Wushe Incident
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Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
/ Rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
/ Uprising / Insurrection (Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: 霧社事件; Mandarin 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...
: Wùshè Shìjiàn; Japanese rōmaji: Musha Jiken; Taiwanese POJ: Bū-siā Sū-kiāⁿ) of 1930 was the last major uprising against colonial Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
forces in 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 response to long-term oppression by Japanese authorities, the Seediq
Seediq people
The Seediq are a Taiwanese aboriginal people who live primarily in Nantou County and Hualien County. Their language is also known as Seediq. They were officially recognised as Taiwan's 14th indigenous group on 23 April 2008...
indigenous group in Wushe attacked the village, killing over 130 Japanese. In response, the Japanese led a relentless counter-attack, killing over 1,000 Seediq in retaliation. The handling of the incident by the Japanese authorities was strongly criticised, leading to many changes in aboriginal policy.
Background
Armed resistance to Japanese imperial authority had been dealt with harshly, as evident in the responses to previous uprisings such as the Ta-pa-ni IncidentTa-pa-ni Incident
The Ta-pa-ni Incident was one of the largest armed uprisings against Japanese rule in Taiwan. Alternative names used to refer to the incident include the , after Silai Temple where the revolt began, or the Yu Ching-fang Incident, after the leader Yu Qingfang.-Consequences:Modern Taiwanese...
; this resulted in a cycle of rebel attacks and strict Japanese retaliation. However, by the 1930’s, armed resistance had largely been replaced by organised political and social movements among the younger Taiwanese generation. Direct police involvement in local administration had been relaxed, many harsh punishments were abolished, and some elements of self-government, albeit of questionable effectiveness, had been introduced to colonial Taiwan.
However, a different approach was used in order to control Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. Aborigines were still designated as , and treated as savages rather than equal subjects. Tribes were ‘tamed’ through assimilation, the process of disarming traditional hunting tribes and forcing them to relocate to the plains and lead an agrarian existence. Further resistance was then dealt with by military campaigns, isolation and containment. In order to access natural resources in mountainous and forested indigenous-controlled areas, Governor-General Sakuma Samata
Sakuma Samata
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adopted a more aggressive terrain policy, attempting to pacify or eradicate aboriginal groups in areas scheduled for logging within five years; by 1915, this policy had been largely successful, although resistance still existed in more remote areas.
Immediate causes
The SeediqSeediq
Seediq may refer to:*Seediq language, an Atayalic Austronesian language*the Seediq people*Seediq Bale...
aborigines in the vicinity of Wushe had been considered by Japanese authorities to be one of the most successful examples of this ‘taming’ approach, with chief Mona Rudao being one of 43 indigenous leaders selected for a tour of Japan a few years earlier. However, resentment still lingered, due largely to police misconduct, the continuing practice of forced labour, and the ill treatment of indigenous beliefs and customs.
In the days immediately prior to the incident, chief Rudao Bai held a traditional wedding banquet for his grandson Mona Rudao, during which animals were slaughtered and wine was prepared and drunk. A Japanese police officer named Katsuhiko Yoshimura was on patrol in the area, and was offered a cup of wine by Mona Rudao
Mona Rudao
Mona Rudao, or Mouna Rudao was the son of a chief of the Seediq tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. In 1911, he made a visit to Japan...
as a symbolic gesture. The officer refused, saying that Rudao’s hands were soiled with blood from the slaughtered animals. Rudao attempted to take hold of the officer, insisting he participate, and the officer struck him with his stick. Fighting ensued, and the officer was injured. Rudao attempted to apologise by presenting a cup of wine at the officer’s house, but was rejected. The simmering resentment among the Seediq in Wushe was finally pushed to the limit.
Incident
On October 27th, 1930, hundreds of Japanese converged on Wushe for an athletics meet at the Taiwan-Chinese Musyaji Elementary School. Shortly before dawn, Mona Rudao led over 300 Seediq braves in the raiding of strategic police sub-stations to capture weapons and ammunition. They then moved on the elementary school, concentrating their attack on the Japanese in attendance. 134 Japanese, including women and children, were killed in the attack. Two Taiwanese were also mistakenly killed, one of whom was a girl wearing Japanese kimono.Consequences
The Japanese authorities responded with unprecedentedly harsh military action. A press blackout was enforced, and Governor General Eizo Ishizuka ordered a counter-offensive of two thousand troops to be sent to Wushe, forcing the Seediq to retreat into the mountains and carry out guerrilla attacks by night. Unable to root out the Seediq despite their superior numbers and firepower, the Japanese faced a political need for a faster solution. Consequently, Japan’s army air corps in Taiwan ordered bombing runs over Wushe to smoke out the rebels, dropping tear gas bombs in what was allegedly the first such use of chemical warfare in Asia. The uprising was swiftly quelled, with any remaining resistance suppressed by the third week of December 1930; Mona Rudao had committed suicide on November 28, but the uprising had continued under other leaders. Of the 1200 Seediq directly involved in the uprising, 644 died, 290 of which had committed suicide to avoid dishonour.Due to internal and external criticism of their handling of the incident, Governor-General Kamiyama and Goto Fumio, his chief civil administrator, were forced to resign in January 1931. However, Kamiyama’s replacement, Ota Masahiro, also took a harsh approach to controlling Taiwan’s indigenous peoples: certain tribes would be disarmed and left unprotected, giving their aboriginal enemies an opportunity to annihilate them on behalf of the Japanese administration. Around 500 of the Seediq involved in the Wushe Incident had surrendered and were subsequently confined to a village near Wushe. However, on April 25th, 1931, indigenous groups working with the Japanese authorities attacked the village, killing all remaining males over the age of 15. This came to be known as the ‘Second Wushe Incident,’ and Ota was recalled in March 1932.
However, the uprising did effect a change in the authorities’ attitudes and approaches towards aborigines in Taiwan. Wushe had been regarded as the most ‘enlightened and compliant’ of the aboriginal territories, and the colonial power’s inability to prevent the massacre provoked a fear of similar nationalist movements being sparked in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan itself. A change in policy was clearly needed. Ching suggests that the ideology of imperialisation (kominka) became the dominant form of colonial control; aborigines became represented as imperial subjects on equal footing with other ethnic groups in Taiwan, and were upgraded in status from ‘raw savages’ to . Furthermore, pro-Japanese messages education was intensified, tying Taiwanese civility to Japanese culture and loyalty to the emperor in the younger generation. In this way, the Japanese authorities were able to play off the Taiwanese-Chinese and indigenous peoples against each other to encourage competing in loyalty to the colonial forces.
See also
- History of TaiwanHistory of TaiwanTaiwan was first populated by Negrito, and then Austronesian people. It was colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, followed by an influx of Han Chinese including Hakka immigrants from areas of Fujian and Guangdong of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait...
- Taiwan under Japanese ruleTaiwan under Japanese ruleBetween 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....
- Ta-pa-ni IncidentTa-pa-ni IncidentThe Ta-pa-ni Incident was one of the largest armed uprisings against Japanese rule in Taiwan. Alternative names used to refer to the incident include the , after Silai Temple where the revolt began, or the Yu Ching-fang Incident, after the leader Yu Qingfang.-Consequences:Modern Taiwanese...
- Taiwanese aboriginesTaiwanese aboriginesTaiwanese 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...