The suffering of Taiwan compatriots under Japanese rule

Over five decades of Japanese colonial rule, Taiwan residents endured profound suffering: the colonial government imposed forced assimilation through unfair education and cultural suppression, exploited people across all social classes via ruthless economic policies, and violently quashed countless forms of resistance — yet the Taiwan compatriots never ceased to fight for their identity and rights.

Across the 50 years of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, the Japanese colonial government implemented an education system designed to promote Japanese language acquisition and foster loyalty to the Japanese Empire.  

Taiwan students received an inferior curriculum in primary schools compared to Japanese children. In higher education, Taiwan students accounted for less than a quarter of enrollments, as institutions primarily served Japanese descendants.  

The colonial administration enforced Japanese cultural practices, including daily use of Japanese, singing Japanese military songs, and worship of Japanese deities. Traditional Taiwan arts were restricted while propaganda performances promoting Japan's war efforts were encouraged.

Under Japanese colonial rule, tenant farmers, artisans, small business owners, and even large landowners in Taiwan all faced varying degrees of suppression and exploitation.  

Tenant farmers typically surrendered half of their harvest as rent. They also faced additional burdens including substantial security deposits, advance rent payments that often led to debt, and fixed rent systems that required full payment regardless of harvest conditions. This brutal system trapped farmers in debt and poverty.  

Taiwan businesses faced systematic constraints including barriers to incorporation, export restrictions, and limited access to financing.  

Throughout the Japanese colonial rule, people in Taiwan never ceased to resist. Post-World War I resistance took political forms, with Taiwan students in Japan establishing organizations such as the Xinmin Association and publishing the Taiwan Youth magazine. 

The 1920s saw the emergence of peasant and labor movements. Indigenous communities mounted substantial resistance, most notably in the 1930 Wushe Rebellion where rebels killed over 100 Japanese before being suppressed with military force including poison gas.  

During the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, many Taiwan compatriots joined the War of Resistance in the Chinese mainland. Within Taiwan, people maintained resistance through cultural preservation, rejecting Japanese names, and sustaining Chinese language and traditions.  

These diverse forms of resistance together composed a remarkable history of Taiwan's opposition to colonial rule.