Tapani incident

{{expand Chinese|topic=mil|date=January 2024}} {{Short description|1915 uprising in Japanese Taiwan}} {{infobox military conflict | conflict = Tapani Incident | partof = the Taiwanese resistance to Japanese rule | image = Xilaian Incident.jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident being taken from the Tainan jail to court | date = 6 July 1915 – 18 May 1916 ({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=07|day1=6|year1=1915|month2=5|day2=18|year2=1916}}) | place = Tainan, Tainan District, Taiwan | coordinates = | map_type = | latitude = | longitude = | map_size = | map_marksize = | map_caption = | map_label = | territory = | result = Japanese victory | status = | combatant1 = {{tree list}} * {{symbol|Flag of Da Ming Cibeiguo.svg}} Ming State of Mercy (Da Ming Cibeiguo) * Han Taiwanese * Taivoan {{tree list/end}} | combatant2 = {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} Japan * {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} Taiwan | combatant3 = | commander1 = {{ubl | {{symbol|Flag of Da Ming Cibeiguo.svg}} Yu Qingfang{{POW}}{{Executed}} | {{symbol|Flag of Da Ming Cibeiguo.svg}} Luo Jun{{POW}}{{Executed}} | {{symbol|Flag of Da Ming Cibeiguo.svg}} Jiang Ding{{POW}}{{Executed}} | {{symbol|Flag of Da Ming Cibeiguo.svg}} Su Youzhi{{POW}}{{Executed}} }} | commander2 = {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Andō Teibi | commander3 = | units1 = {{symbol|Flag of Da Ming Cibeiguo.svg}} Volunteers | units2 = {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Taiwan Garrison Unit | units3 = | strength1 = 1,413<ref>{{cite book|title=Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlnKRaZ0f4QC&q=tapani+incident&pg=PA134|year=2009|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-4189-2|pages=134–}}</ref><ref name="Tsai2014">{{cite book|author=Shih-Shan Henry Tsai|title=Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West: Historical Encounters with the East and the West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30XfBQAAQBAJ&q=tapani+incident&pg=PT169|date=18 December 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-46516-4}}</ref> | strength2 = Unknown | strength3 = | casualties1 = "Thousands"<ref name=":0" /> | casualties2 = Unknown | casualties3 = | notes = | campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Taiwanese rebellions against Japan}} }} {{Chinese| |pic= |picsize= |piccap= |c=噍吧哖事件 |p=Jiaòbānián Shìjìan |w=Chiao4-pa1-nien2 Shih4-chien4 |poj=Ta-pa-nî sū-kiāⁿ |altname=Alternative name |t2=西來庵事件 |s2=西来庵事件 |kyujitai=西來庵事件 |kanji=西来庵事件 |hiragana=せいらいあんじけん |romaji=Seirai-an jiken |l2=Xilai Temple Incident |p2=Xīlaí'ān Shìjìan |w2=Hsi1-lai2-an1 Shih4-chien4 |altname3=Alternative name |c3=玉井事件 |l3=Yujing Incident |p3=Yùjǐng Shìjìan |w3=Yü4-ching3 Shih4-chien4 }}

The '''Tapani incident'''<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/10986929|title=Taiwan under Japanese Rule. Showpiece of a Model Colony? Historiographical Tendencies in Narrating Colonialism|journal=History Compass|year=2014|volume=12|issue=8|pages=632–641|last1=Heé|first1=Nadin|doi=10.1111/hic3.12180}}</ref> or '''Tapani uprising'''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyoutofjoin0000cohe|url-access=registration|title=History Out of Joint: Essays on the Use and Abuse of History|last=Cohen|first=Sande|date=2006|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=9780801882142|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyoutofjoin0000cohe/page/58 58]|language=en}}</ref> in 1915 was one of the biggest armed uprisings<ref name="USA2012">{{cite book|author=International Business Publications, USA|title=Taiwan Country Study Guide: Strategic Information and Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XghBi4moFK4C&q=tapani+incident&pg=PA73|date=3 March 2012|publisher=Int'l Business Publications|isbn=978-1-4387-7570-8|pages=73–}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Tsai2005">{{cite book|author=Shih-shan Henry Tsai|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&q=tapani+incident&pg=PA12|date=2 September 2005|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4039-7717-5|pages=12–}}</ref> Multiple Japanese police stations were stormed by aboriginal and Han Chinese fighters under Jiang Ding and Yu Qingfang.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://iao.sinica.edu.tw/significant-research-results-pdf/090-094-em19.pdf|title=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070924110630/http://iao.sinica.edu.tw/significant-research-results-pdf/090-094-em19.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-24 }}</ref>

== Recruitment ==

[[File:Xilaian Temple.JPG|thumb|right|Xilai Temple, Tainan: The site where Yu Qingfang propagated his anti-Japanese movement; originally located on Ting-a-ka Street (now near No. 121, Qingnian Road)]]

The largest group of participants came from the local ''ho'' and ''kō'' heads (gentry) from the mountainous areas of Tainan and Akou prefectures, followed by numerous camphor industry workers of the Nantou prefecture. There were also a group of scholars and ex-officials from Tainan city. Only one recruit from the northern and central areas of Taiwan participated in fighting.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Paul R.|title=When Valleys Turned Blood Red: The Tapani Incident in Colonial Taiwan|date=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|pages=79–85|isbn=9780824829155}}</ref>The revolt recruited supporters from mainland China as well, although the overall worldviews of the revolt participants seem to be largely unaware of or unaffected by recent Chinese political events such as the Xinhai Revolution, but sought to create an imperial state with either Yu or Luo as emperor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Paul R.|title=When Valleys Turned Blood Red: The Tapani Incident in Colonial Taiwan|date=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|pages=76, 78, 88, 102, 110|isbn=9780824829155}}</ref> The participants of the revolt believed that a force of "celestial troops," or troops from mainland China, would come to their aid, although they disagreed on whether these were to be from Chinese leader Yuan Shikai or from the already-defunct Qing dynasty, and also did not agree on whether the purpose was for China to take over Taiwan or to acquire state independence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Paul R.|title=When Valleys Turned Blood Red: The Tapani Incident in Colonial Taiwan|date=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|pages=65,89, 107|isbn=9780824829155}}</ref> During the height of the rebellion, Yu published an edict, reminiscent of ancient imperial Chinese legitimation ideology, based on the ideas of ''Zhonghua'' leadership over other nations, the Mandate of Heaven, and dynastic revolution. In the edict he declared the formation of a ''Da Ming Cibeiguo'' (Kingdom of Compassion and Great Luminosity). This rhetoric closely resembled those of triad or Heaven and Earth Society rebellions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Paul R.|title=When Valleys Turned Blood Red: The Tapani Incident in Colonial Taiwan|date=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|pages=107–109|isbn=9780824829155}}</ref>

==Rebellion==

{{Multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | header_align = left/right/center | footer = Yu Qingfang (left), Luo Jun (middle) and Jiang Ding (right) | footer_align = left/right/center | image1 = Yu Ching-fang.JPG | width1 = 125 | image2 = 西來庵事件羅俊.jpg | width2 = 122 | image3 = Jiang Ding.JPG | width3 = 91 | total_width = 400 }}

In August, Yu Qingfang and Jiang Ding launched surprise attacks on several police stations. They first had people pretend to be postmen delivering mail. As soon as the officers opened the doors, they rushed in and massacred them. However, they encountered difficulties at the Nanzhuang Police Station. The officers were alert and refused to be tricked into opening the door. Yu Qingfang looted nearby homes, obtained kerosene and other fuels, and then burned the Nanzhuang Police Station. He then attacked and killed numerous Japanese police officers, including their families, and advanced on Damujiang (present-day Xinhua District, Tainan).

On August 22, 1915, Yu Qingfang was at Wanglai Village (present-day Nanxi District, Tainan). Locals hosted a banquet for him. However, amidst the alcoholic fervor, they tied him up and handed him over to the Japanese army.

It wasn't until April of the following year (1916) that Jiang Ding was persuaded to surrender by the Government-General of Taiwan. The government sent agents to Jiang Ding, promising him no prosecution if he surrendered. Due to a shortage of food and weapons, Jiang Ding and 272 of his men descended the mountain and surrendered to the government. On May 18, after accepting the surrender, the government dispatched a large number of police officers late at night to arrest Jiang Ding and all 272 others.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ntl.edu.tw/public/Attachment/59141734290.pdf |title=回顧義戰噍吧哖事件100週年 - 國立臺灣圖書館 |access-date=2020-08-02 |archive-date=2020-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928043821/https://www.ntl.edu.tw/public/Attachment/59141734290.pdf}}</ref>

==Aftermath== [[File:余清芳等人被押解經過台南停車場前.jpg|thumb|left|Yu Qingfang and others being escorted under guard past Tainan Station]]

The Japanese army's subsequent pursuit and campaign resulted in well-documented massacres of Taiwanese who had revolted. According to household registration records and research, starting on August 3rd, 16 people were killed in Nanxi Mizhi Village, and Zhuwei Village was massacred, killing men, women, and children alike, for a total of 251 people. The burning of Shazai Tianzhuang in Yujing resulted in 82 deaths. An unknown number of people were beheaded at the site next to the Wanrendui pile at Yujing Elementary School. 36 people died in Mangzai Mangzhuang, and 119 people were killed in the Neizhuangzizhuang and Mugongzhuang massacres. Dozens of anti-Japanese activists were beheaded and buried in local temples. 114 and 109 people were killed in Nanzhuang and Jingpuliao Village, respectively. 45 people were beheaded in Beiliao Village, 185 people were killed in Zhutouqi Village, and 69 people were massacred in Gangzai Linzhuang. Niupu village was destroyed, and the Sisheliao area of Jiaxianpu was the area where the rebel army was pursued and disbanded, with many remains scattered everywhere. There were killing areas in Aliguan, Xiangzikeng Pingding and other places. In addition, the four killing areas in Xinhua should be the places where more than 200 residents of Zuojhen, Nanhua and Yujing were killed.<ref>{{Cite book|title=《以文化觀光思維建構「1915 年焦吧哖事件」文化路徑紀念場域之研究》|author=陳信安|publisher=行政院國家科學委員會專題研究計畫|date=2012-10-31}}</ref>

==Legacy==

[[File:余清芳紀念碑.JPG|thumb|right|Yu Qingfang Memorial at Hutou Mountain, Yujing District, Tainan]]

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Paul R.|title=When Valleys Turned Blood Red: The Tapani Incident in Colonial Taiwan|date=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|pages=110|isbn=9780824829155}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Crook2014">{{cite book|author=Steven Crook|title=Taiwan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3YOoAwAAQBAJ&q=tapani+incident&pg=PA16|date=5 June 2014|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=978-1-84162-497-6|pages=16–}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== * {{cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Paul R. |title=Governmentality and Its Consequences in Colonial Taiwan: A Case Study of the Ta-pa-ni Incident of 1915 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |date=2 March 2007 |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=387–424 |doi=10.1017/s0021911805000823|s2cid=161518102 }}

==External links== {{commons category|Ta-pa-ni Incident}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070924110630/http://iao.sinica.edu.tw/significant-research-results-pdf/090-094-em19.pdf Governmentality and Its Consequences in Colonial Taiwan: A Case Study of the Ta-pa-ni Incident] [http://daais.sinica.edu.tw/download/publication_list/en/67.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409130536/http://daais.sinica.edu.tw/download/publication_list/en/67.pdf |date=2015-04-09 }} [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231886362_Governmentality_and_Its_Consequences_in_Colonial_Taiwan_A_Case_Study_of_the_Ta-pa-ni_Incident_of_1915 (PDF) Governmentality and Its Consequences in Colonial Taiwan: A Case Study of the Ta-pa-ni Incident of 1915] [http://www.daoiststudies.org/bibliography/governmentality-and-its-consequences-colonial-taiwan-case-study-ta-pa-ni-incident-1915 James Miller] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25075755 Governmentality and Its Consequences in Colonial Taiwan: A Case Study of the Ta-pa-ni Incident of 1915] *[http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-3969-9780824829155.aspx When Valleys Turned Blood Red: The Ta-pa-ni Incident in Colonial Taiwan] *[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2017/07/02/2003673711 Taiwan in Time: Magic amulets, tax breaks and a messiah] {{Empire of Japan}}

Category:Taiwan under Japanese rule Category:Protests in Taiwan Category:1915 in Japan Category:1915 in Taiwan Category:1915 in international relations Category:Conflicts in 1915 Category:Combat incidents Category:Rebellions in Asia Category:Military history of Taiwan Category:Military history of Japan Category:Taivoan people