Tapani incident

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The Tapani incident[4] or Tapani uprising[3] in 1915 was one of the biggest armed uprisings[5] by Taiwanese Han and Aboriginals, including Taivoan, against Japanese rule in Taiwan. Alternative names used to refer to the incident include the Xilai Temple Incident after the Xilai Temple in Tainan, where the revolt began, and the Yu Qingfang Incident after the leader Yu Qingfang.[6] Multiple Japanese police stations were stormed by Aboriginal and Han Chinese fighters under Chiang Ting (Jiang Ding) and Yü Ch'ing-fang (Yu Qingfang).[7]

Tapani Incident

Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident being taken from the Tainan jail to court
Date1915
Location
ResultJapanese victory
Belligerents
Da Ming Cibeiguo [zh]
Han Taiwanese
Taiwanese aborigines
 Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Yu QingfangEmpire of Japan Unknown
Strength
1,413[1][2]Unknown
Casualties and losses
"thousands"[3]Unknown
Tapani incident
Chinese name
Chinese噍吧哖事件
Alternative name
Traditional Chinese西來庵事件
Simplified Chinese西来庵事件
Literal meaningXilai Temple Incident
Alternative name
Chinese玉井事件
Literal meaningYujing Incident
Japanese name
Kanji西来庵事件
Hiraganaせいらいあんじけん
Kyūjitai西來庵事件

Legacy

Modern Taiwanese historiography attempts to portray the Tapani Incident as a nationalist uprising either from a Chinese (unification) or Taiwanese (independence) perspective. Japanese colonial historiography attempted to portray the incident as a large scale instance of banditry led by criminal elements. However, the Tapani Incident differs from other uprisings in Taiwan's history because of its elements of millenarianism and folk religion, which enabled Yu Qingfang to raise a significant armed force whose members believed themselves to be invulnerable to modern weaponry.[8]

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

The aboriginals carried on with violent armed struggle against the Japanese while Han Chinese violent opposition stopped after Tapani.[9]

See also

Notes

References

  • Katz, Paul R. (2 March 2007). "Governmentality and Its Consequences in Colonial Taiwan: A Case Study of the Ta-pa-ni Incident of 1915". The Journal of Asian Studies. 64 (2): 387–424. doi:10.1017/s0021911805000823. S2CID 161518102.