Collection Unveiled: Taiwan in Photo Albums from the Japanese Colonial Period
During Japan’s fifty-year rule of Taiwan (1895-1945), the ruling and development processes were extensively documented through photography. These photographic images were compiled into numerous “Shashin cho,” which were essentially photo albums featuring actual photos pasted on paper or printed images. Some of them were accompanied by simple descriptive texts or background information. These photo albums, as products of the Japanese rule era, cover a diverse range of topics and content. However, their creation was inevitably influenced by the political reality of Taiwan under Japanese rule, reflecting the colonial discourses and exhibition intent of the ruling power, regardless of whether the photographers and publishers were public or private organizations. As a result, they demonstrate specifically curated and arranged “viewpoints of the authority,” making them instruments of propaganda for colonial and political achievements. On the other hand, the abundance of photographic images anthologized in these photo albums, as precious cultural assets, have become precious image archives of Taiwan’s historical, cultural, economic, and social developments, providing records and testimonies to Taiwan’s developmental journey.
In 2015, the Ministry of Culture launched the “Plan of Rescuing National Photographic Assets and Establishing a Center of Photography and Images” and has been systematically collecting and acquiring Taiwan-related photographic assets since 2016. Currently, the National Center for Photography and Images (NCPI) houses seventy-two photo albums from the Japanese Colonial Period. In addition to continuing the digitization of the photographic collection according to the collection schedule, the NCPI has collaborated with universities, research institutions, and cultural-historical workers since 2020 to conduct further research and study the photos in some of the albums while making efforts to analyze and interpret relevant photographic content. The results of this ongoing endeavor are now available as open online resources on the NCPI website to share with the public.
Collections Unveiled: Taiwan in Photo Albums from the Japanese Colonial Period is an illuminating embodiment of the textual research, studies, and interpretations by several experts and scholars, namely, Chung Shu-Min, Shen Chia-San, Cheng Li-Ling, Hsu You-Hua, as well as Winston Chen (Wen-Sung) and his team. This exhibition, featuring more than 350 images selected from six themes across nine photo albums, comprises enlarged digital prints accompanied by detailed and compelling introductory guides accessible through QR codes, providing the audience with an expounding experience that includes image details and historical contexts. It is worth mentioning that the exhibition skillfully connects the people, events, time, and places depicted in these photo albums with the categorized photographic content. Through images, texts, and vivid introductions, the audience can gain insight into the social situations and everyday life in Taiwan under Japanese rule. This also includes the natural scenery, folk culture, and abundant resources of this period, as well as diverse aspects of colonial Taiwan, such as urban infrastructure, public health and endemic prevention, agricultural and hydraulic facilities, industrial development, and port and traffic constructions.
Tainan Prefecture and Takow under Early Japanese Rule—Cultural Customs, Living Environment, and Mosquito Studies in Southern Taiwan
This photo album contains 51 photographs. Four of the photos depict the harbor and streets of Takow (now Kaohsiung). The remaining photos capture people, events, places, and artifacts related to Tainan. These include streetscapes in Tainan, local attractions, medical facilities, folk customs, early modern architecture, and the “Commemorative Ceremony for the 10th Anniversary of the Passing of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa.”
Based on the scenes in the photo album, it is evident that part of the content was related to sanitation and living environment in southern Taiwan, such as privately owned clinics and military hospitals, the lifestyle of ordinary people, sanitation management, and urban construction projects. The album also includes nineteen enlarged microscopic images of mosquitoes in different stages, showing Anopheles mosquitoes in test tubes, resting adult Culex mosquitoes, and the life cycles of both mosquito species from “eggs, mosquito larvae, pupae, to male and female adult mosquitoes.” This photo series includes photos taken during mosquito experiments in the laboratory and photomicrographs of disease-carrying mosquitoes made by connecting the camera to a microscope. This enables viewers to glimpse the scientific and technological level concerning medical research and studies during early Japanese rule.
The exact date of completion or publication time of this photo album remains uncertain. Yet, the scenes and subjects captured in these photos might provide some clues. For instance, the “Commemorative Ceremony for the 10th Anniversary of the Passing of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa” held in 1905; the inauguration of the Takow (Kaohsiung) Station in 1900, with a new Takow Station inaugurated in 1908; and the Tainan Market which began operating in September 1905. Based on this information, it can be inferred that the photo album would have been completed in 1905 or after 1908. Notably, the Japanese imperial army commandeered the Chikan Tower and turned it into the “Japanese Imperial Army Tainan Hospital” from 1896 to 1917 for its coolness and brightness. Ordinary people were not allowed entry during this period. This indicates that the owner of this photo album might have been associated with the Japanese Imperial Army or personnel related to medical science or malaria research.
The Construction Works of Chianan Irrigation—Asia’s Greatest Hydraulic and Irrigation Project a Century Ago
The construction of the Chianan Irrigation, designed by Japanese civil engineer Hatta Yoichi, began in September 1920 and was completed in May 1930. Its construction is considered key to stabilizing the agricultural production of the Chianan Plain and transforming it into “Taiwan’s granary.” A century ago, this decade-long, mega-construction project employed the most advanced civil engineering technologies, equipment, and machinery at the time, along with the manpower of thousands of people, to improve the water supply to the Chianan Plain. Before this irrigation system, the Chianan Plain was nicknamed “weather-depending fields,” and its harvests relied entirely on the weather. After the Chianan Irrigation was inaugurated, the plain was transformed into fertile lands with ample production and characteristic agricultural products.
The photo albums of Chianan Irrigation in the collection of the National Center of Photography and Images consist of three volumes. The first volume contains 82 photos, the second 166 photos, and the third 83 photos, totaling 331 historical images. These photos were taken inferably between 1922 and 1929. The first and third volumes include valuable images of management facilities, large machines, and branch canals from the decade-long project. They also feature the geographical landscape before the construction of the Wushantou Reservoir and its spillways. The second volume, apart from images of the construction process, contains government officials inspecting the project and the lives of engineers during festivals.
The construction cost of the Chianan Irrigation was astronomical, exceeding 54 million yen (at a time when a new public school teacher earned 20 yen monthly). At the time, the project required transporting heavy power-generating machinery and the Empire of Japan's most advanced civil engineering and excavation equipment to the remote mountain region. The resulting reservoir, the largest in Asia at that time, symbolized the mechanization and modernization of large public projects in Taiwan. The construction project not only integrated several previously separate hydraulic and irrigation systems on the Chianan Plain, including Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan, but also transformed the Chianan Plain completely. Before the project, the Chianan Plain, though having fertile soil, suffered from poor irrigation conditions. After the irrigation systems were improved, the productivity of the land increased, and the harvest grew, eventually turning the Chianan Plain into one of the most essential granaries in Taiwan.
Summer College in Taiwan: Photo Album of Kodama Takuzou—A Study Tour in Taiwan for Japanese Teachers
In 1930, Japan’s “Elementary Education Promotion Association” organized a “summer college” program in Taiwan. Kodama Takuzou, the owner of this photo album, was one of the participants. The photo album contains 51 photos taken during a week, from when the participants arrived in Keelung to their visiting Kaohsiung and Pingtung. The photography locations include Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Nantou, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Keelung in Taiwan.
“Summer College” was a special seminar program organized for elementary school teachers. One great feature of the program was that participants would visit places outside mainland Japan by steamboat for “onsite seminars” held in different locations every year. During the preparation for this particular event, the Taiwan Education Association had specially negotiated to hold the 11th “Summer College” in Taiwan. Initially, it was estimated that 220 participants would attend, and 186 teachers came to Taiwan for the program in the end.
The participants of this seminar arrived at Keelung Harbor on S.S. “Fuso Maru” on August 5, and from August 6th to 8th, they attended “academic lectures” at the Taihoku Specialist Medical School. Topics of these lectures included Taiwan’s flora and fauna, history, industries, and education. When there were no lectures, the participants were arranged to visit various locations in Taipei City during these three days. Starting August 9th, they were divided into two groups for separate educational trips along the west coast of Taiwan from the north to the south. Finally, on August 14th, they departed from Keelung on the S.S. “Midzuho Maru.”
The uniqueness of this photo album lies in its perspective, which sets it apart from other publicly published photo albums of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial rule. Furthermore, the photographic content and the itinerary also offer insights into studying Taiwan’s tourist environment and how travel experiences were shaped at that time. This program, joined by such a large group of teachers, indicated that the travel organization, travel media, and transportation networks had been established and somewhat systematized by 1930. The planning and execution of the trip, along with the selection and arrangement of scenic attractions, not only contributed to the informative nature of the “seminar” but also aligned with the Japanese government’s objective. The government aimed to engage participants in this type of program to train these participants as seed teachers, who would later introduce the accomplishments achieved by the colonial government in Taiwan when teaching Japanese citizens in mainland Japan, thereby creating a sense of recognition in the minds of Japanese people so that they would identify with the policies of building superior national power, developing oversea industries, and promoting productive enterprises.