Ta-pa-ni Incident

Chinese
pic=Xilaian Incident.jpg
picc

t=噍吧哖事件
altname=Other names
t2=西來庵事件
噍吧哖事件
l2=Silai Temple Incident
Yu Ching-fang 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 nihongo|Silai Temple Incident|西来庵事件|Sairai-an jiken, after Silai Temple where the revolt began, or the Yu Ching-fang Incident, after the leader Yu Ching-fang.

History and background

Beginning in early July 1915, Yu Ch'ing-fang (1879-1915; a former police officerand rice merchant) and Chiang Ting (1866-1916; a former district head from the Nanhua area who became an outlaw after being implicated in a murder case), led an armed force of Han Chinese and Taiwanese aborigines that quickly overwhelmed numerous police stations in the mountains of southern Taiwan (modern Tainan and Kaohsiung counties).

The uprising lasted for over two months and was only put down after a sustained operation by a combination of Japanese military and police forces. The number of Taiwanese and Japanese killed during the fighting estimated to have exceeded 1,000 people. A further 1,957 Taiwanese were arrested after the uprising was suppressed, of whom 1,482 were put on trial and 915 sentenced to death. A total of 135 Taiwanese were executed before Emperor Taishō issued a decree of clemency. [Katz, When Valleys Turned Blood Red ]

Consequences

Modern Taiwanese historiography attempts to portray the Ta-pa-ni Incident as a nationalist uprising, either from a Chinese (unification) or Taiwanese (independence) perspective, whereas Japanese colonial historiography attempted to portray the incident as a large scale instance of banditry led by criminal elements. However, the Ta-pa-ni Incident differs from other uprisings in Taiwan's history due to the elements of millenarianism and folk religion, which enabled Yu Ch'ing-fang to raise a significant armed force whose members believed themselves to be invulnerable to modern weaponry. [ [http://iao.sinica.edu.tw/significant-research-results-pdf/090-094-em19] Katz, A Case Study of the Ta-Pa-Ni Incident ]

The similarities between the rhetoric of the leaders of the Ta-pa-ni uprising and the Righteous Harmony Society of the recent Boxer Rebellion in China were not lost on Japanese authoriries, and subsequently, the colonial government paid more attention to popular religion, and took steps to improve on colonial administration in southern Taiwan.

References

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