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Liu Ming-ch'uan and Modernization of Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Samuel C. Chu
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Extract

In the latter decades of the nineteenth century, a number of Chinese officials acted as agents of modernization in their own regions of authority. The achievements of such men as Li Hung-chang and Chang Chih-tung are well known. The work of Liu Ming-ch'uan in Taiwan, however, has received little recognition outside his own country. After Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, even Chinese scholars paid scant attention to Liu's work there, but with the removal of the Nationalist government to the island in 1949, there has understandably been a renewed interest in him. Chinese studies of Liu, however, generally treat his seven-year administration of the island without distinguishing between his efforts along traditional lines and those which required innovations. This is, of course, a perfectly valid approach, but Liu can also be seen as a modernizer. Because this paper is focused on the latter approach, it will take up only Liu's efforts at modernization.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , November 1963 , pp. 37 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1963

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References

1 Liu's collected memorials have been reissued by the Bank of Taiwan in its series of documentary reprints pertaining to the island's history. Bank of Taiwan, Economic Research Office, Liu Chuang-shu Kung chou-i, Taiwan Documentary Collection No. 27 (Taipei, 1958)Google Scholar (hereafter LCSK). Wen-hsien Chuan-k'an, a periodical of historical materials issued by the Taiwan Provincial Commission for Historical Documents, devoted an entire special issue to Liu (Vol. IV, No. 1–2, Aug., 1953). The only work which might be called a biography of Liu is in Japanese: Ino Yoshinori, Taiwan Jumbu to shite no Ryu Mei-den (Taihoku, 1905)Google Scholar (hereafter Jumbu). There is an unpublished nien-p'u of Liu compiled by Mr. Lo Kang, who kindly granted several lengthy interviews to the author in Taipei.

2 The following brief account of Liu's early career is based on his biography in Ch'ing-shih lieh-chtian (Taiwan Chung-hua Book Company ed.), 59.50a–52a. See also Hummel, Arthur, Emminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (Washington, 1944), pp. 526–528.Google Scholar

3 Jumbu, pp. 131–132.Google Scholar

4 Jumbu, p. 109.Google Scholar

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8 LCSK, pp. 277–278.Google Scholar

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10 Kuo, , pp. 184–188 Google Scholar. One other official who anticipated much of Liu Ming-ch'uan's ideas on modernization was Liu Ao, taotai in southern Taiwan at the time of Liu Ming-ch'uan's arrival. Unfortunately Liu Ao, a Hunanese, refused to cooperate with Governor Liu during the French campaigns. Immediately afterwards Liu Ming-ch'uan made formal charges against him and had him cashiered in disgrace. LCSK, pp. 423–431 Google Scholar; and Ao, Liu, Hsün-T'ai t'ui-ssu lu [Reflections upon Retirement from Duty in Taiwan], reissued by the Economic Research Office, Bank of Taiwan, Taiwan Documentary Collection No. 21 (Taipei, 1958), p. 20.Google Scholar

11 Chia-mo, Huang, Chia-wu chan-ch'ien chih T'ai-wan mei-wu [Coal Mining in Taiwan prior to the Sino-Japanese War of 1895], (Taipei, 1961), pp. 9–158 Google Scholar. I am indebted to Mr. Huang for conversations leading to the clarification of several points concerning Liu's efforts in coal mining.

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27 These and following dates are taken from appropriate tables in Pao Chun-p'eng, Chung-kuo hai-chün shih [A History of the Chinese Navy] (Taipei, 1951).

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38 Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai [Provisional Investigative Commission on Taiwan's Customs], Chōsa keizai shiryō hōkoku [Report of the Investigation on Economic Materials], II (Tokyo, 1905), 330.

39 Reports, 1886, p. 3.Google Scholar

40 First reports of the accident gave an American ship as the guilty party. Ch'ing-chi wai-chiao sh'h-liao, 69.37b (hereafter WCSL). The nationality of the ship, however, was subsequently established beyond question as British. All records of the fledgling company were reported to have gone down with the ship. Since the company was badly in arrears at the time, this seems providentially convenient. Reports, 1886, p. 3.Google Scholar

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70 Jumbu, p. 31 Google Scholar; and TWTS, p. 405.Google Scholar

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72 Reports, 1889, p. 4.Google Scholar

73 Other specific difficulties, such as the failure of two tunnel excavating parties, working from opposite ends, to meet at the same level in the middle, are vividly described in Davidson, pp. 247f.

74 Reports, 1888, p. 5.Google Scholar

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80 LWCK, tien-kao, 11.14b.

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82 TWTS, pp. 405–406 Google Scholar. Shao had served under two Chinese ministers in Russia. Having won the gratitude of Liu Ming-ch'uan by aiding Liu from Shanghai during the Sino-French War, Shao was appointed lieutenant governor of Taiwan in March 1887. The two men apparently disagreed on policy. Shao resigned in the spring of 1889, and served as the governor of Hunan province until he was chosen to succeed Liu. Ch'ing-shih lieh-chuan, 63.8a–9a, and Jumbu, p. 109.Google Scholar

83 The operation of the railroad at that time left much to be desired. See Davidson, , pp. 251–252 Google Scholar. Davidson had the opportunity to ride on the Taipei-Keelung section in 1894.

84 There is an unaccountable discrepancy as to the year the school was founded. TWTS gives 1890, while other sources give various other years. Liu's memorial clearly indicates 1887 to be the correct year. LCSK, p. 297.Google Scholar

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