiang, Ri zhi shi qi Zhongguo xi ban zai Taiwan [Chinese troupes in Taiwan during the Japanese

colonial period] (Taipei: Nan tian shu ju, 2000), 183‐188; 229‐232.
46 Guo li chuang tong yi shu zhong xin chou bei chu (Center for Traditional Arts, Preparatory

Office) ed., Ting dao Taiwan lishi de shengyin: 1910‐1945 Taiwan xiqu changpien yuan yin chong xian
[Listening to the sounds of Taiwanese history: the recordings of Taiwanese theatre, 1910‐1945] (Taipei:
Center for Traditional Arts, Preparatory Office, 2000).

79
 Musicology and colonial musical Taiwan

New studies of music in the Japanese colonial period have suggested that

the period laid a foundation for Taiwanese society and culture to develop in the

second half of the twentieth century. By injecting social and cultural analysis in

their post‐1987 musical studies, scholars of musical Taiwan have generated an

idiosyncratic combination of historical musicology and ethnomusicology, which

allows them to see the limitations of pre‐1987 Taiwanese music historiography.

They now see limitations in traditional and positivist musicology, which

approaches music as sonic objects that can be studied through notations or

recordings. As a discipline developed to understand Western (and in particular,

European) classical music and its stylistic evolution, the methodology has

focused its examination on compositions by individual composers who have

contributed canonic works. As a result, notated representations of musical works,

published or not, are taken as evidence of their musical sound. This approach,

when applied to historical studies of musical Taiwan, works best with

compositions produced by twentieth‐century Taiwanese composers, who

embraced compositional skills of Western classical music and found inspiration

and musical materials from Taiwanese and Chinese music, folklore, and

literature. Biographies of these composers and musical analysis of their

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compositions can easily illustrate the modern and Westernized aspects of

musical Taiwan. 47

However, the same approach does not work well with Taiwanese music

and music culture that does not rely on individual composers and their creativity.

School songs, popular songs, and church hymns, many of which are preserved in

printed score or transcription, cannot be analyzed as masterpieces of renowned

composers whose works reveal artistic complexity. When the songs are to be

approached as products of complex and creative expressions, the results can be

misleading and negative. For instance, when Hsu Tsang‐Houei analyzed early

examples of Western‐style music in Taiwan, he dismissed colonial school songs

as Japanese imports devoid of Taiwanese or Chinese folk elements. 48 In his

search for musical and stylistic evolution, however, Hsu paid more attention to

discussing a Calvinist church hymn, which was possibly the first hymn the

47 Examples can be seen in Hsu, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [History of Music of Taiwan: First Draft],
336‐51; and Lü Yuxiu, Taiwan yin yue shi [Music History of Taiwan] (Taipei: Wunan publication,
2003), 498‐517. In recent years, Taiwanese students of music have paid more attention to
Taiwanese composers’ works by documenting them, e.g. Huang Yiqing, “Gang qin yin yue zai
Taiwan di fa zhang yu zuo pin yang jiu [The Development of Piano Music in Taiwan and an
Analysis of Piano Compositions]” (MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 1993); Xiao
Yuwen, “Xiao ti qin yin yue zai Taiwan di yin jin yu fa zhang: Taiwan xiao ti qin zou ming qu di
jie gou fen xi [The introduction and development of violin music in Taiwan: an analysis of violin
sonatas in Taiwan]” (MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 2001). Performing and/or
analyzing works by Taiwanese composers is also seen among Taiwanese music students trained
in the US. For example, Ru‐Ping Chen, “The Cello Works of Hsiao Tyzen” (D.M.A., The Ohio
State University, 1999); Bonnie Chia‐ling Lin, “’Violin Concerto in D’ by Tyzen Hsiao‐‐‐The first
violin concerto by a Taiwanese composer” (D.M.A., City University of New York, 2008); Jennifer
Sho, “Hsiao Tyzenʹs ‘1947 Overture’: The intersection of music, culture, and politics of Taiwan”
(D.M.A., New England Conservatory of Music, 2006).
48
Hsu, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [History of Music of Taiwan: First Draft], 275.

81
Taiwanese congregation of the Presbyterian Church sang in the 1860s and thus

has certain historical significance. 49 However, both the school songs Hsu

dismisses and the church hymn he discusses were direct foreign transplants to

the Taiwanese soil in service of specific cultural agendas. The bias in Hsu’s

choice of music for analysis and historical discussion exposes the potential

prejudice of the composition‐focused analytical framework of historical

musicology. Presenting his analytical data in an historical and social vacuum, a

music historian could unintentionally manipulate how his readers perceive and

conceptualize colonial and musical Taiwan.

Post‐1987 Taiwanese music scholarship also exposed the limitations of

ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology, drawing influence from anthropology and

focusing on music as culture, tends to approach music by locating a particular

genre and by investigating its operation in cultural and social contexts. To

acquire the information necessary for detailed analysis, the methodology of

ethnographic fieldwork is emphasized. As a discipline developed primarily in

the United States, ethnomusicology reached Taiwan sometime in the 1970s, and

its methodology has been sporadically applied by individual scholars who had

49Ibid., 275‐77. Protestant missionaries of the British and Canadian Presbyterian Churches
arrived in southern and northern Taiwan, respectively, in the 1860s, and contributed to the
expansion of the Christian conversion in modern Taiwan. Between the end of Dutch colonization
in 1661 and the 1860s when missionaries came to Taiwan from south/southeast China missions,
Christianity was considered non‐existent in Taiwan.

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worked or studied in a US academic institution. 50 The first Taiwanese scholar

who employed ethnographic methodology extensively was probably Lü

Bingchuan, who was trained in comparative musicology and ethnomusicology in

Japan and returned to Taiwan in 1970. Lü tried to introduce the concepts of

world music and ethnomusicology, tools that could help Taiwanese scholars

move away from Euro‐centric aesthetics and methodologies. 51 Unfortunately, Lü

was unable to effectively deliver his message, and the music academia of Taiwan

at the time could not appreciate what ethnomusicology promoted. Lü left

Taiwan in 1980. 52

Only after the 1990s did ethnomusicology become intelligible to Taiwan’s

academia. By that time, the content of “music” had expanded, and Taiwanese

society had become more open. This development was heralded by a number of

music scholars who had received training in the US and returned to Taiwan or

50 For example, Fu‐yen Chen, “Confucian Ceremonial Music in Taiwan with Comparative
References to its Sources” (PhD dissertation, Wesleyan University, 1976); I‐To Loh, “Tribal Music
of Taiwan: with Special Reference to the Ami and Puyuma Styles” (PhD dissertation, University
of California, Los Angeles, 1982); Nora Yeh, “Nanguan Music in Taiwan: a Little Known
Tradition” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1985).
51 In the 1970s Lü wrote many articles to promote the concept of world music and

ethnomusicology. The essays were published as a collection in 1979. Lü Bingchuan, Lü Bingchuan

yin yue lun shu ji [Collection of Essays on Music by Lü Bingchuan]. (Taipei: Shi bao shu xi, 1979).
52 Ming Liguo, the biographer of Lü Bingchuan, points out that during the ten years from Lü’s

return to Taiwan in 1970 to his departure for Hong Kong in 1980, newspapers frequently
reported his research activities and published his articles on music. However, despite of his fame,
Ming comments, the closedness and conservativeness of the music academia of Taiwan could not
appreciate Lü as an ethnomusicologist and the learning of non‐Western music with a different
aesthetic viewpoint from Western classic music. Ming Liguo, Lü Bingchuan: he xian wai di du bai
[Lü Bingchuan: monologue outside the chorus]. (Yilan: Center of Traditional Arts, 2002), 36‐40.

83
continued research on subjects related to musical Taiwan. These scholars and

their ethnomusicological studies have greatly contributed to scholarly

understandings of major traditional music genres and styles in Taiwan. These

include genres such as nanguan, 53 beiguan, 54 and Peking Opera. 55 Issues

pertaining to contemporary Taiwanese society and its music culture, such as

gender performance, 56 identity politics, 57 and social commentary 58 through

musical performances are also addressed by these ethnomusicologists.

As a discipline that emphasizes ethnographic fieldwork, ethnomusicology

tends to focus on contemporary manifestations of music at the expense of its

historical aspects. Thus it is not a surprise that relatively few ethnomusicologists

53 The classical genre of nanguan has attracted much scholarly interest and resulted in numerous
researches. To cite a few, for example, Shen Dong, Nanguan yin yue ti zhi ji li shi chu tan [Studies of
Nanguan music system and history (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 1986); Ying‐fen
Wang, “Tune identity and compositional process in Zhongbei songs: a semiotic analysis of
nanguan vocal music” (PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1992); Chiener Chou,
ʺLearning processes in the nanguan music of Taiwan.ʺ British journal of ethnomusicology 11, no. 2
(2002): 81‐124.
54 Ping‐hui Li, “The dynamics of a musical tradition: contextual adaptations in the music of

Taiwanese Beiguan wind and percussion ensemble” (PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh,
1991).
55 Nancy Guy, Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan (Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois

Press, 2005); Guy, “Governing the arts, governing the state: Peking opera and political authority
in Taiwan,” Ethnomusicology 43 (1999); Guy, “Peking Opera and Politics in Post‐1949 Taiwan”
(PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1996); and Guy, “Peking Opera as ‘National Opera’
in Taiwan: Whatʹs in a name?” Asian Theatre Journal 12 (April, 1995).
56 Chao‐Jung Wu, “Performing postmodern Taiwan: Gender, cultural hybridity, and the male

cross‐dressing show” (PhD dissertation, Wesleyan University, 2008).

57 Guy, “How Does ‘Made in Taiwan’ Sound?: Popular music and strategizing the sounds of a

multicultural nation.” Perfect Beat 5, no.3 (2001); Guy, “Trafficking in Taiwan Aboriginal Voices,”
in Handle with care: Ownership and control of ethnographic materials, ed. Sjoerd R. Jaarsma and
Andrew Strathern (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2002).
58
Chiung‐Chi Chen, “From the Sublime to the Obscene: The performativity of popular religion in
Taiwan” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 2006).

84
of musical Taiwan have investigated the colonial period of musical Taiwan. Only

since the recent decade or so have Taiwanese ethnomusicologists began to

examine the colonial legacy. One of the first issues they identified is the

relationship between Japanese scholarship and colonizing Taiwan. This

relationship reveals not only the nature of colonial Taiwan but also the colonial

nature of ethnomusicology. 59

The distinctive combination of historical musicology and

ethnomusicology in post‐1987 Taiwan has generated a wealth of information and

a sizable literature on musical Taiwan. However, many aspects of the colonial

heritage of musical Taiwan remain to be investigated. The sonic objects, sites,

and processes through which the Taiwanese experienced Japanese colonialism

and modernity have yet to be analyzed. And the discourses that the Japanese

colonizers and the colonized Taiwanese generated in the colonial context cannot

be traced by analyzing the scales, intervals, and rhythms of individual

compositions and performances. As Christopher Small argues, the meaning of

music lies not in the object of musical works but in what people do when they

take part in a musical performance through performing, composing, listening,

59Ying‐fen Wang, “Music Research and Japanese Imperial Colonialism: Putting Tanabeʹs and
Kurosawaʹs fieldwork in Taiwan in Context” (paper presented in Society for Ethnomusicology
45th annual meeting, Toronto, Canada, November 1‐5, 2000); Ying‐fen Wang, “Zhi min hua yu
quan qiu hua: cong ri ji shi qi yin yue xue zhe di diao cha ji lu kan Taiwan yun zhu min yin yue
di bian qian ji qi cheng (Colonialization and Globalization: Musical Change and Its Factors
among Taiwan Aborigines Based on the Observations Made by Musicologists During the
Japanese Colonial Period),” Min Su Qu Yi 148 (2005).

85
rehearsing, or even dancing, to explore, affirm, and celebrate the relationships

they experience. 60 To answer the question of how Japanese colonial Taiwan

contributed to musical Taiwan today, scholars must show how historical‐cultural

forces interacted to shape and transform Taiwan’s native and modernizing music

culture.

Christopher Small, Musicking: the meanings of performing and listening (Hanover: Wesleyan
60

University Press/University Press of New England, 1998), 8‐9, 183.

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 CHAPTER THREE

MUSIKING CITIZENS IN EARLY COLONIAL TAIWAN: 1895‐1906

Colonizing Taiwan was a challenge for Japan. Anticipating resistance and

discontent, the Japanese took Taiwan through military operations in 1895.

Taiwanese armed resistance and uprising occurred intensely in the first two

years after the annexation and continued sporadically until 1915. Although Japan

used military power to rapidly consolidate control of the island, Japan could only

make the colony a profitable addition to the empire with Taiwanese cooperation.

In order to develop a relationship conducive to colonial rule, the Japanese

endeavored to transform the Taiwanese into obedient subjects who abided by

modern Japanese cultural values, social customs and legal systems. Thus, one of

the first tasks of Japanese colonial administration was to launch colonial

education to transform the Taiwanese.

Music played a critical and integral role in this education. Shōka, school

songs and singing, was introduced to Taiwanese students from the very

beginning of colonial schools. Shōka facilitated the teaching of the Japanese

87
language (kokugo) and culture, tools with which the Taiwanese youngsters could

learn to become like Japanese. Thus, in colonial education, what to sing, when to

sing, and where to sing were not only musical questions but also political and

ideological concerns. The colonial ideology pre‐determined the repertoire

(musical objects), occasion and place (site), and function (agenda) of shōka.

The Japanese colonial policy of transforming Taiwan resembled the Meiji

modernizing project. The condition of Taiwan reminded the Japanese of the

educational reform that the Meiji leadership launched to modernize the empire.

Japan’s success in modernization confirmed the political and social functions of

schooling. Thus, Japan promptly exported Japanese education to Taiwan. To

elucidate the connection between music education and colonial negotiation in

Taiwan, this chapter will first introduce Meiji education to contextualize the

operation of colonial education in Taiwan. This introduction will highlight the

educational discourses of kokugo (“national language”, which was the Japanese

language) and shōka (school songs and singing). Second, this chapter will

describe the educational policy planned for the colony and the development of

its schools. Third, the chapter will discuss the political and educational function

of shōka as demonstrated in the repertoire and its performance. Fourth, this

chapter analyzes shōka as a musiking negotiation between the Japanese

colonizers and the colonized Taiwanese in the contested arena of education.

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I. Education in Meiji Japan: the Role of Kokugo and Shōka

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 marked the beginning of Japan’s modern era.

Concerned that colonizing European forces would soon reach Japan, the Meiji

leadership took action to rebuild the empire so that it could fend off colonial

encroachment. To make Japan a powerful country with a strong army – fukoku

kyōhei, “rich country strong army” – the Meiji government launched a series of

reforms. The first was to centralize power to transform Japan into a nation with a

strong sense of unity. To reach that goal, the emperor was elevated from a

mysterious and remote figure to become a highly visible symbol of Japanese

empire and culture. 1 Second, new systems of taxation, military organization, and

education were formulated. Emulating elementary education in the West, the

new Japanese elementary schools were designed to reach children of all

backgrounds and teach them the practical knowledge they would use to generate

national wealth and strength. In 1872, Japan proclaimed the Fundamental Code

of Education (gakusei), making elementary schooling universal and compulsory,

and directing the schools to teach modern subjects such as arithmetic using

Arabic numerals, world history and geography, and singing – skills and

knowledge that were seen as the building blocks of modern Japan.

1 Peter Duus, Modern Japan (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 88‐89.

89
 The Meiji education reform was not unchallenged. Several months after

the Fundamental Code was implemented, however, peasants rioted in 1873 to

challenge the Code which had brought confusion to their lives. They associated

the new schools with unwelcome reforms in land policy, taxation, and military

conscription. 2 More protests occurred in the later 1870s when negative reactions

to the new education system joined forces with the Popular Rights Movement,

demanding educational freedom and local autonomy. 3 In the 1880s, Meiji

Japanese society nevertheless became stabilized as the government became

increasingly authoritarian and its power became more centralized. Education

aligned with nationalism and assumed the role of ideological perpetuator. More

than teaching the practical knowledge needed for building the nation, schools

inculcated the discourses of kokutai, the national polity of Japan, which provided

ideological ground for Japanese nationalism.

Kokutai claimed that all the Japanese people, from the emperor to the

commoners, were bound by the same blood. Since the Japanese imperial family

possessed a long lineage traceable back to the mythical time of the Sun Goddess

Amateratsu and continuously ruled Japan without being broken by any foreign

2 Brian Platt, Burning and Building: Schooling and State Formation in Japan, 1750‐1890 (Cambridge,
MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2004), 186‐193.
3 For a brief description of the Popular Rights Movement see Duus, Modern Japan, 108‐114. The

mutual interaction between educational freedom, local autonomy and the Popular Rights
Movement is analyzed in Platt, Burning and Building: Schooling and State Formation in Japan, 1750‐
1890, 221‐232.

90
power, it demonstrated the historical continuity and genealogical purity of the

Japanese nation. Such continuity bound the emperor with his people into a

closely‐knit “family state” in which the emperor and his people were positioned

as parent and children. 4 Drawing on metaphors of the human family, the

Japanese nation was thus uniquely constructed on the notion of pure blood and

continuous lineage. The theory of kokutai was particularly important and

effective because it helped Japan overcome class hierarchy and regional diversity,

two features that plagued Japanese efforts to unite and build a rich and strong

nation. 5

Kokutai and kokugo: linking national polity and national language

The discourse of kokutai elevated the Japanese emperor to become the

great patriarch of the Japanese nation; as such he symbolized national identity

and demanded patriotic loyalty. In the mid‐1890s, the kokutai discourse took up a

new set of meanings linked with kokugo, “national language”. The concept of a

standardized Japanese language, in which the written and the spoken elements

were coordinated and the regional and dialectal differences were minimized,

emerged early in Meiji Japan. However, language reform efforts only gained

4Duus, Modern Japan, 128‐29.

5Pei‐Feng Chen, “Chong xin jie xi zhi min di Taiwan di guo yu ʹtong huaʹ jiao yu zheng ce ‐‐ yi ri
ben di jin dai si xiang shi wei zuo biao (A Reanalysis of Dōka and Educational Policy in Colonial
Taiwan in the Context of Modern Japanese Political Thought).” Taiwan Shi Yan Jiu (Taiwan
Historical Research) 7 (2000): 29‐31.

91
desired momentum when the Japanese victory in the Sino‐Japanese war in 1894

fanned nationalistic pride. In 1894, linguist Ueda Kazutoshi seized the timing to

campaign for the standardization of the Japanese language by linking the

national language with national polity. 6

In his canonic 1894 lecture entitled “Kokugo to Kokka to” (“Our Nation and

Its Language”), Ueda argued that the national language was “the identifying

mark of a state that is the mother of its people”, and that the Japanese language

was “the spiritual blood binding her people together”. 7 Ueda’s argument was

that the Japanese language sustained the kokutai; it was “the ‘loyal retainer’ of the

imperial household”. 8 Since loyalty to the Japanese state was defined by loyalty

toward the emperor, speaking kokugo, the Japanese language became a patriotic

act of showing loyalty to the emperor and perpetuating the kokutai.

When Japan acquired the colony of Taiwan, kokugo became a tool to

discursively integrate, if not assimilate, ethnically and racially different people

into the Japanese kokutai. Following Ueda’s new logic, the national polity

(kokutai) was now defined by speaking the Japanese language (kokugo). In other

6 Nanette Gottlieb, “Japan.” in Language and National Identity in Asia, ed. Andrew Simpson
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 189.
7 Nanette Twine, Language and the Modern State: the reform of written Japanese (London and New

York: Routledge, 1991), 164.

8 Eika Tai, “Kokugo and Colonial Education in Taiwan,” positions: east asia cultures critique 7

(1999): 507.

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words, kokugo was now the criteria and indicator of “becoming Japanese”. 9 By

the mid‐1890s, the government had turned education into a propaganda tool for

the unique Japanese kokutai. In that context, the concept of a national language

serving the nation‐state was unchallengeable. Therefore, when Japan colonized

Taiwan in 1895 and launched colonial education, the teaching of the Japanese

language in the colony had ubiquitous ideological and discursive importance in

integrating the new people into the expanding Japanese empire.

Izawa Shūji and Shōka: the functionalist role of music

Music, and in particular shōka, became a political tool in Meiji Japan.

Music education entered modern Japanese schools when Meiji leaders designed

curricula after Western models. The Fundamental Code of Education in 1872

listed music in the curricula of the elementary schools and the middle schools,

yet the teaching of music was not promptly implemented. Most teachers in early

Meiji Japan came from traditional schools and had little knowledge of or

experience with modern subjects like music. 10 In other words, music education

9 Pei‐Feng Chen, “Zhi min di Taiwan guo yu ʹtong huaʹ jiao yu di dan sheng ‐‐ Yi Ze Xiu Er guan
yu jiao hua, wen ming yu guo ti di si kao (Isawa Shūjiʹs Views on Education, Civilization, the
Kokutai, and Christianity: the Birth of the Japanese Assimilation Education Program in Taiwan).”
Xin Shi Xue [New Historial Studies] 12 (2001): 135‐37. Chen points out that Ueda’s discourse of
kokugo and kokutai turns the criteria of defining the Japanese nation from the a priori biological
bond into the a posteriori linguistic condition. In other words, an ethnic non‐Japanese could
become a member of the Japanese nation through speaking Japanese.
10 Duus, Modern Japan, 92‐93.

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existed in theory but not in reality. Full‐scale efforts to implement music

education did not begin until 1880, when Izawa Shūji (1851‐1917) founded the

Music Investigation (ongaku torishirabe seiseki). Soon, Japan’s music education

took shape when its repertoire emerged, pedagogy was formulated, and teaching

manuals were developed. 11

Izawa Shūji, an enthusiastic Meiji educator, played a pivotal role in

grounding music education, and shōka in particular, in the developing Meiji

elementary schools. Izawa’s advocacy of music education and his approach to

music were rooted in personal experience. Coming from the former samurai class

and educated to become the principal of a Normal School, an institution to train

teachers, Izawa received a Japanese governmental fellowship to study education

at the Bridgewater Normal School in Massachusetts in the United States. Among

all the subjects of study, he found singing the most difficult and frustrating. He,

nevertheless, mastered singing after studying with Boston music teacher Luther

Whiting Mason (1818‐1896). 12 In the process, Izawa became convinced that Japan

11 Nihon Kyōiku Ongaku Kyōkai, ed., Honpō ongaku kyōiku shi [History of Music Education of Our
Country] (Tokyo, 1934[82]), 77, 80.
12 Luther Whiting Mason was recruited by Izawa to Japan as a consultant in his project of

researching and developing songs for Japanese schools. See Donald P. Berger, “Isawa Shuji and
Luther Whiting Mason: Pioneers of Music Education in Japan.” MEJ (Music Educators Journal)
LXXIV (1987): 31‐36.

94
needed a systematic music education based on school songs and singing. 13 Upon

his return to Japan in 1878, he proposed to the Ministry of Education a project to

research and create songs appropriate for Japanese schools. 14 The proposal states:

at present all educators in Europe and America consider music one of the
subjects of education since music refreshes the mind of schoolchildren,
provides relaxation from the efforts of hard study, strengthens the lungs,
promotes the health, clears the voice, corrects the pronunciation, improves
the hearing, sharpens the thinking, pleases the heart and builds good
character. This is the direct influence of this subject. When the society
receives this good recreation, it naturally moves toward the good and
away from the evil, and advances to a civil society. The people shall praise
the rulers’ virtue and enjoy the peace. 15

13 Izawa Shūji, Rakuseki jiden kyōkai shūyū zenki (Autobiography of Rakuseki S. Isawa, or records of
expedition around the pedagogical world) ed. Izawa Shūji‐kun Kanreki Shukugakai. Reprint from
1912 ed. (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankōkai, 1980), 28‐29.
14 Iwai Masahiro, Kodomo no uta no bunkashi: nijisseiki zenhanki no Nihon [A Cultural History of

Children’s Songs: Japan in the first half of the twentieth century] (Tokyo: Daiichishobō, 1998), 26.
15 Ury Eppstein, The Beginning of Western Music in Meiji Era Japan (Lewiston, NY: The Edwin

Mellen Press, 1994), 30‐31.

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Figure 3‐1: Izawa Shūji. 16

Suffice it to say, Izawa’s viewpoint on music, or more specifically, on

Western style music and musical practices, was social and functional. Music was

not needed for aesthetic expression or artistic edification; it was, however,

indispensible for singers to build physical and moral strength. Collectively, such

16 Image scanned from Kaminuma Hachirō, Izawa Shūji (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1962), [i].

96
singers would make harmonious societies. Such arguments were related to

Confucian theories of music as a tool of self‐cultivation and governance, theories

that Izawa probably knew well. However, it was through his study of Western

music education that Izawa truly experienced the impact of such theories and

found a practical, working system of implementation. Music writer Luciana

Galliano remarks the pragmatism of studying Western music in Meiji Japan:

“Western music was regarded as an essential contributory factor to the program

of modernization. At court, as in all other areas of culture and education,

Western music was initially adopted because it meant prestige. The idea that

Western music might be interesting and beautiful was never considered and, in

fact, the first performances of Western music were met with bewilderment.” 17

Izawa’s discourse promoted music education and resonated with the

prevailing Meiji mentality of “rich country, strong army”. Izawa emphasized the

effect of singing on the human body and on the emotions and justified the need

of music in schools. Modernized Japan needed strong bodies, loyal citizens, and

a harmonious society. In Izawa’s eloquent argument, shōka, moral education, and

the cultivation of loyalty and patriotism converged as the educational foundation

for the New Japan.

Luciana Galliano, Yōgaku: Japanese Music in the Twentieth Century, Martin Mayes trans. (Lanham,
17

Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2002), 33.

97
 Izawa’s championing of music education, along with his leading the

Music Investigation to compile songbooks, rendered music an accepted subject in

the school system. Governmental intervention further accelerated the

implementation of shōka. In 1891, the Ministry of Education officially instructed

schools to observe holidays with ceremonies and singing proper songs. 18 In 1893,

the same office further proclaimed eight songs, with texts and music scores, for

use in national holidays and ceremonies. The eight songs included Kimigayo

(Japan’s national anthem), Chokugo hōtō (Reply to Imperial Rescript), Ichigatsu

tsuitachi (January 1st), Genshisai (Shinto Festival of Origins, January 3rd),

Kigensetsu (Empire Day, February 11th), Kannameisai (Shinto Festival of New Rice,

October 17th), Tenchōsetsu (the Emperor’s Birthday), and Niinamesai (Shinto

Harvest Festival, November 23rd). The ministry hence pressured all schools to

start teaching shōka to their students. 19 By the mid‐1890s when Japan won the

Sino‐Japanese war, shōka had become an expressive, social, and political reality in

Japanese schools.

18Donald P. Berger, “Shōka and Dōyō: songs of an educationl policy and a childrenʹs song
movement of Japan, 1910‐1926.” (PhD dissertation, Kent State University, 1991), 27.
19 Okuda Shinjō, ed., Kyōka kyōiku hyakunenshi [A Hundred‐Year History of Curriculum Development]

(Tokyo: Kenpakusha, 1985), 399‐400.

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II. Education for the Colony

Izawa Shūji was not only an enthusiastic advocate for music education in

Japan but also a passionate education planner for the colony Taiwan. In February

1895, Izawa visited Rear Admiral Kabayama Sukenori, designated governor‐

general of Taiwan, and volunteered his service to develop education for the

colony. Kabayama assigned Izawa to take charge of the Bureau of Educational

Affairs. 20 To cope with Taiwan’s current situation and to plan for the future,

Izawa proposed a two‐part program which included an immediate plan and a

long‐term project. 21 The immediate plan focused on the urgency of

communication needs, and the solution was to teach kokugo, the Japanese

language, and also to equip Japanese officials with some Taiwanese language

skills. The long‐term project envisioned a complete educational system of

elementary, vocational, and normal schools. The goal of elementary schools and

vocational schools was to give the Taiwanese people the practical knowledge

needed for developing the economy, and normal schools were to train Taiwanese

20Izawa, Kyōkai shūyū zenki, 204‐06.

21E. Patricia Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895‐1945 (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977), 14. The full‐length version of the proposal can be
found in several works, such as Taiwan Kyōikukai ed., Taiwan kyōiku enkakushi [Development of
Taiwan Education]. Reprint from 1939 ed. (Tokyo, 1982[39]), 6‐9. Though the specific date of the
proposal is not given, Tsurumi suggests Izawa already had the proposal when he visited General
Kabayama in February 1895.

99
teachers who would subsequently take up the work of education. 22 Izawa’s

tenure in Taiwan lasted only two years from 1895 to 1897, but his plans for the

colonial school system provided the blueprints for subsequent development.

Educating the Taiwanese with kokugo became not only one of his personal

legacies but also a lasting signature of Japanese colonial education in Taiwan.

Kokugo: making the Taiwanese Japanese, making the Taiwanese modern

Izawa enthusiastically expected the Taiwanese to acquire knowledge and

become Japanese via kokugo education. 23 A famous anecdote described his

determination in making the Taiwanese into Japanese speakers. In October, 1895,

Izawa visited Reverend Barclay, a Scottish Presbyterian missionary, in Tainan.

Drawing on his experience of teaching English to the Taiwanese, Barclay advised

Izawa not to be ambitious in teaching the Japanese language to the Taiwanese. In

Barclay’s experience, the Taiwanese who learned English well in church schools

often abandoned their promise of becoming a missionary or a teacher and ended

22 In the early colonial period, the colonial government paid attention to establishing elementary
schools and teacher‐training institutions, but vocational schools were not a well‐availed option
for the Taiwanese. Tsurumi observes that up to the late‐1920s the colonial government imported
technicians and engineers from Japan instead of locally producing the skilled manpower for
developing the economy. The colonial government, however, opted to include selected
vocational training subjects in the Taiwanese elementary school curriculum. Tsurumi points out
that the condition resulted from the colonial educational policy that tightly regulated higher
education (i.e. post‐elementary) availability to the local population. The policy intended to
control the colonial society by regulating education and thus maintaining the hierarchy of the
Japanese and Taiwanese. Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895‐1945, 53‐58.
23 Kokubu Tanetake, Taiwan ni okeru kokugo kyōiku no tenkai [The Development of Japanese Language

Education in Taiwan], Reprint from 1931 ed. (Tokyo: Tōji Shobō, 1988[31]), 17.

100
up using their language skills to advance other careers. Barclay thus implied that

the effort in educating the Taiwanese with a foreign language could be wasted

because the goal was rarely attained, and advised Izawa that the Taiwanese

should be taught in their own languages for easy accessibility and effective

learning. 24 Barclay’s gloomy view, however, did not discourage Izawa’s faith in

kokugo education.

Believing that Taiwan could be integrated into Japan, Izawa argued that

the Japanese nation contained broader inclusion than the Yamoto race. Anyone

loyal to the Japanese emperor and speaking Japanese could be the citizen of

Japan, Izawa argued. Appropriating Ueda’s image of the kokugo as a mother

holding her children together, Izawa asked Japanese educators to be mothers to

the new Taiwanese children and teach them the Japanese language. In other

words, what Izawa discoursed on kokugo education in the colony was an

overseas rendition of Ueda’s discourse on kokugo. 25

24 Ibid., 38‐39. Kaminuma, Izawa Shūji, 221. Barclay also suggested Izawa to look into the
possibility of using the Romanized Taiwanese language developed by the Presbyterian
missionaries as the written form. The missionaries found using Chinese characters to propagate
the Bible impractical and elitist, since many members of the congregation could not afford the
education of learning to read and write Chinese, and there existed a discrepancy between the
spoken and the written forms. The Romanization system, in a sense, spelled out the spoken part
of the language into visual form. Boasting its low threshold of learning, the Presbyterian Church
had propagated this system to its congregation. This system was still seen as a viable means of
writing when the Taiwanese intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s debated how to reform the
Taiwanese language to popularize literacy.
25 Chen, “Zhi min di Taiwan guo yu ʹtong huaʹ jiao yu di dan sheng ‐‐ Yi Ze Xiu Er guan yu jiao

hua, wen ming yu guo ti di si kao (Isawa Shūjiʹs Views on Education, Civilization, the Kokutai,
and Christianity: the Birth of the Japanese Assimilation Education Program in Taiwan)”, 138‐39.

101
 Kokugo education, however, involved more than political education. It was

also a vessel to help the Taiwanese learn modern knowledge and practical skills.

Japanese colonial textbooks contained a wealth of information on multiple topics.

The earliest textbooks used in colonial classrooms in Taiwan, namely the Taiwan

tekiyō kokugo dokuhon shoho [“Primer of Japanese Language: for use in Taiwan”]

compiled in 1896, indeed read more like natural history books than language

tutorials. Early colonial educators wanted to enlighten the Taiwanese through

kokugo education, and emphasized learning about the physical world and its

principles. 26 Izawa Shūji considered intellectual understanding of the physical

world a step towards learning the unique Japanese kokutai. By this logic,

becoming modern was a necessary condition of becoming Japanese. 27 Education

was among the first arenas in which the Taiwanese experienced the colonial

version of the Meiji Modernization.

The school system in the early colonial period, 1895‐1905

Colonial education in Taiwan developed in three stages, a process marked

by the launching and revision of the school system in 1895, 1896, and 1898.

26 Cai Jintang, “Ri ben ju tai chu qi gong xue xiao ʹguo yuʹ jiao ke shu fen xi [An Analysis of
Japanese Language Textbooks in Common Schools of Early Japanese Colonization].” in Zhong guo
yu ya zhou guo jia guan xi shi xue shu yan tao hui lun wen ji [Essays of Symposium on the History of
Relations between China and Asian Countries], ed. Zheng Liangsheng (1993), 248‐250.
27 Chen, “Zhi min di Taiwan guo yu ʹtong huaʹ jiao yu di dan sheng ‐‐ Yi Ze Xiu Er guan yu jiao

hua, wen ming yu guo ti di si kao (Isawa Shûjiʹs Views on Education, Civilization, the Kokutai,
and Christianity: the Birth of the Japanese Assimilation Education Program in Taiwan)”, 148‐149.

102
Elementary and higher education took shape in 1896, when schools for

Taiwanese and Japanese were established and given different curricula. This

dual‐track school system based on ethnic segregation continued until 1919 when

the Japanese government revised its colonial policy and issued the new Taiwan

Education Regulation to merge the two tracks into one system. The following

discussion will focus on elementary education for the Taiwanese.

In July, 1895, Izawa Shūji began his colonial teaching experiment in the

Taipei suburb with six Taiwanese pupils. To recruit these students, Izawa visited

local elite families and explained to them the necessity of sending their young

members to attend Japanese school to learn the new civilization that Japan would

bring to Taiwan. 28 This school, Shizangan gakudō, had the mission of teaching the

Japanese language to selected Taiwanese so they could work as bilingual clerks

for the colonial administration. As the first colonial classroom, Shizangan gakudō

was also a laboratory to test the teaching of the Japanese language to the

Taiwanese, and for compiling teaching materials and Taiwanese‐Japanese

dictionaries. The Shizangan gakudō was successful. Some students from the first

and second classes became proficient Japanese speakers. To show off such

28 Kaminuma, Izawa Shūji, 217.

103
students and to underscore the promise of kokugo education in Taiwan, Izawa

took two of them to Japan in late 1895 to recruit more teachers. 29

The success of Shizangan gakudō quickly led to the opening of two offshoot

educational facilities in 1896, the Japanese Language Academy (Kokugo gakkō)

and the Japanese Language Labs (Kokugo denshūsho). The Academy operated as

an institution of higher learning for Japanese nationals, who upon graduation

would serve as colonial teachers and bureaucrats. In 1899, the need for teachers

pushed the colonial government to begin training Taiwanese to become teachers.

Beginning in 1902, the Japanese Language Academy had two departments. The

language study department trained Japanese nationals to become colonial

bureaucrats; the normal school department split into two divisions, one for

training Japanese nationals to become school administrators, and the other for

training Taiwanese to become teachers. 30

29 Fujimori Satoko, “Ri zhi chu qi ‘Zhishanyan Xuetang’ (1895‐96) di jiao yu ‐ yi xue xiao jing ying,
jiao xue shi shi, xue sheng xue xi zhi huo dong zhi fen xi wei zhong xin. [The Education of
Shizangan gakudō in the Early Japanese Colonial Period: on school administration, teaching, and
studentsʹ learning].” Taiwan Wen Xian [Taiwan Documents] 52 (2001): 575‐576.
30 Between 1899 and 1902, the colonial government opened three normal schools to train

Taiwanese teachers. To better coordinate the resources, the normal schools merged into the
Japanese Language Academy in 1902 and the merging process completed in 1904. After the
merger, the Japanese Language Academy restructured its existing Department of Normal School
to two divisions. Division One trained Japanese nationals to teach the Japanese national’s
Primary School, or to be superintendents of the Taiwanese Common School. Division Two was
solely for training Taiwanese teachers for the Common School. For the development and
evolution of teachers training institutions colonial Taiwan, see Wu Wenxing, Ri ju shi qi Taiwan
shi fan jiao yu zhi yan jiu [Teacherʹs Training Education in Taiwan in the Japanese Colonial Period], vol.
8, Guo li Taiwan shi fan da zue li shi yan jiu suo zhuan kan [National Taiwan Normal University,

104
 In 1896, the Japanese Language Labs were launched in fourteen

Taiwanese cities and towns. Each Lab offered a six‐month program and a four‐

year curriculum. The six‐month program was designed to intensively train

Taiwanese young adults between fifteen and thirty years old, who were already

literate in classical Chinese, and who would become bilingual interpreters or

clerks. To recruit such Taiwanese, students enrolled in the six‐month program

were offered free tuition and allowances with the agreement that they would

serve three years in a colonial institution upon graduation. 31 The monetary

benefits and the ensuring job opportunity attracted the Taiwanese. By mid‐1898,

the fourteen Japanese Language Labs saw the number of students increase, and

in some areas the Taiwanese petitioned to expand the Lab facility to

accommodate more interested local Taiwanese.

The Lab’s four‐year curriculum targeted Taiwanese youngsters between

eight and fourteen years old. Once accepted into the Labs, they would study five

basic subjects, including kokugo, reading, writing/composition, calligraphy, and

arithmetic. In addition, they would also take selective courses in history,

Graduate Institute of History Special Issue Series] (Taipei: Graduate Institute of History, National
Taiwan Normal University, 1983).
31 Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895‐1945, 30.

105
geography, shōka, and physical education (taisō). 32 This four‐year curriculum

provided a prototype modern elementary education. 33

Figure 3‐2: The Japanese teachers and Taiwanese students of the two programs of
the Japanese Language Lab in Miaoli, ca. 1896‐1898. 34

32 Taiwan Kyōikukai, ed., Taiwan kyōiku enkakushi [Development of Taiwan Education], 168‐169.
33 The Japanese Language Academy also operated three affiliated schools, including a special
class for Taiwanese girls and young women, who had been traditionally excluded from formal
education. In principle, the affiliated schools were parallels to the four‐year curriculum of the
Japanese Language Labs. But they also provided the Academy faculty and students the
opportunity to experiment with new pedagogies and curriculum. Ibid., 707‐712.
34 Image scanned from Ibid., [n.p.]. The picture shows the younger Taiwanese students in the

front rows, the Japanese and Taiwanese teachers in the middle, and Taiwanese adult students at
back rows.

106
 In 1898, the Common School (kōgakkō) replaced the transitional Japanese

Language Labs. Featuring a standardized six‐year curriculum, the Common

School taught the Taiwanese children eight subjects: shūshin (ethics), kokugo,

sakubun (writing/composition), dokusho (reading), shūji

(penmanship/calligraphy), sanjutsu (arithmetic), shōka (singing), and taisō

(gymnastics/physical education). 35 The success of the Japanese Language Labs

had prompted the colonial government to expand and revise the school system,

planning to reach more Taiwanese by building schools in not only city centers

but also villages. However, the colonial government could not operate schools

for free. Realizing that the Taiwanese were receptive to colonial schools and

targeting wealthy Taiwanese families who would pay for their children’s

education, the colonial government built more schools but asked the Taiwanese

share the costs of building schools and pay operational costs.

Moreover, building more schools in towns and villages was a political

strategy. By attracting Taiwanese children to the Common Schools, the colonial

government hoped to diminish the private academies (shufang/shobō) that

provided Chinese education. Unable to abolish the private academies

immediately and by force, the colonial authority increased the Common Schools

35 Ibid., 229.

107
and regulated what the private academies could teach. Within a decade the

Common School enrollment had surpassed that of the private academies. 36

Taiwanese graduates of Common Schools became knowledgeable and

productive subjects of colonial Taiwan. The colonial government expected the

graduates to work in agriculture, commerce, or in the industries that the

administration developed. 37 Those graduates with ambition and ability could

further their education by studying at the teachers’ training department of the

Japanese Language Academy. For the particularly talented and competitive few,

Medical School (igakkō) was also a possibility. 38 In short, colonial education in

Taiwan was comprehensive, with a purposefully tight control on post‐

elementary education. This structure remained intact until 1915 when the

Taiwanese social leaders campaigned and petitioned to open a middle school for

the Taiwanese young adults.

36 Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895‐1945, 32‐34.

37 Ibid., 77.
38 Tsurumi points out that since the beginning of colonization, the government had been careful

in warding off Taiwanese demand for higher education. Teaching and medicine might just be
safety valves to allow a small number of Taiwanese to seek upward mobility. The restriction and
lack of opportunity propelled well‐to‐do families to send their youngsters to Japan to acquire
higher education. Ibid., 77, 65.

108
Figure 3‐3: Development of Colonial School System in Taiwan, 1895‐1906.

III. Musiking Shōka: Political and Educational Functions as Reflected in

Repertoire (Object) and Performance Occasions (Site)

Shōka originally referred to a body of songs Meiji Japan developed for its

schools. With the introduction of colonial education, shōka entered the Taiwanese

musical experience. Colonial educators envisioned shōka to be an effective

educational tool to transform the young Taiwanese in multiple ways.

109
 Shōka and its musical transformation of Taiwan

Soon after 1898 when shōka became a required subject in the Common

School, it became an important educational and political tool. Some Japanese

teachers even argued that shōka was a perfect tool to “soften” the stubborn

Taiwanese so that they could learn the new values and ideas. 39 Early colonial

educators used shōka to teach the Taiwanese students not only the Japanese

language but also Japanese values. When Izawa Shūji himself taught at the

Shizangan gakudō, he used shōka to discipline students and correct their posture.

One Taiwanese student vividly recalled that Izawa sensei sang loudly a “song of

discipline”, which indeed was titled Masugu ni tateyo (“Stand straight!”), and had

the misbehaving student sing along, with his hands clapping on a desk to mark

the tempo and rhythm. 40 As the Taiwanese student sang, he was told what to do:

the song text tells him to stand upright, look straight ahead, keep good posture,

follow the order, and walk in pace. Singing the song text in Japanese, the student

was at the same time engaged in a Japanese language lesson. He had to loudly

pronounce the words, understand and memorize the meanings of the verses so

39 Miya Shitsuka and Okamoto Yōhachirō, “Kōgakkō no shōka kyōju ni tsuite [On Teaching
Common School Singing Lessons].” Taiwan Kyōikukai Zasshi [Taiwan Education Society Newsletter]
6 (1902): 24.
40 Taiwan Kyōikukai, ed., Izawa Shūji sensei to Taiwan kyōiku [Great Teacher Izawa Shūji and Taiwan

Education] (Taihoku (Taipei), 1944), 31. The Taiwanese student from Shizangan gakudō recalled
that Izawa sensei composed a song of discipline for misbehaved students to sing. According to
Liou Lin‐Yu’s investigation, the song Izawa taught was Masugu ni tateyo (“Stand straight!”) from
Yūchi’en shōkashū (“The Kindergarten Songbook”) published in 1887.

110
that he could accordingly adjust his posture. By combining the teaching of

physical discipline, language learning, and aesthetic instruction, shōka

epitomized the Japanese value of bodily regulation in civil education. When

Izawa had his Taiwanese students sing the song Masugu ni tateyo and adjust their

postures, he forced the young Taiwanese to re‐program not only their bodies but

also their minds.

111
Figure 3‐4: Masugu ni tateyo (“Stand straight!”), nicknamed “song of discipline,”
taught by Izawa Shūji to his Taiwanese pupils at Shizangan gakudō. 41

41Image of score scanned from Liou Lin‐Yu, Shokuminchi ka no Taiwan ni okeru gakkō shōka kyōiku
no seiritsu to tenkai [The establishment and development of school song education on the colony Taiwan]
(Tokyo: Oyamaka, 2005), 14. My English translation is based on the song text in Fujimori, “Ri zhi
chu qi ‘Zhishanyan Xuetang’ (1895‐96) di jiao yu ‐ yi xue xiao jing ying, jiao xue shi shi, xue sheng
xue xi zhi huo dong zhi fen xi wei zhong xin [The Education of Shizangan gakudō in the Early
Japanese Colonial Period: on school administration, teaching, and studentsʹ learning]”, 574, and
Taiwan Kyōikukai, ed., Izawa Shūji sensei to Taiwan kyōiku [Great Teacher Izawa Shūji and Taiwan
Education], 31. I thank Professor Jennifer Robertson for comments and correction on the
translation.

112
Japanese Text/Pronunciation English Translation

Masugu ni tateyo Stand straight!

Tadashiku mukeyo Face forward!
Hidari wo mirunayo Don’t look left
Migiri mo mirunayo Or to the right
Atama wo magezu Don’t turn your head
Mune wo baidashi Stick out your chest
Yuden wo suruna Don’t you dare relax
Gōrei wo Mamore Follow the command
Ashinami soroe Fall into step
Shizuka ni ayume Advance quietly

Following the model of Izawa, colonial teachers extensively used shōka in

their classrooms. For instance, a teaching note dated Monday, July 13th, 1896,

records that the class met for three hours: in the first hour the students practiced

Japanese pronunciations; in the second hour the students learned a specific set of

sentence types; in the third hour, both teacher and students rehearsed the song

Kigensetsu (“Empire Day”). 42 Scheduling a shōka lesson after two hours of

Japanese language lessons underscored the general perception that singing

refreshes the mind so that the students could learn and study more effectively.

The song Kigensetsu (“Empire Day”) described the great achievement of the

legendary first Japanese emperor Jimmu (711‐585 BCE). Written in classical

Japanese, the lyrics read as poetry would not be intelligible to Taiwanese

students with limited Japanese language ability. Their learning of Kigensetsu as a

42Kokubu, Taiwan ni okeru kokugo kyōiku no tenkai [The Development of Japanese Language Education
in Taiwan], 81.

113
shōka, however, allowed them a chance to learn the difficult lyrics in multiple

ways – reading, singing, listening to the teachers’ explanation, imagining the

images, and memorizing the performances. The teaching and learning generated

by the singing of Kigensetsu thus constituted a mini series of lessons in Japanese

language and history. As such, it provided a means for the Taiwanese students to

learn to become loyal subjects of Japan. Shōka impressed the Taiwanese students

because it gave them a new experience of learning and understanding through

singing. Izawa Shūji’s melody for the song compliments the meanings of the

lyrics. When sung in stately melody and rhythm, the song Kigensetsu could lead

the students to experience a sense of awe and reverence even when they did not

clearly understand the lyrics.

114
Figure 3‐5: Musical example: Kigensetsu (“Empire Day”). 43

1. The clouds tower over Mt. Takachiho,

The cold wind blows down from the high mountain.
It blows through the trees and grass,
All is leveled by the power of the Imperial Reign.
We revere the Imperial Reign with happiness.
2. We are blessed by the great waves
Coming from the sea of Haniyasu
We revere the Imperial reign with happiness.
3. The Imperial Throne never changes.
One thousand generations, ten thousand generations, it never moves.
The gods have decided that Emperor’s position will never change.
We revere the Imperial Reign with happiness.
4. The Land of the Rising Sun is the best county in the world.
The main pillar of the country is the Emperor.
We revere the Imperial Reign with happiness.

43Image of score scanned from Taiwan Sōtokufu, Kōgakkō shōkashū (Taihoku (Taipei): Taiwan
Sōtokufu, 1915), 44. Translation of the song text is quoted from Berger, “Shōka and Dōyō: songs
of an educational policy and a childrenʹs song movement of Japan, 1910‐1926”, 28‐29.

115
 The Repertoire: imported shōka expressing Japanese agendas

Most of the shōka that the Taiwanese students sang came from Japan.

During the turn of the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, Japan produced a

plethora of school songs, and many were exported to Taiwan. Four songbooks,

one compiled by Izawa Shūji and three published by the Ministry of Education,

were particularly important sources for colonial teachers to find songs for their

singing and cultural and political lessons. 44 An analysis of the songs reveals the

agendas that colonial Japan intended to musik with their Taiwanese subjects in

colonial music education.

Agenda 1: Singing the Empire

The first agenda of the official shōka repertoire was singing about the

empire and learning citizenship. To familiarize Taiwanese students with the

history and culture of the empire through shōka, the Common School Regulations

specified that schools should teach the songs used for national holidays of Japan.

The colonial government emphasized the prime importance of the eight holiday

and ceremonial songs proclaimed by the Ministry of Education in 1893. 45 Four

songs from the collection – Kimigayo (national anthem), Kigensetsu (Empire Day),

Tenchōsetsu (Emperor’s birthday), and Ichigatsu tsuitachi (January 1st) – became

44 Taiwan kyōikukai zasshi [Newsletter of Taiwan Education Society] 1 (July, 1901), 47.
45 Taiwan Kyōikukai, ed., Taiwan kyōiku enkakushi [Development of Taiwan Education], 232.

116
the standardized holiday and ceremonial songs used in Taiwan. In other words,

Taiwanese children learned to sing the empire in the same way as Japanese

children. 46

Figure 3‐6: The holiday and ceremonial shōka used in Taiwan: Kimigayo (Japanese
national anthem). 47

46 Chokugo hōtō, “Reply to the Imperial Rescript,” was the fifth holiday/ceremonial song later
added to this group. However, the three songs of Shinto festivals – Genshisai (Shinto Festival of
Origins, January 3rd), Kannameisai (Shinto Festival of New Rice, October 17th), and Niinamesai
(Shinto Harvest Festival, November 23rd) – listed in the eight holiday songs of the 1893
announcement apparently were never used in Taiwan. Evidence supporting this claim is fact that
these songs did not appear in the song lists compiled by the early colonial teachers, and most
published songbooks and manuals since 1915 did not include them, either. Since the shōka lessons
and pedagogies of Taiwan closely followed the trend in Japan, further research is needed to
identify whether the absence of the three Shinto festival songs was an adjustment to the actual
condition of the colony, or was a result of the revision of holiday and ceremonial songs in Japan.
47 Text and translation quoted from Kokin wakashū: the first imperial anthology of Japanese poetry, with

Tosa nikki and Shinsen waka, Helen Craig McCullough trans. (Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press, 1985), 83, no. 343.

117
wa ga kimi wa May our lord endure
chiyo ni yachiyo ni for a thousand, eight thousand
sazareishi no long generations –
iwao to narite may he live until pebbles
koke no musu made grown into mossy boulders.

Figure 3‐7: The holiday and ceremonial shōka used in Taiwan: Tenchōsetsu
(Emperor’s birthday). 48

1. This joyous day is the joyous day that His Majesty was born.
This joyous day is the joyous day that the light came out.

2. People, celebrate together His Majesty’s reign that expands light.

People, celebrate together His Majesty’s reign that expands blessing.

48English translation by Yuri Fukazawa. Because of the different grammatical structure of

Japanese and English, the Japanese lyrics are translated by verse.

118
Figure 3‐8: The holiday and ceremonial shōka used in Taiwan: Ichigatsu tsuitachi
(January 1st). 49

1. Today that we celebrate the joy of the endless reign by setting up pine and
bamboo at each gate as a custom for the beginning of a year is very
enjoyable.

2. Looking up at this morning’s sky where the first sunshine of the year
comes out and glows in all directions while comparing it with His
Majesty’s image is very precious.

To make learning the holiday songs more efficient, two experienced

colonial teachers, Miya Shitsuka and Okamoto Yōhachirō, suggested that their

fellow colonial teachers schedule the teaching of the songs strategically.

Taiwanese children needed time to learn and practice the songs; otherwise they

49English translation by Yuri Fukazawa. Because of the different grammatical structure of

Japanese and English, the Japanese lyrics are translated by verse.

119
could not sing properly in the holiday ceremonies. For example, since the Meiji

emperor’s birthday was celebrated on November 3rd with the singing of

Tenchōsetsu (Emperor’s Birthday), the teachers suggested that Taiwanese first

graders should begin to learn the song in October. This would allow the students

a month or so to become familiar with the song so that they could sing properly

for the ritual occasion. Similarly, to celebrate New Year’s Day, the students

would begin to learn the song “January 1st” in December. To prepare for singing

the song Kigensetsu, for Empire Day, celebrated on February 11th, students

would begin learning or reviewing the song in January. 50

In addition to the small group of holiday songs, Taiwanese students also

learned to sing songs that underlined the values promoted by the Japanese state.

For example, they sang Sumeramikuni (“The country the Emperor reigns”), a song

about devoting oneself to serve the Emperor and his country Japan. They also

sang songs that promoted Japanese virtues, such as loyalty, filial piety, diligent

study, courage, and harmonious friendship. These songs, though not explicitly

speaking of the empire, delivered messages of ideal citizenship desired in the

empire. For example, early colonial teachers often taught the song Yūkannaru

suihei (“Courageous sailor”). A song in the style of a march and inspired by the

50The monthly shōka lesson schedule provided by Miya and Okamoto demonstrates this logic of
shōka teaching. Miya and Okamoto, “Kōgakkō no shōka kyōju ni tsuite [On Teaching Common
School Singing Lessons]”, 35‐36.

120
Sino‐Japanese war in 1894, it praises courage, duty and devotion. Its lyrics were

probably not easy for the Taiwanese children to understand. 51 Nevertheless, as a

lively march it was a favorite shōka of the Japanese teachers.

51A Japanese educator, namely Katō Chūtarō, stated that Yūkannaru suihei was among the several
difficult shōka unsuitable for Taiwanese students younger than the third grade to grasp the
meanings, and reminded fellow colonial teachers to pay attention to the appropriateness of text
when selecting shōka. Katō Chūtarō, “Shōka no kashi ni tsukite.” Taiwan Kyōikukai Zasshi 49 (April
25, 1906): 8‐9.

121
Figure 3‐9: Sumeramikuni (“The country the Emperor reigns”) 52

1. A warrior of the country that the Emperor reigns should make efforts on
anything.
He just gives His Majesty and his parents the utmost sincerity that he has.
2. Men of the country that the Emperor reigns must have a mind that does
not bend or break.
Work on livelihood and prosper the country and its people.

52Image of score and text scanned from Horiuchi Keizō and Inoue Takeshi, eds., Nihon shōkashū
[The Japanese Songbook] (Tokyo, 1982), 20. English translation by Yuri Fukazawa.

122
Figure 3‐10: Yūkannaru suihei (“Courageous sailor”). 53

(1) With no smoke seen, no clouds, no wind blowing, no wave coming, the
Yellow Sea as smooth as a mirror has started becoming cloudy in a shout time.

(2) Is there unknown thunder in the sky? Is there lightening shining on the wave?
Smoke fills the sky, and the sunshine in the sky is also dark.

(3) The battle is now at a peak. The deck has been decorated in bright red with
precious blood of great men fulfilling their duties.

53Image of score and texts scanned from Ibid., 44. The song contains eight verses of lyrics. Only
the first three are translated here. English translation by Yuri Fukazawa.

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 Agenda 2: Experiencing the Culture

The second agenda of shōka was to make Taiwanese students experience

Japanese children’s culture. In order to transform the Taiwanese youngsters into

Japanese subjects, they were made to feel like Japanese children. Since Taiwanese

children could neither visit Japan nor play with Japanese children, the former

could sing what the latter would experience or imagine. Japanese children’s

songs often featured simple melodies and rhythms set into simple Japanese texts.

These features enabled the children’s songs to be particularly suitable for young

Taiwanese students, who came to colonial schools with neither Japanese

language ability nor the experience of singing shōka.

The song Karasu (“The Crows”), for example, is one shōka that early

colonial teachers taught to Taiwanese first graders. 54 The song itself is short and

simple. Musically, the variation of rhythmic patterns creates a feeling of

liveliness, and the narrow range of notes – only six degrees – makes the song

easy to sing. The repetitions of the melodic phrases and textual verses render the

song an easily memorable and accessible tune for young children. Language‐

wise, the song makes a good introduction to Japanese vowels and consonants.

The lyrics of this song contain a number of “Ah” sounds in combination with

54In the song list compiled by Taichung County Common School teachers in 1901 (Taiwan
Kyōikukai Zasshi no.2, September 1901) and the list provided by the two teachers Miya and
Okamoto published in 1902 (Taiwan Kyōikukai Zasshi no.6, August 1902), Karasu was the first or
second song to be taught to Taiwanese first graders.

124
other consonants. Singing “karasu” allows Taiwanese children to practice the

vowel and its combination with different onsonants. Singing the song Karasu was

thus a language lesson in musical rendition.

Figure 3‐11: Musical example: Karasu (“The Crow”). 55

Japanese Text English translation

Ka‐a ka‐a karasu ga naiteita Ka, ka, the crow sings as it flies
Karasu karasu doko e ita Crow, crow, where are you going?
Omiya no mori e, otera no yane e Maybe the crow is going to the forest
around the shrine, or the temple’s
rooftop.
Ka‐a ka‐a karasu ga naiteita Ka, ka, the crow sings as it flies.

55Image of score scanned and translation quoted from Berger, “Shōka and Dōyō: songs of an
educational policy and a childrenʹs song movement of Japan, 1910‐1926,” 236.

125
 For the Taiwanese students, experiencing Japanese culture included sonic

exposure to a musical style distinctively identified as Japanese. For example,

colonial teachers often taught their Taiwanese students to sing Kazoe uta

(“Counting song”). A popular folksong and children’s song collected in the

Yūchi’en shōkashū (“The Kindergarten Songbook”), the song is melodically

distinctive from most contemporary shōka and textually versatile. The tune of

Kazoe uta is based on the miyako bushi tetrachord that is also common in Japanese

folk music. 56 The song thus has a distinctive musical feature reminiscent of

Japanese folksong. The song texts, in addition to teaching the Taiwanese children

to count in Japanese, also speak of Japanese values of harmonious relationships

with family, the emperor, and school. 57

56 Inoue Takeshi and Kojima Yoshiko, Nihon no kodomo no uta: meiji kara gendai made [Children’s
songs of Japan, from Meiji era to the present (1868‐1963)], Liner notes. (Victor, [1963]), Audio LP. A
brief summary of the tetrachord theory that explains the tonal structure of Japanese traditional
music can be seen in Berger, “Shōka and Dōyō: songs of an educational policy and a childrenʹs
song movement of Japan, 1910‐1926”, 32, 34.
57 As a popular folksong, the song texts of Kazoe uta have many variations. In one folksong

version, for example, the song text describes Japanese imageries and sentiments. See Ryūtarō
Hattori, Thirty‐One Japanese Folk Songs with Piano Accompaniment (Tokyo: Nippon Times, ltd.,
1954), 12. In a later shōka version such as the version in Common School Songbook in 1915, the
texts were rewritten to a more elaborate description of the virtues.

126
Figure 3‐12: Musical Example: Kazoe uta (“Counting song”). 58

1. One, people, don’t forget, don’t forget even one day.

Gratitude to your parents who nurtured and raised you.
2. Two, there aren’t two lives, mountain cherry blossoms, mountain cherry
blossoms.
Even you fall [die], be fragrant for you [His Majesty], for you [His
Majesty]. 59

58Image of score and text scanned from Horiuchi and Inoue, eds., Nihon shōkashū [The Japanese
Songbook], 28. The first four verses out of the ten verses are translated. English translation by Yuri
Fukazawa.

127
3. Three, three is one kindergarten, kindergarten.
May flowers bloom variously in the autumn field, autumn field.
4. Four, those who are dependable in this world are siblings, siblings.
Live your life, be close to each other.

As the Taiwanese students advanced in age and in their experience with

shōka, they learned to sing songs with a wider variety of textual themes and more

sophisticated lyrics. The majority of these songs were directly imported from

Japan. As such, although they introduced Japanese images and sentiments to the

Taiwanese singers, the songs nevertheless might not match what the Taiwanese

could understand based on their experience. Colonial teachers noticed this

discrepancy between what the Japanese song texts intended to convey and how

much the Taiwanese students could relate the textual meanings to themselves

when singing. Thus, the suggestion arose to create shōka with subject matters to

which the Taiwanese students could better relate and understand. The

experienced shōka teachers Miya and Okamoto pointed out that songs imported

from Japan were not always suitable for Taiwan and that songs with local themes

should be developed. 60

59 Two double meaning words are used in this verse. “Even if you fall” (chiritotemo) can also mean
“even if you die”; “you” (kimi) can also mean “His Majesty”. I thank Yuri Fukazawa for pointing
this out.
60 Miya and Okamoto, “TKZ,” 34.

128
 Agenda 3: supplementing knowledge learning

The third agenda of shōka repertoire was to assist Taiwanese learning of

the knowledge conveyed in other subjects of the Common School curriculum.

Kyōka tōgō, ”curriculum integration,” was a prevailing pedagogical concept

shared by Japanese teachers, and matching the shōka lesson schedule with the

study of other subjects was often discussed by colonial educators. For example,

two experienced shōka teachers, Miya and Okamoto, suggested that when the

students were learning shūshin (ethics) and the topic was related to the Imperial

Household, Kimigayo should be taught. Integrating shōka with other subjects, the

two teachers argued, helped students to better understand and memorize the

concepts as well as to emotionally relate to the subject. 61

In 1905, the idea of curriculum integration with shōka was tellingly

addressed in the song list prepared by Akinami Sei, an education official of

Changhua County. Akinami Sei’s shōka list was developed to integrate shōka with

the contents of the new Common School textbook Taiwan Kyōkayosho Kokumin

Dokuhon (“Taiwan Textbooks: Readers of Citizens”; hereafter Readers of Citizens),

published from 1901 to 1903. Compiled by the colonial government, Readers of

Citizens were kokugo textbooks of twelve volumes and covered a wide range of

topics, ranging from moral issues to Japanese history to natural science and

61 Ibid: 25.

129
modern technology. 62 Learning kokugo through Readers of Citizens, the Taiwanese

schoolchildren were expected to internalize what the Japanese empire wanted its

Taiwanese colonial citizens to know and practice.

The Readers of Citizens subsequently became the framework for Common

School teachers to select songs and develop shōka lessons. This is how Akinami

Sei developed his song list: he selected shōka from various songbooks to match

the lessons in Readers of Citizens. 63 To illustrate such coordination, one only need

to juxtapose the titles of the lessons in Readers of Citizens for the fourth grade with

the songs Akinami Sei chose for the students.

62 Cai, “Ri ben ju tai chu qi gong xue xiao ʹguo yuʹ jiao ke shu fen xi [An Analysis of Japanese
Language Textbooks in Common Schools of Early Japanese Colonization],” 254‐55; 257‐58.
63 Akinami Sei, “Shōkaka kyōju saimoku [Details of shōka teaching],” Taiwan kyōikukai zasshi

[Newsletter of Taiwan Education Society] 36 (1905): 22‐24.

130
Table 3‐1: Lessons in Readers of Citizens, volumes seven and eight for fourth
grade, and the songs suggested by Akinami Sei. 64

Titles of lessons in Readers of Songs for the Forth Possible

Citizens, Fourth Grade (vols. 7 & 8) Grade suggested by reference
Volume VII Volume VIII Akinami Sei (1905) to lessons
1 Kigentsetsu Map of Japan 1st semester:
(Empire Day) Kōtō (Imperial Line) VII‐1, 2
2 Imperial palace Mountain Fuji Kyūjō (Imperial Palace) VII‐1, 2
3 Spring The patiently Taue (rice planting) VII‐4, 6
working Tasuke Suijōki (water vapor) VII‐12
4 Paddy field Merchant
5 Story of a dog Pig 2nd semester:
6 Planting rice Story of horse Yūdachi (sudden VII‐16
seedling and pig shower)
7 Water buffalo Clock Nigimitama VIII‐9
and horse Wagakuni (my country) VIII‐1
8 Story of fly and A letter Fujisan (Mountain Fuji) VIII‐2
water buffalo
9 Tea (i) Taiwan Jinja 3rd semester:
(Shinto shrine of Ji wa kogane (Time VIII‐7
Taiwan) equals gold)
10 Tea (ii) Reaping rice Umi no sekai (The VIII‐14
11 The good‐ Rice World of the Sea)
hearted Agim
12 Water vapor Two farmers
13 Steam train Rain (Reference/Further
14 suggested songs)
Eager to do well Sea/Ocean
15 Jimmu Tennō (Emperor [VII‐1]
Rowing dragon Drinking water
Jimmu)
boat
16
Kisha (steam train) VII‐13
Sudden rain Opium
Niji (rainbow) [VIII‐13]
shower
17
Nōfu (farmer) VIII‐
Doctor Learning
10,11,12]
18 Sanitation Hōkiichi 65

64 The lesson titles are translated to English based on the title list provided in Cai, “Ri ben ju tai
chu qi gong xue xiao ʹguo yuʹ jiao ke shu fen xi [An Analysis of Japanese Language Textbooks in
Common Schools of Early Japanese Colonization],” 256‐57.
65 The meaning of “Hōkiichi” is not clear; it could refer to a personal name.

131
 Shōka were thus coordinated with Readers of Citizens through textual

associations in song titles and lesson titles. For instance, early in the school year

the fourth graders learned about rice fields and rice seedlings, and Akinami Sei

chose the song Taue (“Rice planting”) to integrate what the students sang and

what they studied. Teachers could also use the song Nōfu (“Farmer”) in addition

to Taue. Later in the school year the students learned about Taiwan Jinja, the

Taiwan Shinto Shrine, and according to Akinami Sei’s list they would sing the

song Nigimitama, a shōka specifically created for the shrine and its

commemorative activities. 66 Music and textual meanings were effectively

coordinated in shōka and colonial education. It was not by accident that when

students read lessons about water vapor and steam trains in Readers of Citizens,

they sang the song Suijōki (“Water vapor”); when they learned about the clock in

the lesson Clock, they sang Ji wa kogane (“Time is gold”).

66 Please see Chapter Five on the Taiwan Jinja, the commemoration, and the song Nigimitama.

132
Figure 3‐13: Music Example: Taue (“Rice planting”). 67

1. The girl is wearing a straw hat and a red sash to tie up the kimono.
All the young girls are wearing the same costume.
When I hear the taue song, it sounds like this, “sora to.”
All the young girls come out.
All the girls are in a straight line like the rice plants when they begin
planting.

2. When the hands and feet move in planting the rice,

All the girls sing together the taue song.
This year is a good harvest – much rice.
Even beside the road, rice is growing.

67Image of score scanned and translation quoted from Berger, “Shōka and Dōyō: songs of an
educationl policy and a childrenʹs song movement of Japan, 1910‐1926”, 288.

133
 The Repertoire: new shōka created for the colony

The colonial context itself inspired new shōka to be created to address the

events, experience, and discourse generated by colonization. While Japanese

shōka remained a convenient source of songs, the colonial condition of Taiwan

demanded songs of its own. Shōka created in Taiwan or for Taiwan fall into two

major categories of purpose: to discourse about the empire‐colony relationship,

and to describe Taiwan.

Discoursing the Empire‐Colony Hierarchy: the Rokushi Sensei

One of the earliest shōka songs created in Taiwan commemorated Rokushi

Sensei, namely the six Japanese teachers of Shizangan gakudō. On January 1st,

1896, six teachers had traveled from the suburbs to the city to visit other colonial

bureaucrats for the New Year. They were killed by Taiwanese anti‐Japanese

insurgents. Several months after the incident, Izawa Shūji, as the Head of the

Education Bureau, had a stele built to memorialize the teachers and mark the site

for future memorial services. On February 1st in the following year, a memorial

service was institutionalized to honor the six teachers; all colonial schools were

ordered to observe the day. 68

68Taiwan Kyōikukai, Shizangan shi [Records of Shizangan] (Taihoku (Taipei): Taiwan Kyōikukai,
1923), 27. The six teachers were killed on January 1st and the anniversary service conventionally

134
 The development of the commemoration of the six Japanese teachers and

the associated song was deliberate and strategic. Izawa Shūji grasped and

manipulated the incident into lessons for both the colonial teachers and the

Taiwanese students. Calling the sacrifice of the six teachers as “the Shizangan

spirit,” which was described as the ultimate expression of patriotic service to the

Japanese emperor, the six teachers were elevated to an exemplary model for the

colonial educators of Taiwan. 69 The spirit also demanded that Taiwanese

students be grateful for their colonial teachers, who launched modern education

on the island, and continued to devote themselves to the Emperor through their

service in educating the Taiwanese. In 1900, Takahashi Fumishi, the first music

teacher at the Japanese Language Academy, composed two versions of the song

to commemorate the six teachers. The short version was for the Taiwanese

children to express their gratitude; the long version intended to encourage

colonial teachers‐in‐training at the Japanese Language Academy to follow the

exemplary six teachers’ devotion to colonial education.

would have been on very same day. However, January 1st was already the New Year celebration
and hence the memorial was settled on February 1st.
69 Taiwan Kyōikukai, Shizangan shi [Records of Shizangan] (Taihoku (Taipei): Taiwan Kyōikukai,

1933), 1.

135
Figure 3‐14: The short version of Chō junnan rokushi no uta (“Song to mourn the
six teachers”). Melody by Takahashi Fumishi, texts by Kabe Iwao, 1900. 70

70 Image scanned from Kokugo Gakkō Kōyūkai Zasshi [Japanese Language Academy Alumni Association
Newsletter] 5 (June 1900): 45. English translation of song texts by Yuri Fukazawa. Number
notation is a popular sight‐singing tool used in East Asia. The diatonic scale degrees, beginning
with the tonic in whatever key, are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and are sung as do, re, mi, fa, sol, la,
si. Dots above numbers indicate notes in the higher octave. The key signature left to the song title
denotes the diatonic scale as B‐flat major, thus 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 corresponds to B‐flat, C, D, E‐flat,
F, G, A, B‐flat. But the actual key of the song is g minor. See appendix C for the rendition of the
first eight measures into staff notation.

136
1. Listen, children, work hard.
Study, children, children.
Admire, admire the teachers who collapsed and ended.
2. Sing, children, and think.
Move forward, children, for the country.
Think, think. Of the six martyred teachers.

Figure 3‐15: The long version of Chō junnan rokushi no uta (“Song to mourn the six
teachers”). Melody by Takahashi Fumishi, texts by Kabe Iwao, 1900. 71

1. Go, move forward, great men.

Even if the thorny trifoliate oranges grow thick, we will not live or return
without paving the way of study, my friend.
Go, move forward, we will be known for a long time.

Image scanned from Kokugo Gakkō Kōyūkai Zasshi [Japanese Language Academy Alumni Association
71

Newsletter] 5 (June 1900): 46‐47. English translation of song texts by Yuri Fukazawa.

137
2. Go, move forward, my friend, not a whip in school but a Japanese sword
does not have even a short time to take rest; might have been brave, “Go,
move forward,” and might have moved forward.
3. Go, move forward, great men’s lives disappear easily, but the mountains
name is clear, Shizangan; their sincerity that became a rock – go, move
forward – will not decay for a long time.
4. Go, move forward, my friend, the six teachers’ spirit to protect and give
happiness to people lights up the road that we are moving forward on and
lead us – go, move forward – it is not the time to take a rest.

The Shizangan spirit, invented and empowered by Izawa, signified the

hierarchical relationship between the Japanese and the Taiwanese. The discourse

implied that the Taiwanese were ignorant and had caused the tragic death of the

six teachers, who sacrificed themselves to bring enlightenment and

modernization by educating the Taiwanese. Thus, the Taiwanese should always

remain grateful and respectful to their Japanese teachers. Furthermore, the six

teachers, representing the Japanese colonial effort in educating the Taiwanese,

had demonstrated their loyalty to the Emperor by devoting their lives to

civilizing the colony. Therefore, the Japanese teacher‐Taiwanese student

relationship encapsulated and underscored the intrinsic hierarchy between

empire/Japanese/enlightenment and colony/Taiwanese/ignorance. Throughout

the Japanese colonial period, singing to commemorate the six teachers not only

reiterated the message that the Taiwanese should always be grateful to their

Japanese teachers, it also inscribed onto the Taiwanese mind the modernization

debt they owed to their colonizer‐teachers.

138
 Creating Taiwan‐themed songs

In addition to historical events, living in colonial Taiwan prompted

Japanese educators to create songs with local themes. For example, Takahashi

Fumishi composed the melody for the song Funukui, “Opium Addict”, in 1901.

The Japanese colonial authority had identified opium smoking as the most

serious social problem of Taiwanese society. They could not, however, regulate

the practice until Gotō Shimpei designed an opium monopoly policy in 1897 for

the Sōtokufu to effectively control the supply of the drug, reduce the addicts

through issuing permits, and at the same time increase the income of the colonial

government. 72 Many Taiwanese children witnessed or heard about opium

smoking in their daily life, and thus the colonial authority thought it important

to educate them about the evils of opium smoking to prevent them from taking

up the habit. For this purpose, the textbook Readers of Citizens included lessons

on the harms of opium, and the colonial educators created a song to further the

purpose of the lesson. 73 Through education and shōka, the Japanese teachers

hoped to change the children’s perception of the drug.

72 Gotō Shimpei was the Civil Administrator of the colonial government from 1898 to 1906. A
Germany trained medical doctor, Gotō was the Director of the Health Bureau of the Ministry of
Home Affairs before he took the Taiwan post.
73 Kokugo Gakkō Kōyūkai Zasshi [Japanese Language Academy Alumni Association Newsletter] 8 (1901):

21.

139
Figure 3‐16: Funukui (“Opium addict”), 1901. Melody by Takahashi Fumishi, text
by Sugiyama Bunsato. 74

1. Oh, the scary opium addict

His color is pale, and his eyes are sunken
He is skin and bones
Even his voice to say things is feeble
2. Oh, the miserable opium addict
He turns various treasures into smoke
It is too late to regret; there is no choice
Both his wife and children seem lost in grief

Image of score and text scanned from Kokugo Gakkō Kōyūkai Zasshi [Japanese Language Academy
74

Alumni Association Newsletter] 8 (1901): 22. English translation of song texts by Yuri Fukazawa.

140
 Japanese educators did not only create shōka to combat social evils; they

also sang about the island. For example, Takahashi wrote the melodies for two

songs, in 1902 and 1910, about a journey through Taiwan, narrating the

geographical features of various places of Taiwan. 75 The ninety verses of Taiwan

shūyū shōka (“Taiwan round tour school song”) narrated a journey through

Taiwan as if traveling by the cross‐island railroad. After seeing all the major

cities and scenery of the western part of Taiwan from north to south, the journey

took the route from south to north along the Taiwanese east coast to finish the

great circle. Although it is unclear whether colonial teachers taught their

students to sing the song(s), the creation of the songs nonetheless created a

political and aesthetic lesson about the island. The song texts begin by describing

the geographical parameters of Taiwan, Japan’s new territory, which produced

abundantly for the empire (verses 1‐3). Next, the singers would learn about

Taiwan city by city, beginning from Keelung, a busy port city of strategic and

economic importance located at the far north point of the island (verses 4‐5). As

the journey went on, the singers would learn historical and geographical facts of

the many locales described in the lyrics as well as knowledge of the island’s

75The notation of the 1902 song has been lost. Liou, Shokuminchi ka no Taiwan ni okeru gakkō shōka
kyōiku no seiritsu to tenkai [The establishment and development of school song education on the colony
Taiwan], 74.

141
contemporary political, economic, and educational infrastructures established by

the colonial government.

Figure 3‐17: Taiwan shūyū shōka (“Taiwan round tour school song”), 1910. Melody
by Takahashi Fumishi, text by Ui Hideru. 76

1. Let’s explore the Taiwan island, the new territory of our Japan conquering
East Asia with glory of the country shining in the world
2. One hundred ri 77 from north to south
The circumference is over two hundred ninety ri
That size including small islands
Almost the same as the Kyushu island.

76Ui Hideru, Taiwan shūyū shōka [Taiwan Round Tour Song] (Taihoku (Taipei): Shinkōdō, 1910).
77“Ri” is an old Japanese unit; one “ri” is 3.927 kilometer. I thank Yuri Fukazawa for pointing this
out.

142
3. Gold and silver in mountains and salt in the sea
Tea manufacturing, sugar manufacturing, and fruits
In paddies, rice produces a crop twice [a year]
Really the empire’s inexhaustibleness
4. At dawn at the Port of Keelung
The view with the rising sun shinning all around
The name of Formosa is not ordinary
5. At the strategic point at the farthest north gate, as it is the sole important
port to travel to the mother country, ships come and go constantly all day

The site/performance occasions: holidays and ceremonies

Much shōka learning and singing took place in the classroom, but the

classroom was not the only place the Taiwanese students sang. School

ceremonies to observe Japanese national holidays were necessary occasions at

which the students were required to sing, but the venues were not confined to

schools. For example, on the Meiji emperor’s birthday of 1896, students of the

Japanese Language Lab in Taichung were sent to the celebration hosted by the

county government, and the older students of the six‐month program sang

Kimigayo to participate in the ceremony. 78

Shōka, in fact, marked and served not only national holidays but also

colonial education itself. This is most apparent in singing for the graduation

ceremony, a symbol of the success and acceptance of kokugo education in Taiwan.

The first graduations took place in the months of March and April 1897 when

78 Xu Peixian, “Taiwan jin dai xue xiao di dan sheng ‐ Riben shi dai chu deng jiao yu ti xi di cheng
li (1895‐1911) [The Birth of Modern Schools in Taiwan: the establishment of elementary education
in the Japanese period], 1895‐1911.” (PhD dissertation, National Taiwan University, 2001), 51‐52.

143
clusters of Taiwanese students completed their six months of kokugo training in

various Japanese Language Labs. These were important events not only for

students but also for colonial officials. When the Lab in the harbor city Keelung

held its graduation ceremony on March 24th, 1897, Governor‐General Nogi

Manesuke 79 and the Chief of the Educational Bureau Izawa Shūji attended, and a

number of local Taiwanese elites were also invited as guests. The ceremony

began with singing the national anthem Kimigayo, and then proceeded to a series

of speeches and awards. It ended with the singing of Hotaru no hikari (“Glow of

fireflies”), a Japanese version of the Scottish farewell and blessing song Auld

Lang Syne. 80 The Japanese lyrics set to the Western melody blessed the

graduating students and urged them to serve the country and devote themselves

to Japan after their departure.

79 Noki Manesuke was the third governor‐general of Taiwan. His tenure was from October 1896
to February 1898.
80 Taiwan shimpō, no. 161, March 26, 1897, p. 2.

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Figure 3‐18: Musical example: Hotaru no hikari (“Glow of fireflies”). 81

1. (With) glow of fireflies, snow outside of the window

Spending months reading books.
Years have already passed by, and I open the pine door and part (with
classmates) this morning.
2. As (today is) the last day for those staying as well as those leaving, we just
sing, “Be safe,” expressing in one word many pieces of what each of us is
thinking.
3. Even in the utmost ends of Tsukushi (Kyushu) or in Michinoki (a part of
Tohoku), distantly separated by the ocean or mountains, give your
sincerity to our county unseparately.
4. The inland of the Kurile Islands as well as Okinawa are under Japan’s
protection. To countries that it does not reach, bravely do your duty safely.

Image scanned from Horiuchi and Inoue, eds., Nihon shōkashū [The Japanese Songbook]. 16.
81

English translation of the texts by Yuri Fukazawa.

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 Beginning in 1901, colonial school students took their singing of shōka to

expanded educational sites and times. Some schools in Taipei would organize

student trips to pay homage at the Taiwan Jinja (Taiwan Shinto Shrine), standing

on a hilltop just outside the city center. 82 An essential part of the students’

activities at the Jinja was to sing songs proper to the day and the setting.

Colonial schools in Taiwan were “agents of the empire.” To engage with

the local communities where they were located, schools hosted many open‐house

activities to display their modern features and the achievements of teachers and

students. One important activity and occasion in this engagement was the sport

relays (yūndōkai) held by individual schools or sometimes jointly by several

schools in the area. Sport relays often began with a choral singing of the Japanese

national anthem Kimigayo. In between games, more songs were sung, generating

a semi‐festival aura and attracting many spectators, mostly Taiwanese from the

nearby communities. Relays thus became the best advertisement for the school

and the colonial state it represented. Schools often received new applications for

enrollment after the semi‐festival relay. 83 The sport relay demonstrated how fun

and lively the school could be, and shōka was an essential part of this

demonstration and presentation.

82See Chapter Five.

83Xu, “Taiwan jin dai xue xiao di dan sheng ‐ Riben shi dai chu deng jiao yu ti xi di cheng li
(1895‐1911) [The Birth of Modern Schools in Taiwan: the establishment of elementary education
in the Japanese period], 1895‐1911.”, 237‐46.

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IV. Musiking Japanese Colonialism in Taiwan: Negotiating Shōka and

Education

The above discussions of the musiking objects and sites of early colonial

music education have demonstrated the educational, political and ideological

role of shōka envisioned by colonial educators. Nonetheless, implementing shōka

was itself a dynamic process in which not only the Japanese but also the

Taiwanese negotiated their agendas. The following discussion will present a

history of Japanese attempts to implement shōka and Taiwanese responses to

shōka in colonial education. Both parties musiked and negotiated around shōka to

advance their agendas.

In 1895 to 1896, shōka was used in the first colonial classrooms at the

Shizangan gakudō. The overall educational experience of teaching the Japanese

language to the Taiwanese was considered successful, and encouraged the

government to expand colonial educational programs and activities. In 1896, the

Japanese Language Academy was launched to train future teachers, and it

provided music lessons, including shōka. For this purpose, a professional music

teacher, Takahashi Fumishi, was recruited from Japan to Taiwan in late 1896. In

the ten years from 1896 to 1906, Takahashi was the only faculty member of music

at the Japanese Language Academy, and single‐handedly trained generations of

147
Japanese and Taiwanese prospective teachers the skills of singing, instrument

playing, basic music theory, discourses of music education, and the repertoire of

shōka. 84 These teachers then went on to teach shōka to Taiwanese students in

schools set up all over the island. Indeed, it would be fair to claim that the music

education carried out in the first decade of Japanese colonization almost entirely

came from Takahashi Fumishi’s solo operation.

In 1898, the colonial government was determined to launch Common

School throughout the island. Thus, seventy‐four Common Schools started in

Taiwanese towns and villages; 85 all pursued a six‐year curriculum with shōka as

one of the eight subjects of study. This new phase of colonial education also gave

Common School teachers the task of selecting and organizing shōka songs for

their students, and so they had to rely on what they had learned when they were

trainees at the Japanese Language Academy. It was a challenge for many

teachers. Without further instructions and specific guidelines, they had to juggle

musical and non‐musical problems such as the students’ ages, musical

capabilities, vocal ranges, singing skills, Japanese language abilities, and so forth.

In 1901 and 1902, Common School teachers endeavored to tackle these

problems by organizing a summer workshop and discussing their teaching

84 Sun Zhijun, “Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan shi fan xue xiao yin yue jiao yu zhi yang jiu [Music Education
of Normal Schools in Taiwan under Japanese Rule].” (MA thesis, National Taiwan Normal
University, 1997), 78.
85 Xu Peixian, Zhi min di Taiwan di jin dai xue xiao [The Modern School in the Colony Taiwan]. (Taipei:

Yuan liu chu ban shi ye, 2005), 92.

148
experiences. In the Taichung County school districts, thirty‐five Japanese

teachers and fifty‐eight Taiwanese teachers attended a summer workshop

organized in 1901. The Japanese teachers received training in five subjects and

Taiwanese teachers had lessons in eight subjects. The subjects for the two groups

of teachers overlapped little, but both received training in shōka. Regarding shōka,

an important outcome of the workshop was a song list. In other words, the

teachers of the Taichung County Common Schools now had a repertoire to cover

the six years of shōka lessons. 86 In 1902, two teachers with experience in teaching

shōka, Miya Shitsuka and Okamoto Yōhachirō, shared with their Common School

colleagues their own song list, lesson schedule, and notes on things to pay

attention to in teaching shōka. 87

Confronting colonial education was a new experience, and the Taiwanese

had many reasons to refuse to send their children to the Common Schools. Many

Taiwanese held onto the belief that education meant studying Chinese and

Confucian Classics; many were therefore skeptical about the Japanese, and

certainly reluctant to send their children to study Japanese in Japanese schools.

Moreover, they found the “modern” lessons unacceptable. They particularly

disliked shōka and taisō (gymnastics/physical education), the two subjects most

foreign to Taiwanese educational experience. The Taiwanese often associated

86 Taiwan kyōikukai zasshi [Newsletter of Taiwan Education Society] 2 (1901): 76‐77.

87 Taiwan Kyōikukai Zasshi [Newsletter of Taiwan Education Society] 6 (1902): 24‐37.

149
shōka with the singing of actors and actresses, the people and profession of the

lowest social status in traditional Taiwanese society. And the presence of taisō

caused rumors that the new schools were intended to prepare Taiwanese

children to become soldiers. 88 In short, Taiwanese parents resisted the Common

School out of inexperience with modern education and skepticism about their

colonial rulers, and they used shōka and taisō as excuses. Their resistance also

showed that the Taiwanese had their own ideals of education which were not

easy to abandon.

In 1904, the Common School curriculum underwent its first reevaluation

and revision. Shōka, along with several newly‐added subjects such as handcraft,

agriculture, and commerce, was made an optional subject, meaning that an

individual school could determine whether to include shōka based on its own

operating condition. However, taisō remained in the basic curriculum, and

Classical Chinese (kanbun) was added as a new subject. The actual dynamics of

revising the curriculum was not clear, but it was clear that the technical difficulty

in teaching shōka required the educational authority to reconsider the subject. 89

88Taiwan Kyōikukai, ed., Taiwan kyōiku enkakushi [Development of Taiwan Education], 238.
89Liou Lin‐Yu (Ryū Ringyoku) suggests certain technical difficulties such as low enrollment rate,
and thus low funding, a lack of equipment to facilitate teaching, as well as shortages of musical
instruments, songbooks, and other supplementary materials might all have contributed to the
change of shōka’s status in 1904. Liou Lin‐Yu (Ryū Ringyoku), “Meijiki niokeru Taiwan no shōka
kyōiku: ʺTaiwan Kyōikukai zasshiʺ no kiji bunsaki wo chūshinni (The shoka education of colonial
Taiwanese in the Meiji period: As reflected in the periodical Taiwanʹs educational academy).”
Tōyō ongaku kenkyū (Journal of the Society for Research in Asiatic Music) 62 (1997): 42.

150
Moreover, Taiwanese resistance to the new education in the presence of shōka,

and their desire for Chinese literacy could have critically forced the colonial

authority to restructure the Common School curriculum to better comply with

Taiwanese preferences for education.

The colonial authority also had to take local preference into consideration,

because the Taiwanese co‐sponsored the Common Schools. To raise funds to

open a school, local communities formed their own education committees in

charge of collecting donations, calculating cost‐sharing procedures, and

convincing the community members to support and enroll their children in the

Common School. 90 In supporting the Common School, the Taiwanese

communities rarely encountered the problem of fund shortage. However, when

the Taiwanese felt that the school did not meet their expectations or failed to

address their needs, they refused to pay. 91 In other words, the local Taiwanese

communities possessed a certain leverage to negotiate with the colonial

government for a school curriculum better conforming to their vision.

90 Xu Peixian provides case studies of how the local Taiwanese communities sponsored the
Common School launched by the colonial government. The studies have shown that the
Taiwanese were actively engaged in sponsoring their local educational institutions. Case studies
regarding how local communities collected fund to support the Common School is discussed in
Xu, Zhi min di Taiwan di jin dai xue xiao [The Modern School in the Colony Taiwan], 61‐88.
91 Xu, “Taiwan jin dai xue xiao di dan sheng ‐ Riben shi dai chu deng jiao yu ti xi di cheng li

(1895‐1911) [The Birth of Modern Schools in Taiwan: the establishment of elementary education
in the Japanese period], 1895‐1911”, 163‐64.

151
 Despite the Taiwanese resistance toward shōka and the downgrading of its

importance in the curriculum, Common School teachers in general supported

shōka. A statistics showed that in 1904, 84 out of 153 Common Schools taught

shōka as one of the required subjects. A year later in 1905, 103 out of 165 Common

Schools opted to teach shōka. 92 Teachers often cited the importance of shōka in

education, especially its function to help Taiwanese students pronounce Japanese

correctly. And Taiwanese children liked shōka. Julean Arnold, the American

Consul stationed in northern Taiwan, observed that Taiwanese children in the

new schools seemed to enjoy shōka very much and demonstrated talent. With this

observation, Arnold contemplated that shōka could become a useful tool to assist

the Taiwanese in learning the Japanese language. 93 Colonial teachers thus

continued teaching shōka.

Taiwanese teachers also played a role in accepting and promoting shōka in

Common Schools and in Taiwanese society. Beginning in 1899, the colonial

government began to train native Taiwanese to become Common School

teachers. The Taiwanese teachers or teachers‐in‐training became aligned with

modern style elementary education and subscribed to the values behind it. Thus

Ibid., 128.
92

Julean H. Arnold, Education in Formosa (Washington, DC: United States Bureau of Education
93

Bulletin, 1908), 37.

152
they were willing to persuade their fellow Taiwanese to accept the modern

Common School curriculum.

For instance, in 1902, Jian Yanghua, a Taiwanese student of the Normal

School Department at the Language Academy, wrote an essay to explain the

goals of the individual subjects in the Common School curriculum. Jian cited the

six arts (liu yi) in Confucian learning, and related it to the Common School

curriculum. Relating shōka to yue, music, one of the six arts, as the subject for

cultivating emotions, Jian explained that the purpose of shōka was not to sing the

vulgar songs heard in the marketplace. Children naturally would sing songs that

they heard and found interesting; thus teaching shōka, a body of carefully

selected songs, would give children something good to sing, and something

good for their minds. 94

In 1903, Chen Baoquan, another Taiwanese teacher‐to‐be, argued for the

necessity of music in general education. 95 Chen began his essay with the function

of music in purifying the spirit and cultivating morality, reiterating the

functional view of music that Izawa Shūji had campaigned for Meiji Japan and

that Takahashi Fumishi had taught to the Taiwanese students. Heavily citing

94 The essay appears in Kokugo gakkō kōyūkai zasshi [Japanese Language Academy Alumni Association
Newsletter] 10 (August 1902): 42‐43.
95 Chen’s essay appears in Kokugo gakkō kōyūkai zasshi [Japanese Language Academy Alumni

Association Newsletter] 12 (June 1903): 47‐48.

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words and passages on music and morality from Confucian classics, Chen

argued that ancient China had indeed valued music education in similar ways. 96

Both the essays of Jian and Chen were written in Japanese and published

in Kokugo kakkō kōyūkai zasshi (“Japanese Language Academy Alumni Association

Newsletter”). Very few Taiwanese, other than the handful educated in the

Academy, would seek access to the publication. Nonetheless, Jian and Chen’s

writings probably reflected the views of those Taiwanese teachers who had

received colonial education, and the essays could be seen as exercises of

explaining shōka and Common School curriculum to skeptical Taiwanese parents.

The Taiwanese teachers’ embracing of shōka and its value could further be

seen in the essay by Common School teacher Wei Qingde. In 1910, Wei’s essay on

what education could do to improve Taiwanese society appeared in Taiwan

kyōikukai zasshi (“Taiwan Education Society Newsletter”). 97 Wei condemned

vulgar courting songs sung by the Taiwanese folk during work and leisure as the

worst of Taiwanese culture and customs. The songs taught in schools, Wei

posited, could potentially replace the vulgar Taiwanese songs to become the

future music of the Taiwanese. However, Wei cautioned that the school songs

96 Liou Lin‐Yu identifies the Confucian classics that Chen cited. Liou, Shokuminchi ka no Taiwan ni
okeru gakkō shōka kyōiku no seiritsu to tenkai [The establishment and development of school song
education on the colony Taiwan], 80‐81.
97 Wei’s essay, “Yu dui dang jin xue jie zhi ji wang [My hope in current education]”, was written

in Chinese and appeared in the Chinese section of Taiwan Kyōikukai Zasshi [Taiwan Education
Society Newsletter] 95 (February 1910): 1‐2 (Chinese section page numbers).

154
were almost all sung in the Japanese language, and the students could barely

understand the meaning of the lyrics they sang; they simply sang for the melody

and rhythm. The Taiwanese who did not go to Common Schools would not

understand the lyrics, and would not sing the new songs. Without saying it

directly, Wei had called for the creation of shōka in the Taiwanese language. Such

a call, needless to say, registered the fact that by the early 1910s, some Taiwanese

teachers had gone beyond simply embracing the shōka taken from the Japanese

songbooks; they had begun to ask how singing might influence their culture and

life, and what kind of songs their children should sing.

V. Conclusion

Since the very beginning of Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, colonial

education was established as a means of persuasion and governance. Shōka, a

product of Japanese emulation of Western practices, was incorporated into

colonial schools from the earliest stages of colonization. Colonial schools were

the location where the political and cultural transformation systematically took

place, and shōka was a musiking project that the Japanese launched to colonize

Taiwan and Taiwanese people.

Reviewing shōka as sonic object – a repertoire of selected songs –

demonstrates Japan’s agenda: by making the Taiwanese colonized sing about the

155
empire, they were impelled to experience Japanese and colonial culture, and

learn the practical knowledge needed to make Taiwan a profitable colony.

Singing shōka during Japanese holidays and ceremonies created musical objects,

sites, and processes for the Japanese and Taiwanese to negotiate their agendas.

With lyrics that taught the students Japanese language, virtues, history, culture,

and specific events in Taiwan, the songs engaged the Taiwanese physically,

intellectually, and emotionally. Thus, as colonial education developed, the

important function of shōka became more and more prominent.

Seeing shōka as a musically particularized site shows the highly politicized

nature of shōka. Taiwanese students performed shōka on national holidays in

ceremonies meant to indoctrinate the Taiwanese in colonial loyalty and identity.

When sung during such events as graduation ceremonies and sport relays, shōka

helped the performers and observers to connect to a community which would

have to continually confront issues of identity and loyalty.

The musiking of shōka was itself a process of negotiation between the

Japanese and Taiwanese. While colonial educators envisioned the positive

function of shōka in education and put effort into actualizing the teaching, the

Taiwanese were skeptical of colonial education and its teaching of music. Shōka

thus became not only a contested object but also an excuse to resist Japanese

control. Only when young Taiwanese who had studied in the colonial schools

156
became teachers and began to embrace the value of modern education did the

resistance decline. By that time, however, the Taiwanese had appropriated shōka

and began to use it to negotiate with their colonial authority on cultural matters.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

MUSIKING TAIWANESE TIME AND SOCIETY

National holidays and commemorative activities tell people who they are,

by reminding them who they were and imagining who they will be. The

memories can be told through historical events such as the beginning or ending

of a war, or the founding of a republic. The future can be shaped when memories

guide people to construct their identities. By creating and reconfiguring holidays

and commemorative activities, a nation can reinvent its history – a collective

memory that its subjects use to understand and construct who they were, are,

and will be. Holiday celebrations and commemorative activities are often

marked by music – singing or playing the national anthem, bands leading

processions, ensembles marking rites of the ceremonies, and so forth. Thus,

musical sounds are integral components of national memories and identities, and

of their negotiations and manipulations.

When Japan colonized Taiwan, holidays and commemorations were

created to transform a Chinese frontier land into a Japanese‐governed territory.

158
Japan could not change what happened in the past of Taiwan nor re‐tell

Taiwanese history; Japan could, however, reshape Taiwan’s present and future

by manipulating holidays and commemorations to tell Taiwanese who they were

and who they would be. In other words, colonial holidays were created to

produce a new public memory and identity. This reshaping involved

rearticulating the power structures of the society, and synchronizing the

temporal rhythm of colony Taiwan with metropolis Japan. Thus, in the early

colonial years, the Japanese colonial government put forth great effort to install

colonial holidays and public rituals, in order to musik times and activities that

would reshape the calendrical and temporal rhythm of Taiwanese daily life. As

the sonic component of colonial life, musical sounds and activities were not only

symbols of political and social living, but also provided the sites and processes

for both the Japanese colonizers and the Taiwanese colonized to engage with one

another.

This chapter discusses two colonial holidays and celebrations that took

place at the beginning and the end of the Japanese military annexation of Taiwan,

in June and November, 1895, respectively. The two holidays, one created on the

colony and one transplanted from Japan, announced Taiwan’s new condition as

a Japanese colony by forcing the Taiwanese to accept the new concept of time,

159
power, and social structure imposed by Japan. As the colonized, Taiwanese

resisted, negotiated, and then accepted what they could not reject.

I. Constructing Japanese Time and Society in Taiwan

One of the first technicalities in establishing colonial governance was to

synchronize the times of metropolis Japan and the colony Taiwan. 1 To keep

Taiwan in tune with Japan for administrative communications, Japan needed to

impose its Gregorian calendar on the colony. To become integrated into the

economic network of Japan and the world, the Taiwanese society was demanded

to adopt the calendar used in Japan. Theoretically, Taiwan became synchronized

with Japan on June 17th, 1895, when the colonial government pronounced the

official beginning of colonial reign; in practice, the island was officially

incorporated into one of Japan’s time zones on January 1st, 1896.

The grounding of the new calendar and temporal rhythm, however,

necessitated many propaganda efforts. 2 Bureaucratic sites and colonial schools

were the earliest locations to adopt the new calendar; the general public in

1 Lü Shaoli, Shui luo xiang qi: Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan she hui di sheng huo zuo xi (Whistle from the
Sugarcane Factory: the transition of time cognition and rhythms of social life in Taiwan under the Japanese
rule, 1895‐1945) (Taipei: Yuan liu chu ban gong si, 1998), 53.
2 Lü Shaoli analyzes the establishment of a standardized time and social rhythm introduced by

the Japanese colonial government and the many endeavors taken by the government to
internalize the new rhythm into the Taiwanese daily life. Ibid., 53‐90.

160
Taiwan, however, continued to operate with their native and localized rhythms. 3

To make Taiwanese society operate in the new time system, the Japanese

launched colonial holidays and commemorative rituals to calibrate and guide

social time and lives. This process began as the annexation unfolded.

Japanese military annexation and Taiwanese anti‐annexation struggle

Japan’s victory in the Sino‐Japanese war in 1894 led to the signing of the

Treaty of Shimonoseki on April 17th, 1895, in which Qing China agreed to cede

Taiwan to Japan. Taiwanese elites and Qing officials to Taiwan protested and

petitioned to revert the agreement, but the Qing court failed to stem the tide. In

despair, the leaders of Taiwan declared as an independent island‐state “The

Republic of Formosa” on May 25th, 1895, 4 and Tang Jingsong, the Taiwan

Governor from the Qing court became the president of the new republic. 5 By

3 Ibid., 57‐83.
4 The Chinese term Taiwan minzhuguo has at least two different English translations. It was
translated “Republic of Formosa” by American journalist James Wheeler Davidson. James
Wheeler Davidson, The Island of Formosa, Past and Present: history, people, resources, and commercial
prospects: tea, camphor, sugar, gold, coal, sulphur, economical plants, and other productions, Reprint
from 1903 ed. (Taipei & Oxford: Taipei: Southern Materials Center; Oxford & New York: Oxford
University Press, 1988), 279. Hosea B. Morse, then working at the Custom and Tariff in Danshui,
also calls it “Republic of Formosa.” Hosea B. Morse, “A Short Lived Republic,” The New China
Review 1 (March 1919): 27. But Harry J. Lamley names this institution “the Taiwan Republic.”
Harry J. Lamley, “The 1895 Taiwan Republic: A Significant Episode in Modern Chinese History,”
The Journal of Asian Studies 27 (1968).
5 Scholars have different views on whether the date on which the Republic was declared was May

23rd, May 24th, or May 25th. Ng Yuzin has analyzed the reasons of the difference. Yuzin
Chiautong Ng, Taiwan min zhu guo zhi yan jiu [Studies on the Taiwan Republic], Liao Weizhi trans.

161
declaring Taiwan an autonomous state and a republic, the founders of the

republic wished to solicit international sympathy and directly negotiate aid and

support from the European powers with active interests in East Asia. The plan

sought to involve Western powers to intervene Japan’s annexation of Taiwan. 6

The declaration of the Republic of Formosa neither secured the European

intervention the Taiwanese leaders had wished nor stabilized the collapsing

social condition of Taipei. On May 29th, 1895, the Japanese Imperial Body Guard,

under the command of Prince Kitashirakawa, landed on the northeast coast of

Taiwan and began pushing inland. The Republic’s armies were unable to stop

the Japanese military force, which was more disciplined, larger in number, and

armed with modern weaponry. 7 Soon the Imperial Body Guard took over the

harbor city of Keelung on June 4th and set up the Sōtokufu, or Governor‐

General’s Office, in the custom building of the port. 8 The news generated much

anxiety in Taipei. On June 5th, the Republican president Tang Jingsong left

Taipei in secret and many officials escaped. Taipei then fell into chaos when

from Taiwan Minshukoku nuo kenkyū. (Taipei: Cai tuan fa ren xian dai xue shu yan jiu ji jin hui
(Council on Formosan Studies), 1993), 172‐73.
6 Lamley, “The 1895 Taiwan Republic: A Significant Episode in Modern Chinese History,” 741.

7 Huang Xiuzheng, Taiwan ge rang yu yi wei kang Ri yun dong [The Cession of Taiwan and the 1895

Anti‐Japanese Resistance] (Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu yinshuguan, 1992), 151‐53.

8 Chen Jinrong, ed., Ri ben ju Tai chu qi zhong yao dang an [Archives from Early Japanese Colonial

Taiwan] (Taichung: Taiwan sheng wen xian wei yuan hui (Taiwan Historica), 1978), 71.

162
many Chinese soldiers turned into rebels, robbing, looting and burning the office

buildings in the city. 9

To save Taipei from the worsening anarchy, a group of merchant elites

requested that the Japanese take over the city and reestablish social order. 10 On

June 7th, the Japanese troops entered Taipei without resistance. A week later, the

Governor‐General’s Office moved from Keelung to the city. When Governor‐

General Kabayama and his staff arrived in Taipei by train, Taipei residents

welcomed them by raising Japanese flags, playing music, and offering auspicious

scrolls. 11 On June 17th, 1895, the Governor‐General’s Office, the Sōtokufu, held a

ceremony to announce the Japanese right to rule over Taiwan and the beginning

of Japanese colonial reign.

Although the Japanese Imperial Body Guard only needed nine days to

establish control of Taipei and establish the Sōtokufu, their advance to other parts

of Taiwan was not so smooth. As the Japanese military operation pushed

9 Davidson, The Island of Formosa, Past and Present, 306‐307.

10 That Taipei surrendered to the Japanese without resistance was a historical fact. However, the
actual details of who visited the Japanese military camp to report Taipei’s condition, or who
guided the Japanese into the city, are told in different accounts. The conventional story has it that
Gu Xianrong, a merchant from Lugang to Taipei, opened the city gate so the Japanese could enter
without violent encounters between the citizens and the armies. Other sources indicate slightly
different versions of the story. According to Davidson, a small group of foreigner delegates,
including himself, went to the Japanese military camp to inform the Japanese of Taipei’s
condition. Ibid., 306‐307. According to Governor‐General Kabayama’s report to the Japanese
prime minister, before the visit of the Western delegates, a Taiwanese merchant arrived at the
camp and reported that Taipei was in chaos and the citizens requested the Japanese army to enter
the city to pacify the crimes. Chen, ed., Ri ben ju Tai chu qi zhong yao dang an [Archives from Early
Japanese Colonial Taiwan], 71.
11 Chen, ed., Ri ben ju Tai chu qi zhong yao dang an [Archives from Early Japanese Colonial Taiwan], 79.

163
southward to establish control of more towns and villages, they encountered

surprisingly strong resistance. Those in central Taiwan were particularly

powerful; contrasting with the surrender of northern Taiwan in many ways. The

Republic’s defense force in Taipei was made up of former Qing troops stationed

in Taiwan and recruits from the mainland; though their number was substantive,

their military readiness was poor. The central Taiwanese resistance was based in

regional militias and garrisons organized by local elites, lower‐level officials,

village leaders, and wealthy landlords. 12 These local forces were not always well‐

organized but they could mobilize quickly and were highly motivated to defend

their homes.

In the months following the Japanese annexation, Taiwan was literally a

war zone and a chaotic land. Outside Taipei, Taiwanese reactions to the arrival of

the Japanese rulers varied greatly. Some towns and villages surrendered in

advance and raised the Japanese sun flag in the hopes of saving lives and homes

from slaughter and loss. Some places fought fiercely, temporarily stopping the

Japanese from advancing, or even forcing the Japanese to withdraw. Some peace‐

making villagers turned into angry resistance fighters when the Japanese brutally

12Taiwan had been dominated by immigration‐settlement for two centuries. Exploitation of lands
and securing resources were operated locally by the settlers rather than orchestrated by
centralized governmental administration. Settlers organized militias for the purpose of self‐
defense and regional security; members of the militias were mostly local villagers volunteering to
protect their land and properties. During the annexation struggle, these traditional militias
quickly turned into resistant forces to fight the Japanese.

164
mistreated the surrendered civilians. 13 When they encountered strong insurgence,

the Japanese forced their advance by burning out whole areas and slaughtering

the inhabitants, civilians and combatants. Such Japanese tactics, though effective,

fostered bitter resentment among the peaceful Taiwanese; many subsequently

turned into anti‐Japanese guerillas. 14 As a result, the Taiwanese resistance gave

the Japanese military a bumpy road in annexing the whole island. By early

September, the strong resistance in central Taiwan forced Prince Kitashirakawa

to temporarily suspend the plan of advancing to the south to cope with the rising

Japanese casualties and to solicit more troops from Japan. Until the supply of

troops arrived and strategies were redesigned to encounter the remaining anti‐

Japanese resistances, the Imperial Body Guard was unable to implement the

annexation. 15

Though the Republic of Formosa in Taipei quickly dissolved, its remnant

regrouped in Tainan, the old capital city in southern Taiwan. Now led by

General Liu Yongfu (1837‐1917), who had successfully defended Vietnam from

13 The most famous case of this was Jian Jinghua, a wealthy farmer and businessman in the
Yunlin area of central Taiwan. Jian was fighting with the anti‐Japanese militias in the area north
to his hometown, and after the resistance lost, he sneaked back to his own village. Knowing that
the Japanese were superiorly equipped and determined to win at any cost, Jian worried that
resistance would not lead to Taiwanese victory but more casualties. He therefore decided to
surrender to save his villagers. However, the Japanese soldiers, upon arrival at his surrendered
village, raped the women and killed the villagers, and Jian avenged to retaliate. Huang, Taiwan ge
rang yu yi wei kang Ri yun dong [The cession of Taiwan and the 1895 anti‐Japanese Resistance], 229‐30;
Ng, Taiwan min zhu guo zhi yan jiu [Studies on the Taiwan Republic], 204.
14 Huang, Taiwan ge rang yu yi wei kang Ri yun dong [The Cession of Taiwan and the 1895 Anti‐

Japanese Resistance], 216.

15 Ibid., 231.

165
French aggression in 1884, the remnant established Tainan as the new capital of

the Taiwanese republic. 16 However, Republic leadership was ineffective in

coordinating the militias in various parts of central‐southern Taiwan to develop

better resistance strategies against the Japanese advancement. To fund their

defense, the Republic issued new bills and sold government bonds. General Liu

even introduced a postal system and issued the Republic’s own stamps to

increase revenue. 17 Wealthy elites in the Tainan area were also asked to

contribute money to pay expenses incurred by the defense force.

However, by early October, the defense force in Tainan had collapsed due

to heavy casualties. General Liu hence considered a conditional surrender. 18 On

October 19th, a Japanese brigade took over the harbor town in Tainan’s vicinity,

a development that shocked the city. Replicating what had happened in Taipei

just months before, General Liu then secretively left Tainan and returned to the

mainland. 19 Tainan, like Taipei, plunged into social chaos. To restore order in the

city, missionaries Rev. Jas Johnston, Rev. Thomas Barclay and more than a dozen

16 The republic in Tainan bore the same name, Taiwan minzhuguo, as its predecessor in Taipei. For
continuity and consistency, it is referred to by the same title “Republic of Formosa.” To be precise,
however, the republic in Tainan used “Taiwan Republic” in its postmark. See Wu Micha, Taiwan
jin dai shi yan jiu [Study of Modern History of Taiwan] (Taipei: Daoxiang chubanshe, 1990), 39, n.2.
17 Huang, Taiwan ge rang yu yi wei kang Ri yun dong [The cession of Taiwan and the 1895 anti‐Japanese

Resistance], 200‐202.
18 Ibid., 245.

19 The short‐lived Republic of Formosa, established on May 25th, 1895, dissolved on October 19th

and lasted one hundred and forty‐eight days. Ng, Taiwan min zhu guo zhi yan jiu [Studies on the
Taiwan Republic], 180.

166
of Tainan elites visited the Japanese military camp and requested their assistance

in stabilizing the conditions. 20 The headquarters of the Japanese military

expedition moved into Tainan on October 22nd. Using Tainan as a base, the

Japanese quickly took control of other regions. Then the Governor‐General made

a trip to Tainan, celebrating the Japanese Emperor’s birthday on November 3rd.

On November 17th, five months after the beginning of colonial reign in Taipei,

Governor‐General Kabayama proclaimed that the anti‐Japanese rebels had been

fully suppressed, and the mission of annexation completed.

Japanese actions to politically control Taiwan

Following the annexation and the proclamation, the Japanese established

administrative infrastructures and local governments to consolidate its colonial

control. Preparation had begun several months earlier. In August 1895, the

Sōtokufu designed a pyramid of administrative units. In this system, the main

island of Taiwan was divided into three large blocks: Taipei County, and the

20Huang, Taiwan ge rang yu yi wei kang Ri yun dong [The cession of Taiwan and the 1895 anti‐Japanese
Resistance], 246. Davidson has a slightly different version of how Tainan solicited Japanese
assistance. According to Davidson, the two missionaries who met with the Japanese were
Ferguson and Barclay of the English Presbyterian Mission. They carried a letter in which a
number of the elites in Tainan requested the Japanese to reinforce the city’s order and assured the
Japanese no opposition would occur upon their entry. Davidson, The Island of Formosa, Past and
Present, 364.

167
Civil Affairs Divisions of Central and South Taiwan. 21 Taipei County covered

four Prefectures; the Civil Affairs Division covered four Administrative Offices

each. 22

Table 4‐1: Colonial Administrative System of Taiwan, August 1895 – February

1896. 23

Central Regional Local

Taiwan Taipei County (North Keelung Prefecture

Sōtokufu Taiwan); Danshui Prefecture

County headquarters: Hsinchu Prefecture
Taipei city Yilan Prefecture

Taiwan Civil Affair Miaoli Administrative Office

Division (Central Taiwan); Lugang Administrative Office

Division headquarters: Yunlin Administrative Office
Changhua city Pulishe Administrative Office

Tainan Civil Affair Division Chiayi Administrative Office

(South Taiwan); Anping Administrative Office

Division headquarters: Fengshan Administrative
Tainan city Office

21 In addition to the County and Civil Affair Divisions, the offshore Pascadore (Penghu Islands)
were a stand‐alone Department and administratively parallel to the County/Division.
22 The Civil Affairs Division of south Taiwan soon added the fifth Administrative Office covering

the region of the Taiwanese southeast coastal area.

23 Table made after Hsueh‐chi Hsu, ed., Taiwan li shi ci dian (Dictionary of Taiwan history), 2 vols.

(Taipei: Xing zheng yuan wen hua jian she wei yuan hui (Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan),
2004), A079.

168
 Hengchun Administrative

Office

Penghu (The Pascadore) Department

In this administrative structure, the Sōtokufu was the central and supreme

body of policymaking; the local administrations were agents charged to actualize

the policies formulated and to work with the local Taiwanese. The local

administrations were also responsible for organizing colonial holidays and

mobilizing the Taiwanese to participate in celebrative activities. Since the

colonial administrations operated on the standard time of the Gregorian calendar,

the Taiwanese were forced to work with a new “public time,” even if they

continued to live their lives according to the lunar calendar. In short, in its

beginning, colonial Taiwan operated as a society with two calendars, which were

joined and contrasted by newly‐installed holidays. 24

To show how colonial holidays entered Taiwanese life with music, the

following discussion will focus on the two colonial holidays celebrated in

Taiwan – the inauguration of Japanese rule (Shisei kinenhi), and the Japanese

24 An example demonstrating the dual calendar rhythm of colonial Taiwan is the journal by
Zhang Lijun, dated 1906‐1937 and published in 2000. Lijun Zhang, Shui zhu ju zhu ren ri ji (Diary
of Chang Li‐jun, 1906‐1937: the life of a township administrative official), ed. Xueji Xu and Qiufen
Hong, 10 vols. (Taipei: Zhong yang yan jiu yuan jin dai shi yan jiu suo (Institute of Modern
History, Academia Sinica), 2000). Zhang Lijun was a Taiwanese community leader and a local
township administrative official. His journal entries were dated in both the Gregorian and lunar
calendars. As a governmental clerk he operated on the “new” calendar; as a Taiwanese he lived
on the “old” calendar. Even today, Taiwan continues to be a dual‐calendar society, celebrating
and observing major holidays of both calendars.

169
emperor’s birthday (Tenchōsetsu). The inauguration was initially a holiday

celebrated only by the Sōtokufu. Nonetheless, by the end of the first decade of

colonial rule, local governments and colonial schools had joined the celebration.

The Japanese emperor’s birthday was celebrated by both the Japanese local

administrations and their controlled Taiwanese communities since its first

occurrence in 1895. To make these holidays known by more Taiwanese and to

mobilize their participation, the Sōtokufu incorporated Taiwanese performances

to inform the Taiwanese of the celebration. Rendering the new ritual and time

with the celebrative soundscape was a result of musiking negotiation. When the

Taiwanese performed their own conventional celebrative music, they

nevertheless celebrated the new polity and the new ideology central to the

Japanese empire; when the Japanese colonial administrators observed the

Taiwanese acceptance of Japanese rule, they had to hear the sounds exotic to

their experience and preference.

II. Shisei Kinenhi: Celebrating the Inauguration of Japanese Rule

On June 12th, 1895, the Sōtokufu began preparation to celebrate the

inauguration of Japanese administration in Taiwan on June 17th. 25 First, it

25 Chen, ed., Ri ben ju Tai chu qi zhong yao dang an [Archives from Early Japanese Colonial Taiwan], 9.

170
ordered the governor of Taipei County to prime the site of the military parade. 26

Then it notified the brigades quartered in other parts of northern Taiwan to send

off‐duty officers to Taipei to observe the celebration. In addition, the Sōtokufu

requested the Japanese battleship Matsushima, stationed in Keelung, to dispatch

its military band to Taipei. 27

On June 17th, 1895, the celebration started with military parades at three

o’clock in the afternoon. The parades began at the gathering site near the city’s

north gate. The parades marched through the residential and business areas to

the west gate. After the military parades, the inauguration ceremony began at

four o’clock at the plaza in front of the office building that now housed the

Sōtokufu. The ceremony began with the navy’s military band playing the

Japanese national anthem Kimigayo. Then both Governor‐General Kabayama and

prince Kitashirakawa gave speeches; and a banquet followed. Amidst food and

drinks, the participants enjoyed music played by the navy band as

entertainment. 28 This music, some argue, was the first band concert ever heard

on the island. 29 The audience for this musical performance included Japanese as

well as Taiwanese spectators. In addition to Governor‐General Kabayama and

26 Ibid., 10‐11. The military parades would take place at the location of a former bureaucratic
building burnt down during the chaos following the collapse of the Republic of Formosa. The
Taipei County Governor protested that the short notice did not allow enough time to hire local
laborers to complete the required work.
27 Ibid., 12‐13.

28 Ibid., 15‐16.

29 Davidson, The Island of Formosa, Past and Present, 312.

171
the chief commander of the military operation Prince Kitashirakawa, also present

were a number of high‐ranking Japanese officials and officers, twenty‐four

Western residents of Taipei, who were mostly consuls and diplomats, and

eighty‐three Taiwanese elites, among whom thirty‐nine had literati titles and

thirty‐eight were affluent merchants, wealthy landlords, and doctors. 30 As the

Sōtokufu banqueted, residents of Taipei staged several outdoor Taiwanese

theatrical performances and parades to welcome Japanese rule. 31

30 Wu Wenxing Wu, Ri ju shi qi Taiwan she hui ling dao jie ceng zhi yang jiu [Study of the Taiwanese
Social Strata of Elites and Leaders in the Japanese Colonial Period] (Taipei: Cheng Chung Book Co,
1992), 48‐49.
31 Huang, Taiwan ge rang yu yi wei kang Ri yun dong [The Cession of Taiwan and the 1895 Anti‐

Japanese Resistance], 172. Huang does not cite the source of this information. However, it is
plausible to assume that the surrendered Taipei residents would use conventional celebrative
musical and theatrical performances to gesture peace, cooperation, and hope for a good future.

172
Figure 4‐1: Taiwan Sōtokufu (Governor‐General’s Office). 32

As a whole, the package of parades, speeches, music, and performances

delivered a message of Japan’s power and legal possession of the island. The

military parade through the city was a display of victory and military prowess.

The band music was a sonic representation of the empire, modern and powerful.

The Taiwanese’s staging of theatrical performances suggested surrender and

peace‐making. These were realistic gestures as resistance became impossible and

the Taiwanese future was controlled by the Japanese.

32Image scanned from She ying Taiwan: 1887‐1945 nian di Taiwan (The face of Taiwan, 1887‐1945),
7th ed. (Taipei: Xiong shi tu shu, 1989), 116.

173
 The colonial inauguration, Shisei Kinenhi, was the first official holiday

created on the colony. Since its creation in 1895, it was celebrated annually with

ceremonies and banquets. From 1899 onward the celebration assumed a

standardized format of three activities: a celebrative ceremony at the Sōtokufu in

the morning, followed by a memorial service for the Japanese soldiers who died

in the annexation warfare, and an evening banquet. The celebratory ceremony

was a simple ritual, in which high‐rank Japanese military officers and civil

official dressed in formal attire gathered together to celebrate the colonial reign

and salute the Governor‐General. 33

The memorial service was held inside the Tansumi kan (“Danshui Hall”), a

multi‐purpose auditorium used by the Japanese for meetings, gatherings,

entertainments, and other public activities. 34 The rite was open to all who put on

proper attire to show respect to the deceased soldiers. The Governor‐General

came to the service and assumed the role of the ceremonial master, and recited a

condolence essay. 35

The third part of the celebration package was the evening banquet at the

Sōtokufu building. The participants wore tuxedos, military suites, or other

appropriate formal attire. A grand and formal party, the banquet was the apex of

33 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 338, June 20, 1899, p. 2.

34 The Tansumi kan (Danshui guan in Mandarin Chinese) was originally the library‐school
Dengying shuyuan. The colonial government converted the facility into an event center.
35 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 334, June 14, 1899, p. 2; no. 338, June 20, 1899, p. 2.

174
the Shisei kinenhi celebration. During the party, the crowd joined the Governor‐

General to call banzai (“long live ten thousand years”) to salute the Japanese

emperor after the band played the anthem Kimigayo. 36 In the party, the formally‐

dressed participants talked, laughed, and frolicked accompanied by band music.

Outside the Sōtokufu, which was decorated with ball‐shaped lamps and flowers,

fireworks were released to mark the festive site and enhance the festivity. 37

Starting around 1900, the Shisei kinenhi celebration expanded into the local

regions, and the holiday as a musiking site and process reached deeper into

Taiwanese society. In 1900, the Taipei County government hosted its own

ceremony, and in 1901, several governmental institutions in the Taipei area held

their own Shisei kinenhi ceremonies. 38 In 1902, two more local governments,

Keelung and Hsinchu, hosted regional ceremonies to celebrate Shisei Kinenhi. The

Keelung government gathered Japanese bureaucrats and Taiwanese community

leaders to celebrate and hold banquets together. 39 In Hsinchu, governmental

clerks, school principals, and Taiwanese local leaders from the villages and

boroughs participated in the celebrative ceremony. 40

Colonial schools also played an important role in institutionalizing Shisei

kinenhi as a holiday celebrated island‐wide. For example, in 1902 around two

36 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 334, June 14, 1899, p. 2.

37 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 338, June 20, 1899, p. 2.
38 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 937, June 19, 1901, p. 2.

39 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1236, June 15, 1902, p. 2; no. 1237, June 17, 1902, p. 5.

40 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1239, June 20, 1902, p. 3.

175
hundred of Hsin‐Chu’s common school students gathered on the morning of

June 17th, 1902 to celebrate Shisei kinenhi. As a supplementary event of the

celebration, the school held a ceremony of awarding students enrollment

certificates. The added event probably made the holiday of Shisei kinenhi more

meaningful and memorable to the school’s Taiwanese students and their parents,

who were possibly invited to witness the ceremony. The certificate‐awarding

ceremony was ritually simple and musically effective. The participants sang

Kimigayo to begin the ceremony. After a speech by the school principal and the

awarding of the certificates, they sang Kimigayo again to end the ceremony. 41

Initially a national and colonial celebration, Shisei kinenhi also became

religious after the Taiwan Jinja was completed in 1901. Starting in 1902, the Shisei

kinenhi celebration began with a Shinto ritual performed in the early morning. At

five o’clock, the first ritual drumming was performed to set the stage. At seven

o’clock, the second drumming struck and the priests performed the rite of

purification. At the third ritual drumming at eight o’clock, the Shinto priests

along with the Governor‐General and his attendant staff lined up in the plaza in

front of the worship hall, ready to perform the ceremony to pray for the peace of

the island. 42 Performed as a series of offerings and worships to the tutelary

spirits, the major ritual sections of gate opening, presenting offerings, retracting

41 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1239, June 20, 1902, p. 3.

42 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1236, June 15, 1902, p. 2.

176
offerings, and gate closing were punctuated by the performances of gagaku,

Japanese court music, which included the pieces of mansairaku, sandai’en no kyū,

bairo, and keitoku. 43

Beginning in 1904, the tenth year of colonial reign, the Sōtokufu began a

greater effort to reach the Taiwanese people. In early June 1904, however, the

progressing Russo‐Japanese war prompted discussions as to whether the

celebration should be scaled down by temporarily eliminating the evening

banquet. In the end, the Sōtokufu decided to celebrate with additional events,

arguing that Shisei kinenhi was a very important holiday for the colonial

government. 44 To mark the tenth anniversary of colonial Taiwan, 45 the Sōtokufu

added a reception in the afternoon for the Taiwanese elites, where they would

learn the meaning of celebrating Shisei kinenhi. 46 Moreover, the entertainment

program of the evening banquet was expanded to include several uncommon

43 Details of the ceremony were recorded in Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1236, June 15, 1902, p. 2.
A summary of the rite appears in Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1237, June 17, 1902, p. 5. The
names of the gagaku pieces performed in the ritual are listed in Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1837,
June 16, 1904, p. 3.
44 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1828, June 4, 1904, p. 2; Taiwan nichi nichi shimpo, no. 1829, June 5,

1904, p. 5.
45 It is not very clear whether the Sōtokufu considered 1904 or 1905 the tenth anniversary of

colonial Taiwan. Newspaper reports of the inauguration celebrations in both years used the
phrase shisei jūnen, “ten years of reign.” The 1904 Shisei kinenhi was the tenth celebration from the
first one in 1895; Shisei kinenhi of 1905 marked the tenth anniversary of the colonial reign
inauguration when counting June 17th, 1896, as the first anniversary. Newspapers in June 1905
contained more commentaries and editorials on shisei jūnen than the year before.
46 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1836, June 15, 1904, p. 3.

177
performances. The phonograph, specially imported from Tokyo, was played as a

special feature to impress the guests. 47

The Sōtokufu also incorporated performances of popular Taiwanese

theatre to further broadcast the Shisei kinenhi celebration. In 1906, the Sōtokufu

banquet included Taiwanese operatic performances by Taiwanese geishas. 48

Staged on a raised outdoor platform, the performance could be seen from outside

the Governor’s mansion. It was reported that a big crowd of Taiwanese

commoners gathered and watched the operatic performance from outside the

mansion’s wall. 49

III. Tenchōsetsu: the Japanese Emperor’s Birthday

When Governor‐General Kabayama traveled to Tainan on October 24th,

1895, to finalize Japanese control of southern Taiwan, he took a boat trip from

Keelung to Tainan, a voyage announced by the loud sounds of a military band.

In fact, among the one hundred and eight staff members that accompanied the

Governor‐General, forty‐five were military band personnel. 50 The Governor‐

General planned to celebrate the victory of annexation with a celebration of the

emperor’s birthday, Tenchōsetsu. The Meiji emperor’s birthday was November

47 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1838, June 17, 1904, p. 5; no. 1839, June 19, 1904, p. 2.
48 Kanbun Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2437, June 16th, 1906, p. 2.
49 Kanbun Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2439, June 19th, 1906, p. 2.

50 Chen, ed., Ri ben ju Tai chu qi zhong yao dang an [Archives from Early Japanese Colonial Taiwan], 204.

178
3rd, just days away from the taking of Tainan on October 22nd. Thus,

celebrations of the annexation and the emperor’s birthday could be held in a

single event. Therefore the day and its celebrative events not only glorified the

Meiji emperor but also transformed the day into an ultimate symbol of the

Japanese empire in Taiwan.

The Governor‐General’s actions developed smoothly. He arrived at

Tainan on October 26th, and on the next day, he issued a post to inform the

residents of Tainan of Japan’s legal control of Taiwan. 51 On November 1st, the

governor posted another announcement, which informed the Taiwanese of the

upcoming holiday of Tenchōsetsu on November 3rd. Demanding submission

from the Taiwanese, he ordered every household to raise a Japanese flag to mark

the celebration. 52 On the day of Tenchōsetsu, the Governor‐General hosted a

ceremony of over six hundred participants, including Japanese officials and

officers, British and Dutch consuls, Westerners residing in the city, and

Taiwanese elites of the area. The celebration took place in the largest mansion of

the city and began at 3 o’clock in the afternoon with the Governor‐General’s

speech and the military band playing national the anthem Kimigayo. 53 The band

also played a song written by Governor Kabayama that praised Prince

51 Ibid., 207.
52 Ibid., 210.
53 Ibid., 211.

179
Kitashirakawa and his adventure in suppressing Taiwanese anti‐annexation

resistance. 54 Then the reception banquet followed, during which several musical

performances entertained the guests. Multiple forms of music and entertainment

were performed simultaneously. In the main hall, the military band continued to

play loud and bright brassy sounds; in the west wing Japanese soldiers enjoyed

traditional Japanese performances; and in the east wing, the guests watched

Taiwanese theatrical performances. 55 Outside the mansion and throughout

Tainan, many operatic performances were held to celebrate the occasion. 56

Tainan was not the only Taiwanese city celebrating the Meiji emperor’s

birthday on November 3rd, 1895. All major Taiwanese cities and towns did the

same. By that time, most resistance had been suppressed and local administrative

infrastructures were established. And the Sōtokufu had dispersed funds to the

local governments to pay for the local celebration and festivities. 57

54 Ibid., 211. The song text, written by Kabayama, summarized the fights that the Prince had
encountered in Taiwan since landing in Taiwan in late May.
55 Ibid., 221. The description comes from the appendix to Governor Kabayama’s journal of Tainan

trip.
56 Ibid., 211.

57 Except that two administrative offices, Hengchun in south Taiwan and Pulishe in central inland

Taiwan, did not hold on‐site celebrations. The opening of the Hengchun administrative office
was delayed by travel difficulty, and the officers of Pulishe office were away training.

180
 The preparation

Deliberately, the local Japanese administrators wanted to use the

Tenchōsetsu celebration to familiarize the Taiwanese with the Japanese emperor

and the Japanese empire. 58 Thus, the officials invited large numbers of guests

and participants. For example, the Keelung Prefecture sent out over six hundred

invitations to the Japanese officers of military units stationed nearby, and to

Taiwanese elites, community leaders, literati, religious personnel, and senior

citizens of the villages in the Prefecture. 59 Similarly, the Miaoli Administrative

Office gathered local Taiwanese social leaders a week before the holiday to

explain to them the reason for celebrating Tenchōsetsu. 60

To create a celebrative atmosphere around the towns and to render the

day special, Taiwanese merchants were ordered to close their shops and

businesses for the day and households were advised or even required to raise a

Japanese flag at their doors or on the rooftops. Some administrative offices paid

extra attention to ensure the Taiwanese displayed the flag correctly. For example,

the Anping Administrative Office provided the flags and gave training lessons to

58 For instance, chief administrators of the Hsinchu Prefecture and Miaoli Administrative Office
stated that the celebration provided the best opportunity for the Taiwanese to learn about the
empire’s grand rituals, and observing the holiday would benefit the administration.
Taiwan sheng wen xian wei yuan hui (Taiwan Historica), ed., Taiwan zong du fu dang an fan yi ji lu
[Translated Archives of the Taiwan Governor’s Office], vol. 1 (Nantou: Taiwan sheng wen xian wei
yuan hui (Taiwan Historica), 1992), 9, 11.
59 Ibid., 29.

60 Ibid., 9, 11.

181
Taiwanese community leaders. They would, in return, teach the commoners and

residents in their neighborhood how to make and display the flag. The effort

paid off. The Anping Office gauged that the Taiwanese seemed to have learned

about Tenchōsetsu. On the holiday, seventy to eighty percent of the households in

the area raised Japanese flags; those who did not raise a flag were mostly the

uneducated and the poor. 61

The administration buildings where the ceremonies took place were

decorated with green arches and two large Japanese flags at the main entrance.

To accentuate the theme of “Japan,” ball‐shape lanterns, smaller flags, and

draping cloth in red and white were often used to decorate the interior of the

administrative building and the nearby streets. Larger cities such as Taipei,

which received donations from Japanese and Taiwanese merchants, put on more

elaborated decorations; 62 smaller towns would at least beautify their town halls.

The Tenchōsetsu celebrations had two constituent events: a yōhai

(“worshipping from afar”) ceremony to show respect to the Japanese emperor,

and a festivity of banquet and entertainment. To house the yōhai ceremony, the

Japanese officials used objects such as banners, drapes, tables or chairs to make

an ōza, which symbolically represented the throne. A few local governments

61 Ibid., 25.
62 Ibid., 41‐42.

182
managed to use a picture of the Japanese emperor in their ceremonies. 63 To

demonstrate their acceptance of Japanese rule and cooperation, some cities put

additional ceremonies in the local and prominent sites. For example, citizens in

Danshui set up an ōza in the Longshan Temple, and invited Japanese officials to

join the festivities after the governmental celebration. Though the Taiwanese

thus demonstrated their efforts and gestures of welcoming the Japanese reign,

members of the Japanese military police were sent to the Longshan Temple to

guard the ōza set up there. 64

The ceremony: the ritual and the music

The yōhai ceremonies of Tenchōsetsu across the island shared a similar

format, comprising ritualistic gestures of worshiping and bowing to the ōza

representation of the Japanese emperor. Participants gathered at the

administrative buildings and entered the ceremonial site in prescribed order and

as pre‐arranged groups. The ceremony would begin with speeches given by the

leading officials of the Prefectures or the Administrative Offices. In some cases, a

member of the Taiwanese elites also gave a congratulatory speech. Then the

63 The Penghu Department, Yilan Prefecture and Yunlin Administrative Office reported to have
the emperor’s picture in their ceremonies. The emperor’s portrait used in Yunlin Administrative
Office was from the private collection of a staff member. Yilan Prefecture and Penghu
Department did not report the acquisition of the portrait. Danshui Prefecture claimed to acquire a
photo from the Japanese consul in Hong Kong.
64 Taiwan sheng wen xian wei yuan hui (Taiwan Historica), ed., Taiwan zong du fu dang an fan yi ji

lu [Translated Archives of the Taiwan Governor’s Office], 15, 18‐19.

183
Japanese performed yōhai, and the selectively invited Taiwanese elites and

community leaders would enter the ceremonial site to pay homage to the

Japanese emperor.

In addition to the bowing and speeches, the Japanese national anthem

Kimigayo was either sung or played on an instrument. In Keelung Prefecture, for

example, an accordion accompanied the participants’ singing of Kimigayo. 65 In

the Danshui Prefecture, about sixty Taiwanese children sang Kimigayo at the

ceremony, a source of pride for the prefecture government. They had

successfully taught the children to sing Kimigayo in just five months or less. 66

Taiwanese children’s singing of the anthem Kimigayo was, however, not

an uncommon practice. In Yilan, Taiwanese students in the school opened by the

Prefecture government sang the anthem at the ceremony. 67 In Lugang, local

teachers gathered about thirty students to teach them to sing the anthem. In the

Tenchōsetsu ceremony, these students sang the anthem three times with

coordinated movements and clear voices, and the Japanese officials appraised

65 Ibid., 29.
66 Ibid., 16.
67 Ibid., 35. At this stage, the Bureau of Education of the colonial government was still

experimenting on educating the Taiwanese with the Japanese language. The schools mentioned
in these reports were likely the language schools set up by the Japanese local administration, or
the Chinese private classrooms run by Taiwanese schoolmasters.

184
that the Taiwanese students’ rendition was nearly as good as the singing of

Japanese children. 68

In the Chiayi Administrative Office of central‐southern Taiwan, some

Japanese soldiers sang Kimigayo during the ceremony and performed military

songs with coordinated movements to conclude the ceremony. 69 The Miaoli

Administrative Office had a different musical sound. After the ritual proper had

completed, about a dozen local citizens entered the site to perform local music

for about thirty minutes to conclude the ceremony. 70

The festivity and its musical sounds

After the yōhai ceremony, most local administrations hosted receptions or

entertainment parties. The party could begin right after the yōhai ceremony, or a

few hours later. The festivities were filled with eating, drinking, and

performances of music, theatre, and dance. Both Japanese and Taiwanese genres

were performed, and they attested to regional and local differences. For example,

in several celebrations in northern Taiwan, the Japanese genres would include,

for example, the narrative ballad‐drama jōruri to shamisen accompaniment, the

comic interludes kyōgen from noh drama, and sumō wrestling. The Taiwanese

68 Ibid., 13, 26. From the context of the prose, the Taiwanese children mentioned in the report
were likely the pupils of shufang, private Chinese academies, rather than students enrolled in a
Japanese school supervised or sponsored by the colonial government.
69 Ibid., 23.

70 Ibid., 11.

185
genres included young Taiwanese geishas’ performances of singing and

instrument playing. In central Taiwan, local Taiwanese elites launched operatic

performances at the ceremonial site; in two locations the Japanese enjoyed

Satsuma Biwa, sword dance (kembu), music and dance episodes of noh drama

(nōgaku‐mai), military songs, narrative shamisen music jōruri, and humorous

storytelling rakugo.

Figure 4‐2: A Taiwanese parade in the celebration of the Japanese emperor’s

birthday, Tenchōtsetsu, in November 1895. 71

Image scanned from She ying Taiwan: 1887‐1945 nian di Taiwan (The face of Taiwan, 1887‐1945), 48.
71

The note accompanying this picture states that the image shows a program celebrating
November 3, 1895. However, no further information of the resource or provenance is given.

186
 In offshore Penghu Pascadore, the Department Chief had a reception in

which the Japanese sailors hit a big drum, sang and danced to folksongs, and

created puzzle games for further entertainment. Some Japanese workers

performed the popular shamisen narrative of jōruri and the storytelling rakugo. At

the doorway of the Department Office, local performers executed several

episodes of Taiwanese theatre and opera. The Japanese witnessing the Taiwanese

show did not understand what was sung but appreciated the graceful costumes

and clothing, and found the music enjoyable. 72

In areas such as Yilan and Miaoli where the Aborigines had a significant

population, they were also invited to participate and perform. In Yilan Prefecture,

the party included not only operatic performances sponsored by the Taiwanese

community leaders but also the Aborigines’ offering of a large deer as

salutation. 73 In Miaoli, a group of sixteen Aborigines came to the celebration.

They paid homage in the yōhai ceremony by performing in the Japanese way, and

in the party they danced in a round circle, and appeared to have enjoyed the

event that prescribed for them a new Japanese identity. 74

72 Taiwans heng wen xian wei yuan hui (Taiwan Historica), ed., Taiwan zong du fu dang an fan yi ji
lu [Translated Archives of the Taiwan Governor’s Office], 52.
73 Ibid., 35.

74 Ibid., 11.

187
 Subsequent occurrences: expanding the Tenchōsetsu celebration

Since the first Tenchōsetsu celebration in 1895, the Japanese emperor’s

birthday was dutifully observed and celebrated every year. In the process, the

celebration expanded in several aspects: first, the celebration extended to more

remote locations, indicating the further consolidation of Japanese political control;

second, schooling and the celebration became integrated with each other; and

third, the celebration was localized into a social occasion for Japanese

administrators and their Taiwanese subjects to build rapport.

As the Tenchosetsu celebration reached smaller towns and villages, more

and more Taiwanese learned about the holiday and its political meanings. The

1895 celebration was limited to the major cities and towns where the Japanese

colonial government had taken control. As the colonial administration

geographically expanded, the Tenchosetsu celebration entered the life of more

Taiwanese town people and villagers. For example, for the Tenchosetsu of 1896,

the Taipei celebration included Xindian, a village in the hilly outskirt. 75 Dajia, a

mid‐size town in central Taiwan, joined the celebrative topography of the area. 76

The Japanese coordinated the Institutionalization of the Tenchosetsu

holiday into Taiwanese life with the launching of colonial schools. In autumn

1896, fourteen Japanese Language Labs opened in Taiwanese cities and towns to

75 Taiwan Shimpō, no.54, November 6, 1896, p. 2.

76 Taiwan Shimpō, no.55, November 7, 1896, p, 3.

188
provide Japanese language training to Taiwanese young adults and a prototype

of elementary education for children. Beginning in 1898 when the Common

Schools started to provide elementary education, Common School students

became the designated participants of the holiday ceremony, and the schools

often became the sites where the local rituals took place. For instance, in the

Qingshui township in central Taiwan, the celebration in 1900 took place at the

local Common School, and a small student sports relay supplemented the

festivity and marked the holiday. 77

As the Tenchōsetsu celebration spread to more Taiwanese locations, it

localized the holiday, and brought local Japanese officials and Taiwanese

subjects together on this day, at designated sites, to mark the celebration with

local or available musical sounds.

IV. Conclusion

By the first decade of colonization, Japanese holidays – the Tenchōsetsu

and Shisei kinenhi, for example – became enmeshed into colonial Taiwanese life,

and their sounds, performance venues, and activities reminded both the Japanese

and Taiwanese who they were and had to become. In observing Tenchōsetsu,

Taiwanese demonstrated their loyalty to the Japanese emperor. In observing

77 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.762, November 13, 1900, p. 4.

189
Shisei kinenhi, the Japanese reiterated the colonial polity through imperial Shinto

rituals and governmental ceremonies. When Shisei kinenhi was intended to be

celebrated like Tenchōsetsu, the Taiwanese sounds were used to mark the day on

the calendar. Listening to Taiwanese sounds during the festivities, Japanese

officials learned not only who their subjects were, but also how they could be

made to become more cooperative. When they musiked, they negotiated with

one another flexibly and dynamically.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

MUSIKING COLONIAL RITUAL AND RITUAL SPACE:

THE TAIWAN JINJA MATSURI

Since 1901, the Taiwan Jinja (Taiwan Shinto Shrine) overlooked the capital

city of Taipei, projecting the colonizer‐colonized relationship between Japan and

Taiwan. The ritual edifice affirmed Taiwan’s new status as a Japanese colony by

honoring Shinto deities and divinities (kami) as guardians of the land with

biennial matsuri (“festival”), which featured religio‐political ceremonies and

entertainment activities. The juxtaposition of Japanese and Taiwanese sounds

during the matsuri sonically embodied Japanese colonialism and the Taiwanese

response to it.

The Taiwan Jinja honored the spirit of Prince Kitashirakawa, who died in

the military expedition to annex Taiwan, and housed three important Shinto

deities of land tutelage. The architectural design of the shrine was totally

Japanese, an unmistakable visual and architectural representation of the empire

on the colony. As a ritual and political site, the Taiwan Jinja enjoyed the most

191
elaborated forms of Taiwanese musical performances when it became a site of

matsuri, a Shinto shrine festival, where Japanese ritual music and Taiwanese

festive sounds generated a unique soundscape.

To explore the unique soundscape of the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri and how it

musiked colonial reality, this chapter presents a brief introduction to Shintoism

and jinja as a religio‐political site; the historical developments that led to the

building of the Taiwan Jinja in 1901; its ritual and festival program; the Japanese

authority’s manipulation of ritual and musical expressions to engage Taiwanese

locals; and the Taiwanese response to the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri.

I. Shinto and Jinja in Meiji Japan

Shinto, meaning “ways of the kami”, is an ancient Japanese belief system.

Kami, usually translated as spirits, gods, or deities, refers to “an extremely wide

range of spirit‐beings together with a host of mysterious and supernatural forces

and ‘essence.’” 1 The picture of the kami thus resembles a pantheon of polytheism,

containing a wide spectrum of divinities, from natural objects such as trees,

landscape such as waterfalls, anthropomorphic gods and goddesses such as the

sun goddess Amateratsu, to actual ancestral and historical figures such as the

Meiji emperor.

1C. Scott Littleton, Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places (Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002), 25.

192
 Jinja, literally meaning “place of the kami”, are where divine beings reside,

and do not need to be marked by any man‐made edifices. However, since the

fifth century jinja began to be associated with specific architectural structures,

and as a result a tendency emerged to identify kami with the place where a shrine

and its distinctive sacred gateway (torii) were erected. 2 A shrine’s affairs are

usually managed and overseen by a gūji, or chief priest, and a number of

assistant priests. 3 In short, jinja is a site where the Japanese conduct their Shinto

beliefs and express their sentiments toward the world by revering the kami.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, when Japan aspired to

become a colonial power, Shinto and jinja acquired highly nationalistic and

imperialistic meanings. Transforming itself from a feudal society to a modern

nation‐state, Meiji Japan revived the emperor not only to become the central

subject of Japanese identity and loyalty but also the anchor point of Japanese

nationalism. Meiji Japan launched a series of state involvements in Shinto affairs,

reforming historical imperial rituals, creating new ceremonies, and redefining

Shinto as a non‐religion in the constitution. 4 By stressing an unbroken imperial

line from the mythical ancestral origin of sun‐goddess Amateratsu to the first

2 Stuart D.B. Picken, Essentials of Shinto: an analytical guide to principal teachings (Westport,
Connecticut; London: Greenwood Press, 1994), 128.
3 Littleton, Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places, 74.

4 Helen Hardacre provides a concise introduction to the historical development of State Shinto in

the Meiji era. Helen Hardacre, Shinto and the State, 1868‐1988 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1989), 27‐40.

193
mythical‐historical emperor Jimmu down to the present, Meiji Japan made the

historically tight relationship between the imperial house and Shintoism

inseparable. In 1890, the Rescript of Education was issued. As schoolchildren

learned, memorized, and recited this document in their school activities,

Shintoism was culminated in public awareness as the foundation of the Japanese

nation and national memories. 5

Concurrent with educational efforts, the nation‐building project of Meiji

Japan also involved manipulating visual and physical representations to mark

nationalistic sentiments and meta‐narratives. Shinto shrines were thus

transformed into religious and architectural representations of Japanese national

history. Their aura of antiquity and association with historical events and sacred

sites rendered them unmistakable signs and landscapes. In addition to reviving

the mythical deities, more effort was poured into elevating historical emperors

and ruling aristocrats who had contributed to the survival and revival of the

imperial household throughout history. They were exalted as national heroes

and honored in newly‐built shrines. By the late 1880s, numerous new and old

5Carol Gluck, Japanʹs Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1985), 139.

194
national heroes and shrines were scattered throughout Japan, creating a religio‐

political topography retelling Japanese history. 6

The revival and reconfiguration of Shinto in Meiji Japan also downplayed

the folk religious elements of traditional Shinto to highlight Shinto as a national

belief, kokka shinto (“State Shinto”), in which the Japanese imperial household,

nation, state, and empire were enmeshed into Shinto/State religious and ritual

practices. 7 It was in this context of nation, state and empire building, with a

readjusted religion of State Shintoism, that Japan took Taiwan as its first foreign

colony. The grand Shinto shrine built in Taiwan was thus a joint product of State

Shinto and colonization, one that architecturally shaped colonial discourse in

Taiwan.

II. Building the Taiwan Jinja: the Historical Development

Taiwan Jinja, a Shinto shrine of the highest rank and the first of its kind in

Taiwan, was built to honor a new Japanese hero, Kitashirakawa no Miya,

Yoshihisa Shinnō (hereafter Prince Kitashirakawa). In May 1895, he led the

Imperial Army to push the Japanese military operation from Taiwan’s northern

tip down to the southern part through major cities and towns along the western

6 T. Fujitani, Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1996), 87‐90.
7 Picken, Essentials of Shinto: an analytical guide to principal teachings, 37‐38.

195
plains of the island. Near the end of the expedition, he unfortunately contracted a

tropical disease and died on October 28th in Tainan. His remains were secretly

transported back to Japan. The Imperial Household then announced the news of

his death and buried him with a state funeral. The first sign of commemorating

Prince Kitashirakawa in Taiwan appeared several days after his death. On

November 3rd, Governor‐General Kabayama celebrated the completion of

annexation and the Meiji emperor’s birthday in Tainan. During the celebration,

he composed and presented a poem titled “Shinnō banzai” (“Long Live His

Royal Highness”) that praised the prince’s heroism and commemorated his

sacrifice. 8

8Suga Kōji, Nihon tōchika no kaigai jinja: Chōsen jingū Taiwan jinja to saijin [Overseas Jinja under
Japanese Rule: Korean Shinto Palace and Taiwan Shinto Shrine and the Kami Worship] (Tokyo:
Kōbundō, 2004), 243.

196
Figure 5‐1: Prince Kitashirakawa (second left) at a camp site. 9

The demise of Prince Kitashirakawa during the annexation effort

generated Japanese sentiments toward the prince. He was considered a

contemporary version of Yamato Takeru‐no‐mikoto, the legendary prince who had

dedicated himself to his country through military action and territorial

expansion. 10 By November 1895, Japanese newspapers were already publishing

opinions calling for the installation of the spirit of the Prince as a “guardian

divinity” of Japan’s southern territory. 11 Then, Onchi Wadachi, the manager of

the Kitashirakawa household, wrote to Governor‐General Kabayama expressing

9 Image scanned from Jian zheng‐‐Taiwan zong du fu, 1895‐1945 (Witness‐‐the colonial Taiwan, 1895‐
1945), 1895‐1945, 2 vols., vol. 1 (Taipei: Li hong chu ban she, 1996), 88.
10 See Kojien for a concise explanation, or Wikipedia

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato_Takeru> for a quick reference in the English language.

11 Suga, Nihon tōchika no kaigai jinja : Chōsen jingū Taiwan jinja to saijin [Overseas Jinja under Japanese

Rule: Korean Shinto Palace and Taiwan Shinto Shrine and the Kami Worship], 244.

197
the household’s wish to properly commemorate the Prince in Taiwan by building

a jinja in his name. 12 In January 1896, the parliament discussed issues posed by

building a commemorative jinja in Taiwan: what rank should the new colonial

jinja be, and what deities in addition to Prince Kitashirakawa should be

enshrined? What ritual program would it feature to address its character? 13

In September 1896, a committee led by Governor‐General Nogi was set up

to investigate a suitable site for constructing a large new jinja in the colony. 14 The

jinja was originally planned to commemorate Prince Kitashirakawa, and within

the Sōtokufu the project was often called “Kitashirakawa jinja”. 15 Locations in

Taiwan where the Prince had set his eventful footprints became potential sites:

Keelung, where the Prince claimed his first victory; Tainan, where the Prince

died accomplishing his heroic task; or Taipei, where the Sōtokufu was located.

The jinja was finally built in Taipei, on a hill at the northern side of the city, 16

and the decision was promptly announced in Taiwan. The Taiwan Daily News

12 Wen Guoliang, ed., Taiwan zong du fu gong wen lei zuan. Zong jiao shi liao hui bian : Mingzhi er shi
ba nian shi yue zhi Mingzhi san shi wu nian si yue [Internal Communication of Taiwan Governor‐
Generalʹs Office: Documents on Religious Matters, October 1895 ‐ April 1902] (Nantou, 1999). 517‐21.
13 Suga, Nihon tōchika no kaigai jinja: Chōsen jingū Taiwan jinja to saijin [Overseas Jinja under Japanese

Rule: Korean Shinto Palace and Taiwan Shinto Shrine and the Kami Worship], 244‐46; Taiwan Jinja
Shamushō, Taiwan Jinja shi [Records of the Taiwan Jinja], 7th ed. (Taihoku (Taipei): Taiwan Jinja
Shamushō, 1932), 51.
14 Cai Jintang (Sai Kindō), Nihon teikoku‐shugika Taiwan no shūkyō seisaku [Religious Policy of Taiwan

under Japanese Imperialism] (Tokyo: Dōseisha, 1994), 22.

15 Suga, Nihon tōchika no kaigai jinja: Chōsen jingū Taiwan jinja to saijin [Overseas Jinja under Japanese

Rule: Korean Shinto Palace and Taiwan Shinto Shrine and the Kami Worship], 249.
16 Ibid., 250, Cai (Sai), Nihon teikoku‐shugika Taiwan no shūkyō seisaku [Religious Policy of Taiwan

under Japanese Imperialism], 22.

198
(Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō), for example, reported that the Sōtokufu was to turn

the Yuanshan Park into a Shinto shrine worshipping Prince Kitashirakawa as the

guardian of Japan’s southern territory. 17

The construction of the shrine began in February 1899 while the

discussion of which deities and how many thrones to be installed in the new jinja

continued – the divine beings to be enshrined determined the purpose and rank

of the jinja. In mid‐1900, the fourth Governor‐General Kodama submitted several

proposals to persuade Tokyo to give the newly constructed Taiwan Jinja the

highest rank of a kampeisha taisha (“governmental great shrine”), which would be

directed by professional Shinto priests. Kodama eloquently argued that the

Taiwan Jinja should enshrine Prince Kitashirakawa as the tutelary spirit of the

colony, and the three Shinto deities of the great lords and guardians of the

country (“kaitaku sanshin”), Okuni‐tama‐no‐mikodo, Onamuji‐no‐mikodo, and

Sakunihikona‐no‐mikodo, 18 as the tutelary gods of newly acquired territories. In

doing so, Kodama declared, the jinja would assist with the governing of the new

territory, and help transform the people there. Given such political significance,

17Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 118, September 22, 1898, p.3.
18The Romanization of the names of the three kami is taken from Picken, Essentials of Shinto: an
analytical guide to principal teachings, 40.

199
Kodama also persuaded the government in Tokyo to pay for the construction

and administration of the Taiwan Jinja. 19

Kodama’s proposals defined the character and operation of the Taiwan

Jinja. First, it was of the highest rank of the government great shrines, and thus it

became an integral part of the colonial administration. Great national shrines

were operated by government‐appointed priests and financially supported by

the government. The priests and the financial support would ensure that the

Taiwan Jinja could properly operate by performing the required imperial rituals.

Second, the two thrones, one of the historical personality of Prince Kitashirakawa

and one of the three divine beings, consolidated the image of the Taiwan Jinja as

a supreme tutelary shrine (sōchinju) sent over by the empire to oversee the

newly‐added southern territories. The symbol and the discourse pointed to the

Japanese ambition of future colonial expansion toward “the south”, the land of

Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The Taiwan Jinja was simultaneously a

demarcation of the new frontier line as well as a manifestation of Japanese

imperial expansion. The colony of Taiwan was the first result of that ambition.

19 Taiwan Jinja Shamushō, Taiwan Jinja shi [Records of the Taiwan Jinja], 52‐54; Cai, Nihon teikoku‐
shugika Taiwan no shūkyō seisaku [Religious Policy of Taiwan under Japanese Imperialism], 22‐23.
Kodama’s proposals to Tokyo can be found in Wen, ed., Taiwan zong du fu gong wen lei zuan. Zong
jiao shi liao hui bian: Mingzhi er shi ba nian shi yue zhi Mingzhi san shi wu nian si yue [Internal
Communication of Taiwan Governor‐Generalʹs Office: Documents on Religious Matters, October 1895 ‐
April 1902]. 523‐26.

200
 With the Taiwan Jinja built, imperial Japan not only included Taiwan

among the jinja topography but also attempted to use Shinto ritual and the shrine

for governance, education, and cultural transformation. Visually, the presence of

the Taiwan Jinja modified the topography of the Taipei suburb where it stood.

The new landscape projected an image of the empire of Japan and its

colonization of Taiwan. Indeed, before the new imposing Sōtokufu mansion was

built in 1919, the Taiwan Jinja was one of the most visible grand symbols of the

Japanese empire on the colony. In addition to its visual and architectural

symbolism, the Taiwan Jinja also expedited empire‐colony discourses through

Japanese and Taiwanese musical sounds.

201
Figure 5‐2: The Taiwan Jinja in a bird’s‐eye view painting, which shows the
architecture and it surrounding environment. 20

20Image scanned from the cover of Jian zheng‐‐Taiwan zong du fu, 1895‐1945 (Witness‐‐the colonial
Taiwan, 1895‐1945), 1895‐1945, vol.1. The note accompanying the picture indicates the image was
painted by Yoshida Hatsusaburō. According to Li Qinxian, Yoshida and his studio produced
several bird’s‐eye view paintings of famous Taiwanese scenery around 1935. Li Qinxian, Taiwan
de gu di tu: Ri zhi shi qi [Historical Maps of Taiwan: the Japanese colonial period] (Taipei county: Yuan
zu wen hua shi ye, 2002), 13.

202
Figure 5‐3: The Taiwan Jinja, ca. 1905. 21

III. The Taiwan Jinja Matsuri: the Programs

The most important activity of a jinja is the matsuri, a package of rituals

and festivities that occur in and around a jinja during a specific time. Describing

a matsuri in Yuzawa, Michael Ashkenazi remarks that the main ritual activity of

a shrine is the public festival during which religious ceremonies and public

festivities are performed. 22 The ceremonies are performed by trained priests

affiliated with the celebrating shrine. The festivities, often called yokyō, refer to

21 Image scanned from Jian zheng‐‐Taiwan zong du fu, 1895‐1945 (Witness‐‐the colonial Taiwan, 1895‐
1945), 1895‐1945, 2 vols., vol. 2 (Taipei: Li hong chu ban she, 1996), 19. The image appears in a
postcard issued to celebrate the tenth anniversary of colonization.
22 Michael Ashkenazi, Matsuri: Festivals of a Japanese Town (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,

1993), 4.

203
leisure and entertainment performed and enjoyed by both professionals and the

laymen. As the case of Yuzawa illustrates, the matsuri was a two‐day event. The

first day featured rites of purification to receive the kami in the morning and

some forms of entertainment in the evening, and the second day was supposed

to be the main festival day when the entertainment activities climaxed. 23

The Taiwan Jinja Matsuri contained the basic elements and format of a

typical matsuri. In 1901, the official date of the grand commemoration (taisai, or

omatsuri) was set on October 28, the day Prince Kitashirakawa died in Taiwan in

1895. Like other matsuri, it was scheduled as a two‐day event. October 27 was

designated as the day of enshrinement, when the spirits of the honored deities

were welcomed and enthroned in the shrine (chinzasai). On October 28 came the

grand commemoration (taisai), in which the ritual was performed in the morning

followed by a series of entertainments throughout the day.

On the mornings of both days, Shinto priests appointed by Tokyo would

conduct the solemn Shinto ritual, a process observed by a ritual community

composed of Sōtokufu high bureaucrats and a handful of carefully selected

laypersons from the Japanese and Taiwanese communities. The Shinto ritual

began with the priests performing purification in the early morning. Then drums

Ibid., 1‐3. In the neighborhood matsuri that Ashkenazi observed, the second day, festival day
23

was rather quiet. This was because the second day fell on a work day and present‐day Japanese
would go to work rather than staying for the festival.

204
were struck to gather all the ritual observers at the torii gate, from where they

proceeded toward the jinja building. Before they could enter the building,

however, they had to perform a series of purification rites. Once they gathered

inside the worship hall, the central part of the ritual began. The liturgy consisted

of a series of patterned movements performed by the different ranks of Shinto

priests and the offering envoy. Their movements could be divided into four

major sections – gate opening, presenting offerings, retracting offerings, and gate

closing. Each was marked by musical performances of gagaku, Japanese court

music. 24 For the enshrinement liturgy on October 27, the four corresponding

gagaku music pieces performed were: Katen no kyū for gate opening; Karyōbin no

kyū for presenting offerings; Raryō’ō for retracting offerings; and Shin raryō’ō for

gate closing. For the grand commemoration liturgy on October 28, the four pieces

of music performed for the four sections of ritual activities were Mansairaku,

Goshōraku no kyū, Sandai’en no kyū, and Keitoku. 25

24 The ritual procedures were extensively reported in entries of Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1042,
October 22, 1901, pp. 2‐3; Kanbun Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2549, October 27, 1906, p.2.
25 Information on the gagaku pieces performed to the liturgies was reported in Taiwan nichi nichi

shimpō, no. 1648, October 27, 1903, p. 5; no. 1649, October 28, 1903, p.8. I follow the romanization
of the Chinese‐Japanese titles listed in Robert Garfias, Music of a Thousand Autumns: the Tōgaku
Style of Japanese Court Music (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975), 303‐
314.

205
Table 5‐1: Taiwan Jinja Matsuri liturgy and corresponding gagaku music pieces

liturgy – October 27, October 28,

gagaku Enshrinement (chinzasai) Grand Commemoration
pieces (taisai)
gate Katen no kyū Mansairaku
opening (“The Palace of (“Congratulatory Music for
Congratulations”, Ten Thousand Years ”) 27
denouement) 26
presenting Karyōbin no kyū Goshōraku no kyū
offerings (“The Kalavina” or “The (“The Five Constant Music”,
Bird”, denouement) 28 denouement) 29
retracting Raryō’ō Sandai’en no kyū
offerings (“The King of Lanling”) 30 (“[Music of Heaven
Longevity]”,denouement) 31
gate Shin raryō’ō Keitoku
closings (“New King of Lanling”) (“Celebrating virtue” or
“Rooster’s virtue”) 32

After the ritual performance in the morning, the jinja was open for public

worship in the afternoon. First came organized groups from the colonial

institutions of schools and armies, and then individuals from the general public

26 I follow the English translation of the title in Laurence E.R. Picken, ed., Music from the Tang
Court, vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 20.
27 I use the English translation of the title in Eta Harich‐Schneider, The Rhythmical Patterns in

Gagaku and Bugaku (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954), 57.

28
I follow the English translation of the title in Picken ed., Music from the Tang Court, vol. 3, 30.
Karyōbin is the Japanese reading of the Chinese transliteration of Sanskrit “Kalavinka”, the name
of a special bird in India.
29 My English translation of the title. Eta Harich‐Schneider translates the title as “The Five Times

Repeated Music”). Harich‐Schneider, The Rhythmical Patterns in Gagaku and Bugaku, 57.
30
I follow the English translation of the title in Picken ed, Music from the Tang Court, vol. 5, 1.
31 The meaning of the title, Sandai’en, is not clear. However, the original newspaper essay explains

that this piece is also named Tenjuraku, whose three Chinese‐Japanese characters literally mean
sky/heaven, life/longevity, and music.
32 This gagaku piece renders two different Chinese‐Japanese titles with the same Japanese readings.

My English translation of the titles.

206
followed. During the two days of matsuri, the festivities took place in the nearby

Yuanshan Park and in many designated spots in the city of Taipei. To mark the

matsuri space, streets were decorated with Japanese flags and Japanese‐style

lanterns, and fireworks were released to enhance the atmosphere of the festival.

Public entertainment was offered in many forms at many locations, transforming

the city into a festival ground.

Alternating large and small matsuri

Once the Taiwan Jinja celebrated the grand opening in 1901, the Sōtokufu

began to plan subsequent matsuri so that its religio‐political function could be

continued. The annual performance of the shrine’s rituals and festivities

reminded the Taiwanese people of their relationship with the Japanese kami, and

reinforced the colonial discourses that Taiwan Jinja prompted. In early October

1902, the Taipei County governor gathered the Japanese and Taiwanese

community leaders of the city to discuss the approaching anniversary. 33 By mid‐

October, however, general consensus moved towards holding a small matsuri,

since little preparation had been done. Contrasting opinions were also voiced. A

newspaper critic, for example, argued that the government should mark the first

33 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1332, October 8, 1902, p. 3; no. 1334, October 10, 1902, p. 3.

207
anniversary of the Taiwan Jinja with a large matsuri, one that would set an

example for the subsequent celebrations. 34

Exercising their administrative authority, the Sōtokufu opted to have a

quiet and small commemoration at the jinja in 1902. 35 On October 27, the day of

enshrinement, the jinja hosted a vigil service rather than a formal ceremony; the

general public, however, was encouraged to visit the shrine to pay homage.

Hundreds of Taiwanese and Japanese students from all levels of colonial schools

in the Taipei area came; they lined up to enter the shrine, bowed to the thrones of

the spirits, and sang to show their respect. 36 On October 28, the day of grand

commemoration, the priests performed a formal ceremony at the shrine. A

handful of Sōtokufu bureaucrats and a small number of chosen Japanese and

Taiwanese laypersons observed the ceremony. After the grand ceremony the jinja

was open in the afternoon for public visitation and worship.

In 1903, the large‐format matsuri returned, and thus established a pattern

of alternating between the small and large format for the event. The small‐scale

version would take place during even‐numbered years; the large matsuri with a

full schedule of ceremonies and festivities would be celebrated during odd‐

34 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1338, October 15, 1902, p. 3.

35 The details of the Sōtokufu decision on making the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri a biennial event is
beyond the current scope of this chapter, but more research on the subject matter would shed
light on the reason why the Sōtokufu was not able to press for a large matsuri in 1902.
36 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1345, October 24, 1902, p. 3; no. 1348, October 28, 1902, p. 2.

208
numbered years. 37 One of the practical concerns that led to the alternating

schedule was possibly financial. A large‐scale matsuri was a costly event for not

only the Sōtokufu, who had to mobilize people to participate in the matsuri, but

also for the communities who had to contribute human and material resources.

Even if the Sōtokufu had the support of Tokyo and the administrative power to

mount the Taiwan Jinja Matruri, the financial concern was critical. 38

IV. Musiking Inside and Outside the Taiwan Jinja

The Taiwan Jinja Matsuri generated a distinctive soundscape in the colony

of Taiwan. Whether it was performed as ritual or entertainment, music was an

indispensible component of the event. In fact, all of the musical works performed

during the matsuri were carefully screened and coordinated performances.

Gagaku, the Japanese court music, was performed to underscore the long history

of the imperial household; its distinctive melodies and timbre sonically

represented the empire. Commemorative songs sung during the matsuri made

specific historical and political statements. Nigimitama, a shōka song specially

composed to commemorate Prince Kitashirakawa in the Taiwan Jinja, was

37 The information on how to proceed with the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri after its installation in 1901
appears in newspaper entries of Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō in October 1902 and August 1903.
38 The costly nature of sponsoring the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri could be seen in the discussions and

negotiations between the Sōtokufu and the Japanese communities in Taipei for the 1903 matsuri.
Tension built up between the colonial government and the Japanese communities over cost‐
sharing schedule and financial burden. The numerous newspaper reports in the month of
October 1903 pointed to the critical issue of finance.

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intended as a lesson for the Taiwanese. Students from all levels of colonial

schools learned the song, and sang it when they visited the jinja to pay their

annual homage.

Ritual music of the empire: the ancient and the modern

An analysis of the music performed in the 1901 grand opening of the

Taiwan Jinja Matsuri will suffice in order to trace the ways the Japanese and

Taiwanese manipulated specific genres and compositions of music to negotiate

their agendas. On October 27, 1901, the ritual of enshrinement began at six

o’clock in the morning when the imperial envoy and priests prepared to escort

the thrones of the Prince and the kami to the jinja. The procession began at seven

o’clock and followed a pre‐designated route, one that started from inner‐city

Taipei and ended at the shrine in the suburbs. 39 The procession was an imperial

march closely escorted by military guards. A little later, around seven o’clock,

the widowed Princess Kitashirakawa left her lodging for the shrine in a

procession via another route. Meanwhile, the attendants of the enshrinement

ceremony, including honorary guests from Japan, high‐ranking bureaucrats of

39The routes are announced, for example, in Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1044, October 24, 1901,
p. 3.

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the Sōtokufu, and selected local elites, gathered outside the torii gateway of the

jinja to wait for the arrival of the thrones and the Princess. 40

When Princess Kitashirakawa arrived at the shrine, the military band

stationed there played to welcome her. The Princess then waited for the arrival of

the thrones at the second torii. 41 When the imperial envoy approached the first

torii, the first drum call was sounded to signal the arrival of the divinity. 42 As the

imperial envoy carrying the thrones entered the torii, the military band played

the national anthem Kimigayo. 43 At eight o’clock, shrine officials struck the

second drum call. Then the high priest guided the procession of musicians,

thrones, and offerings towards the worship hall. After the priests performed

purification rites on the ritual community, the Princess and the attendants

entered the worship hall and took their assigned seats. 44 The liturgy of

enshrinement then proceeded with enthroning, offerings, and worshipping. It

was a ceremony punctuated by the performance of designated pieces of gagaku

40 It is plausible to assume that military band music escorted the processions of the imperial
envoy and Princess Kitashirakawa. An imperial march would not be without music or
coordinated sounds to support the spectators. According to the reports in Taiwan nichi nichi
shimpō, no. 1048, October 28, 1901, p.1, sounds of trumpets, possibly of a military band, marked
the beginning of the procession and at specific points of the march. However, current available
data do not provide a definite answer regarding the role of military band in the imperial
processions.
41 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1047, October 27, 1901, p. 4.

42 Taiwan Jinja Shamushō, Taiwan Jinja shi [Records of the Taiwan Jinja], 59.

43 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1049, October 30, 1901, p. 2.

44 Taiwan Jinja Shamushō, Taiwan Jinja shi [Records of the Taiwan Jinja], 59‐60.

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music, which marked the ritual stages of gate opening, presenting offerings,

retracting offerings, and gate closing.

Preparations for the ritual music performance began as early as a year

before the actual ceremony. In 1900, the Sōtokufu developed and presented a

budget to the government in Tokyo for the purchase of the required musical

instruments. The Sōtokufu planned to acquire a large drum, a small drum, five

shō (mouth organ), eight hichiriki (nine‐hole oboes), and additional fifty pieces of

musical instruments. 45 And to ensure that the ritual music was properly

performed, the Sōtokufu requested the hiring of Shinto priests with gagaku

training. The colonial authority was keenly aware of the fact that the priests and

staff hired for the jinja had to independently manage not only the ritual but also

the music. Taipei was too far away from Tokyo, and no temporary musicians or

priests could be asked to perform at the new jinja. 46 Despite such long‐term

planning, the Sōtokufu still requested the help of six court musicians from Japan

45 Wen, ed., Taiwan zong du fu gong wen lei zuan. Zong jiao shi liao hui bian: Mingzhi er shi ba nian shi
yue zhi Mingzhi san shi wu nian si yue [Internal Communication of Taiwan Governor‐Generalʹs Office:
Documents on Religious Matters, October 1895 ‐ April 1902]. 482. The document does not specify the
contents of the fifty pieces of musical instruments. The date of this budget proposal was not
clearly indicated. However, based on a correspondence from the Sōtokufu to the Kitashirakawa
Household dated November 5, 1900, the itemized budget was possibly submitted to Tokyo in late
1900. The Sōtokufu anticipated hearing from Tokyo about the proposed budget in spring 1901.
Ibid., 513‐514.
46 Ibid., 592.

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for the grand matsuri of 1901. The musicians traveled to Taipei only for this

unique performance. 47

The ritual sounds of 1901 projected both the ancient and the modern faces

of imperial Japan as they had been constructed in the Meiji Restoration. In his

eloquent analysis, T. Fujitani shows how Kyoto and Tokyo, the ancient and the

modern capitals of the empire, were made to embody the past and the present of

the empire. 48 The two‐faceted nature of the empire was sonically projected by the

rituals and ceremonies of the Taiwan Jinja, a projection that the enshrinement

ritual in 1901 vividly illustrated. 49 The brassy sound of the military band

underscored the present and the modern: military band music accompanied the

procession of the thrones, welcomed the widowed princess, and played the

Japanese national anthem. The gagaku music which accompanied the Shinto

ritual performances underscored the ancient and the historical. Played slowly,

the floating melodic lines of the hichiriki and the tone clusters of shō evoked the

timeless aura of antiquity and solemnity.

Gagaku, which was historically performed only in the Japanese court,

sounded quite exotic to most ritual attendants at the Taiwan Jinja. They would

47 Ibid., 597.
48 Fujitani, Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan, 83‐90.
49 One can also argue that the visual representations of the ancient and the modern of the empire

on the colony were realized in the Taiwan Jinja and the new Sōtokufu mansion built in 1919. The
contrasting architectural styles of the Jinja and the Sōtokufu evoked precisely the two images of
the empire.

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not have known the distinctive sounds of the hichiriki, a short double‐reed oboe

that carried the melody line against the slow‐moving and sustaining tone

clusters of the shō mouth organ; nor would they have understood the cyclic

rhythmic patterns marked by the drums. 50 The sound and the performance

fascinated the participants and elicited curiosity. A journalist reported that both

Japanese and Taiwanese had asked about the music, and the news agency was

proud to explain that Japan imported the music from Tang China (618‐947 CE)

and had managed to preserve it outside its original home. 51

The modern sound of the military band in 1901 might not have been

repeated in the matsuri in the subsequent years. The princess and imperial envoy

only came to Taiwan to observe the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri once. Without the

presence of the royal members, the use of military band music was not critical. 52

This does not mean, however, that there was no modern sound in the subsequent

celebrations. Instead of military band music, shōka, school songs created for and

sung by Taiwanese students, provided the modern echoes. Nigimitama was

50 A standard gagaku ensemble includes several drums in different sizes, string instruments of
wagon, koto, and biwa, and wind instruments of hichiriki, fue, ryūteki and shō. William P. Malm,
Traditional Japanese music and musical instruments (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International,
2000), 102‐111. Whether the gagaku music performance at the Taiwan Jinja utilized the same
orchestration as the court ensemble, however, remains to be answered by further research. From
the colonial government’s budget proposal to Tokyo, it was clear that hichiriki, shō, one large
drum and one small drum were specified musical instruments.
51 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1648, October 27, 1903, p. 5.

52 It is possible that the military band used in the grand opening in 1901 was specially sent over to

Taiwan for this event. See Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1046, October 26, 1901, p. 4.

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specially commissioned for the grand opening of the Taiwan Jinja. It was a song

that the Sōtokufu officially circulated to all colonial schools and commanded

students to learn and sing at the jinja. The song immediately became a standard

item in the colonial shōka repertoire: students would sing the song as they made

their annual homage visit to the jinja.

The song Nigimitama (“Spirit with Gentle Virtue”) eulogized Prince

Kitashirakawa for bringing civilization to Taiwan, and prayed the spirit to

continue blessing the Taiwanese. The song text employed literary and poetic

metaphors to praise the braveness and sacrifice of the prince. The classical‐style

lyrics were opaque for most Taiwanese students; they could only understand the

song after many lessons and explanations. 53 Musically, the tune of Nigimitama

was both historical and modern. Composed by Shiba Fujitsune, the head of the

Gagaku Department of the Imperial Household, its melody corresponds to the

poetic structure of the text. It features four melodic phrases of equal length.

Using the tōgaku pentatonic scale of ryō on G (main tones I/G, II/A, III/B, V/D,

VI/E, a Japanese version of the Chinese gong mode on G), 54 the melody of

53 An entry in Taiwan Kyoikukai Zasshi [Taiwan Education Society Newsletter] 3 (December 1903), 77‐
79, solicited explanations of the textual meaning of the song Nigimitama. The identity of the
person posting the question is unknown. However, such a request demonstrates that the song
Nigimitama posed certain difficulty for the Taiwanese students to understand, and possibly some
teachers also felt the challenge of explaining the song texts to their students.
54 See Garfias, Music of a Thousand Autumns: the Tōgaku Style of Japanese Court Music, 58‐62, for the

adoption of Chinese music theory to Japanese gagaku mode‐key system and the resulting
variation therein.

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Nigimitama echoed gagaku melodies and their imperial associations. The simple

rhythm of the song, however, was a modern expression. A large group of

students could easily sing to project the grand empire of Japan and their feeling

of awe towards it.

Figure 5‐4: Musical example: Nigimitama (“Spirit with Gentle Virtue”). 55

1. With the great mind as his intension, he developed, nurtured, and

uniformed people in Taiwan and moisturized them with dew of progress.

55Image scanned from Taiwan Sōtokufu, Kōgakkō shōkashū (Taihoku (Taipei): Taiwan Sōtokufu,
1915), 76. English translation by Yuri Fukazawa.

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2. Hoping to bloom flowers of civilization, with the body of the Imperial
family, he lived with soldiers and went through fields and untraveled
mountains.

3. With his hair combed by winds of swords and his body showered by rain
of arrows, attacked by fever‐causing mist and poisonous fog, the bright
star [the General] hid its light.

4. If we look up, there are tall shrine columns; if we look, there is a pure
mirror; blessing and prospering these people, the spirit with gentle virtue
is enshrined.

Festive music of the colony

During the two days of the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri, the city of Taipei was

turned into a festive ground of many kinds of entertainment musics. To generate

a grand matsuri, the Sōtokufu mobilized both the Japanese and Taiwanese

communities in the city to mount many kinds of entertainments and

performances. In 1901, the largest Japanese community in Taipei put on a parade

of two hundred and sixty adults and children, all dressed in new clothing

specially‐made for the event. 56 Japanese sumo wrestling, fencing, and artery also

took place in the Yuanshan Park near the jinja. Japanese geishas danced on stages

set up inside the park and in several Japanese residential areas in the city. 57 Little

is recorded about the music that accompanied the dances; presumably, it

56 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1039, October 17, 1901, p.2.

57 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1047, October 27, 1901, p.4.

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featured music played on shamisen, the long necked three‐string pluck

instrument which is the instrument par excellence of traditional Japan. 58

The Taiwanese participants of the matsuri offered several types of

performances, all of which were standard shows of traditional Taiwanese

festivals. The Taiwanese lion dance and dragon boat racing featured festive

sounds of gongs, drums, and cymbals. Several locations in the city staged

operatic performances. The Dadaocheng community offered an ensemble

performing music aboard a small steamer sailing along the river at the foot of the

hill where the jinja was located. 59 As the steamer sailed back and for the between

two bridges, the onboard Taiwanese geishas and accompanying musicians

played more than a dozen songs, all of which were carefully chosen to meet the

Sōtokufu’s commands. The performance featured singing and the sounds of the

plucked instruments pipa and sanxian, the two‐string bowed instrument huqin,

the vertical end‐blown flute xiao, and clappers and small drums. 60

The songs the Taiwanese geishas performed were probably selected from

the two major musical styles practiced by Taipei geishas –nanguan music and

58 Shamisen music is central to Japanese geisha’s dances. The geisha’s dances are likely from kabuki
dance numbers, and shamisen is the foundation of kabuki music. A popular music‐dance‐theatre,
kabuki is the artistic source of geisha’s training. Liza Crihfield Dalby, Geisha (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1983), 251‐55. Malm, Traditional Japanese music and musical instruments, 213.
59 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1047, October 27, 1901, p. 4.

60 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1039, October 17, 1901, p. 2; no.1040, October 19, 1901, p. 3.

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beiqu, Peking Opera arias and songs. 61 Nanguan, an instrumental and vocal

ensemble, had been brought to Taiwan by immigrant‐settlers from the Quanzhou

and Amoy (Xiamen) areas of southern Fujian. Since the eighteenth century,

nanguan music had been performed and enjoyed by the Taiwanese literati, and

was subsequently considered an art of high social status. 62 The basic

instrumentation of a nanguan ensemble contains five instruments. These include

the pipa, a four‐stringed plucked lute which plays the basic melody; the three‐

string plucked instrument sanxian which doubles the pipa’s melody an octave

below; the vertical end‐blown flute dongxiao that adds ornaments to the melody;

the two‐string bowed fiddle erxian which adds another layer of ornamentation;

and the wooden clappers which punctuate the rhythm. The clappers are played

by the singer. The music, with its sparse texture and slow tempo, often strikes its

listeners as graceful and classical. When performed during the Taiwan Jinja

Matsuri, it provided a sonic presence of the elite Taiwanese under Japanese

colonial rule.

61 In early twentieth century Taiwan, there were several different terms referring to Peking Opera
music, or the northern style music closely related to the Peking Opera. However, the term jingju
(“Peking Opera”) or jingdiao (“Peking tune”) was not used in Taiwan until a much later time.
Chiu Kun‐Liang then summarized the musical fashion of Taiwanese geishas as nanguan and beiqu
(jinju). Chiu, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi ju zhi yan jiu: jiu ju yu xin jiu [Study of Theatres of Taiwan in the
Japanese Colonial Period: old and new theatres] (Taipei: Zili wanbao chubanbu, 1992), 108. I hereby
use the two terms for the discussion.
62 Ying‐fen Wang, “Tune Identity and Compositional Process in Zhongbei Songs: a semiotic

analysis of nanguan vocal music.” (PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1992), 5.

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 In addition to nanguan music, the Taiwanese geishas could perform beiqu.

A body of songs selected from the Peking Opera or stylistically closely related

genres, beiqu was the new musical fashion of Taipei’s entertainment quarter

around the beginning of the twentieth century. The popularity of beiqu ascended

as the first part of the twentieth century unfolded. Performed during the Taiwan

Jinja Matsuri, beiqu marked the presence of a popular and fashionable Taiwanese

musical trend.

Figure 5‐5: Young Taiwanese geishas with their musical instruments. 63

The instruments the young Taiwanese geishas are holding are: Front row left to
right: sanxian (long‐necked three‐string plucked lute), pipa (pear‐shaped four‐
string plucked lute), erxian or huqin (two‐string bowed fiddle), pipa. Back row left
to right: yueqin or qinqin (moon‐shaped two‐, three‐ or four‐string plucked lute),
dongxiao (vertical end‐blown flute), and pipa.

63Image scanned She ying Taiwan: 1887‐1945 nian di Taiwan (The face of Taiwan, 1887‐1945), 7th ed.
(Taipei: Xiong shi tu shu, 1989), 23.

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 Menjia, another large Taiwanese community in old town Taipei, offered

two days of operatic performances by all‐female casts. Sixteen actresses or

geisha‐actresses performed on a temporary stage. There they performed full

operas or operatic excerpts, three in the daytime and two in the evenings. 64 The

theatrical excerpts were most likely taken from the beiguan opera repertoire. A

widely popular operatic genre and musical style of Taiwan, beiguan opera

performances were standard entertainment in Taiwanese temple festivals and

celebrations. Beiguan (“northern pipe”) opera were sung in a Mandarin‐like

64Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1039, October 17, 1901, p. 2; no.1040, October 19, 1901, p. 3. The
newspaper entries provide the titles of the five operas.

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language not intelligible to most Taiwanese. 65 It was nonetheless practiced and

performed by a number of elite amateur music clubs and professional troupes. In

the nineteenth century, beiguan opera and music had become a highly‐regarded

art and evolved into a uniquely Taiwanese cultural form. Performed in the

Taiwan Jinja Matsuri, it juxtaposed Taiwanese ritual entertainment with Japanese

matsuri entertainment, underscoring the Japanese and Taiwanese musiking in

the matsuri.

The sounds of a beiguan opera are distinctively Taiwanese. In addition to

the singer/actors, the opera features instrumental music played by four classes of

musical instruments. These are: (1) “leather instruments,” which include drums,

clappers and woodblocks for rhythm keeping, (2) “brass instruments” of gongs

and cymbals, (3) “strings,” which include bowed instruments of coconut fiddle

or jinghu to lead the main melody, and plucked strings to add harmonies and

textures, and (4) “blowing instruments,” the large and small double reed suona,

and the horizontal flute. 66 The sound produced by the singers and the

instrumental ensemble along with the lavish costumes of the performances

65 The term beiguan has many levels of meaning, and different authors often write about beiguan
with different definitions. Here I use the second definition provided by Ping‐hui Li. In this
definition, which Li considers as more widely accepted, beiguan is music sung in a Mandarin‐like
dialect and contains four major types of music, two aria styles and two instrumental types. Ling‐
hui Li, “The dynamics of a musical tradition: contextual adaptations in the music of Taiwanese
Beiguan wind and percussion ensemble” (PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1991), 16.
66 Wen Qiuju, “Beiguan yin yue,” in Taiwan yin yue yue lan [Music of Taiwan: a Reader], ed. Chen

Yuxiu (Taipei: Yushanshe, 1997), 64‐66. Lü Yuxiu, Taiwan yin yue shi [Music History of Taiwan]
(Taipei: Wunan publication, 2003), 432‐33.

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sonically and visually added to the festive aura of the masturi and entertained

the participants. The sounds and sights, however, also catalyzed the negotiations

between the Japanese and Taiwanese, elite and commoners.

V. Musiking Jinja and Musiking Colonization

Visually, the Taiwan Jinja represented the empire and its colonial relation

with Taiwan, and musically, the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri embodied and enacted

that representation. Being the only grand Shinto shrine outside of Japan and

housing Prince Kitashirakawa and the tutelary kami, the Taiwan Jinja was

important to the colonial government as the ultimate political and religious

symbol of colonization. The ritual space and the festival of the Taiwan Jinja

became the site and activity to educate and socialize the Taiwanese about the

colonial reality.

Contemporary newspapers included views that the Taiwan Jinja helped

educate the Taiwanese. A writer of Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō [Taiwan Daily News],

for example, commented that the celebration should not be an event for Japanese

only; both the Japanese expatriates and the Taiwanese, he argued, should

embrace the event as their own. To make the Taiwanese more receptive to the

Taiwan Jinja Matsuri, the commentator suggested that the Japanese nationals in

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Taiwan should also attend Taiwanese temple festivals to show respect. Such an

act would motivate the Taiwanese to engage more in the Jinja celebration. 67

To make the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri a grand event, the Sōtokufu had

solicited participation and donations from the local populace, especially those

who lived in Taipei. Two months prior to the matsuri in 1901, the Taipei County

governor gathered Taiwanese community leaders to inform them of the

upcoming event, and that their involvement was demanded by the colonial

government. 68 The Taipei County governor was especially meticulous about

overseeing the Taiwanese performances. For instance, he demanded sample

performances of the lion dances, which the Japanese had not known, to ensure

they were appropriate. 69 Several weeks later, the governor expressed concerns

over the music to be performed by the Taiwanese geishas. He demanded that the

songs should focus on virtuous themes such as loyalty, propriety, and

commitment, and should avoid songs about love affairs and romantic longing.

And to ensure the demand was met, the governor requested the organizational

committee of the Dadaocheng district to report personal details of the

67 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1599, August 28, 1903, p. 2; no. 1600, August 29, 1903, p. 3.
68 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1002, September 3, 1901, p. 2.
69 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1009, September 11, 1901, p. 3. Interestingly, according to Stuart

D.B. Picken, shishi‐mai (lion dance) is a dance commonly performed in shrine festival and the
dance possibly has Chinese origins. Stuart D.B Picken, Essentials of Shinto: an analytical guide to
principal teachings, 178.

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performing geishas: their age, teachers, locations of performances, and

repertoire. 70

The meticulousness of the colonial government illustrated that the

Japanese did not trust the judgment and taste of the Taiwanese community

leaders. Besides their lack of understanding of Taiwanese society and culture, the

colonial officials looked down on the Taiwanese as the colonized and

subordinated. Another instance that revealed their superiority and control over

the Taiwanese were the demands they made in 1903. To make more Taiwanese

celebrate the matsuri, the Taipei county governor summoned the Taiwanese

headmen from the sub‐district quarters, boroughs and villages (gaishō), and

ordered them to deliver instructions about the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri to the

members of their communities. The governor stressed that the Taiwan Jinja

Matsuri was for all residents in Taipei and not just limited to the districts near

the Jinja; thus all the Taiwanese households within Taipei County were expected

to participate in the festive activities of the matsuri. They should all raise a

Japanese flag in front of the house and light lanterns under their roofs. In

addition, each quarter and village should stage an opera or some kind of

performance to express respect. All businesses should close for the day for

70 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1028, October 4, 1901, p. 4.

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celebration and commemoration. 71 The governor did not specify what penalty

would be imposed on the Taiwanese households or villagers who did not

perform as ordered. The Taiwanese, however, probably followed the order as

they had accepted the reality of being the colonized and learned how to live in

colonial conditions.

Practical Taiwanese knew the importance of gesturing cooperation. Thus

they contributed festivities and entertainment activities to the matsuri. Such

contributions were, however, not without political and social calculation. The

Taiwanese wanted to advance their agendas of social stability and economic

well‐being. The Taiwanese community leaders were well aware of the fact that

the colonial government was now the authority exercising power and influence

upon Taiwanese daily life. Cooperating with the Japanese would assure certain

welfare for themselves as well as for their fellow Taiwanese. Taiwanese

merchants in Taipei were particularly willing to establish ties with the Japanese

authority. 72 Their cooperation with the Japanese, in part demonstrated by their

sponsoring of musical ensembles and operatic performances to the Taiwan Jinja

71Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1633, October 8, 1903, p. 3.

72In the chaotic and violent aftermath of the 1895 annexation, the merchant‐elites of Taipei were
among the first Taiwanese community leaders who attempted to mediate between the Japanese
and the Taiwanese to reestablish social order. Wu Wenxing provides documentation and
interpretation of that effort. Wu Wenxing, Ri ju shi qi Taiwan she hui ling dao jie ceng zhi yang jiu
[Study of the Taiwanese Social Strata of Elites and Leaders in the Japanese Colonial Period] (Taipei:
Cheng Chung Book Co., 1992), 48‐60.

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Matsuri, was thus not only a peacemaking gesture but also an effort to develop

the colony’s social and economic stability.

VI. Conclusion: Musiking Colonial Reality

The Taiwan Jinja Matsuri was created by the Japanese colonization of

Taiwan, and the rituals and festivities embodied the empire‐colony relationship.

Built to symbolize the empire on the colony, the Jinja served to educate the

Taiwanese of the colonial reality through visual and musical expressions and

activities in ritualized sites. This education reached all levels of Taiwanese

society because the Sōtokufu mobilized both the Japanese expatriates and the

Taiwanese communities to participate and contribute to the matsuri. As a result,

the ritual space and the soundscape of the Taiwan Jinja Matsuri juxtaposed not

only Japanese and Taiwanese acts and musics, but also their agendas. If gagaku,

shamisen, and shōka sounded out the Japanese empire in the colony, the

Taiwanese geishas’ nanguan instrumental ensemble and beiguan operatic

performances voiced out the Taiwanese colonized and localized desires.

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 CHAPTER SIX

MUSIKING ELITE AND RELIGIOUS TAIWANESE:

CONFUCIAN CEREMONIAL MUSIC AFTER JAPANESE COLONIZAION

After the Japanese annexation of Taiwan in 1895, the Taiwanese elites

attempted to continue the ceremonial music and dance performed to honor

Confucius, despite the change of polity. Performing the Confucian ceremonial

music and dance was a form of subtle defiance to Japanese colonization as well

as an understated desire to maintain and assert their identity. Colonization

brought unexpected changes to the sites, sounds, and patronage networks

pertinent to performing the ritual. Consequently, the Taiwanese elites were

forced to compromise or adjust the venues of the ceremony and the music to be

performed. And they had to negotiate with the colonial authority to ensure their

right to continue performing the ritual, one of ultimate cultural significance to

them as Taiwanese, Confucian, and elite.

The Japanese colonial authority allowed the Taiwanese elites to continue

performing the Confucian temple ceremony as a strategy to ease tension and

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build rapport with the elites, whose status as social and cultural leaders

demanded that the colonial authority seek their cooperation and support.

However, due to the change of polity and the demanding nature of performing

the Confucian ceremonies, the social foundation supporting the ritual

performances was gradually dismantled, both intentionally and unintentionally,

by colonization. As a result, just a decade into annexation, some Confucian

temples managed to continue the tradition while many were forced to abandon it.

Conducting Confucian ceremonial music and dance in colonial Taiwan

was thus a laborious musiking process. To illustrate the negotiations between the

Taiwanese elites and the Japanese colonial authority, the following discussion

will first provide a short history of Confucian temples in Taiwan, with a focus on

the two largest temples in two Taiwanese political‐cultural centers, Taipei and

Tainan. Second, the discussion will provide an overview of Confucian ritual

music and dance. Third, the chapter will discuss the formation of the Taiwanese

Confucian ceremonial tradition in Qing Taiwan, and the transformation of the

tradition brought by colonization. Fourth, the discussion will highlight the

musiking negotiations between the Taiwanese elites and the Japanese authority

on performing Confucian ceremonial music and dance.

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I. Confucian Temples in Taiwan: a Historical Development

In traditional China, Confucian temples were state institutions that

symbolized the rightful and legitimate governance of a dynasty. Through

building the temple and performing the proper ritual to honor Confucius, a

regime proclaimed its legitimacy by demonstrating its embrace of Confucian

values and ideology. When the Zheng kingdom (1661‐1683) took Taiwan from

Dutch rule in 1661, the Zheng regime began its reign as an anti‐Qing and Ming

royalist political entity by setting up a Ming‐style government and building a

Confucian temple‐school compound. Upon its completion in 1666, a spring

ceremony was held to honor Confucius. 1

When the Qing government defeated the Zheng kingdom and took

Taiwan into its jurisdiction in 1683, Taiwan became a prefecture (fu) of the Fujian

province (sheng), with its prefectural capital in Tainan. The Qing administration

immediately opened two county‐level Confucian temple‐schools in 1683 and

1684. In 1685, two Qing mandarins, the Taiwan governor and the Fujian‐Taiwan

supervisor, rebuilt the earlier prefectural Confucian temple‐school to replace the

one erected by the Zheng regime. 2 For almost two centuries, until 1879, the

1 Lian Heng, Taiwan tong shi [History of Taiwan], Reprint ed., Taiwan wen xian shi liao cong kan Di
1 ji [Collection of Taiwan historical documents, series 1], vols. 19‐20 (Taipei: Da tong shu ju,
1984[19]), 39.
2 Huang Wentao, Zhongguo li dai ji Dongnan Ya ge guo si Kong yi li kao [Rituals Honoring Confucius

in China and Southeast Asia], Jiayi wen xian (Jiayi, Taiwan: Jiayi xian wen xian wei yuan hui [Jiayi
historical documents committee], 1965), 108.

230
prefectural Confucian temple‐school located in Tainan continued to operate as

the highest‐ranked educational institution of Qing Taiwan, and its temple

remained the largest and most prestigious on the island.

In two centuries of Qing rule of Taiwan from 1683 to 1895, the population

of Chinese immigrant‐settlers grew rapidly, and settlements spread from the

area around Tainan to the north. The Qing administration responded to Taiwan’s

demographic development by setting up new counties to extend administrative

control. To assist in frontier governance, Qing administrators built more

Confucian temple‐schools. Qing bureaucrats and officials supervising the

Taiwanese administration often stressed the importance of establishing schools

to promote Confucianist learning as the means to civilize and govern the frontier

island. 3 Thus, as Taiwan developed, several smaller county‐level Confucian

temple‐schools were also built. The chronology of establishing Confucian

temple‐schools in Taiwan roughly corresponded to the pattern of land

exploitation and population growth, which historically and geographically

expanded from the south to the north of the island. The latest Confucian temple

built by the Qing administration in Taiwan was the prefectural Taipei Confucian

3The discourse is illustrated in writings of Qing literati‐officials to Taiwan about the Confucian
temple‐school in Tainan. Wang Bichang, Chong xiu Taiwan xian zhi [Revised Taiwan County
Gazette], ed. Taiwan shi liao ji cheng bian ji wei yuan hui bian ji [Committee of Taiwan Historical
Documents], vol. 10‐11, Taiwan shi liao ji cheng: Qing dai Taiwan fang zhi hui kan [Collection of
Taiwan Historical Data: compilation of Qing Taiwan Gazettes] (Taipei: Wen hua jian she wei
yuan hui (Council of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan), 1745[2005]), 218‐227.

231
temple and its school in 1879, after Taiwan was elevated to a province in 1875

and Taipei became the new capital of the island.

II. Confucian Ceremonial Music and Dance

The most important activity in a Confucian temple was the performance

of spring and autumn ceremonies to honor the great teacher and philosopher.

Jikong yuewu, the songs and dances performed in the temples during ceremonies

honoring Confucius embodied the Confucian idea of yayue, proper music or

civilized music. In classic Confucian theory, music happens as people make

sounds when moved by external stimuli. When the sounds are patterned and

performed with dance, they become music (yue, or yuewu), the abstract means to

express and communicate human feelings. Communicative in nature, music thus

deeply effects peoples’ minds and is a powerful tool of governance and self‐

cultivation. Proper music, yayue, produced by people of benevolence, thus

should be promoted for a person to excel and a society to achieve harmony. 4 By

the same token, when improper music or vulgar music prevails, it indicates the

disruption of social order and the failure of governance. 5

4 Joseph S. C. Lam, “Musical Confucianism: The Case of ‘Jikong yuewu’.” in On Sacred Grounds:
Culture, Society, Politics, and the Formation of the Cult of Confucius ed. Thomas A. Wilson
(Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 2002), 145.
5 Ibid., 146.

232
 Confucian classics offered prescriptive theories about what makes proper

music. For music to sound properly, instruments should be constructed from the

eight categories of materials – metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, earth, leather,

and wood. Tuning must be accurately pursued so the primordial pitch,

huangzhong, corresponds to and harmonizes with the cosmic forces of heaven

and earth. Proper music, realized in the ultimate format of state sacrificial music,

should have proper texts composed by appropriate authorities and set to tunes

and dances. The tunes should be in the mode‐keys chosen according to the

season, the purpose, and the subject to be honored; dance movements are to be

choreographed to enhance the semantic understanding. 6 All Yayue – and

especially the normative practices of state sacrificial music – sonically, visually,

and intellectually embodied the Confucian ideals of socialization and governance,

the core of Chinese culture and identity.

Among the genres considered yayue, the proper performance of Confucian

ceremonial music and dance was the most elaborate in presentation. The

performance demanded the particularized site of the Confucian temple, specific

ritual utensils, food and wine offerings, animal sacrifices, musical instruments

and songs, and specific procedures of the rites. The ritual of the Confucian

ceremony began several days prior to the ceremony day with the preparation of

6 Ibid., 146‐147.

233
ritual utensils and the items of offering, and it climaxed in the sacrificial offering

(ji) presented inside the temple. The structure of the ceremonial presentation,

composed of six stages, was standardized in 1393. 7 Music was performed for all

the six stages, and dance was performed during the three rounds of making

offerings. The ritual staff and celebrants, often the leading officials and literati,

performed the offerings but did not sing or dance. The music and dance were

performed by musician‐dancers (yuewusheng), who were often the young

Confucian students from local schools. The ceremonial music and dance was

thus, as Lam comments, a presentation performed for the ritual celebrants and

the audience who observed the actions. 8

The ritual music and dance performed in Taiwanese Confucian temples

during the Qing period followed the Qing practice. The six stages of rites –

welcoming of deities, three rounds of offering, retrieving the offering, and

sending off the deities – were accompanied by corresponding songs, with texts

composed by the Qing emperor Qianlong in 1745.

7 Ibid., 138.
8 Ibid., 139‐40.

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Table 6‐1: The six stages of the sacrificial offering of the Confucian ceremony. 9

rite music/song title dance

(1) yingshen Zhaoping (dancers holding up
(welcoming the the dance instrument
deities) yu but do not dance)
(2) chuxian Xuanping dancers dance and
(First offering) move following the
(reciting a prayer rhythm
honoring Confucius)
(3) yaxian Zhiping dancers dance and
(Second offering) move following the
rhythm
(4) zhongxian Xuping dancers dance and
(Final offering) move following the
(acceptance of the rhythm
consecrated wine and
meat) dancers bow and
leave the hall
(5) chezhuan Yiping (no dance)
(retrieving the
offerings)
(6) songshen Deping (no dance)
(bidding farewell to
the deified); wangliao
(burning the sacrificial
articles)

The six songs used in the six ceremonial stages were each composed of

eight verses. The same texts were used in the spring and autumn ceremonies, but

were set to melodies in different mode‐keys corresponding to each season. The

9Chart compiled based on information and references from Ibid., 138‐139; Taiwan shimpō no.315,
September 26, 1897, p. 4; Huang chao ji qi yue wu lu ([ca. 1871]).

235
following notation shows the first song, Zhaoping, used in the rite of welcoming

the deities (yingshen) in the autumn ceremony:

Figure 6‐1: Music Example: the first song, Zhaoping, in Qing Confucian
ceremonial music. 10

Zhaoping, for the rite yingshen (“welcoming the deities”)

1. Da zai Kong zi Great is Confucius!

2. Zian jue xian zhi He perceives and knows in advance.
3. Yu tian di can Between Heaven and Earth,
4. Wan shi zhi shi He is the teacher of all generations.
5. Xiang zheng lin fu This propitious sacrifice is marked by blessed silk,
6. Yun da jin si And its music played by instruments of metal and
silk.
7. Ri yue ji jie Now that the Sun and Moon are unveiled to us,
8. Qian kun qing yi The universe is clear and peaceful.

10Based on the transcription in Fu‐yen Chen, “Confucian Ceremonial Music in Taiwan with
Comparative References to its Sources” (PhDdissertation, Wesleyan University, 1976), 202‐205.
Text and translation quoted from Joseph S. C. Lam, “The yin and yang of Chinese music
historiography: The case of Confucian ceremonial music.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 27 (1995):
37.

236
 Accordingly, to create the proper Confucian ceremonial sound, the

ensemble was composed of musical instruments made from the eight categories

of materials. Instruments of fixed tuning may require two sets, one for the spring

ceremony and one for the autumn, as the proper pitch should accord to the

season. Qing practices prescribed the following musical instruments and dance

paraphernalia: 11

(1) Metal: bell (bozhong), in jiazhong pitch for spring ceremony

bell (bozhong), in nanlü pitch for autumn ceremony
bell set (bianzhong) (16 bells)
(2) Stone: chime (teqing), in jiazhong pitch for spring ceremony
chime (teqing), in nanlü pitch for autumn ceremony
chime set (bianqing) (16 chimes)
(3) Silk: zither – seven strings, no bridge (qin)
zither – twenty‐five strings, with bridge (se)
(4) Bamboo: panpipes (paixiao)
vertical end‐blown bamboo flute (xiao)
transverse side‐blown flute (di)
partially stopped side‐blown flute (chi)
(5) Gourd: mouth organ (sheng)
(6) Earth: ocarina (xun)
(7) Leather: barrel shaped drum (gu), struck with stick
smaller drum struck with hands (bofu)
(8) Wood: square wooden open tub, struck with mallet (zhu)
wooden idiophone in the shape of a crouching tiger (yu)
Dance instruments: silk banner (hui) to signal the start or stop of music
tasseled banner (jie) to signal and regulate the dance
instruments that dancers hold in right hands (yu)
instruments that dancers hold in left hands (yue)

Information based on Chen, “Confucian Ceremonial Music in Taiwan with Comparative

11

References to its Sources”, 143‐172; Taiwan shimpō no.315, September 26, 1897, p. 4.

237
Figure 6‐2: Drums (upper frame) and bell‐set (lower frame) used and stored in
Tainan Confucian Temple, ca. 1931. 12

12Image scanned from Chaoqing Xu and Meiya Lan, eds., Taiwan jing dian xie zhen: xie hou san shi
nian dai Formosa [Classic photographs of Taiwan: meeting the 1930s Formosa] , 2 vols., vol. 2 (Taipei,
1997), 489. The original publication of the pictorial guide, Taiwan shōkai saishin shashinshū (A Guide
to Formosa), dated 1931.

238
III. Formation of Confucian Ceremonial Tradition in Qing Taiwan

Proper performance of the Confucian ceremony required the coordination

of many factors. Prior to the ceremonial day, offerings of food, wine, silk, and

animal sacrifice needed to be prepared by following specific procedures. Ritual

utensils of various shapes and sizes containing offerings were arranged for the

presentation as prescribed in the ritual manual or treatise. Young Confucian

students had to learn to play the musical instruments and rehearsed to dance the

choreography so that they could properly present the ceremony to the officiants

and audience. In sum, the Confucian ceremony was itself a body of specialized

knowledge that demanded study and experience to understand and to perform.

Knowledgeable agents, be they ritual masters or literati officials, were thus

crucial in executing a proper performance of the ceremony. In addition,

maintaining the musical instruments and preparing offerings involved costly

logistics and thus the ceremonies were often in need of financial support from

both the government and the local communities.

The highly specialized nature of the Confucian ceremony rendered the

tradition difficult to maintain. In Taiwan, the older Confucian temples, such as

the oldest Tainan temple, managed to slowly consolidate the practice into a

localized tradition in the nineteenth century, while younger Confucian temples,

such as the Taipei temple, had just begun to learn the knowledge of performing

239
the ceremony. After Japan colonized Taiwan, such differences became an

important factor influencing the continuation of the Confucian ceremony. Thus,

to examine how the tradition of Taiwanese Confucian ceremony operated after

Japanese colonization, it is necessary to understand the formation of the tradition

as it was reflected in the two representative Confucian temples, Tainan and

Taipei, during the course of Qing rule.

Tainan Confucian Temple vs. Taipei Confucian Temple

As the old capital city of Taiwan, Tainan possessed the glory of having the

first Confucian temple built on the island in 1665 by the Zheng regime.

Theoretically, the Tainan Confucian temple had performed the first Confucian

ceremony in Taiwan when the Zheng regime held the spring ceremony upon the

completion of construction. However, information concerning this very first

Confucian temple and its ritual music and dance performance is sketchy. In the

context of exile, how the Zheng regime managed to perform the ceremony with

the necessary rites, music, and dance is a question that remains difficult to

answer.

When the Qing regime rebuilt the Tainan Confucian temple in 1685, the

temple had only a simple structure consisting of the Great Hall and the

mingluntang school. For its first expansion in the 1710s, mandarin Chen Bin

240
added more structural units, completed the landscaping, and consolidated an

income to subsidize the expenditures of the temple. In 1715, Chen Bin also

acquired the ritual objects and musical instruments that the temple needed for its

ceremonies and ritual performances. 13 Thus, it is safe to assume that prior to the

1710s, the temple could only have performed the ceremony honoring Confucius

in a simplified rendition, possibly with limited or even no music or dance

performed during the rites.

After another three decades, in 1749, a group of local Taiwanese scholars

and gentry generated funds through private donations and proposed to the

government that the temple‐school be renovated. 14 In 1751, two Qing officials

donated funds to purchase newly crafted ritual utensils and musical

instruments. 15 This second stage of renovation completed the standard

architectural structure for a prefectural Confucian temple‐school; it also

completed the inventory of specified ritual objects needed by the Tainan temple.

After the 1751 renovation, the Tainan Confucian temple endured many

subsequent renovations to maintain the temple architecture, as well as its ritual

utensils and musical instruments. In the long history of the Tainan Temple, it

also developed a close bond with the local communities of gentries and elites,

13 Wang, Chong xiu Taiwan xian zhi [Revised Taiwan County Gazette], 309.
14 The names of the donors and the amount of monetary contribution are listed in the comments
written by Yang Kaiding, the Imperial Patrol Envoy to Taiwan. Ibid., 225, 227.
15 Ibid., 309.

241
who subsequently became the primary patrons of temple maintenance and ritual

performance. In 1835, Liu Hong’ou, a mandarin examining Taiwan’s military

and education affairs, visited the Tainan Confucian temple and was

disappointed by the decay of ritual objects. Mandarin Liu summoned the local

elites to discuss the matter of repairing, replacing, and maintaining the

instruments for proper ritual performance. Cai Zhinan, a titled literati with

expertise in music, proposed the creation of a yueju, or “music office,” to oversee

the vicissitudes of performing Confucian temple ceremonies. The proposal was

accepted, and several local officials and elites donated a substantial amount of

funds to start the yueju. In the next year, these elites used the starting fund to

purchase farming land and rent out the property to support the operation of the

yueju. 16 To assure smooth operation and fair use of income, the yueju was

supervised by elected board members. From the creation of the yueju in 1835, the

Tainan Confucian temple consolidated a local institution to continuously

patronize its operation. In so doing, the Confucian ceremony of the Tainan

temple became a localized tradition, studied, taught, and maintained by the local

literati, who themselves were also Confucian scholars committed to perpetuating

the tradition. The yueju continued to exist and operate until it was restructured

16Yamada Takashi, Tainan Senbyōkō [History of Tainan Confucian Temple] (Tainan: Satō kappansha,
1918), 242‐243.

242
into a music group yichengshe in 1918, which continues to perform Confucian

ritual music of the Tainan Temple today.

In contrast to the Tainan Confucian Temple, the Taipei Confucian Temple

had a very short history. Almost two centuries after the Tainan Temple was

established, the Taipei Temple began its construction in 1879. Building a new

Confucian temple in Taipei reflected the changes in Qing administration of

Taiwan in the second half of the nineteenth century. European and American

powers in East Asia and China expressed economic and military interest in

Taiwan beginning in the 1850s. In 1858, the Qing court was forced to sign the

Tianjin Treaty with America, Britain, France, and Russia, which demanded that

China open ten new ports, including two in Taiwan, for international trade. This

treaty illustrated the rising economic potential of Taiwan.

In 1874, Japan attacked the aboriginal tribes on the south shore of Taiwan

because in 1871 tribe members had murdered Okinawa (Ryūkyū) mariners

floating to the area after a typhoon. The event was eventually diplomatically

resolved, and the Qing administrators became aware of Taiwan’s importance in

defensive concerns. 17 In 1875, the Qing government reconfigured the

administrative system of Taiwan and established a new prefecture with the

17This 1874 Japanese military operation was an unsuccessful attempt to colonize Taiwan. But
Japan hence claimed Ryūkyū (Okinawa) into its jurisdiction. See Leonard Gordon, “Japanʹs
Abortive Colonial Venture in Taiwan, 1874,” The Journal of Modern History 37 (June 1965, 1965).

243
prefectural capital in Taipei. Later, Taiwan was elevated to the status of a

province in 1885.

As a new prefectural capital, Taipei needed a new city center and

administrative buildings. Taipei also needed a prefectural Confucian temple‐

school. In 1879, Qing officials in Taipei proposed a Confucian temple in the city,

and by 1881 the main architectural structures had been expeditiously completed.

However, the construction of the temple could not guarantee the appropriate

performance of Confucian ceremonial music and dance. When Fujian‐Taiwan

Supervisor Shao Youlian visited the autumn ceremony at the Taipei Temple in

1891, he noticed that the rites and music were not properly performed.

Disappointed but hopeful, mandarin Shao commanded the Taipei Temple to

purchase a complete set of ritual utensils and musical instruments. In addition,

mandarin Shao instructed them to hire two ritual masters from Fujian, one

specializing in liturgy and another in music, to train the two hundred newly‐

recruited students to perform the Confucian ceremony. Three years later, when

the next Taiwan Governor Tang Jingsong visited the spring ceremony in Taipei

in 1894, the ritual dance and music were well‐performed with the desired

solemnity and grandeur. 18 Only a year later, Taiwan became a colony of Japan.

18Huang Wentao, Zhongguo li dai ji Dongnan Ya ge guo si Kong yi li kao [Rituals honoring Confucius
in China and Southeast Asia], Jiayi wen xian (Jiayi, Taiwan: Jiayi xian wen xian wei yuan hui [Jiayi
historical documents committee], 1965), 110.

244
 Patronizing Confucian Ceremonial Music: the Qing Officials and the local

Taiwanese Elites

The above description of the construction of the two Taiwanese Confucian

temples and the Qing mandarin’s attempt to install the proper ritual

performance in the newly built Taipei temple epitomized the historical

experience of performing Confucian temple ceremonies in Taiwan. As a state‐

controlled cultural institution, Confucian temples could only be built with

governmental approval. Thus, in Qing Taiwan, officials assigned to

administrative positions in Taiwan were the driving force behind proposals for

building new Confucian temples as well as their renovation and expansion. This

included the replacement of old, decayed ritual utensils and musical instruments,

essential objects for the proper performance of Confucian ceremonies.

The constructions of the two largest Taiwanese Confucian temples in

Tainan and Taipei illustrated the role of Qing officials in promoting Confucian

temples on the Taiwan frontier. The first substantial renovation‐expansion of the

Tainan temple in the 1710s, initiated by mandarin Chen Bin, demonstrated par

excellence the role of governmental officials as the major patrons of the Taiwanese

Confucian temples. Achieving officialdom through studying Confucian classics

and passing state exams, these bureaucrats were knowledgeable agents who

245
understood the technicalities of conducting a proper Confucian ritual. As

powerful patrons, they used their status, power and connections to help

Taiwanese Confucian temples improve their ritual performance. Examples of

such benevolent officials were found at both the Tainan and Taipei temples.

Mandarin Liu Hong’ou gathered local Tainan elites together and motivated them

to found yueju to solve the problem of intermittent and inadequate ritual

performance. In Taipei, mandarin Shao helped recruit ritual and music masters

to train musician‐dancers to give proper ritual performances. These two

examples demonstrated the role of the Qing officials as the knowledgeable

agents and benevolent sponsors of the local Taiwanese Confucian ceremonies.

However, despite the importance of Qing officials to Taiwanese Confucian

temples, the bureaucratic patronage was not persistent and lacked continuity.

Qing officials stationed in Taiwan were itinerant. From the beginning of Qing

jurisdiction of Taiwan, the bureaucratic system had applied special caution and

exceptional regulation in assigning administrators to the frontier, peripheral, and

multiracial island. Officials to Taiwan were selected only from among the Fujian

Province bureaucrats who had accumulated administrative experience in

equivalent positions. 19 To motivate the Fujian Province officials to take positions

19 Tang Xiyong, Taiwan jian sheng hou zhi wen guan ren yong wen ti [Issues concerning the assignment
of civil officials to Taiwan Province, 1887‐1895] (Taipei: Institute of Three Peopleʹs Principle,
Academia Sinica, 1988b), 5.

246
in Taiwan as well as to prevent accumulation of personal power, officials would

only serve one three‐year term in Taiwan, and the Qing court guaranteed

subsequent promotion to higher mainland positions. 20 As a result, high Qing

officials in Taiwan rarely stayed long, and this itinerant nature interrupted the

continuity of bureaucratic patronage for the Confucian temples. A benevolent

official might help recruit masters to teach liturgy and music by setting aside

budgeted funds or donations; but the project might not continue when the

official finished his tenure and left Taiwan. The next official could have a

different administrative priority and might not continue to sponsor the temple.

And so despite the many renovations initiated by Qing officials, Taiwanese

Confucian temples repeatedly encountered the condition of broken musical

instruments and incomplete ritual performances.

In contrast to the itinerant governmental officials, the local elites could

support the temples beyond the tenure limit and frequent change of the

bureaucrats. The local literati and elites were themselves Confucian scholars and

sometimes took jobs as lower‐level governmental officials. 21 In a broader sense,

the local Taiwanese elites and the Qing officials were from the same group of

20 Tang Xiyong, Qing dai Taiwan wen guan di ren yong fang fa ji qi xiang guan wen ti [The assignment
of civil officials to Taiwan in Qing dynasty and its administrative issues] (Taipei: Institute of Three
Peopleʹs Principle, Academia Sinica, 1988a), 19.
21 In the Qing bureaucratic system, positions above certain ranks were assigned from the central

government. Local governmental positions were often lower ranked positions that could be held
by local literati who passed a certain level of exams and thus obtained the qualifications for
officialdom.

247
Confucianists, sharing common values and worldviews. Thus, local elites often

played a substantial role in patronizing the Confucian temples. For example, the

local Tainan elites contributed to the second renovation of the Tainan temple in

1749. This renovation, built on the foundation set by mandarin Chen Bin three

decades before, brought the Tainan temple to the desired architectural and ritual

completeness. A century later, the Tainan elites formed a more substantial and

sustainable patronage for their temple. The creation of a yueju in 1835 and its

continuing operation illustrated the importance of the local elite community in

sponsoring the Confucian temple and ceremony. Instead of relying on the good

will of individual, itinerant officials, the yueju could now generate its own

knowledgeable agents to oversee the continuation of Confucian ritual music and

dance by the next generations of young local elites. 22 In other words, in the

Tainan Confucian temple, the state ritual of the Confucian ceremony had become

a localized tradition practiced and transmitted by the community.

By the time of Japanese colonization of Taiwan, the oldest Tainan

Confucian temple had developed sustainable sponsorship from the local elite

community, while the youngest Taipei Confucian temple was still dependent

22Another example of local community developing sustainable sponsorship of the Confucian

temple is the Changhua Confucian temple. A county level temple‐school (xianxue), the Changhua
Confucian temple was first erected in 1726, and went through many renovations and
reconstructions. In 1811, the temple began to train students to perform ritual music and dance in
the biannual ceremonies. In 1871, a yueju, music office, was created for selecting qualifying
students to receive training in ritual music and dance.

248
upon Qing officials to be its knowledgeable agents and benevolent patrons. The

very different temple‐community relationship in Tainan and Taipei proved to be

a crucial factor in continuing the tradition of Confucian ceremonial music when

colonization occurred.

IV. Transformation of the Taiwanese Confucian Ceremonial Tradition after

Japanese Annexation

Japanese annexation of Taiwan in 1895 greatly affected the Confucian

temples, creating many difficulties and challenges for the performance of the

ceremony. First, in the early colonial period Taiwanese temples and public

buildings of many kinds were occupied by the Japanese to temporarily house

troops, hospitals, schools, or administrative offices. Confucian temples were not

immune from such disturbances. Occupied temples were suspended from

performing their usual function. For example, the Taipei Confucian Temple were

occupied for several years following 1895 to house Japanese troops and later

served as a military hospital. When the Taiwanese resumed performance of the

Confucian ceremony in October 1896, they were forced to relocate to the

Longshan Temple, a famous large Buddhist temple in Taipei’s Mengjia area. 23

However, a Buddhist temple is very different from a Confucian temple and the

23 Taiwan shimpō, no.37, October 15, 1896, p. 3.

249
Taipei community was completely deprived of the proper facility and context

required to properly conduct the ceremony. In Tainan, the Great Hall of the

Confucian temple was used by the Japanese Language Lab as a classroom

starting in November 1896. 24 In 1898 when the Common Schools were started,

the Tainan First Common School took over and continued to use the temple

facility until 1917. The Common School spared the Great Hall but used most of

the other architectural units as classrooms. 25 Although the Tainan community

was able to perform the ceremony in the desired facility of the Great Hall, they

had to negotiate the ritual day with the school schedule which could not be

easily altered.

Second, when a temple was occupied by Japanese troops, ritual utensils,

musical instruments, and even the temple architecture were often damaged or

destroyed by the soldiers. This was particularly true during the months of

annexation warfare when the Japanese colonizers were condescending to and

distrustful of the Taiwanese. While a small portion of the ritual utensils could be

quickly replicated or substituted with similar items, damaged musical

instruments found no quick replacements. Repairing or replacing the

instruments was costly and time‐consuming, as most items had to be crafted in

24 Xu Peixian, Zhi min di Taiwan di jin dai xue xiao [The Modern School in the Colony Taiwan]. (Taipei:
Yuan liu chu ban shi ye, 2005), 36.
25 Yamada, Tainan Senbyōkō [History of Tainan Confucian Temple], 23‐25.

250
China and imported to Taiwan. And damaged musical instruments meant muted

ritual music.

Damaged musical instruments constituted a common problem shared by

Taiwanese Confucian temples across the island, and the local elites who intended

to bring back the ceremony had to find their own solutions. For example, the

organizational committee of the Taipei Confucian Temple ceremony tried to

mobilize the community to search for substitute ritual utensils and musical

instruments from private collections, and offered to purchase usable items at

market price. 26 Despite such efforts, the number of objects recovered was limited.

Thus the 1897 ceremony was forced to proceed with damaged musical

instruments, rendering the ritual music to be undesirably thin, if not silent. 27 In

Changhua, annexation warfare caused much damage to the Confucian Temple’s

architecture and many objects. The elites of the Changhua area decided to

prioritize the acquisition of musical instruments, and used the winter income of

the temple’s tenant farm for this purpose. Several instruments, such as the drums

and wooden blocks, were commissioned from local craftsmen, while other pieces

of instruments had to be ordered from China. 28

26 Taiwan shimpō, no.301, September 9, 1897, p. 1.

27 Taiwan shimpō, no.301, September 9, 1897, p. 1.
28 Taiwan shimpō, no.331, October 15, 1897, p. 1. Changhua Confucian Temple established a yueju,

music office, in 1871, to oversee temple affairs. It is plausible the Changhua yueju, like its Tainan
counterpart, had set up a designated income to financially support the cost of temple
maintenance and ritual performance.

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 Third, upon annexation, the change of polity deprived Confucian temples

of their patronage from Qing officials, and diminished the function and role of

the temples in Taiwanese society. The Qing officials had been recalled back to the

mainland upon the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The few Qing officials

who remained in Taiwan were involved in the anti‐Japanese struggles of the

Republic of Formosa and eventually left Taiwan. The departure of the Qing

officials meant the complete withdrawal of the Qing state from Taiwanese life.

The function of the Confucian temple as the political and cultural institution

embodying the state suddenly ceased to exist. With state sponsorship withdrawn,

the temples depended entirely on the local elites, who were now the sole patrons.

In addition, the social chaos caused by annexation in 1895 and the final

date of changing to Japanese citizenship in 1897 prompted much of the upper

class gentry to move to China instead of remaining. After two waves of exoduses,

Taiwanese society witnessed a drastic decrease in the upper class. 29 Among those

who stayed in Taiwan, many opted to withdraw from their usual engagement in

public affairs as a form of resistance to Japanese rule. 30 The reconfiguration of the

elite network led to reduced sponsorship of the Confucian temple ceremonies. In

sum, colonization cut off the source of knowledge and patronage of the Qing

29 Wu Wenxing, Ri ju shi qi Taiwan she hui ling dao jie ceng zhi yang jiu [Study of the Taiwanese Social
Strata of Elites and Leaders in the Japanese Colonial Period] (Taipei: Cheng Chung Book Co, 1992), 24‐
28.
30 Ibid., 31‐33.

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officials and reduced elite sponsorship, leaving the responsibilities of conducting

the Confucian ceremony solely to local communities. The local communities had

to take up the work of training musician‐dancers and financing the expenditures

that the Confucian ceremony required.

Despite these factors and hardships, many Taiwanese elites chose to

continue performing the Confucian ceremony since it expressed their identity

and values through honoring Confucius, the ultimate symbol of Chinese culture.

Several years into the Japanese colonial period, however, the two largest

Taiwanese Confucian temples in Taipei and Tainan demonstrated contrasting

approaches to carrying on the tradition.

The Taipei Confucian temple ceremony was quickly resumed in 1896 and

was a large event for a few years, yet it quickly fell off in following years. In the

1899 autumn ceremony, the Taipei ceremony was still held in the Longshan

Temple because of the Japanese occupation of the Confucian temple. The three

offerings of the ceremonial presentation were accordingly performed by several

elites, but the proper ritual music and dance were eliminated. Instead, guchue

(“drumming and blowing”) music in the so‐called suyue (“folk, vulgar music”)

category was employed in the ceremony. 31 This highly creative and yet

31 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.427, October 3, 1899, p. 3.

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inauthentic Confucian ceremony was probably a result of the many technical

difficulties faced by the organizers.

The lack of musical instruments had been a major obstacle hindering the

full rendition of the ritual performance of the Taipei temple. Moreover, as

Taiwan’s newest Confucian temple, the Taipei Confucian Temple had not had

the time to ground the ceremony as a tradition practiced by the associated elite

community. Nor had it established viable means to financially support the

temple operation and ritual performance. And so although the Taipei temple

seemed able to replicate its well‐performed 1894 ceremony in 1896 and 1897

minus the music, the vacuum of temple patronage created by the sudden

departure of the Qing state and the deprivation of patronage appeared too

challenging for the Taipei community to fill. By 1905, the Taipei Confucian

temple had already stopped performing the ceremony. 32 In 1907, the temple was

torn down by the colonial government to build the new campus for the Japanese

Language Academy. 33

32Kanbun Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2213, September 10, 1905, p. 4.
33Huang Deshi, Taiwan di kong miao [Confucian Temples of Taiwan]. (Taichung: Taiwan sheng
zheng fu xin wen chu [News Agency of Taiwan Provincial Government], 1981), 78. It requires
more investigation to understand why the Japanese colonial government decided to demolish the
Taipei Confucian temple. The colonial authority had been sensible not to provoke Taiwanese
resistance on religious and temple matters. However, it is possible that when the Taipei
Confucian Temple stopped performing the ceremony, the residual function of the temple became
minimal. This could have further justified the Japanese urban planning consideration of building
the Japanese Language Academy on the ground of a dysfunctional temple.

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 In contrast, the long history of the Tainan Confucian temple and its

institutionalization of the yueju had allowed the Tainan elite community to

establish a system of support, nurture knowledgeable agents, and thus fortify

their capability to sustain their temple sponsorship, even after annexation

introduced unexpected hardships. In the annexation aftermath, while Taipei

could only rely on donations to make the Confucian ceremony happen, the older

temples of Tainan and Changhua maintained a regular land income to subsidize

costs. Moreover, the operation of the yueju rooted the ceremony as a local

tradition, and allowed for local transmission of the necessary knowledge and

technical skills. The patronage vacuum left by the departure of Qing officials and

state could thus be quickly filled by the locals. As a result, the Tainan Confucian

Temple continued performing the annual Confucian ceremony until its

renovation in 1917. 34

V. Negotiating Confucian and Colonial Realities

The Confucian ceremony was an arena of musiking for the colonized

Taiwanese elites and the Japanese colonial authority to negotiate their cultural

and political agendas. The Taiwanese elites, especially the gentries and literati

with titles and recognition by the Qing regime, had been the targeted group

34 Yamada, Tainan Senbyōkō [History of Tainan Confucian Temple], 25.

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whom the Japanese colonial authority eagerly wanted to win over for their

support and collaboration. In the early colonial years when the Japanese were

exploring administrative strategies, they found that the local Taiwanese elites,

who had established themselves as social and community leaders, could be

effective mediators between the government and the people. The colonial

government thus intended to incorporate the Taiwanese elites into the lower

strata of the administrative system. In 1896, for example, Governor‐General Nogi

particularly highlighted the urgency of improving the colonial administration’s

rapport with the Taiwanese, and emphasized the importance of incorporating

renowned and respected Taiwanese elites into the local administrations. 35 In 1897,

the colonial government launched a system of issuing a “gentlemen’s medal” to

eligible Taiwanese scholars, gentry, or large capital owners respected by their

local communities. By issuing medals to these Taiwanese, the colonial

government intended to demonstrate that it recognized their contribution to

society and importance to the administration. 36 In 1900, the colonial government

invented Yōbunkai, (“Society for Promoting Civilization”), a meeting in which the

35 Wu, Ri ju shi qi Taiwan she hui ling dao jie ceng zhi yang jiu [Study of the Taiwanese Social Strata of
Elites and Leaders in the Japanese Colonial Period], 62.
36 Ibid., 63.

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colonial government gathered the gentry and literati with Qing titles to hear their

suggestions on issues concerning the Taiwanese. 37

In addition to these well‐documented colonial policies of appeasing the

local Taiwanese elites, negotiating elite cooperation and building rapport also

occurred in other fields. The Confucian temple ceremony, the symbol of cultural

values and identities central to Taiwanese elites, became a field in which the

elites negotiated their right to perform the ritual and the colonial authority

negotiated the cooperation it desired.

Taiwanese Efforts in Continuing Confucian Ceremony

A closer look at the work done by the Taiwanese elite to continue the

Confucian ceremony after annexation reveals how musiking operated. In Taipei,

the elites quickly resumed the ceremony in October 1896, relocated to the

Longshan Temple due to the Japanese occupation of the Confucian temple. A

group of Taiwanese young men practiced and rehearsed the ritual music and

dance. 38 Two Taiwanese elites, Li Bingjun and Liu Tingyu, took charge of

organizing the ceremony. They planned to invite the Governor‐General and

37 Ibid., 65‐66. Also see Harry J. Lamley, “The Yōbunkai of 1900: An Episode in the
Transformation of the Taiwan Elite during the Early Japanese Period.” (paper presented at the Ri
ju shi qi Taiwan shi guo ji xue shu yang tao hui [International Symposium on the History of
Taiwan in the Japanese Colonial Period], Taipei, 1992) for a study on the history of Yōbunkai.
38 Taiwan shimpō, no.37, October 15, 1896, p. 3.

257
other Sōtokufu officials to witness the ceremony. After the ceremony, students of

the Japanese Language Academy arrived to pay homage to Confucius. 39

In the next autumn sacrifice in 1897, the Taipei Confucian Temple

remained occupied and unavailable. Four leading Taipei elites, however, started

a committee to coordinate the many aspects of performing the ceremony in the

Longshan Temple. 40 It was a big event for the local Taiwanese community and

the colonial government as well, and the Sōtokufu’s Bureau of Civil Affairs sent

staff members to study and document the ceremony. Over eighty Taiwanese

young men participated in learning, rehearsing, and performing the ritual

dance. 41

However, in a large event like this, the incomplete ritual utensils and

damaged musical instruments were prominent to Taiwanese eyes and ears.

Among the various utensils such as baskets, bushels, containers, cups, and so

forth, many were lost and had to be substituted with similar but inauthentic

items. Most of the musical instruments were absent from the ritual, which meant

the absence of the prescribed musical sounds. 42 In addition, the organization

committee made the decision to change the ritual attire because a substantial

amount of formal attire used for rituals had been destroyed in the annexation

39 Taiwan shimpō, no.41, October 21, 1896, p. 2.

40 Taiwan shimpō, no.301, September 9, 1897, p. 1. The four elites were Li Bingjun, Chen Luo, Nian
Shunyin, and Ye Weigui.
41 Taiwan shimpō, no.307, September 16, 1897, p. 1; Taiwan shimpō, no. 308, September 17, 1897, p. 3.

42 Taiwan shimpō, no.315, September 26, 1897, p.1.

258
struggle. Moreover, since Taiwan was now under Japanese rule, the committee

decided that it was sensible to tone down the visual association of the ceremony

with the former Qing regime. 43 Some Japanese observers at the ceremony noticed

the Taiwanese frustration with the silenced music and the unorthodox attire. 44

The rather thin or even muted sonority of the ritual music aurally reminded the

Taiwanese of their becoming the colonized, and the subdued attire added yet

another visual reminder.

In addition to Taipei, Taiwanese Confucian temples in Changhua,

Hsinchu, and Tainan also attempted to continue the ceremony. In early 1897, the

Changhua Confucian Temple performed the spring ceremony. 45 In 1898, the

Changhua community planned to repair the musical instruments and in 1900 the

community refurbished the ritual attire of the musician‐dancers. 46 In late 1897,

the Hsinchu community conducted the Confucian ceremony without the ritual

objects and musical instruments in the temple that had recently been vacated

from use as troop barracks and had sustained much damage. 47 In order to host

the ceremony, the Hsinchu community began restoration work, forcing them to

reschedule the ceremony to a later date. 48 In 1897 or by early 1898, the Tainan

43 Taiwan shimpō, no.307, September 16, 1897, p.1.

44 Taiwan shimpō, no.319, October 1, 1897, p.1.
45 Taiwan shimpō, no.156, March 19, 1897, p.1.

46 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.1455, March 11, 1903, p.4.

47 Taiwan shimpō, no.298, September 5, 1897, p.1.

48 Taiwan shimpō, no.313, September 23, 1897, p.1.

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Confucian temple had resumed the ritual performance. However, since 1896 the

Tainan Confucian temple had been used as colonial school facility, so members

of the yueju were required to negotiate with the local colonial authority to

maintain the schedule of the annual ceremony. 49

To summarize, within the first five years of annexation, at least four large

Taiwanese elite communities in the major cities of Taipei, Hsinchu, Changhua,

and Tainan resumed performing the Confucian ceremony despite the difficulties

of occupied temples, damaged musical instruments, and missing ritual utensils.

Holding onto an important tradition in this way, the Taiwanese elites managed

to defy the hardship brought by colonization, and invested their best efforts to

continue a ceremony of great cultural, communal, and personal importance.

Japanese Positions and Involvements

Furthermore, the Japanese colonial authority demonstrated their effort in

building rapport with the Taiwanese elites by showing its support for this

Taiwanese tradition. After all the damage done to Taiwanese temples by

Japanese soldiers, and with Taiwanese anger on the rise, the Japanese Governor‐

Generals tried to control the damage and avoid further exacerbating the

Taiwanese‐Japanese friction. For example, in January 1896, first Governor‐

49 Yamada, Tainan Senbyōkō [History of Tainan Confucian Temple], 25.

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General Kabayama ordered Japanese troops not to tamper with temple objects

and architecture. Upon departure, the troops were order to restore the temples

back to their original condition as much as possible. 50 Third Governor‐General

Nogi toured several Taiwanese communities in autumn 1897 and encouraged

them to continue performing the Confucian ceremony. Nogi visited Hsinchu and

gave the elites his encouragement and permission; 51 he also instructed the Taipei

County government to subsidize the cost of the ceremony to be held in Taipei. 52

The fourth Governor‐General Kodama, after using the Changhua Confucian

temple for feasting with the local Taiwanese elders, dispensed funds to aid in the

temple maintenance. 53 In sum, the Governor‐Generals demonstrated gestures of

support in attempts to improve rapport with the Taiwanese elites. However, as

the colonial regime was in need of public space for administrative and military

use, their sponsorship of the Confucian ceremonies rarely went beyond limited

oratory encouragement and monetary support.

The Japanese local administrations were often invited by Taiwanese elites

to be witnesses or even celebrants of the ceremonies. The Taipei elites, in

planning their ceremonies in 1896 and 1897, invited the Governor‐General and

other colonial officials. In their 1897 spring ceremony, the Changhua elites

50 Kun‐Liang Chiu, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi ju zhi yan jiu: jiu ju yu xin jiu [Study of Theatres of Taiwan
in the Japanese Colonial Period: old and new theatres] (Taipei: Zili wanbao chubanbu, 1992), 36.
51 Taiwan shimpō, no. 298, September 5, 1897, p. 1.

52 Taiwan shimpō, no. 301, September 9, 1897, p. 1.

53 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, March 11, 1903, p. 4.

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invited local colonial governmental officials to be the liturgical celebrants, the

roles formerly performed by Qing governmental officials prior to the

annexation. 54

Some local Japanese administrators appeared to be more enthusiastic than

others toward the Confucian ceremony. For example, from 1900 to 1903, the

Changhua county governors or their representatives would come to the

ceremonies to burn incense and pay homage. The Changhua county governor of

the year 1903 even instructed the board members to improve the ritual

performance by regulating the audience present in the hall to solemnize the

ritual site, and to have the musician‐dancers rehearse three days in advance to

better synchronize their performances. 55

A special case of local colonial administration and Taiwanese elites

working on a new version of Confucian ritual music occurred in Changhua. In

1905, the ritual performed was a reformed version combining ceremonial music

used in modern Japan into the existing Confucian liturgical structure. The county

governor assumed the role of the leading ritual celebrant. Other Japanese

officials from the local administration lined the left side of the hall, and the

Taiwanese gentlemen stood at the right. A segment of Western‐style music was

played, and all the participants bowed to revere Confucius. Then the rite of

54 Taiwan shimpō, no. 156, March 19, 1897, p. 1

55 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1455, March 11, 1903, p. 4.

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yingshen, welcoming the deities, was performed with the Confucian ceremonial

song and dance presented by the Taiwanese musician‐dancers. The next section

of the ritual was comprised of the rites of xianli, offerings of wine and silk,

performed by the governor to the ritual music, and the recitation of an honorary

essay by a Taiwanese gentleman. After the Confucian ceremonial music paused,

Western music was performed while the participating officials and gentlemen

offered burning incense in front of the altar. The final section of the liturgy

included sending off the deities and burning of the ritual silk, with presecribed

ritual music accompaniment. 56 This new version retained the basic liturgical

structure and rites of the traditional Confucian ceremony and the corresponding

music and dance, but the core part of the three offerings were simplified. The

content of the Western‐style music is unknown, but it very well could have been

the military band music that the Japanese had adopted for their modernized

ceremonial occasions. A reporter of this event commented that the reformed

version was meant to accommodate both the Japanese and the Taiwanese to

express their homage to Confucius. 57

Arguably, when the Taiwanese invited the Japanese officials to replace the

vacant role of the former Qing officials, the Taiwanese elites were trying to

incorporate the colonial state into the Confucian ceremony. In doing so, the

56 Kanbun Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2209, September 10, 1905, p. 4.
57 Op. cit.

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Taiwanese elites tried to accept the reality that the Japanese were now their new

rulers; at the same time they also tried to create new possible state sponsorship

so that the Confucian ceremony would be continued and not repressed in spite of

colonization.

VI. Conclusion

After Japanese annexation of Taiwan, the elites, though not engaged in

armed resistance, did engage in a subtler form of resistance by asserting their

need to continue performing the Confucian ceremony. The annexation in 1895

caused Confucian temples to be occupied for other uses and led to the damaging

of musical instruments used for ritual music. This damage literally silenced the

ceremonial music in most Taiwanese Confucian ceremonies in the early colonial

period. However, the Taiwanese elites musiked their need to perform the

Confucian ceremony by reenacting the ritual site in different locations (e.g.

Taipei) or by negotiating the use of the site (e.g. Tainan) to continue the ritual

performance.

The Confucian ceremonial music, when performed after the Japanese

takeover of Taiwan, became a sonic enactment of Taiwanese values and identity.

Performing Confucian ritual music addressed and validated the Confucian

culture of the Taiwanese elites. On the other hand, in the early colonial years,

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some of these musical sounds were muted because of damaged or lost musical

instruments. Occasions of hearing the ritual music with many muted parts

reminded the Taiwanese of the bitter reality of colonial occupation. In some

locations, the muted sounds could never come back again because of the loss of

patronage, which further reflected the reality of colonization. When actually

heard, sounded or muted, the Confucian ceremonial music became a sonic index

of what the Taiwanese elite could do and could not do when they became a

colonized people.

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 CHAPTER SEVEN

MUSIKING TAIWANESE MODERNITY AND LOCALITY

Japanese colonization was a pivotal force in systematically introducing

modernity to Taiwan. Throughout the colonial period, the Japanese left profound

marks of modern systems in Taiwan – such as education, communication,

banking, civil engineering, medicine, leisure, and transportation, to name a few.

To fortify colonial control and economic development, in their first decade of

rule the Japanese authority pursued one of its largest and most‐advertised

modernizing projects – the construction of the cross‐island railroad. This modern

colonial infrastructure aimed to reach the Taiwanese people in various localities

to incorporate them into the network of colonial control. In addition to its

political purpose, the cross‐island railroad also was intended to facilitate

transporting goods and products for exportation, an important goal of colonizing

the subtropical island of Taiwan.

The spread of modernity, especially the cross‐island railroad project, was

announced and celebrated with musical performances at the locales where

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modern projects were completed. To both display the achievements and

incorporate the Taiwanese into modernity, the celebrations appropriated popular

Taiwanese musical performances to deliver the message. By resituating

traditional musical sounds in the context of celebrating modernity, the colonial

government negotiated its presence into all corners of Taiwan.

I. Colonial and Modern Infrastructures in Taiwan

The colonial infrastructures established in Taiwan covered a wide range of

functions that the Japanese considered necessary for Taiwan to become a modern

society. Built primarily to meet the daily needs of Japanese bureaucrats and

expatriates, these infrastructures also significantly modified the lifestyle of the

Taiwanese. Schools, hospitals, police stations, marketplaces, music halls, post

offices, banks, and parks were among the institutions introduced by the colonial

regime within its first decade in Taiwan. 1

The colonial infrastructures were often introduced to the residents with

celebrative musical sounds to highlight their physical and visual presence. For

example, in June 1897, a new hospital was built in Hsinchu. Building hospitals

1For example, Taipei alone in the first decades from 1895‐1905, had at least twenty‐five public
buildings either newly‐built or converted from existent structures. These public buildings served
the needs of colonial education, economy, leisure, medicine, communication, military, public
security, and administration. See Ye Suke, Ri luo Taibei cheng: ri zhi shi dai Taibei du shi fa zhen yu
tai ren sheng huo [Sunset Taipei: the urban development of Taipei and Taiwanese daily life in the Japanese
colonial period]. (Taipei: Zi li wan bao, 1993), 158‐160.

267
and promoting modern hygiene were top priorities of the colonial administration,

in order to tackle the poor sanitation and public health of the colony. The new

Hsinchu boasted superior hygiene and advanced facilities. To highlight the need

for modern medicine in Taiwan, the completion of the new hospital was

advertised and celebrated as an important local event. Operas were performed

outside the hospital entrance, as Japanese officials and Taiwanese community

leaders banqueted inside the building to the accompaniment of music and dance

performed by geishas – possibly both Japanese and Taiwanese. 2

Similar celebrations to mark the arrival of colonial infrastructures were

plenteous. On June 28th, 1898, the new marketplace in Taipei’s Dadaocheng

district opened for business, and the grand opening gathered together

governmental officials and local merchant‐elites. Taiwanese operatic numbers

and musical performances from Japanese geishas constituted the featured

celebratory entertainment. In addition, four famous Taiwanese female

entertainers were specially hired from the Mengjia district to perform. These

celebrity‐geishas attracted a large crowd of onlookers. 3 A few months later in

October 1897, the local administration of the Wenshan region in the outskirts of

Taipei celebrated the completion of the remodeling and expansion of the

administrative office. The celebration formed quite a significant local event,

2 Taiwan shimpō, no. 224, June 9, 1897, p. 1.

3 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no .47, June 30, 1898, p. 2; no. 48, July 1, 1898, p. 5.

268
featuring one hundred and twenty participants from among Japanese civil and

military staff and local Taiwanese elites and senior citizens. Several Taiwanese

gentlemen gave complimentary speeches to congratulate the Japanese chief

administrator and his Taiwanese consultant. The celebration included a banquet,

an opera troupe performing theatrical numbers, and singing from Taiwanese

geishas. On the streets, shops raised Japanese flags to celebrate. The celebration

also attracted Taiwanese villagers of nearby areas to see and hear the musical

festivities. 4

As Japanese colonial administration took root throughout the colony,

celebrations of modern facilities continued to take place in many Taiwanese

localities, including outside the major cities. For instance, on October 21st and

23rd, 1903, Zhudong township (east to Hsinchu) celebrated the completion of the

new town hall and Common School building. Each celebration drew over a

hundred participants and featured banquets and Taiwanese operatic

performances. 5 On June 28th, 1904, the opening of the new county government

building in Taoyuan County also became a spectacular event for the locals. Not

only did Gotō Shimpei, the Chief Civil Administrator of Taiwan, come to the

opening ceremony from Taipei, along with several other high‐ranking colonial

officials, but local Taiwanese residents also came to see the new building with its

4 Taiwan shimpō, no. 327, October 10, 1897, p. 2.

5 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1648, October 27, 1903, p. 3.

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modern architecture. Fireworks and music opened the celebration and welcomed

the arrival of the high colonial officials from Taipei, and a stage was temporarily

erected in front of the new building for the theatrical and festive performances

that many Taiwanese residents and villagers came to watch and hear. 6

These celebrations, held at the sites of colonial infrastructures and

featuring popular Taiwanese musical sounds or a joint presentation of Taiwanese

and Japanese performances, brought Japanese authorities and Taiwanese

subjects together to witness the modern aspects of colonization. To engage the

local Taiwanese, it was strategically practical for Japanese officials to incorporate

the musical sounds and performances familiar to the Taiwanese in the colonial

celebrations. This musiking negotiation of modernity and colonization

highlighted the Japanese effort in making Taiwan like Japan, and the Taiwanese

were moved toward a modernized lifestyle along with an acceptance of their fate

of being the colonized.

II. The Cross‐Island Railroad Construction and Its Celebrations

Among the modernizing projects and colonial infrastructure, the most

ambitious was the construction of the cross‐island railroad system linking two

major Taiwanese ports, Keelung in the north and Takao (Kaohsiung) in the south.

6 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1847, June 29, 1904, p. 2; no. 1848, June 30, 1904, p. 3.

270
The railroad passed through the agriculturally productive western plains of the

island. Upon completion, the railroad immediately became the island’s economic

backbone, supporting the fast transportation and exportation of Taiwanese

goods and products. Furthermore, the railroad system also modified the pre‐

modern topography of Taiwanese cities, towns, and harbors. The railroad

affected local economic development, population migration, and the resulting

development or decline of communities.

A history of the cross‐island railroad project

Prior to Japanese annexation, Taiwan possessed sixty‐six miles of railroad

connecting Keelung, Taipei and Hsinchu. This railroad came to existence when

the Qing government had endeavored to transform Taiwan into China’s main

defensive fortress for its southeast coast. For that purpose, Qing mandarins had

envisioned a cross‐island railroad in Taiwan as part of a modernizing project to

strengthen Taiwan’s defensive capacity. In 1887, the ambitious Qing Governor

Liu Mingchuan launched railroad construction from Taipei to Keelung. The

twenty miles of railroad, passing through the hilly area between the two cities,

took five years to complete in 1891. In 1893, another forty‐two miles of railroad

271
from Taipei to Hsinchu was completed. The construction of the cross‐island

railroad was, however, suspended by the next Taiwan Governor Shao Youlian. 7

As this was the second‐earliest Chinese railroad built in the late

nineteenth century, Chinese travelers to Taiwan were fascinated by the speed

and efficiency of railway transportation. For instance, a Qing official visiting

Taiwan in 1892 described the train trip from Keelung to Taipei as fast as riding

on lightning, and commented that it was a costly but beneficial transportation

project. 8

However, railroad operation, especially on the line between Keelung and

Taipei, was terribly compromised due to bureaucratic corruption and inadequate

maintenance. 9 When the Japanese annexed Taiwan in 1895, they inherited a

malfunctioning railroad. Although Governor‐General Kabayama arrived in

Taipei by train from Keelung to inaugurate colonial reign, the colonial staff

experienced two derailing in their short trip. The Japanese soon discovered that

Taiwan’s existing railroad operation could not meet their economic and military

needs. 10

7 Chih‐Wen Hung, Zhen cang shi ji Taiwan tie dao: gan xian tie lu pian (One Century of Railways in
Taiwan: Main Lines) (Taipei: Shibao wen hua, 2000), 27.
8 Jiang Shiche, Tai you ri ji [Journals of visiting Taiwan], in Taiwan wen xian shi liao cong kan di 9 ji

juan 177 [Collections of Taiwan historical documents], vol. 177 (Taipei: Da tong shu ju you xian
gong si, 1987[1892]), 21.
9 Liu Wenjun, Wang Weijie, and Yang Senhau, Bai nian Taiwan tie dao (One Hundred Years of

Railroad in Taiwan) (Taipei: Guo shi chu ban, 2003), 17‐18.

10 Ibid., 25‐26.

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 Upon annexation, proposals quickly emerged for building a new cross‐

island railroad system penetrating the island for colonial control and military

defense. But the fiscally‐challenged Sōtokutu hesitated over the huge

expenditure of railroad construction. Before launching the cross‐island railroad

project, however, the colonial government had devoted some efforts to

improving and renovating the existing Keelung‐Taipei rail segment. Upon the

completion of those renovations in March 1898, governmental officials and local

Taiwanese elites gathered near the new tunnel – the final step of the renovation –

to celebrate the updated railroad. 11

In November 1899, the Sōtokufu consolidated the Railroad Department to

supervise the cross‐island railroad project. In the same year, the railroad system

began construction from both the north end of Taipei and the south end of Takao

(Kaohsiung). Ten years later in 1908, the cross‐island railroad through Taiwan’s

western plains was proclaimed complete. Over the span of ten years, as railroad

segments were completed and mileage of train transportation increased,

celebrations were held to mark the advancement of the project. As a result,

multiple Taiwanese locales welcomed and celebrated the arrival of the railroad.

The final completion in 1908 culminated in the grand opening and celebration in

Taichung, now only several hours of train travel from either Taipei or Kaohsiung.

11Taiwan Kōtsūkyoku Tetsudōbu, Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], 3 vols., vol. 1
(Tokyo: Kondō shōten, 1910‐11), 374‐76.

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 The cross‐island railroad project also inspired the construction of several

regional light rail networks to facilitate transporting local products such as logs

and minerals from remote areas to major cities for sale or r exports. 12 During the

colonial period, both governmental and private capital invested in these local

light rail networks. One of the earliest light rails was proposed and funded by

local Taiwanese businesses in the Taoyuan area. To speed up the transportation

of tea products, the Taiwanese investors proposed a light rail from Daxi to

Taoyuan. 13 From there, tea products could travel to Taipei for sale or to Keelung

for export.

12 Chih‐wen Hung has documented the local light rail networks built during the Japanese colonial
period. Chih‐wen Hung, Zhen cang shi ji Taiwan tie dao. Di fang tie dao pian (One century of railways
in Taiwan. Local lines) (Taipei: Shi bao wen hua, 2001), 63‐117.
13 Reports in Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō [Taiwan Daily News] commented that after the railway

began operating on December 5, it did not experience a booming business because the tea season
had just passed. Yet the safety and smoothness of the ride pointed to promising future business
opportunities. Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1693, December 22, 1903, p. 2; and no. 1694,
December 23, 1903, p. 3.

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Figure 7‐1: Map of the cross‐island railroad system.

275
Table 7‐1: The segmental completion of the cross‐island railroad system. 14

Date of Railroad segment completed Location of

opening celebration
celebration
1900.11.28 Takao (Kaohsiung) – Tainan Kaohsiung
Station
1901.10.25 Taipei – Taoyuan line renovation; Taipei Station and
Taipei – Danshui (branch line, an Danshui station
extension to Danshui from the
mainline)
1903.10.7 Hsinchu – Sanchahe (Sanyi) Miaoli Station
*1903.12.20 Taoyuan – Dakekan (Daxi) light rail on a hilltop
(Taiwanese initiated project) overseeing the
Dakekan river
1904.2.28 Tainan ‐‐ Douliu Chiayi Station
*1905.3.26 Erbashui ‐‐ Changhua Changhua Park
1905.6.10 Erbashui (Ershui) – Huludun Taichung Station
(Fengyuan)
1907.10.1 Takao (Kaohsiung) – Jiuqutang Fengshan Station
(branch line, an extension to Pingtung
from the mainline)
1908.10.24 Full line completion (when the Taichung Park
challenging segment Sanchahe
(Sanyi) – Huludun (Fengyuan)
completed)

The railroad celebrations, 1900‐1907

The first railroad celebration took place in Kaohsiung when the southern

segment between Tainan and Takao (Kaohsiung) was completed in November

1900. On November 28, 1900, almost a thousand participants gathered in the

14Table compiled based on the grand openings documented in Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of
Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 431‐491, and newspaper entries on Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō [Taiwan Daily
News] (items with * mark).

276
Kaohsiung railroad station. It was reported that participating guests included 119

Japanese officials, 15 foreign residents, 97 Japanese community leaders, 107

Taiwanese elites, 593 Taiwanese landowners who had donated land for railroad

construction, and 33 merchants and businessmen, totaling 964 listed

participants. 15 The Kaohsiung station and nearby streets were decorated with

Japanese themes of ball‐shaped lanterns, green arches and Japanese flags. 16 The

celebration started with trains transporting guests from several places along the

Kaohsiung‐Tainan line to Kaohsiung station. The opening ceremony began after

all the participants had arrived and featured several speeches interpolated with

music. 17 Officials from the Railroad Department spoke of construction progress,

and Governor‐General Kodama congratulated the achievement. After the Tainan

County governor gave his speech, Cai Guolin, a renowned Taiwanese gentry‐

elite of the Tainan area, presented a congratulatory speech on behalf of the

Taiwanese communities. 18 Following the ceremony, the guests retreated to

banquets and entertainment. Fireworks and Taiwanese operatic performances

entertained the guests and added festivity to the celebration. 19 The grand

opening lasted several hours; by two o’clock in the afternoon trains began to take

15 Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 431.

16 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 775, November 29, 1900, p. 3.
17 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 769, November 21, 1900, p. 3. However, it is unclear what kind of

instrumental music, sōgaku, was employed here.

18 Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 432‐442.

19 Ibid., 442; Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 775, November 29, 1900, p. 3.

277
guests and participants home. On the next day, November 29, 1900, the

Kaohsiung‐Tainan line officially began operation on schedule. 20

The format of the opening celebration in Kaohsiung became a

standardized model for subsequent celebrations. Transporting the guests to the

grand opening by train was a strategy to educate the Taiwanese about the

modern improvements the Japanese had achieved, especially since the Japanese

had semi‐demanded that many Taiwanese relinquish their land for the railroad

construction with nominal compensation. The visual motifs of the green arches,

ball‐shaped lanterns, and Japanese flags were emblematic decorations

consistently presented in the next several grand opening ceremonies. The

musical and theatrical performances were also essential as they provided a

festive aura to the celebration. Taiwanese operatic performances or a joint

presentation of Japanese and Taiwanese musical sounds thus formed the

fundamental soundscape of railroad celebrations.

A year after the Kaohsiung celebration, the cross‐island railroad project

celebrated another accomplishment in northern Taiwan. The celebration on

October 25, 1901, highlighted the renovations and improvements to the pre‐

existing Taipei‐Taoyuan line and the newly‐constructed branch line between

Taipei and the downriver harbor town Danshui. This celebration included almost

20The fare and train schedule was published on Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 774, November 28,
1900, p. 6.

278
1700 invited participants, invited based on qualifications similar to the first

celebration in Kaohsiung – colonial governmental officials, Taiwanese elites,

Taiwanese landowners who submitted land, and leading Japanese and

Taiwanese businessmen. The same Japanese‐themed visual motifs – Japanese

flags, ball‐shaped lanterns, and green arches – decorated the Taipei station. 21 The

Japanese Navy Band was specially invited to perform in this celebration. 22 Three

stages were set at the east, south, and west sides of the station to feature various

performances of Japanese music, dance, and wrestling. 23 In addition, a

Taiwanese theatrical performance of excerpts from the famous story The Three

Kingdoms was also staged nearby. 24

The cross‐island railroad project continued making progress and to

generating celebrations. By October 1903, the northern part of the railroad had

extended southward beyond Miaoli to Sanchahe (Sanyi), entering the most

geographically challenging region of the railroad project. The extended mileage

of railroad led to a new schedule of freight, commuter, and postal service

21 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1039, October 17, 1901, p. 3.

22 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1046, October 26, 1901, p. 2; Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan
Railroad], vol. 3, 443.
23 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1046, October 26, 1901, p. 2.

24 According to another newspaper entry on Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1046, October 26, 1901,

p. 5, the journalist reported hearing and seeing a Taiwanese theatrical performance amidst the
many Japanese performances.

279
schedules for the area. 25 To celebrate the new segment’s completion, Japanese

investors hired and transported Japanese geishas from Taipei to the celebration

site at Miaoli. In addition, fireworks and Taiwanese operatic performances were

included in the program. 26 The celebration began at 6:30 in the morning when the

train began taking about five hundred guests from Taipei to Miaoli. To make the

several hours’ trip more comfortable, the train included dinner cars and musical

performances. 27 In six hours the train arrived at Miaoli, and the opening

ceremony and celebration began. 28 Two temporary stages were set up to host the

teodori (“posture dance”) performances by the Japanese geishas hired from Taipei,

and operatic performances by Taiwanese geishas. 29 It was estimated that in

addition to over five hundred guests from Taipei, a large number of local people,

perhaps a couple thousand, came to see this grand event. 30 Because of the long

25 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1630, October 4, 1903, p. 5. News on rescheduling the postal
collection and delivery times due to new railroad schedules also appears in Taiwan nichi nichi
shimpō, no. 1634, October 9, 1903, p. 3.
26 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1628, October 2, 1903, p. 5; no. 1629, October 3, 1903, p. 4.

According to a later report in Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1632, October 7, 1903, p. 3, it is
possible that some Taiwanese geishas were also hired from Taipei and transported to Miaoli to
perform at the celebration. These geishas also served as the receptionists of the dining car,
according to the news entries on October 8 and October 9, 1903. The exact number of Japanese
and Taiwanese geishas hired from Taipei was not clear, but was reported by the newspaper to be
either several dozen or seventy to eighty.
27 Taiwan tetsudō sh [History of Taiwan Railroad] i, vol. 3, 453. However, no information was given

to which type of music ensemble, ongakutei, or musical performances, was provided on the train.
28 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1632, October 7, 1903, p. 5.

29 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1634, October 9, 1903, p. 5.

30 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1634, October 9, 1903, p. 3.

280
trip from Miaoli to Taipei, the five hundred Taipei guests spent two hours at the

Miaoli celebration and then took the train back home. 31

As the cross‐island railroad continued to increase its mileage count,

between 1904 and the final completion in 1908 four additional segmental

completions and opening celebrations were staged to mark the progress of this

modernization project: Chiayi in 1904, Changhua and Taichung in 1905, and

Fengshan in 1907. Each grand opening enlisted hundreds of guest‐participants –

officials, elites, merchants, and land donors – and attracted large numbers of

crowds and onlookers. For example, the Changhua celebration in March 1905

was said to have attracted two thousand people. 32 At the Taichung celebration in

1905, four temporary stages were set up for the performances of kabuki (classical

Japanese dance‐drama), geishas’ music playing, 33 teodori dance, and Taiwanese

operatic excerpts performed by two troupes. 34 These music, dance and theatrical

performances attracted numerous people in addition to the six‐hundred‐plus

invited guests, and overcrowded the Taichung station. 35 For every celebration,

whether the estimated number of people was accurate or exaggerated, the

newspaper reporters conveyed a sense of spectacle and attraction for these

31 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1632, October 7, 1903, p. 5.

32 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2069, March 29, 1905, p. 2; no. 2070, March 30, 1905, p. 3.
33 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 2134, June 14, 1905, p. 3. It is, however, not clear whether the

geishas’ music playing was by Japanese geishas or Taiwanese geishas or both.

34 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no.2134, June 14, 1905, p. 3; no. 2133, June 13, 1905, p. 5.

35 Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 470.

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modernizing projects in Taiwanese locales, generated through the celebrative

music and performances announcing the arrival of the railroad.

The final celebration, 1908

On April 20, 1908, the cross‐island railroad project announced the

completion of the most difficult railway segment between Sanchahe (Sanyi) and

Huludun (Fengyuan). This segment was thirteen miles in length, but took four

years to complete. Located in a mountainous area and passing through two big

rivers, the geographically challenging segment demanded nine tunnels and two

long bridges. 36 Its completion finalized the cross‐island railroad, culminating in

the final celebration on October 24, 1908. For the Sōtokufu, the completion of this

modernizing project represented its greatest achievement in developing and

governing the colony. Unlike previous celebrations, which focused on

advertising the modern features of the railroad to the local Taiwanese

population, this final celebration was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate

the Sōtokufu’s overall achievement in colonial management. The theme of the

final celebration thus shifted to present the Sōtokufu and the colony to

metropolis Japan and its representatives of high officials and imperial royalty.

36 Liu, Wang, and Yang, Bai nian Taiwan tie dao (One Hundred Years of Railroad in Taiwan), 37.

282
 The final celebration was to be held on October 24 in Taichung, the middle

point of the cross‐island railroad. With convenient transportation, within several

hours people could travel from either end of Taiwan to Taichung by train.

Holding the celebration of the railroad in central Taiwan made a stronger

statement about the modernization project than having the event in the capital of

Taipei. To prepare, the Sōtokufu set up an organizational committee dedicated to

this climatic celebration. 37

The six‐month long preparation period, from the railroad’s completion in

April to the celebration in October, allowed the Sōtokufu, the celebration

committee, and the local administrative offices to meticulously attend to all kinds

of details. A grand hotel, for instance, was built in Taipei to accommodate the

travelers. The Keelung Station, the starting point and northern end of the cross‐

island railroad, underwent a significant renovation to scale up the building’s

interior and façade. 38 Needless to say, the new construction and renovations

aimed to impress the Japanese guests, most of whom would sail to Keelung and

board the southbound train to Taipei and Taichung. To present a nice picture of

Taiwan and impress the travelers, the celebration committee also attended to the

minor stations at which the trains would only make short stops, and to the

37 Ibid., 39. Details of the railway celebration committee, such as regulations, task descriptions,
subdivision memberships, eligibilities and qualifications of invited participants, and so forth, are
recorded in Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 491‐514.
38 Liu, Wang, and Yang, Bai nian Taiwan tie dao (One Hundred Years of Railroad in Taiwan), 38.

283
scenery along the route. The smaller stations were decorated and beautified with

green arches and Japanese flags and Taiwanese households along the route were

commanded to raise Japanese flags. 39 In the Taichung area, the celebration

committee demanded that the hōshō, the low‐rank Taiwanese administrators

overseeing a hamlet composed of ten households, avail the young Taiwanese

men of their hamlet for two days prior to the celebration. These men were to

stand by to respond to any urgent call of service pertaining to the upcoming

celebration. 40

Although the final celebration focused on presenting the colony Taiwan to

the Japanese nobles, the colonial government also continued its effort of

advertising the railroad to the local Taiwanese. From May 22nd to June 5th, a

“train fair” reached the major stops along the railroad to showcase what the

railroad could do. The “train fair” was a moveable business exhibit in a train of

fifteen passenger and freight cars. In the cars, goods and products from different

parts of Taiwan were on display alongside commodities imported from Japan.

The cars were beautified with green leaves and flags and advertisement banners

hung on both sides. At each stop, theatrical performances, fireworks, and other

entertainment activities were mounted to attract the local Taiwanese to see the

39 Ibid., 39. Also Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 517‐518.
40 Liu, Wang, and Yang, Bai nian Taiwan tie dao (One Hundred Years of Railroad in Taiwan), 39.

284
fair. 41 To maximize the advertisement and educational effect of the train fair, the

Sōtokufu even organized and arranged for the aborigines, most of them living in

areas still remote to the railroad line, to visit the train fair and see the railroad. 42

The final celebration began with a prelude welcoming Japanese royalties

on October 22nd. On this day, a Japanese military flagship escorted Prince Kan’in

(Kanʹin‐no‐miya Kotohito Shinnō) and his consorts as they arrived at the port of

Keelung. Fireworks, salutary cannons, and a large crowd met the ship in the

harbor. Upon the landing of the imperial royalty to the colony’s soil, the Navy

Band played music specifically for welcoming high nobility. Groups of

governmental staff, Japanese soldiers, Primary School Japanese students and

Common School Taiwanese students lined up on both sides of the road from the

harbor to the Keelung train station. From there a special train transported the

noble guests to Taipei. 43

On October 24, the grand celebration began as trains transporting

participants and guests from other cities arrived in Taichung. The grand opening

ceremony began at 12:45 pm with the music of the Japanese anthem Kimigayo.

The ceremony was comprised of congratulatory speeches by the Governor‐

General, the head of the Railroad Department, the honorary guest of Prince

41 Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 570.

42 Liu, Wang, and Yang, Bai nian Taiwan tie dao (One Hundred Years of Railroad in Taiwan), 38.
43 Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 514‐15.

285
Kan’in, high officials from Japan, and selected Taiwanese elites. When the

ceremony ended, the guests were guided to the resting and dining areas. After

the Governor‐General made three calls of bansai to salute the Japanese emperor

and queen, the entertainment festivities and performances began. 44

The festivity of the celebration following the train trip constituted the

more important part of the presentation of the colony of Taiwan to the

representatives from mainland Japan. To inform the Japanese noble guests of the

cultural and ethnic elements of Taiwan, the entertainment program included

Taiwanese comedy numbers, opera excerpts, dances, and martial arts. In

addition, the Sōtokufu specially presented singing and dancing by several

aboriginal tribes. The exotic physiques, singing styles, and headdresses of the

aborigines particularly attracted the curiosity of some of the honorary guests.

The British consul, for example, took a picture wearing an aboriginal chief’s

headpiece. 45 The railroad had helped the Sōtokufu to arrange for members of the

aborigines tribes living in various locations of Taiwan to gather in Taichung, in

order to present their cultures to the empire of Japan and allow the imperial

representatives to experience an exotic encounter with the colony.

44Ibid., 521‐22.
45Ibid., 552‐53. However, no further details are given on the actual content of Taiwanese opera,
dance, and comic numbers; no specifics are given on which aboriginal tribes performed nor the
contents of the performances.

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Figure 7‐2: Prince Kan’in and the Taiwan aborigines at the Governor‐General’s
residential mansion. 46

The convenience of the railroad allowed the Sōtokufu to present even

more of the colony by arranging for the Prince to visit southern Taiwan after the

grand opening celebration. Over the following three days, Prince Kan’in,

escorted by colonial officials, visited the historical sites of Tainan and toured the

sugar factories in Kaohsiung. 47 After the Prince traveled back to Taipei, the

46 Image scanned from Jian zheng‐‐Taiwan zong du fu, 1895‐1945 (Witness‐‐the colonial Taiwan, 1895‐
1945), 2 vols., vol. 1 (Taipei: Li hong chu ban she, 1996), 44. The note accompanying this image,
“Prince of Kanin no Miya and the aborigines at the Governor’s residence,” suggests the picture
could have been taken during Prince Kan’in’s trip to Taiwan, October 22 – October 30th, 1908.
However, the stamp on the upper left corner reads June 17th, 1909 or 1910. This information
suggests that the picture was related to the Inauguration Day celebration in 1909 or 1910.
Therefore, questions arise regarding whether and when Prince Kan’in was photographed with
the Taiwan aborigines. However, the image points to the fact that the transportation in Taiwan
had been greatly improved enough that the colonial government could easily gather aborigines
to Taipei. As a result, high bureaucrats, elites and aborigines could be photographed together in
one location.
47 Taiwan tetsudō shi [History of Taiwan Railroad], vol. 3, 555.

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Sōtokufu hosted a special reception before the Japanese nobilities left Taiwan on

October 30th. During the week that Prince Kan’in spent in Taiwan, he had

traveled through the island, viewed the scenery, and experienced the cultural

and ethnic diversity of the colony. All of this was made possible by the cross‐

island railroad.

III. Concluding Remarks: Musiking Colonial Modernity

The cross‐island railroad system accelerated the process of transforming

Taiwan into a modern society. In addition to the steaming trains rolling through

the island on a daily basis, the Taiwanese sense of time and space changed along

with the train schedules. In order to catch a train, the Taiwanese had to

understand the temporal rhythm of the Gregorian calendar and develop the

concept of being punctual. Being able to travel the same distance in a much

shorter period of time modified the Taiwanese experience of space, making the

modernizing influence of this project even more impressive and persuasive.

Wu Degong, a Taiwanese gentry‐elite of the Changhua area, provides an

interesting example of the Taiwanese experience of modernity and its power to

soften resistance. At the time of the Japanese annexation of Taiwan, Wu and his

family suffered deeply from the warfare; as a result, he withdrew from the public

service in which he had previously actively engaged as a Qing literari. Quite a

288
large number of Taiwanese elites, like Wu, chose to resist the Japanese colonial

power by renouncing public service.

However, the colonial regime diligently persuaded Wu to collaborate with

the new administration by offering him positions to continue public service and

to mediate between the local community and the new government. 48 Wu’s

acceptance of the colonial regime increased when he participated in Yōbunkai

(Yangwenhui in Mandarin Chinese, “Society for Promoting Civilization”), a

Sōtokufu‐engineered meeting held in 1900 to solicit the support of the former

titled gentries to the colonial government. As an invited participant, Wu traveled

from Changhua to Taipei via various means of transportation, and was

impressed by the train trip that took him from Hsinchu to Taipei in just three

hours. 49 Wu’s exposure to modernity began with railroad travel, and was further

enhanced by visits to colonial institutions such as military units, schools,

hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, factories, banks, power plants, and so

forth. In commentaries and poems composed during the Yōbunkai trip to Taipei,

Wu often praised what he witnessed in the visits. In the next decade, Wu’s

48 Wu’s thoughts and stance toward the colonial regime softened from resistance and retreat in
just a few years from the time of annexation. The change of attitude could be seen through his
poems composed during this period. See Shi Yilin, “You Fan Kan dao Qing Xie ‐‐ ri ji shi qi
Zhanghua wen ren Wu Degong shen fen ren tong zhi fen xi [From Resistance to Compromise: an
analysis of the identity evolution of Zhanghua area elite Wu Degong in the Japanese Colonial
Period,” Zhong guo xue shu nian kan (Studies in Sinology) (March, 1997): 322‐27.
49 Wu Degong, “Guan guang ri ji,” in Taiwan wen xian shi liao cong kan di 9 ji juan 177 [Collections of

Taiwan historical documents], vol. 177, (Taipei, 1987 [1900]), 23.

289
writing revealed his changing attitude toward the Japanese colonial rulers; he

also re‐engaged in public service and began actively cooperating with the

colonial government. 50 Many factors – personality, family economy, social

obligation, pragmatism, etc. – would contribute to Wu’s changing attitude from

resistance to cooperation. 51 The experience of modernity, however, played a

crucial role in persuading Wu of the kind of well‐being and development Taiwan

could have under Japanese rule.

The Taiwanese incorporated the modern railroad into their daily life. For

example, Zhang Lijun, a local Taiwanese community leader, often took train trip

from Huludun (Fengyuan) to Taichung to visit friends and relatives, or to

conduct personal or administrative business. 52 Although a mere ten‐mile trip, the

common usage of the train nonetheless indicated that the Taiwanese had

accepted and welcomed modernity into their life. 53

50 Shi, “You Fan Kan dao Qing Xie ‐‐ ri ji shi qi Zhanghua wen ren Wu Degong shen fen ren tong
zhi fen xi [From Resistance to Compromise: an analysis of the identity evolution of Zhanghua
area elite Wu Degong in the Japanese Colonial Period],” 331‐335.
51 Shi Yilin attempts to contextualize Wu’s becoming a collaborator by examining the personal,

familial, and social factors that could have affected his decisions and thoughts. Ibid: 335‐343.
52 Entries in Zhang’s journal of 1911 (vol. 3) shows he often traveled by train to Taichung. Zhang

Lijun, Shui zhu ju zhu ren ri ji (Diary of Chang Li‐jun, 1906‐1937: the life of a township administrative
official), ed. Hsueh‐chi Xu and Chiu‐fen Hung, 10 vols. (Taipei: Zhong yang yan jiu yuan jin dai
shi yan jiu suo (Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica), 2000).
53 Certain questions can be asked here: among the Taiwanese, who would take the train? How

affordable was the train fare? How did they use the train, for commuting or for vacation? These
questions are beyond the scope of this chapter, but the answers would bring more insight to how
Taiwanese embraced modernity in their daily lives.

290
 The arrival of the railroad or other modern colonial infrastructures at

various Taiwanese localities was often announced loudly by celebrative music.

The musiking celebrations at various sites unanimously manipulated the musical

sounds familiar to the Taiwanese locals to attract their attention, and hence to

advertise and negotiate the message of modernity into Taiwanese life.

The final celebration of the cross‐island railroad project in 1908 musiked

with a different targeted partner – the Japanese empire, represented by its

royalty. In this musiking event, the Sōtokufu took up the role as a mediator,

through which colonial Taiwan was presented to the empire as a site for imperial

gazing and listening. The railroad allowed the many ethnic, local, and sub‐

cultures of the island to be packed into one large showcase in a cultural fair. In

this musiking context, the musical sounds of the colony were the raw, exotic

cultural materials for the empire to gaze at, survey, and appropriate.

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 CHAPTER EIGHT

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION:

COLONIAL TAIWAN’S NEW AND HYBRIDIZED SOUNDSCAPE

The previous chapters have shown that various musical repertoires, sites,

policies, and institutions constituted a new and uniquely hybridized soundscape

of Taiwan in the early Japanese colonial period. As part of a new colonial

Taiwanese culture, the soundscape provided a foundation for the subsequent

developments of Taiwanese music into the later part of the twentieth century.

Among the many factors contributing to the formation of the new soundscape,

the Japanese policy of tolerance and non‐interference toward Taiwanese cultural

conventions allowed the soundscape and its diverse musical elements to operate.

Under this policy, native musical genres and musiking practices continued to

exist, develop and even thrive under colonization.

292
I. Non‐Interference Policy: Negotiating Colonial Authority and Local

Traditions

The Japanese colonial government adopted an attitude of non‐interference

toward Taiwanese social‐cultural conventions for practical reasons. When Japan

acquired Taiwan, it was inexperienced in colonization. While Japan drew

blueprints from Western models and theories of colonial governance, it had to

explore, experiment, and develop an actual scheme of colonial management that

could work with the Taiwanese society they confronted on a daily basis. In the

early colonial period, the colonial government was preoccupied with

suppressing militant Taiwanese uprisings. 1 Learning from their attempts to

control Taiwan, the colonial government realized the importance of not

provoking the Taiwanese and not fanning the flames of anti‐Japanese sentiments.

Therefore, the colonial authority opted to gradually address the cultural

and social problems they wished to eradicate. The major problems included the

men’s Qing Chinese hair style of long queues, women’s bounded feet, and

addiction to opium. Unless Taiwan became free from these problems, some

Japanese argued, it could not become a loyal and profitable colony. The problems

were deep‐rooted, however, and could not be forcefully eliminated without

1 From late‐1895 to mid‐1897, the Japanese colonial government was challenged by a number of
major Taiwanese uprisings. See Yosaburō Takekoshi, Japanese Rule in Formosa, George Braithwaite
trans. (London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1907), 92‐94.

293
provoking Taiwanese resistance. Tolerance, albeit temporary, was needed.

Governor‐General Nogi Manesuke (tenure from 1896 to 1898), for example,

advised his staff to tolerate Taiwanese customs that differed from the Japanese.

Nogi instructed them that bad customs that hindered effective administration

should be immediately abolished, while other less obstructive customs, such as

clothing and hair styles, could be gradually addressed. 2

The colonial authority’s actions concerning opium smoking – the

Taiwanese custom that the Japanese found most abominable – were illustrations

of this policy. Realizing the need to promptly control the problem without

provoking Taiwanese hatred toward their Japanese rulers, in 1897 the colonial

government adopted the strategy of opium regulation devised by Gotō Shimpei,

then Chief of the Sanitary Bureau of Japan. The policy gave the colonial authority

monopolistic control of opium manufacture and distribution, which monitored

Taiwanese acquisition of opium through governmental licenses. The policy

endeavored to not only regulate Taiwanese addiction to opium but also to

increase the financial revenue of the colonial government. 3

2 Wu Wenxing, Ri ju shi qi Taiwan she hui ling dao jie ceng zhi yang jiu [Study of the Taiwanese Social
Strata of Elites and Leaders in the Japanese Colonial Period] (Taipei: Cheng Chung Book Co, 1992),
250.
3 Takekoshi, Japanese Rule in Formosa, 157‐58, 161‐62. This double‐edged opium policy, however,

also demonstrated the multivalent and contradictory aspects of Japanese colonial management in
Taiwan. Opium smoking continued to exist in Taiwan through the five decades of Japanese
colonial rule. Seeing from the point of view of drug control, one may ask why the colonial
authority, with its absolute power, did not completely abolish opium smoking after a period of

294
 For this and other policies, Gotō Shimpei was recognized as the pivotal

colonial bureaucrat who brought political stability and financial independence to

Taiwan. When he became chief Civil Administrator of the colonial government

in 1898, he implemented a colonial policy based on what he called the “principle

of biology.” Successful colonial management, Gotō argued, should respect and

preserve the existing customs and institutions of the indigenous society. Changes

could be introduced, but only gradually and when necessary. 4 With this

argument supporting a more realistic approach to administration, the colonial

government tolerated many of the existing Taiwanese customs and cultural

practices.

Traditional Taiwanese Musical Occasions: Temple Festivals and Religious

Events

Given a chance to survive by the Japanese non‐interference policy, deep‐

rooted Taiwanese social conventions, traditional music, and performing arts

continued and some even flourished during the first four decades of colonization.

Temple festivals and religious fairs, the most important contexts for musical

activities, resumed quickly after annexation. Musical performances, especially

monopoly and allowed the drug problem to continue albeit under control. One can further argue
that the colonial government purposefully kept opium manufacturing and selling in order to
maintain financial revenue.
4 Edward I. Chen, “Gotō Shimpei, Japanʹs Colonial Administrator in Taiwan: a Critical

Reexamination.” American Asian Review 13 (Spring, 1995): 52.

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operatic performances, had been an integral part of traditional Taiwanese

communal activities at the temples, which were the social and physical centers of

ritual and cultural affairs. In traditional Taiwan, religious celebrations such as

the birthday of sea goddess Mazu called for operatic performances as the

offering and entertainment to the deities and their followers. David Johnson

argues that opera and ritual belong to the same cultural and performance system,

and they mutually influence each other. 5 If ritual is a metaphor for Chinese life

and virtue, its correct performance underscores Chinese morality, as Johnson

explains. While ritual performances are systemized and bureaucratized acts, they

can be secularized and expanded into operas, dramatic presentations of stories

and morals. As the secular counterpart of ritual, opera became a ubiquitous part

of traditional Chinese society, and operas portrayed all facets of Chinese life.

Because of the close relationship between ritual and opera in traditional Chinese

society, Chinese life became “operaticized”. 6

Applying Johnson’s theory, one sees how operas constituted an

indispensible part of early Taiwanese colonial life, and why the Japanese colonial

authorities had to tolerate its operation. Opera performs religious and social

functions: the performance provides not only offerings to divine beings but also

5 David Johnson, “Actions Speak Louder than Words: the Cultural Significance of Chinese Ritual
Opera,” in Ritual Opera, Operatic Ritual: “Mu‐lien Rescues His Mother” in Chinese Popular Culture,
ed. David Johnson, Publications of the Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1 (Berkeley: IEAS
Publications, University of California, 1989), 2.
6 Ibid., 31‐32.

296
an appealing entertainment for the human participants. 7 Through their offerings

of sacrificial wines, foods, and music, the lay people reached out to the deities to

ask for blessing and the rewards of peace and bountiful harvests. Through opera,

lay people connected themselves with their gods and goddesses.

A schematic list of Taiwanese temple festivals and their functions in 1897,

reported by the Taiwan Shimpō [Taiwan News], appears in Appendix B. These

events represent only a fraction of the festivals that occurred throughout the

island. This newspaper sampling of Taiwanese temple festivals suggests that

traditional Taiwanese cultural life quickly resumed after Japanese annexation in

1895, and the colonial government refrained from repressing the Taiwanese

social conventions, despite the fact that traditional Taiwanese beliefs and

practices were considered to be at odds with the modern values the colonial

government wanted to promote.

7 In Barbara Ward’s observation of opera in a religious context, opera is both the community’s
entertainment offering to the deities and the enactment of religious connotations. The operatic
performance is itself packed with cosmological symbolisms such as geomantic directions of the
stage, colors, costumes, repertoire selections, and so forth, rendering the operatic performances
itself a rite in which the actors are also the religious and ritual officiants. Barbara E. Ward, ʺNot
Merely Players: Drama, Art and Ritual in Traditional China,ʺ Man, New Series 14 (March 1979,
1979): 24, 28‐29.

297
Figure 8‐1: A religious festival in Taipei’s Dadaocheng district, ca. early 1900s. 8

Negotiating policy, convention, and social wellness concern

Although the colonial government tolerated Taiwanese temple festivals

and celebrations in general, they did occasionally ban the activities, generating

negotiations between the colonial authority and the Taiwanese locals. For

example, the death of Japanese imperial family members would prompt the

colonial government to ban festive activities of music, dance, and theatre for

various lengths of time. On January 12, 1897, the Japanese dowager empress died,

8 Image scanned from Takekoshi, Japanese Rule in Formosa, 284.

298
and to pay respect to the imperial family the colonial government banned all

music and dance activities in Taiwan. 9

The most common cause for prohibiting a Taiwanese communal event

was concern for public health. Throughout the colonial period, Taiwanese held

temple festivals to request their guardian deities to exorcise epidemics and

plagues; the same condition also prompted the colonial authority to announce

bans of such activities at the beginning or end of disease outbreaks. For example,

in May 1899, the Dalongdong district of Taipei wanted to host a large festival to

thank the guardian deity, Baosheng dadi, for alleviating people’s suffering from an

epidemic that was brought under control. The local colonial administration,

however, disapproved of the community’s plan, arguing that the proposed

festival would attract people from many places, including areas still infected by

the disease. A crowded festival like the one proposed had the potential to restart

the epidemic. Should that happen, the local administration eloquently argued,

the people of Dalongdong would render the deity’s blessing ineffective, which

was ungrateful. 10 The Taiwanese of the Dalongdong community temporarily

suspended the festival plan; they nevertheless felt uneasy about not following

the tradition of rewarding and honoring the deity by celebrating his work with

9 Taiwan shimpō, no. 107, January 16, 1897. Cited and interpreted in Xu Yaxiang, Shi shi yu quan shi:
Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan bao kan xi qu zi liao xuan du [Historical facts and interpretations: select newspaper
reports on Taiwanese theatre in the Japanese colonial period] (Yilan County: Guo li chuan tong yi shu
zhong xin (Center for Traditional Arts), 2006), 19.
10 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 300, May 5, 1899, p. 4.

299
rituals and festivities of operatic performances. About two weeks later, the

Dalongdong community petitioned again to host the festival, and their request

was granted by the colonial authority. 11

Similar prohibition and petition recurred throughout the colonial period.

As late as 1934 and 1935, Yilan, the northeast region of the island, experienced

outbreaks of encephalitis, and the government prohibited public gatherings of

temple festivals. Even performances in commercial theatres were closed for

public health concerns. 12 The epidemic outbreak and public gathering bans also

had the effect of depressing local business. In May 1935 and April 1936, the local

business community eagerly petitioned and negotiated with the colonial

government to arrange a large temple festival with more musical performances

to boost the local economy, and to make up the loss of income. 13

Notwithstanding times when social and public health concerns were

involved, the colonial authority adhered to the non‐interference policy for more

than four decades. Only in 1937 when the Sino‐Japanese war began did the

colonial authority tightened control of public religious and musical activities in

Taiwan. But for most of the colonial period, the government avoided

suppressing temple festivals and their musical performances, thereby

11 Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 312, May 19, 1899, p. 4.

12 Jian Xiuzhen, Huan jing, biao yan yu shen mei: Lanyang di qu Qing dai dao 1960 nian dai de biao yan
huo dong [Environ, Performance, and Aesthetics: performing activities of the Lanyang region from Qing
dynasty to the 1960s] (Taipei: Dao xiang chu ban she, 2005), 118‐119.
13 Ibid., 119‐121.

300
strategically appropriating the activities for their own political and

administrative agendas. For example, when the new Sōtokufu mansion was

completed in 1916, the colonial government organized a business fair in the form

of a Taiwanese temple festival to celebrate. 14 By attracting the Taiwanese with

the musical sounds and activities familiar to them, the colonial government

imprinted its new and imposing mansion, a symbol of their authority, onto

Taiwanese perceptions of colonial life.

II. Musiking Colonial Taiwan

The thriving and flourishing Taiwanese musical practices of the

communal temple festivals and urban entertainment quarters continued to be an

essential component of Taiwanese music culture after the annexation. The

Japanese non‐interference policy assured some space for continuity and

development. At the same time, the colonial government introduced new

elements which interacted and intersected with the traditional ones to create a

foundation of a new, hybridized Taiwanese music culture.

14Kun‐Liang Chiu, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi ju zhi yan jiu: jiu ju yu xin jiu [Study of Theatres of Taiwan
in the Japanese Colonial Period: old and new theatres] (Taipei: Zili wanbao, 1992), 99.

301
 From shōka to the new crop of musical elites

First and foremost among the elements of Japanese musiking was shōka.

Practiced in the colonial school system of modernized education, shōka served as

a critical means to introduce and develop Western‐style music in Taiwan. Shōka

introduced the Taiwanese to a new set of musical objects, styles, functions, and

music‐making experiences, and pointed to the sonically modern and Western

world that appealed to the aspiring Taiwanese. Shōka helped nurture a new

generation of musically informed and colonial educated Taiwanese elites, from

which musicians emerged pursuing and performing Western‐style music.

These new Taiwanese elites were mostly graduates of the Japanese

Language Academy. 15 Their musical abilities increased as the years of education

under colonial rule unfolded. In 1905 when the second annual Japanese

Language Academy concert series took place, 16 a group of Taiwanese students

performed shōka selections and a few others performed solo keyboard pieces on

15 The colonial cradles of new Taiwanese elites included the Japanese Language Academy and the
Medicine School. Some Taiwanese students and graduates from the Medicine School were
aficionados or connoisseurs of Western style music. However, most of them stayed in the career
as doctors, an even more prestigious and profitable profession than teachers.
16 The Japanese Language Academy or its faculty hosted recitals or concerts before establishing

the annual concert series. For example, on May 14, 1899, the Academy’s music teacher Takahashi
Fumishi, members of the band Taihoku ongakutai, and Japanese students of several Primary
Schools (shōgakkō, elementary schools for the Japanese children on the colony), performed a
concert featuring European music and shōka selection. Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 307, May 13,
1899, p. 3.

302
fūkin, organ. 17 In the concert of the following year, the number of Taiwanese

students performing organ solos increased; one of them, Zhang Fuxing, was

particularly praised for his control of dynamical contrast. 18 To reward his

achievement and to cultivate music teachers for the colony, the colonial

government and the Japanese Language Academy issued Zhang Fuxing a

fellowship to go to Tokyo to study music. Zhang went and majored in organ

performance and minored in violin. 19

Upon his return to Taiwan in 1910, Zhang taught music at the Japanese

Language Academy, and subsequently played an active role in promoting

Western classical music and performances in Taipei. In the early‐1920s, Zhang

and his private students formed a music club and they gave small ensemble

recitals. 20 Later in 1922, Zhang began surveying and documenting the folk and

traditional musics of the Taiwan aborigines and Han Chinese. 21

17 The program is printed in Kokugo gakkō kōyūkai zasshi [Japanese Language Academy Alumni
Association Newsletter] 17 (1905): 66‐67. The organ, fūkin, was likely a semi‐portable keyboard
instrument sounding by pumping the air with foot pedals.
18 The program and brief comments are printed in Kokugo gakkō kōyūkai zasshi [Japanese Language

Academy Alumni Association Newsletter] 19 (1906): 67‐69.

19 Chen Yuxiu and Sun Zhijun, Zhang Fu Xing: Jin dai Taiwan di yi wei yin yue jia [Zhang Fuxing: The

First Musician in Modern Taiwan] (Taipei: Shibao wenhua, 2000), 48.

20 Ibid., 134.

21 Ibid., 52‐54, 131‐32, 137. According to the chronology of Zhang compiled by Chen and Sun, in

February 1922 Zhang was commissioned by the Taiwan Education Society to collect the music of
the aboriginal tribe about to be uprooted from their home by the new hydroelectricity power
plant by Sun Moon Lake. Zhang’s trip predated the similar collection trip made by Japanese
musicologist Tanabe Hisao in April 1922. According to Chen and Sun’s research, Tanabe used
several musical examples transcribed by Zhang in the monograph Nan’yō∙Taiwan∙Okinawa ongaku

303
Figure 8‐2: Zhang Fuxing and his ensemble in recital, ca. 1920‐1923. 22

Following Zhang’s footprints, a handful of Taiwanese students went to

Japan for further training and to prepare themselves for musical careers. In 1915,

Ke Dingchou, another Japanese Language Academy graduate, returned from

music training at the Tokyo Music School and became the second Taiwanese

music faculty member in the Japanese Language Academy. 23 By the 1930s, a

kikō (Expeditions in Micronesia, Formosa, and Ryukyu: a monograph by Hisao Tanabe), edited and
publisedh by Tōyō Ongaku Gakkai (The Society for Research in Asiatic Music), in 1968.
22 Image scanned from Chen Y. ed. 1998: 159.

23 Chen and Sun, Zhang Fu Xing: Jin dai Taiwan di yi wei yin yue jia [Zhang Fuxing: The First

Musician in Modern Taiwan], 115. Ke taught only several years in Taiwan, and then in 1919 went

304
critical group of colonial‐educated and Japanese‐trained Taiwanese musicians

was working in Taiwan. They organized Western music concerts and performed

throughout the island. In August of 1934, for example, these musicians

performed concerts in seven Taiwanese cities. In July and August of 1935, they

performed thirty‐seven concerts all over the island, raising charity funds to help

the survivors of the disastrous April 1935 earthquake affecting the area from

Hsinchu to Taichung. 24 In addition to performing, several of these musicians also

taught, nurturing the next generation of Taiwanese musicians.

Members of the new colonial educated and musically informed Taiwanese

elites patronized Western‐style music beyond performance and teaching. Cai

Peihuo, a Taiwanese intellectual noted for his involvement with the anti‐colonial

movements of the 1920s and 1930s, wrote songs to promote Taiwanese self‐rule,

to advocate cultural enlightenment, to celebrate the publication of the first

Taiwanese newspaper, or to simply express personal emotions. 25 Cai was not a

professionally trained musician, but his Christian background and education at

back to Japan for more study. In 1922 he moved to China, changed his name to Ke Zhenghe, and
worked in music education.
24 Hsu Tsang‐Houei, Taiwan yin yue shi chu gao [History of Music of Taiwan: First Draft] (Taipei:

Quan yin yue pu, 1991), 268. The earthquake affected a large area and caused deep sufferings that
the Sōtokufu published a special monograph documenting the earthquake and the relief works.
Taiwan Sōtokufu, Shōwa jūnen Taiwan shinsaishi [Records of the Earthquake Disaster in the tenth year
of Shōwa period], Reprint from 1936 ed. (Taipei: Nan tian shu ju, 1999).
25 A collection of songs written by Cai Peihuo is compiled in Chun‐yan Lai, Cai Peihuo di shi qu ji

bi ge shi dai [The poems and songs of Cai Peihuo and his time] (Taipei: Cai tuan fa ren Wu Sanlian
Taiwan shi liao ji jin hui, 1999).

305
the Japanese Language Academy had helped him develop an interest in music.

Some other musical elites worked in the burgeoning popular music industry in

the late‐1920s through the mid‐1930s. Deng Yuxian, a graduate from Taipei

Normal School who had trained in Japan, became a composer of Taiwanese

popular songs. Deng’s songs, such as Wangchunfeng (“Longing for Spring

Breeze”) and Yuyehua (“Flowers in the Rainy Night”), became the most famous,

beloved, and enduring classical works in Taiwan and are still frequently

performed and enjoyed by Taiwanese today.

Colonial holidays and the extra music economy

If shōka and colonial education worked together to bring new musical

experiences and creative horizons to the Taiwanese, these experiences were also

rooted in the Japanese manipulation of holidays, commemorations, matsuri, and

social‐financial enterprises. Colonial holidays and commemorations of

Tenchōsetsu, the Japanese emperor’s birthday, Shisei kinenhi, colonial reign

inauguration, and the biennial Taiwan Jinja Matsuri, for example, created new

occasions, sites, and processes for cultural, social and financial interactions,

allowing Taiwanese and Japanese to make music and musically negotiate their

agendas. The financial gain generated by the colonial celebrations was also

significant for both the Japanese and Taiwanese musical economy.

306
 After the railroad: mobile performances and artistic exchanges

In terms of the musical, cultural, and economic impact of Japanese

colonization, the completion of the cross‐island railroad system was a critical

development. It stimulated the cultural and musical economy by generating

more performance opportunities in urban centers along the railroad, and by

encouraging cross‐genre exchanges. For example, in 1903 when the famous

Xiahai Temple of the Earth God in Taipei held its festival, many traveled to

Taipei from as far as Hsinchu via the train. 26 By providing modern transportation,

the railroad allowed more people to travel to important temple festivals outside

their usual local area. From the 1910s onward, the Xiahai Temple festival was

heavily patronized by businesses of the area, and parades made up of various

types of performances and advertisements were designed to attract large crowds

and money. As people were lured by the temple festivals to come to Taipei, they

attended theatres and other performance venues in the entertainment quarters,

spending money and boosting revenues for the commercial institutions. 27 The

26 During the two days of the festival, railroad passenger traffic in the segment north of Hsicnhu
was at least double the traffic of regular days of travel. The increased passenger traffic on festival
days indicates that railroad transportation could have motivated people to travel to a temple
festival outside their local area. Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō, no. 1534, June 12, 1903, p. 3.
27 Kwang‐yu Sung, “Xia hai cheng huang ji dian yu Taipei dadaocheng shang ye fa zhan di guan

xi (The Relationship between the Ceremonies of Hsia‐hai city‐god and the Commercial
Development in Ta‐tao‐chʹeng Taipei).” Zhong yang yan jiu yuan li shi yu yan yan jiu suo ji kan
(Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology Academia Sinica) 62 (April 1993): 312‐313.

307
Xiahai Temple of Taipei was not the only one to benefit from the railroad

transportation. Many famous temples reachable by the cross‐island railroad and

the connecting regional light rail networks also received similar benefits

generated by the increased number of visitors. 28

Railroad service directly contributed to the development of urban theatre

facilities and commercialized performances of Chinese operas. Unlike festival

participants, clients of the commercial venues of theatres had to pay admission to

watch performances. Commercialized urban theatre dedicated to performing

Chinese and Taiwanese operas first appeared in Taiwan in the early 1900s. In

1906, two mainland Chinese opera troupes appeared on the indoor stage of

Taipei theatres. These performances proved to be profitable money‐making

ventures for the businessmen who hired the Chinese troupes. As a result,

recruiting Chinese troupes to perform in commercial venues became a booming

business. 29 In 1909, the first commercial theatre facility designed for the used of

28Ibid: 313.
29The two Chinese troupes visiting in 1906 and another in 1908 performed in the Japanese
theatres in Taipei. Later in 1908, three local Taiwanese troupes imitated the examples set by the
Chinese troupes and used a temple plaza as the commercial stage. Xu Yaxiang, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan
xi qu shi lun : Xian dai hua zuo yong xia de ju zhong yu ju chang [On the History of Taiwanese Theatre
and Operas in the Japanese Colonial Period: theatrical genres and revenues in the field of modernity]
(Taipei: Nan tian shu ju, 2006), 88.

308
performing Chinese operas troupes was erected in Taipei; the next year, Tainan

built its own commercial theatre for Chinese opera. 30

The burgeoning commercial theatre spread from Taipei and Tainan, the

two major Taiwanese cultural and urban centers, to other cities along the railroad.

With the transportation service, troupes and recruiters could schedule many

performances in different cities to minimize cost and maximize profit. For

instance, a Peking Opera troupe from Shanghai first performed in 1909 in Taipei,

and then moved on to perform in Keelung, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan,

and Takao (Kaohsiung), all major cities along the railroad. With a changing cast –

as members left, new members from China were hired, the troupe continued to

perform from one city to another until 1913. 31 Because of the convenience of

travelling throughout the island, mainland Chinese troupes were recruited to

Taiwan more frequently and performed in more urban theatres.

Learning from the commercial performances of the Chinese troupes,

Taiwanese troupes began to perform in commercial venues as well. Some

Taiwanese troupes continued to perform at temple festivals with occasional

30 Xu Yaxiang, Ri zhi shi qi Zhongguo xi ban zai Taiwan [Chinese troupes in Taiwan during the Japanese
colonial period] (Taipei: Nan tian shu ju, 2000), 14‐16.
31 Xu, Ri zhi shi qi Zhongguo xi ban zai Taiwan [Chinese troupes in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial

period], 69‐71.

309
contracts to perform at the commercial theatres, and some were more focused on

theatres alone. 32

The booming performance market of Taiwan allowed mainland and local

troupes to interact with one another, generating cultural and musical exchanges.

To become acquainted with the Taiwanese audience, the Chinese troupes often

debuted in Taiwan by working with local troupes. As the debuting troupes

moved around in the island, they would work with a different local troupe

whenever they performed in a new city. In addition to these collaborations, some

Taiwanese troupes hired mainland Chinese performers to serve as teachers and

artistic directors. 33 Artistic exchanges between Chinese troupes and local

Taiwanese performers became frequent and extensive. One noticeable result of

the exchange was that many Taiwanese troupes adopted the libretti, martial arts,

costumes, and stage design featured in the performances of the mainland troupes.

One of the most fruitful results of Taiwanese‐Chinese operatic exchange

was the quick development of gezaixi, the Taiwanese Opera. As the only locally

grown operatic genre of Taiwan, it rapidly transformed from a small theatrical

parade into a full‐scale opera that was popularly performed in both commercial

32 Xu Yaxian provides a list of Taiwanese troupes performing in commercial theatres during the
Japanese colonial period. Xu, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi qu shi lun: Xian dai hua zuo yong xia de ju zhong
yu ju chang [On the History of Taiwanese Theatre and Operas in the Japanese Colonial Period: theatrical
genres and revenues in the field of modernity], 151‐204.
33 Xu, Ri zhi shi qi Taiwan xi qu shi lun: Xian dai hua zuo yong xia de ju zhong yu ju chang [On the

History of Taiwanese Theatre and Operas in the Japanese Colonial Period: theatrical genres and revenues
in the field of modernity], 207.

310
theatres and temple festivals. Before, as a small troupe performing comic and

musical skits in the colloquial Holo Taiwanese language, gezaixi performers had

improvised their performance and sang preexisting gezai tunes. Once gezaixi

began to be performed in commercial theatres, it soon transformed into a more

structured form of operatic performance. A young opera with seemingly

overnight popularity, gezaixi developed by absorbing artistic elements from other

operatic genres and their performance practices. The primary artistic sources

were the many Peking Opera troupes visiting from the mainland. Some

mainland troupe members even chose to stay in Taiwan for personal, financial,

or other reasons, and joined the gezaizi or other Taiwanese opera troupes,

contributing to the opera’s further development. 34 As a result, gezaixi became

aligned with the Peking Opera in many aspects such as costume design, stage

presentation, acting and martial arts. Suffice it to say that the mobility of operatic

performances, created by the railroad system, facilitated the rapid development

of the Taiwanese Opera, gezaixi.

34The memoir of Lü Fulu, a gezaixi performer, tells such a story. Lü’s father came to Taiwan with
a Peking Opera troupe from Shanghai in 1926 but did not return to China. Lü’s father,
specializing in the martial male role, then joined another mainland Peking Opera troupe and
several Taiwanese troupes performing the Peking Opera and the gezaixi, Taiwanese Opera. Both
Lü Fulu himself and his older brother later became gezaixi performers. Xu Yaxiang, ed. Chang xiao:
wu tai fu lu [Long Shout: Fulu on the stage] (Taipei: Boyang wen hua, 2001).

311
 The lone Confucian temple ceremonial

The flourishing traditional Taiwanese musical life, however, did not

extend to the very elite and special genre of Confucian ceremonial music. The

Taiwanese elite attempted and struggled to maintain the ritual that manifested

their personal and collective identity as Confucianists. Colonization had

imposed many unexpected difficulties and cut away many ocritical supports.

First, the absence of Qing officials and scholars created holes in the local elite’s

unity and the transmission of Confucian ritual knowledge. Second, traditional

Confucian education was replaced by the modern education provided by the

colonial schools; as a result, the new generation of colonially‐educated

Taiwanese elite experienced only limited involvement with the Confucian ritual

and the meanings it signified. Third, the land income that financially subsidized

the Confucian temples diminished after the Japanese colonial government

launched the land survey and re‐engineered land ownership and the tenure

system.

Despite these factors, the Confucian ceremonial music continued after

adjusting to the new colonial realities. Even though unorthodox elements and

deviations from the Qing‐prescribed version appeared, the basic form and

meanings of the ceremony remained, generating a firm reminder that Confucian

values and practices were still relevant and significant as a ritual‐musical

312
heritage, and as an effective field for cultural, social, political, and ethnic

negotiations.

Colonial negotiations and the hybridizing sounscape

Musiking negotiations were indispensable in early colonial Taiwan when

Japanese colonizers and Taiwanese colonized had to confront one another in

order to advance their own agendas. The Japanese might have won the

colonization of Taiwan through diplomatic and military actions, but they could

not rule the island by mere force. Nor could they make Taiwan a profitable

colony by simply enforcing Japanese policies and values. They had to educate

and transform the Taiwanese into loyal and productive citizens of the empire. To

achieve such goals, they had to musik with the Taiwanese – teaching the

Taiwanese to sing Japanese history and values through shōka during national

holidays and Taiwan Jinja Matsuri, and building cultural and social rapport with

the Taiwanese by inviting, engaging, and appropriating their musical

performances. Having been colonized, the Taiwanese people had to negotiate

with their Japanese colonizers to find a better life for themselves. With little

power, they could hardly resist Japanese orders. Nevertheless, through music

and their musiking efforts, the Taiwanese found the means, sites, and processes

to bargain with the Japanese colonizers. By learning to sing shōka, they

313
demonstrated their submission. But by mastering the skill and value of what lay

behind shōka, the Taiwanese grasped musical creativity and advanced into

musical modernity. By continuing to perform local genres of operas and songs,

they reaffirmed who they were and what they wanted. The Taiwanese elites’

continuation of the Confucian ceremony was exemplary of the multiplicity of

being Taiwanese: they needed the expression to hold onto their cultural identity

while simultaneously accepting the colonial polity and embracing modernity.

And the rapidly developing Taiwanese Opera, gezaixi, eloquently revealed not

only the newly‐constructed musical identities but also the dynamic interactions

between Japanese colonialism, Taiwanese modernity, Chinese heritage, and local

needs and desires. As these interactions created a new and hybrid soundscape in

colonial Taiwan, they laid the foundation for a diverse and dynamic music

culture to develop in the 20th century. It is from such a foundation that

contemporary musical Taiwan has risen.

III. Conclusion

This dissertation has provided new perspectives on Japanese colonialism

in Taiwan and Taiwanese musical experiences in early colonial period through

an ethnomusicological understanding of colonialism and music. First, this

dissertation demonstrates how the Japanese musiked with the Taiwanese in the

314
process of colonization. Music was an integral component of the colonial

enterprise. Japanese colonizers understood the power of musiking in colonial

schools, and also the effects of musiking on colonial holidays and celebrations.

Music was thus a tool to deliver colonial discourses, and a means to engage and

appropriate the Taiwanese into the colonial and modernizing enterprise.

Second, the complexity of musical modernity in Taiwan requires a closer

and a more nuanced examination of the Japanese colonial legacy in Taiwan.

While shōka has long been recognized as the foundation of musical modernity in

Taiwan, the established notion of colonial musical modernity has focused on the

emerging music professionals and amateurs in the 1920s and 1930s. However,

the process of how Taiwanese musical modernity developed from its earliest

foundation of shōka to producing visible markers of music professionals has been

under‐studied. This dissertation addresses how shōka became part of Taiwanese

musical life and served as an early foundation of Taiwanese musical modernity

before the emergence of Taiwanese musicians and songwriters. Japanese colonial

policy and newly‐created performance contexts also contributed to the vitality of

Taiwanese musical life across a range of genres and contexts. In other words, the

Japanese and Taiwanese musiking in the early colonial period established a

social mechanism for both modern and traditional musics to develop and evolve.

315
 Third, the case of musical Taiwan during early Japanese colonization

suggests that greater ethnomusicological focus should be turned to the

relationship between colonialism and music. A longstanding focus on

“traditional music” has overlooked the embrace of Western‐style music and the

development of indigenized musical modernity in colonial and post‐colonial

societies. Consequently, ethnomusicologists often fall into an unintentional

essentializing of music cultures by privileging genres without apparent colonial

“contamination,” neglecting syncretic or hybridized genres created, embraced,

and consumed by local societies. The ethnomusicological studies of Amy K.

Stillman and Veit Erlmann, for example, call attention to the process of how local

populations have indigenized foreign or imposed musical vocabularies into their

musical creativity to create new music genres and even new traditions. These

musical sounds, creative and hybridized in nature, are commonplace in the

contemporary musical lives of many societies which experienced colonization. In

addition, the perpetuation of transplanted Western Classical music has been

assured by the establishment of pipelines that produce professionals who

perform, teach, and promote the repertoire. To overlook these musical practices

constitutes the (un)intended failure of ethnomusicologists to address the

prevalence of musical modernity in many non‐Western societies.

316
 A goal of this study has been to understand the process of how musical

modernity becomes indigenized in an evolving colonial context. Moreover, by

examining a spectrum of Taiwanese musical life during early Japanese

colonization, this dissertation expands the scope of understanding colonialism

and music beyond musical modernity. Interactions between the colonial polity

and local musical traditions demonstrate how musiking facilitated negotiations

between colonizers and colonized in a colonial society. The case of early Japanese

colonial Taiwan invites ethnomusicologists and music scholars alike to assess

colonialism and music in a more nuanced, non‐monolithic way – one that will

lead to a more comprehensive understanding of one of the most prevailing and

profound social‐cultural phenomena in history.

317
APPENDICES

318
 APPENDEX A

Glossaries of Chinese and Japanese Terms

Chinese names and terms

Amoy (Xiamen) 廈門

bayin 八音

beiguan 北館

beiqu 北曲

bentuhua 本土化

bentu wenhua 本土文化

bianqing 編磬

bianqu 邊區

bianzhong 編鐘

bofu 搏拊

bozhong 鎛鐘

Cai Peihuo 蔡培火

Cai Zhinan 蔡植楠

Changhua 彰化

Chen Baoquan 陳寶泉

319
Chen Bin 陳璸

Chen Da 陳達

Chen Shui‐Bian 陳水扁

chi 篪

Chiayi 嘉義

Dadaocheng 大稻埕

Dalongdong 大龍峒

Danshui 淡水

Danshui guan 淡水舘

Deng Yuxian 鄧雨賢

Deping 德平

di 笛

dongxiao 洞簫

erxian 二絃

fu 府

Fujian 福建

fuxue 府學

gezaixi 歌仔戲

gu 鼓

Hakka 客家

320
hanhua 漢化

hanzu minjian yinyue 漢族民間音樂

Hokkien 福建

Holo 福佬

Hsinchu 新竹

Hsu Tsang‐Houei (Xu Changhui) 許常惠

hui 麾

Jian Yanghua 簡揚華

jiazhong 夾鐘

jie 節

jikong 祭孔

jinghu 京胡

Kaohsiung 高雄

Ke Dingchou (Ke Zhenghe) 柯丁丑 (柯政和)

Keelung 基隆

koxinga (guoxingye) 國姓爺

Lee Teng‐Hui 李登輝

Liu Hong’ou 劉鴻鷗

Liu Mingchuan 劉銘傳

liuyi 六藝

321
Lü Yuxiu 呂鈺秀

Lugang 鹿港

Mengjia 艋舺

Miaoli 苗栗

minge caiji yundong 民歌採集運動

minge 民歌

nanguan 南管

nanlü 南呂

neidihua 內地化

paixiao 排簫

pipa 琵琶

qin 琴

qinqin 秦琴

Quanzhou 泉州

Sanchahe/Sanyi 三叉河/三義

sanxian 三絃

se 瑟

shange 山歌

Shao Youlian 邵友濂

sheng 省

322
Shi Weiliang 史惟亮

shufang 書房

suona 嗩吶

Taichung 臺中

Tainan 臺南

Taipei 臺北

Taiwan minbao (Taiwan Minpō) 臺灣民報

Tang Jingsong 唐景嵩

Taoyuan 桃園

teqing 特磬

tuzhuhua 土著化

Wei Qingde 魏清德

xian 縣

xianxue 縣學

xiao 簫

xishi xinyinyue 西式新音樂

Xuanping 宣平

xun 塤

Xuping 敍平

yida 藝妲

323
Yilan 宜蘭

yingshen 迎神

Yiping 懿平

yu 敔

yu 羽

Yuanshan 圓山

yuanzhumin yinyue 原住民音樂

yue 樂

yue 籥

yueju 樂局

yueqin 月琴

Yunlin 雲林

Zhang Fuxing 張福興

Zhaoping 昭平

Zheng Chenggong 鄭成功

Zheng He 鄭和

Zhiping 秩平

Zhishanyan 芝山巖

zhongguohua 中國化

zhonghua minzu 中華民族

324
zhongyuan fudi 中原腹地

zhu 柷

Zhudong 竹東

Japanese names and terms

Akinami Sei 秋濤生

chinzasai 鎮座祭

Chō junnan rokushi no uta 弔殉難六氏之歌

Chokugo hōtō (Reply to Imperial Rescript) 敕語敬答

dokusho 読書

fūkin 風琴

fukoku shōhei 富国強兵

funukui 煙鬼

gagaku 雅楽

gaishō 街庄

gakumu bu 学務部

gakusei 学制

geisha 芸者

Genshisai 元始祭

gogaku bu 語學部

325
Goshōraku no kyū 五常樂急

Gotō Shimpei 後藤新平

gūji 宮司

hichiriki 篳篥

hotaru/hotaru no hitari 螢/ 螢の光

Hyōjō 平調

Ichigatsu tsuitachi 一月一日

igakkō 医学校

Inō Kanori 伊能嘉矩

Izawa Shūji (Isawa Shuji) 伊澤修二

ji wa kogane 時わ黄金

jōruri 浄瑠璃

Kabayama Sukenori 樺山資紀

Kabuki 歌舞伎

kaitaku sanjin 開拓三神

kami 神

kampeisha taisha 官幣社大社

Kanbun Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō 漢文台湾日日新報

kanbun 漢文

Kannameisai 神嘗祭

326
kannushi 神主

Karasu 烏

Karyōbin no kyū 迦陵頻急

Katen no kyū 賀殿急

katsudō shashin 活動写真

Kazoe uta 数へ歌

Keitoku 慶德/鶏徳

Kigensetsu 紀元節

Kimigayo 君が代

Kitashirakawa no Miya, Yoshihisa Shinnō 北白川宮能久親王

teodori 手踊り

Kodama Gentarō 兒玉源太郎

kōgakkō (Common School) 公学校

Kokinwakashū 古今和歌集

Kokugo denshūjo (Japanese Language Lab) 国語伝習所

Kokugo gakkō (Japanese Language Academy) 国語学校

Kokugo gakkō kōyūkai zasshi 国語学校校友会雑誌

kokugo 国語

kokutai 国体

kyōka tōgō 教科統合

327
Mansairaku 萬歲樂

Masugu ni tateyo 真直にたてよ

Miya Shitsuka 三屋靜

miyako bushi 都節

Nigimitama にぎみたま

Niinamesai 新嘗祭

Nogi Manesuke 乃木希典

Okamoto Yohachirō 岡本要八郎

Okuni tama no mikodo 大国魂命

Onamuji no mikodo 大己貴命

ongaku torishirabe gakari 音楽取調掛

ongakutai 音楽隊

ōza 玉座

rakugo 落語

Raryō’ō 羅陵王

Rokushi sensei 六氏先生

sakubun 作文

Sakunihikona no mikodo 少彥名命

Sandai’en no kyū 三臺塩急

sanjutsu 算術

328
shamisen 三味線

Shiba Fujitsune 芝葛鎮

shihan bu 師範部

Shin raryō’ō 新羅陵王

Shisei kineihi 始政紀念日

Shizangan gakudō 芝山巖學堂

shō 笙

shobō 書房

shōgakkō (Primary School) 小学校

shōka 唱歌

shōkashū 唱歌集

shūji 習字

Shukujitsu taisaibi kashi hei gakufu 祝日大祭日歌詞並楽譜

shūshin 修身

sōchinju 総鎮守

sōgaku 奏楽

Sōtokufu 総督府

Sumera mikuni 皇御國 (すめらみくに)

Taichū (Taichung) 台中

Taihoku (Taipei) 台北

329
taisai 大祭

taisō 体操

Taiwan Jinja 台湾神社

Taiwan Jinja Matsuri 台湾神社祭り

Taiwan kyōikukai 台湾教育会

Taiwan kyōikukai zasshi 台湾教育会雑誌

Taiwan kyōkayōsho kokumin dokuhon 台湾教科用書国民読本

Taiwan Minpō 台湾民報

Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō 台湾日日新報

Taiwan shimpō 台湾新報

Taiwan shūyū shōka 台湾周遊唱歌

Taiwan tekiyō kokugo dokuhon shoho 台湾適用国語読本初歩

Takahashi Fumishi 高橋二三四

Takao (Kaohsiung) 高雄

Tansumi kan 淡水館

Taue 田植

Tenchōsetsu 天長節

Torii Ryūzō 鳥居龍蔵

torii 鳥居

Ueda Kazutoshi 上田万年

330
Yamato takeru no mikoto 日本武尊

Yōbunkai 揚文会

yōhai 遥拝

yokyō 余興

Yūchi’en shōkashū 幼稚園唱歌集

Yūkannaru suihei 勇敢なる水兵

yūndōkai 運動会

331
 APPENDIX B

A schematic list of Taiwanese temple festivals and religious events in 1897

The table of Taiwanese temple festivals and religious events is made based on
newspaper entries in Taiwan Shimpō [Taiwan News], January to December 1897.

Taiwan Place Event/ Reason Activities

Shimpō
entry
date
2.18 Hsinchu – Lantern Festival: a Firecrackers, music,
various celebration of the lunar opera
locations new year
2.19 Taipei – Lantern Festival Firecrackers, music,
Longshan
temple,
Zushi
temple
3.24 Taipei – Guanyin’s (Bodhisattva) Flag/banner decorations;
Longshan descend to Taipei and animal sacrifice and food
temple taking residence in the and wind offerings;
temple drum & wind music;
singings by Taiwanese
geishas; staged operatic
performances
4.16 Taipei – The deities’ change of Loud music, red flags,
Bao’an costumes sedans, and mediums to
temple escort the deities; parade
included young
Taiwanese geishas’ music
performances

332
4.20 Tainan Outbreak of plague; Parades; music played by
residents praying and instruments of big
requesting the deities to drums, trumpets, gongs,
descend to exorcise the huqin (two‐stringed
disease fiddles), etc
7.1 Taipei – Worshipping and Banquet and wine
Lianhuachi praying to the guardian offerings; performances
villa deity Baoyi daifu (“Doctor of opera, puppet theatre,
Baoyi”) and Taiwanese geishas’
playing and singing
7.2 Taipei – Celebrating the birthday Food and wine offerings;
Dacuoko of caishen, “god of operatic performances;
village wealth” Taiwanese geishas’
singing and
performances
7.2 Changhua Annual event – Animal sacrifices; flower
from the fourth to the offering; operatic
sixth month of the lunar performances
calendar, communities in
the area taking turns to
invite sea goddess Mazu
from Nanyao Temple to
temporarily reside in the
communal temples
housing the god of earth
7.27 Taipei – Celebrating the birthday Music and opera
Mengjia of Xiqin wangye, guardian professionals staged
district deity of music and opera operatic performances to
celebrate
8.24 Taipei – Yulanpen hui – festival on 5‐6 stages of operatic
Mengjia the fifteenth of the performances; 3‐4 groups
district seventh month of the of Taiwanese geishas’
lunar calendar for singing
feeding and exorcising
the ghosts

333
9.10 Villages in in the eighth month of At least one or more
Danshui the lunar calendar, each operatic performances
vicinity village rewarded the per village along with
guardian deities for their abundant food offerings
blessings in peace and
harvest
12.1 Chiayi Chiayi city residents Parades; music and
invited and transported theatrical performances
goddess Mazu from the to celebrate the arrival of
large temple in Beigang Mazu and to accompany
to temporarily reside in the parade of the goddess
the several temples
housing the earth god

334
 APPENDIX C

Chō junnan rokushi no uta (“Song to mourn the six teachers”), short version, in
number notation and in staff notation.

The example includes the first eight measures of the song to illustrate the

corresponding reading between number notationa and staff notation. Numbers 1,

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 denote the seven tones of a diatonic scale. For example, in C

major scale and its relative a minor scale, the numbers denote C, D, E, F, G, A,

335
and B. A dot above the number indicates an octave higher; a dot below the

number indicates the note is in the range below the middle C. The same principle

applies to other diatonic scales. For example, in A major scale and its relative F‐

sharp scale, the numbers 1 through 7 represent A, B, C‐shart, D‐sharp, E, F‐sharp,

and G‐sharp. In the song Chō junnan rokushi no uta, the key signature is indicated

as B‐flat, hence the numbers 1 through 7 are equivalent to B‐flat, C, D, E‐flat, F, G,

and A. The actual tonic of the song is 6 (=F, see p.136 for complete music example

in number notation), thus the song is in f minor.

336
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