of PRT was a valiant effort to defend Taiwan and China’s national sovereignty. In this sense, PRT could be regarded as the starting point for modern China’s resistance to Japanese aggression. On June 2, Taiwan was formally handed over to Kabayama Sukenori 桦山资纪, the first Japanese governor of Taiwan. Taiwan continued to be one of Japan’s colonies until 1945. Japan sent its elite troops, the Konoe Shidan (the Imperial Guard), to suppress popular resistance.
This troop was divided into two groups. One was headed by the governor and the other by one of the princes.66 Soon the Japanese captured Taibei (Taipei), where the new colonial master of Taiwan received his inauguration.
With the exception of Liu Yongfu, many leaders of the resistance, such as Tang Jingsong and Qiu Fengjia, left Taiwan. The local militias constituted the main force fighting against the Japanese army. Wu Tangxing 吴汤兴, Jiang Shaozu 姜绍祖, and Xu Xiang 徐骧 (1858–1895) were the best-known fighters. Liu Yongfu was hailed as the leader of resistance. At that time, there were 26,000 or so fighters against Japan in Tainan 台 南.67 Japan took more than fifty days to take Xinzhu, a key city in northwestern Taiwan. Liu’s Seven-Star Corps, renowned for its combat effectiveness, ambushed the Japanese army when they were crossing a river and inflicted heavy casualties. The fiercest battle took place at Baguashan, Zhanghua 彰化, where the army fought hand to hand with the enemy. Finally, one of the Japanese generals was hacked to death and all the soldiers of the Seven-Star Corps died in battle. Xu Xiang fought his way out and retreated to Tainan. Liu brought in a huge number of troops to retake Zhanghua; however, because of lack of armaments, his plan failed. By the end of September, the number of Japanese troops increased to more than 40,000. In early October, Liu’s troops almost ran out of ammunition and food. Despite these privations, they fearlessly defended Jiayi 嘉义 and Tainan. During a battle, Liu’s troops annihilated more than 700 hundred of the enemy and seriously wounded a Japanese prince, who died soon afterwards. In defence of Tainan, Xu Xiang led troops composed mainly of the Gaoshan people. More than 20,000 soldiers all fought to the death against the Japanese army. Xu was the most experienced fighter against the Japanese and vowed to fight to the death for the land.68 Fulfilling his vow, Xu died a glorious death in Xinzhu. Japan spent half a year taking over Taiwan with a huge army of more than 50,000 men, including the elite Imperial Guard, 26,000 servants, and most of its warships. More than 10,841 Japanese lost their lives, four times the casualties of the nine-month war prior to the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
Japan brutally repressed the people of Taiwan and imposed colonial rule on them. The laws promulgated by the Japanese government allowed the governor of Taiwan to act as a tyrant. He was given a monopoly over the military, legislative, administrative, and judicial powers. In November, a draconian law was enacted, whereby the ruler could imprison and execute whoever resisted the colonial authorities. According to statistics, in four years, more than 11,900 Taiwanese were brutally executed by this regime.69 In 1911, Liang Qichao (1873–1929), visited Taiwan, still under Japanese colonial rule, and concluded that there was all was void but the god-like Sotoku (governor).70
Taiwan under Japanese rule was no more than a police state. Within a period of two months—September and October, 1895—795 Japanese police officers were sent to Taiwan and installed at all levels71 (see table below).72
| Number of Police Agencies | Number of Police Officers | Number of Patrolling Inspectors | |
| 1896 | 17 Police Departments 31 Sub-Departments 15 Police Stations | \ | \ |
| 1899 | \ | 228 | 4,061 |
| 1901 | \ | 173 296 alternate officers | 3,469 1,734 alternate inspectors |
Japan installed not only rigid laws put also sought to control the Taiwanese people’s thoughts. For the people, there was no distinction between the government and the police.73
It is generally believed that the Treaty of Shimonoseki marked China’s degeneration into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society. Before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Western powers could not tell who would emerge the winner. China’s extremely poor performance in the war demonstrated its weakness and its proud status in Asia was gone forever. The rising Japanese empire overshadowed all others in Asia; however, it presented difficulties for the colonialists’ partition of China. A spokesperson of the Western colonialists said China was merely the “sick man of the Far East,”74 and on his deathbed, even openly discussing how to carve up China and grab its riches.75 The competition between the imperial powers for China lay at the core of Far Eastern internal relations and largely meant that China would not get the chance to rise again.
1 See: Chapter 71 of Chouban yiwu shimo: Xianfeng chao 筹办夷务始末 (咸丰朝) (The management of foreign affairs in its entirety: The Reign of Emperor Xianfeng), 18; Chapter 4 of Xianfeng chao chouban yiwu shimo buyi 咸丰朝筹办夷务始末补遗 (A supplement to Chouban yiwu shimo: Xianfeng chao), Part One, p. 680.
2 See: Chapter 71 of Chouban yiwu shimo: Xianfeng chao, p. 28.
3 See: Liu Danian, Zhongguo jindaishigao, p. 117.
4 See: Vol. 7 of Zeng Guofan quanji, pp. 84–85.
5 Zhao Erxun 赵 尔 巽 et al., Qing shi gao 清 史 稿 [A draft history of Qing] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1977), vol. 38, pp. 11686–11687.
6 See: Vol. 3 of Taiping Tianguo shiliao congbian jianji 太平天国史料丛编简辑 [Selected primary sources in relation to Taiping Tianguo] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1962), p. 411.
7 See: Vol. 3 of Zeng Guofan quanji, p. 186.
8 See: Gu Tinglong 顾 廷 龙 and Dai Yi 戴 逸 eds., Li Hongzhang quanji [Complete works of Li Hongzhang] (Hefei: Anhui Educational Publishing House, 2007), vol. 29, p. 218.
9 See: Chapter 25 of Chouban yiwu shibo: Tongzhi Chao (The management of foreign affairs in its entirety: The Reign of Emperor Tongzhi), pp. 1–2.
