A Taiwan-centered study of history is taking root in the country’s academic institutions.
Located in Southern Taiwan Science Park near the largest archeological excavation site in the country, Museum of Archaeology (MOA) in Tainan City is a sleek, modern structure belying the ancient finds within. A branch of National Museum of Prehistory (NMP) in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County, the 2.44-hectare MOA was opened in October 2019 by Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君). The new institution is intended to help visitors reconnect with the past and foster identification with local culture, she said.
Made possible due to the work of archaeologists from the Institute of History and Philology at Taipei City-based Academia Sinica—Taiwan’s foremost research institution—and local specialists in Tainan, exhibits at MOA span from the Neolithic Age through the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). According to NMP Director Wang Chang-hua (王長華), the branch museum and its parent institution are becoming hubs for research centered on the country’s varied Austronesian and East Asian cultures. Their central mission, she added, is placing finds into context from a contemporary perspective to increase cultural awareness for future generations.
Wang headed Tainan-based National Museum of Taiwan History (NMTH) from 2016 to 2018 before leading NMP. Established in 2011, NMTH operates under the Ministry of Culture and seeks to present an objective picture of the country’s past. Its establishment was a key moment in the historical study of Taiwan, said Lu Shao-li (呂紹理), a professor of history at Taipei-based National Taiwan University (NTU) and a consultant in the school’s Center for Taiwan Studies.
From 2013 to 2016, Lu participated in the center’s Knowledge Taiwan workshop together with dozens of scholars from around the country specializing in fields such as language, literature, philosophy and sociology. The project, supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE), sought to explore the role that Taiwan studies can play in the existing humanities knowledge system alongside established disciplines like Sinology and other area studies.
The development of Taiwan as a scholarly interest has spotlighted topics previously neglected in the academic community, such as the country’s time under Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945). Lu’s research is among the many examples made possible by this shift, focusing on agricultural pest control during the colonial era. “Examining such practices reveals a lot about societal development,” he said.
Visitors to Museum of Archaeology at Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan City take a snap with an art installation modeled on a Niaosung culture ceramic piece (above right) from about 1,300 years ago. (Photos by Pang Chia-shan)
Fresh Viewpoint
Study of Taiwan also offers new insights for Sinologists. Just as historians have examined the Qing dynasty from the standpoint of its Jurchen and Manchu founders rather than as a Han dynastic succession, Lu said, Taiwan can contribute to a broader view of life on the periphery of the empire. “This reveals a seafaring, multicultural society that contrasts starkly with life in continental China.”
Considering events from an international angle is necessary to truly understand local history, according to Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深). A longtime researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Modern History, the scholar now heads Academia Historica under the Presidential Office and doubles as chairman of Taiwan Historical Association, a group of historians and scholars also based in Taipei.
Chen cited a reprisal by Japanese troops following the deaths of 54 sailors at the hands of local indigenous tribes near the southern tip of the country in 1874 as an example of the confluence of geopolitical forces that have shaped Taiwan’s history. The action, he argued, was made possible due to the weak position of the Qing court. “It must be understood in the context of the rise and fall of regional powers in East Asia,” Chen said. “The power politics of the region are intertwined with the histories of Taiwan, China and Japan and continue to reverberate in today’s world.”
According to Chen, the country’s journey to break free from a China-centric study of history included structural changes at the grassroots level. Beginning in the 1990s, the MOE introduced the Knowing Taiwan curriculum to junior high schools nationwide, and in the early 2000s, local history was taught separately as a subject at high school for the first time, with Chinese history becoming part of a larger regional framework.
“There was little room for a more open, nonlinear view of Taiwan history before the country’s democratization in the 1980s,” Chen said. But the foundational changes made over the past 30 years have opened doors for whole new avenues of inquiry, he added.
A permanent exhibition at the museum focuses on daily life for inhabitants of ancient Taiwan. (Photos by Pang Chia-shan)
Different Interpretations
One seminal work to have emerged from this era is “The Republic of China and the Politics of Taiwanization: The Changing Identity of Taiwan in Postwar East Asia,” by Masahiro Wakabayashi, director of Taiwan Research Institute at Waseda University in Japan. The book was translated and published by NTU Press in 2016, and helped earn the author a medal awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 2019 for promoting Taiwan-Japan ties. “It’s not purely historical but rather cross-disciplinary, integrating theories from political science and sociology,” Chen said.
While historians necessarily have their own opinions, according to Chen, it is crucial to retain a holistic viewpoint such as that held by Wakabayashi. This has sometimes been lacking in works written for political ends. One of Academia Historica’s chief missions is therefore to cultivate consensus on contentious historical issues by presenting materials and interpretations in an impartial manner for evaluation by society as a whole.
Case in point is the institute’s work publishing documents relating to transitional justice, which is not intended to serve the interests of any political camp or party, said Chen. “It’s about revealing historical truths and settling social disputes so that we can move on as a country from our past.”
Taiwan is home to many different peoples, each possessing unique histories and providing researchers with exciting possibilities to weave together disparate strands into a new national consciousness, NTU’s Lu said. Thanks to development of high-quality institutions for preserving and examining the country’s past, opportunities abound for budding historians. For Lu, this is something to be grateful for. “By developing a comprehensive view that considers perspectives beyond the nation’s ruling polity, Taiwan can finally be confident in telling its story to the world.”
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw