Taiwan Expedition of 1874 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the 1867 expedition see Formosa Expedition.

The , usually referred to in Taiwan and mainland China as the Mudan incident , was a punitive expedition

Punitive expedition

A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...

launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan

Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan...

sailors by Paiwan aborigines near the southwestern tip of Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

in December 1871. The success of the expedition, which marked the first overseas deployment of the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

and Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

, revealed the fragility of the Qing dynasty's hold on Taiwan and encouraged further Japanese adventurism. Diplomatically, Japan's embroilment with China in 1874 was eventually resolved by a British arbitration which confirmed Japanese sovereignty over the disputed Ryukyu Islands

Ryukyu Islands

The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...

in 1879.

Background

In December 1871 a Ryukyuan vessel was shipwrecked near the southern tip of Taiwan. Fifty-four members of its crew of 66 were beheaded by the Paiwan aborigines. The remaining 12 crewmen were rescued by Han Chinese and were transferred to Tainan

Tainan

Tainan City is a city in southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest after New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei. It was formerly a provincial city, and in 2010, the provincial city merged with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single special municipality. Tainan faces the Taiwan Strait in...

in southern Taiwan. The local Chinese government officials transferred them to Fujian

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

province in mainland China. From there, the Qing government arranged to send them back home.

Diplomacy

When Japan sought compensation from Qing China, the court rejected the demand on the grounds that the "wild"/"unsubjugated" aboriginals (traditional Chinese: 台灣生番; simplified Chinese: 台湾生番; pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Táiwān shēngfān) were outside its jurisdiction. This open renunciation of sovereignty led to the Taiwan Expedition of 1874 by the Japanese.

The Meiji government of Japan demanded that the Chinese government

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

punish leaders of the Taiwanese aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines

Taiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han...

responsible for the murders of the Ryukyuan crew. The Japanese foreign minister Soejima Taneomi

Soejima Taneomi

was a diplomat and statesman during early Meiji period Japan.-Biography:Soejima was born into a samurai family in Saga, in Hizen province . His father was a teacher in the domain's school and a scholar of National Learning . In 1866, Soejima was sent to Nagasaki by the domain leaders to study the...

went to Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, and was received in an audience by the Qing Emperor Tongzhi

Tongzhi Emperor

The Tongzhi Emperor , born Aisin-Gioro Dzai Šun, was the tenth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1861 to 1875. His reign, which effectively lasted through his adolescence, was largely overshadowed by the rule of his mother, the Empress...

(in itself a diplomatic triumph); however, his request for compensation was first rejected because China considered it an internal affair since Taiwan was part of Fujian Province of China and the Ryūkyū Kingdom

Ryukyu Kingdom

had a tributary relationship with China. When Soejima Taneomi claimed four of the victims murdered were from Oda Prefecture, present-day Okayama Prefecture, Japan and asked for compensation again, Chinese officials refused him on the grounds that most of the Taiwanese aboriginals were outside effective Chinese control, and were thus sometimes exempt from judicial action. Charles Le Gendre

Charles Le Gendre

Charles William Joseph Émile Le Gendre was a French-born American general and diplomat, who served as advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Empire of Japan from 1872 to 1875 and as advisor to Emperor Gojong of the Korean Empire from 1890 to 1899.-Early life:Le Gendre was born in...

, the French-born American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

military advisor

Military advisor

Military advisors, or combat advisors, are soldiers sent to foreign nations to aid that nation with its military training, organization, and other various military tasks. These soldiers are often sent to aid a nation without the potential casualties and political ramifications of actually...

to the Japanese government, as well as Gustave Emile Boissonade

Gustave Emile Boissonade

Gustave Emile Boissonade de Fontarabie was a French legal scholar, responsible for drafting much of Japan's civil code during the Meiji Era, and honored as one of the founders of modern Japan's legal system.-Biography:...

, legal advisor, urged that Japan take the matter into its own hands.

Expedition

The Japanese government agreed, and sent an expedition of 3,600 soldiers led by Saigō Tsugumichi in May 1874. The Japanese won a decisive victory at the Battle of Stone Gate on 22 May. 30 Taiwan tribesmen were either killed or mortally wounded in the battle, and a considerably greater number wounded. Japanese casualties were 6 killed and 30 wounded.

In November 1874 the Japanese forces withdrew from Taiwan after the Qing government agreed to an indemnity of 500,000 Kuping tael

Tael

Tael can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency....

s. Sir Harry Parkes

Harry Smith Parkes

Sir Harry Smith Parkes was a 19th century British diplomat who worked mainly in China and Japan...

, the British minister to Japan, characterised this transaction as 'China's willingness to pay to be invaded'.

Aftermath

In 1875 the Qing authorities unsuccessfully attempted to bring the southeast coastal region of Taiwan under their control, despatching a column of 300 soldiers against the Paiwan. The Chinese troops were ambushed and routed by the aborigines. 250 Chinese soldiers were killed, and the 50 survivors retreated to Takow (Kaohsiung).

Legacy

Although launched ostensibly to punish the local tribesmen for their murder of 54 Ryukyuan merchants, the 1874 punitive expedition to Taiwan served a number of purposes for Japan's new Meiji government. Sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands

Ryukyu Islands

was disputed between China and Japan, and the expedition demonstrated that China was not in effective control of Taiwan, let alone the Ryukyu Islands, and asserted Japan's right to speak for the Ryukyuan islanders. In 1879 this sovereignty dispute was referred to British arbitration, and the British confirmed Japanese sovereignty over the Ryukyus. The surrendering aborigines were given Japanese flags to fly over their villages that they viewed as a symbol of peace with Japan and protection from rival tribes, however, the Japanese viewed them as a symbol of jurisdiction over the aborigines.

The expedition also served as a useful rehearsal for a future Japanese invasion of Taiwan

Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895)

The Japanese invasion of Taiwan was a conflict between the Empire of Japan and the armed forces of the short-lived Republic of Formosa following the Qing Dynasty's cession of Taiwan to Japan in April 1895 at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War...

. Taiwan was already being viewed as a potential Japanese colony in some circles in Japan.

Domestically, the action also mollified those within the Meiji government who were pushing for a more aggressive foreign policy, and who were enraged by the government's refusal in 1873 to attack Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

. It is significant that the expedition took place shortly after the Saga Rebellion

Saga Rebellion

The was an 1874 uprisings in Kyūshū against the new Meiji government of Japan. It was led by Etō Shimpei and Shima Yoshitake in their native domain of Hizen.-Background:...

, and was led by Saigō Jūdō (Saigō Takamori

Saigo Takamori

was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, living during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. He has been dubbed the last true samurai.-Early life:...

's younger brother) and consisted largely of former Satsuma

Satsuma han

The Satsuma domain was one of the most powerful feudal domains in Tokugawa Japan, and played a major role in the Meiji Restoration and in the government of the Meiji period which followed...

and Saga

Saga Domain

Saga Domain was a han, or feudal domain, in Tokugawa period Japan. Largely contiguous with Hizen Province on Kyūshū, the domain was governed from Saga Castle in the capital city of Saga by the Nabeshima clan of tozama daimyō...

samurai.

More generally, the Japanese incursion into Taiwan in 1874 and the feeble Chinese response was a blatant revelation of Chinese weakness and an invitation to further foreign encroachment in Taiwan. In particular, the success of the Japanese incursion was among the factors influencing the French decision to invade Taiwan

Keelung Campaign

The Keelung Campaign was a controversial military campaign undertaken by the French in northern Formosa during the Sino-French War. After making a botched attack on Keelung in August 1884, the French landed an expeditionary corps of 2,000 men and captured the port in October 1884...

in October 1884, during the Sino-French War

Sino-French War

The Sino–French War was a limited conflict fought between August 1884 and April 1885 to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin . As the French achieved their war aims, they are usually considered to have won the war...

.

The Qing court belatedly attempted to strengthen its hold on Taiwan, and the Chinese imperial commissioner Shen Pao-chen made some improvements to the island's coastal defences during the second half of the 1870s. Further substantial improvements were made by the Chinese governor Liu Ming-ch'uan

Liu Mingchuan

Liu Mingchuan was a Chinese official during the Qing dynasty. He adopted a style name of Xingsan . Liu became involved in the suppression of the Taiping rebellion at an early age, and worked closely with Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang as he emerged as an important Huai Army officer...

in the 1880s, in the wake of the French capture of Keelung

Keelung Campaign

during the Sino-French War