A Never - Ending Stream - Taiwanese Hakka and Japan International Exhibition

8/12/2020 – 11/14/2021

Exhibition Gallery 1

A. Just like that flowing stream

1895 Marked the beginning of the 50-year Japanese colonial era in Taiwan. Since then, the culture, lifestyle, and industries of the Taiwanese Hakka were deeply influenced by Japan, which gave rise to research and studies on the Taiwanese Hakka by Japan.

This exhibition attempts to present the interactions and exchanges between Taiwan and Japan from the Japanese colonial era to the present, and to explore the influence of Japan on the culture and development of the Taiwanese Hakka community, as well as the Taiwanese Hakka living in Japan. The contents include music, literature, baseball, the Hakka second migration in Taiwan and industry development, an overview of Taiwanese Hakka immigrants to Japan, the operation of Hakka societies in Japan, and so on.

B. On a rugged, uneven mountain road

The Qing government ceded Taiwan and Penghu (Pescadores) to Japan after their defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Volunteer militia units all over Taiwan revolted against the Japanese army that came to take over, and this period was known as the Japanese Invasion of Taiwan.

Almost all the ethnic groups in Taiwan participated in this resistance, especially the Hakka people who invested the most manpower and resources. On May 29th, 1895, the Japanese army landed in Aoti and entered Taipei, but encountered strong resistance from the volunteer armies, made up of mainly the Hakka, in the Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli region, and the war spread southward to Liudui in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung region. In the end, the volunteer armies were defeated due to the disparity in arms, but their spirit of loyalty and courage in protecting their homeland with their lives left a deep mark in Taiwan’s history.

This campaign affected all parts of Taiwan for 20 years, and was the beginning of a growing sense of national identity among the people in Taiwan. In 1895, Japan began positive contact with the “Hakka” and began to observe and record the “Hakka” in Taiwan.

C. On a small path with no map - Japan’s image and impression of Taiwanese Hakka

C-1 Taiwan-wide survey

C-2 Cantonese? Hakka?

C-3 Japan’s impression of Taiwanese Hakka

D. Flowing to another homeland - industry layout and modernization

D-1 Industrial development

D-2 Japanese immigrants and immigrant villages

D-3 Second immigration on the island of Taiwanese Hakka

E. Winding through four seasons - Westernization out of Japan

E-1 Influence of education on the citizenry

E-2 New substance, new entertainment

E-3 The effusion of thought

E-4 New material, new style

F. Joining hands on a road with no end - Taiwanese Hakka in Japan

• Immigration of the Taiwanese Hakka during the Japanese Rule
• lPostwar Taiwanese Hakka and Associations

G. A small, green stream, never once ceasing its flow - research on Taiwanese Hakka by Japanese scholars.

G-1 Research on Hakka by Japanese scholars during the Japanese occupation

G-2 Research on Hakka by Japanese scholars after WWII

G-3 Recent research on Hakka in Taiwan and Japan, a diverse and collaborative effort