During the treaty negotiations Japanese warships appeared in waters off Taiwan. The Ching Dynasty did not want to give up Taiwan. Public opinion was set against it. Local government officials took petitions to the Ching Dynasty in Beijing pleading that it not give up Taiwan. When Taiwan's residents heard Japan was going to take over, many proclaimed they would rather die than live under Japanese rule.
Nevertheless, the Ching Dynasty's troops returned to the mainland. The civilians organized a volunteer army to fight the Japanese. However, this force lacked training and weapons. In May, 1895, Japanese forces landed in the northern harbor of Chilung, where volunteers held out for a month before the city fell. Taipei then fell immediately, but the volunteers continued to resist in the countryside. Many died, but they forced the Japanese to send in many more troops, who landed on Taiwan's north, west, and south shores. The volunteers went down to defeat in four months, but their heroism became legendary.
During the fifty years through which Japan occupied Taiwan, resistance continued, though mostly in small ways. As Japan industrialized its own economy, it promoted agriculture development in Taiwan. The Japanese also mined aluminum in Taiwan. The island's major products were aluminum, bananas, camphor, rice, sugar, and tea. Japan completed the railroad running north and south. The Japanese government encouraged the Taiwanese to study medicine and agriculture, but not politics or law.
World History
