During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945), the official policy toward the tribespeople was generally one of assimilation. Colonial officials attempted to stamp out tribal customs and traditions, and a policeman was usually stationed in each village to enforce this policy. Some officials abused their power, and the natives grew increasingly dissatisfied with Japanese rule. Then, in October 1930, about two thousand tribespeople from eleven tribal she, or villages, rose up against the Japanese in Wushe (in today's Taichung county). The uprising became known as the "Wushe Incident."
One day in October, while a Japanese police officer was on patrol, he stopped at Meiposhe on the wedding day of Tamaona Monalutao, the son of Moye Monalutao, the village chief. The chief was hosting a sumptuous banquet for about forty guests. Tamaona was an old acquaintance of the officer. Upon seeing the Japanese official, he hurriedly proposed a toast. But the policeman, seeing that Tamaona's hands were stained with pig's blood, refused because he felt it was unsanitary. In his excitement, the groom raised his cup with one hand and grasped the officer with the other to offer the toast. But to everyone's embarrassment, the policeman knocked over the cup with his nightstick. To maintain their dignity in front of the bride and the guests, Tamaona, along with his father and uncle, gave the policeman a sound thrashing. Through the mediation of the guests, Tamaona promised to go to the police station in person the next day and offer his apologies to the officer. But the official refused their apologies, and he promised to punish not only the three men but all the residents of Meiposhe.
Their apologies refused, the men returned home, where they held a discussion with the rest of the tribe. Rather than wait to be punished, they decided to strike first and spent the next few days contacting villages in the area. After holding secret discussions with the various village chiefs, it was decided that they would attack on the day of a Japanese athletic competition scheduled to be held at Wushe. The tribesmen formed two groups and one was led by the village chief, Monalutao.
On the fateful morning of October 27, the athletic competition was held at the Wushe elementary school. Attending the games were Japanese students, teachers, parents, as well as a number of local officials. At 8:00 A.M., as everyone sang the Japanese national anthem and watched the flag raising, a young sword-wielding tribesman vaulted the wall and rushed onto the playing field. There he beheaded a local official.
Then one group rushed onto the playing field where they slaughtered all the Japanese present. Monalutao and his group searched all Japanese offices and homes, attacking the occupants. When the attack ended, 134 Japanese had been killed and another 215 injured. After taking Wushe, the aborigines cut all the electric and communications lines in the surrounding area.
When the Japanese governor of Taiwan received news of the attack, he immediately dispatched troops from Taipei, Hsinchu, and Tainan. As soon as the tribespeople saw the well-armed troops, they withdrew to a well-fortified and well-provisioned cave in Meiposhe. They were prepared to fight to the death. The Japanese army used machine guns and cannons, but failed to dislodge the warriors. They even brought in tribal mercenaries, all to no avail.
The Japanese force of 1,163 policemen, 800 troops, and 1,381 mercenaries was unable to take the cave. Eventually, the Japanese bombed the cave with poison gas. Unable to hold out any longer, Monalutao and dozens of his comrades chose suicide rather than surrender.
The uprising lasted fifty days. In the end, over nine hundred indigenous people had died. According to Japanese sources, twenty-nine Japanese policemen, twenty-two indigenous mercenaries, and another twenty Japanese died in the incident. Afterwards, the Japanese governor of Taiwan and the chief of Taichung county resigned.