Repository of Taipei Memories

According to Professor Liou Yaw-hwa of Feng Chia University's Department of Urban Planning, the Japanese completed 72 urban planning projects during their rule, covering 53,000 hectares and 3 million people-nearly half of the population then.

At that time, the mode of development of the "double arrow" of Taipei and Kaohsiung was more or less set. In the 1930s, projects for these major cities of the north and south covered 6,676 hectares and 4,623 hectares respectively, far surpassing the thousand-something hectares covered in Taichung, Tainan, and Hualien.

The Taipei City Renovation Project, which was begun in 1905, doubled the size of the city. In addition to Bangka, Dadaocheng, and the part of the city originally within the old city walls, it now included Dongmen, Nanmen, and Banqiao. The plan included three-lane roads, beautification, a sewage system, and public parks.

The Kaohsiung City Renovation Project, begun in 1908, was the beginning of that city's modernization. It designated Qihou and land west of the Kaohsiung River, including Shaochuantou, Yancheng, and Hamaxing, as part of the city, and arranged for grid-style streets and a sewage system. In the same year, a plan for Kaohsiung Port was implemented, and the city's first modern port was born.

In addition to laying out the design of cities, the Japanese also constructed buildings. Some were offices and some were schools, and though these were closely tied to their colonial project, they opened a new chapter on modern construction and aesthetics in Taiwan.

For example, Taiwan's first telephone system was set up by the Japanese in 1900, and eight years later, a young architect named Matsunosuke Moriyama arrived in Taiwan to build the Taipei Telephone Exchange. Located on what is now the intersection of Hengyang Road and Taoyuan Street, it was the first building in Taiwan to be built with steel-reinforced concrete.

In 1937, Taipei City installed an automatic telephone exchange. The newly established Taipei Government-General Telephone Exchange Bureau was set up by Lin Shangzhi, chairman of Tatung predecessor Xiezhi. The building, now Chunghwa Telecom's Bo'ai Road service center and behind the current Presidential Palace, is a registered historical landmark of the city.

The Taiwan Electric Company, established in 1919, was the predecessor to the Taiwan Power Company that we know today. At the time, it was responsible for developing hydropower resources at Sun Moon Lake. Its completion of this task in 1934 was seen as a milestone in Taiwan's entry into industrialized society. The company's office, now the Ministry of National Defense on Bo'ai Road, was one of Moriyama's brick buildings.

Taipei was the colonial government's political and commercial hub, and a cultural and consumer center as well. The year 1908 was "Year One" for Taiwan's North-South rail line: in April, the entire line was open, and in November, the Japanese built Taiwan's first Western-style hotel on what is now prime Taipei real estate-the site of the Shin Kong Life Tower. The hotel was three stories tall with the facade in the style of a European palace, and was run by the Department of Railways. In 1920, the successful cultivation of Penglai rice-the variety most often eaten in Taiwan today-was announced here.

In comparison, buildings in Kaohsiung from the Japanese era were much less elaborate. Improvements to the stretch of tracks between Tainan and Kaohsiung were completed in 1900, but it wasn't until 1908 that the entire North-South line was running and Kaohsiung was given a train station.

It was a simple structure comprising a wooden building, two platforms, and a warehouse. In 1966, the train station that old-time Kaohsiung residents recall officially became history when it was torn down and replaced with Kaohsiung Port Station.

The Japanese systematically and purposefully built up Taiwan's infrastructure, but in the early post-retrocession era, construction was limited by currency inflation and rising prices.

Liou Yaw-hwa contends that the ROC government focused on reclaiming the mainland in the early days after retrocession so it dedicated its public funding to national defense, and that this affected the order and quality of Taiwan's urban development. It was only in the 1970s with the Ten Major Construction Projects that the situation improved.

The foundation of modernization was set in the Japanese era. The Republic of China government then took up the torch, working to build up the power of the cities and the nation. The results can be seen today.

The fates of our cities and our nation are tied together, and for 100 years they have shared their struggles.