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Colonial period should not be glorified: forum

Taipei City Government's Department of Cultural Affairs held a forum yesterday to discuss the "bizarre glorification" of the Japanese colonial era and also to remind the public of the "truth" behind the modernization of Taiwan.

Taiwan was under Japanese rule for 51 years -- from 1895 to 1945, and many past studies have shown that the Japanese carried out extensive development of Taiwan in areas such as railroads, agricultural research and development and public health and education.

However, Hsu Chieh-lin (許介鱗), director of the Japanese Research Institute in Taiwan, said that the modernization of Taiwan had in fact started before the Japanese even arrived.

Hsu said that Liu Ming-chuan (劉銘傳), the first governor of Taipei, had already set up railways, established transportation and telegraphic networks and taken measures to develop the economy and stabilize social order.

Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Liao Hsien-hao (廖咸浩), said that if the modernization process was indeed worthy of glorification, the public should know that it was not down to the Japanese, but because Taiwan had already started modernizing beforehand.

Hsu also added that the "modernization of colonies" was a Western concept invented to cover up unsuccessful colonization efforts or the plundering of natural resources from the colonies.

"Development and modernization occur because of need, not because of cultural and racial superiority," Liao said.

Liao added that Western culture has altered the perceptions of the public. For example, nowadays many people think that traditional Taiwanese customs are just silly superstitions.

Believing that the colonization was a glorious "modernization" period is just another example, Liao said.

The past anti-colonization movement should also not be forgotten, Hsu said.

"We are proud of being Taiwanese and we are proud of our culture," Hsu said. "Taiwan was the Japan's most valuable colony, but it was not because of the colonizers that our country modernized."

An exhibition entitled "The Truth of the Colonial Period," is currently being held at the Discovery Center of Taipei and will run until Dec. 20.
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