To celebrate its 130th anniversary, the Chinese-language Taiwan Church News — the first newspaper in Taiwan — launched a commemorative pen as a tribute to British missionary Thomas Barclay, who founded the publication in 1885 and devoted his life to Taiwan.
In memory of Barclay and his missionary work, each pen is carved with Barclay’s signature and housed in a box covered with an early edition of the newspaper. The edition was printed in romanized Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) using peh-oe-ji orthography, or church romanization, Taiwan Church News director Fang Lan-ting (方嵐亭) said.
Fang said that the publication grew from the Taiwan Prefecture City Church News, first issued on July 12, 1885 — the first newspaper in Taiwan.
Photo: Huang Wen-huang, Taipei Times
“The publication has been running since its inception, surviving a Japanese colonial government ban and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) censorship that prohibited the use of romanized vernaculars,” Fang said.
“The newspaper is not simply a religious publication, although it was created to evangelize the Taiwanese population and encourage people to read the Bible and disseminate information of the church,” Fang said.
Having witnessed Japanese colonialism, two world wars and the former KMT regime, the newspaper has been an observer, with the authorities impounding editions that ran articles on forbidden topics, he said.
Barclay founded the Theological College and Seminary in 1876, following his arrival in Tainan from Scotland the year prior. He committed himself to Taiwan until his death in 1935, Fang said.
Barclay introduced the first printing press in Taiwan, of which the news agency built a replica for educational purposes in 2013, Fang said.
Barclay played a critical role in mediating with Japanese forces prior to the capitulation of Tainan on Oct. 20, 1895, six months after China ceded Taiwan to Japan after losing the First Sino-Japanese War, Fang said.
On the eve of the Japanese army’s advance on Tainan, Barclay and an English missionary, Duncan Ferguson, persuaded the Japanese army commander and governor of Taiwan, Nogi Maresuke, not to take punitive measures following the capitulation, Fang said.
This year marked the 120th anniversary of the Tainan surrender and Barclay’s peacemaking efforts. The newspaper commissioned an award-winning local pen manufacturer to design and produce the commemorative ballpoint pen, Fang said.
The 1,300 pens produced were designed to symbolize the progressive power of words, Fang said.
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