Republic of Formosa
Encyclopedia
The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic
that existed on the island of Taiwan
in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty
of China
to the Empire of Japan
by the Treaty of Shimonoseki
and its invasion and occupation by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan
was occupied by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic
, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo
established in 1868.
. In a few short months the Japanese defeated China's Beiyang fleet
, routed the Chinese armies in Manchuria
, and captured Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. Although nearly all the fighting took place in northern China, Japan had important territorial ambitions in southern China. As the war approached its end, the Japanese took steps to ensure that Taiwan would be ceded to Japan under the eventual peace treaty and that they were well placed militarily to occupy the island. In March 1895 peace negotiations between Japan and China opened in the Japanese city of Shimonoseki. Although hostilities in northern China were suspended during these negotiations, Taiwan and the Pescadores were specifically excluded from the scope of the armistice. This exclusion allowed the Japanese to mount a military operation against the Pescadores Islands in March 1895 without imperilling the negotiations. The Pescadores, lying midway between mainland China and Taiwan, were the key to a successful occupation of Taiwan. In a swift campaign in the last week of March the Japanese captured the islands
, preventing further Chinese reinforcements from being sent across the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan. This brisk fait accompli influenced the peace negotiations, and the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki
, concluded on 17 April 1895, duly provided for the cession by China of Taiwan to Japan. On 10 May, Admiral Kabayama Sukenori was appointed the first Japanese governor-general of Taiwan.
(丘逢甲) decided to resist the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese rule. On 23 May, in Taipei, these men declared independence, proclaiming the establishment of a free and democratic Republic of Formosa. T'ang Ching-sung
(唐景崧), the Ch'ing governor-general of Taiwan, was prevailed upon to become the republic's first President, and his old friend Liu Yung-fu (劉永福), the retired Black Flag Army
commander who had become a national hero in China for his victories against the French in northern Vietnam a decade earlier, was invited to serve as Grand General of the Army. Chiu Feng-chia
was appointed Grand Commander of Militia, with the power to raise local militia units throughout the island to resist the Japanese. On the Chinese mainland Chang Chih-tung
(張之洞), the powerful governor-general of Liangkiang, tacitly supported the Formosan resistance movement, and the Republicans also appointed Ch'en Chi-t'ung
(陳季同), a disgraced Chinese diplomat who understood European ways of thinking, as the Republic's foreign minister. His job would be to sell the Republic abroad.
, who was in Taipei when it was issued. Davidson's version reads as follows:
Although there was considerable unofficial support for the Formosan resistance movement in Peking, the Qing government's official stance was one of punctilious adherence to the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki
, as considerable diplomatic efforts were then underway to persuade Japan to relinquish the Liaotung Peninsula, which had also been ceded to Japan under the treaty. Japan's rapacity had aroused concern in Europe, and in a diplomatic demarche known as the Triple Intervention
, Russia, France and Germany put pressure on the Japanese government in late April 1895 to restore the peninsula to China. On 5 May the Japanese agreed to retrocede the Liaotung Peninsula to China in return for an increased indemnity, but it took until December 1895 to negotiate the necessary treaty amendments, and while the negotiations were in progress Japanese troops remained in place. During this period the empress dowager and her officials were anxious not to offend Japan, and the Ch'ing court therefore formally disavowed the Republican resistance movement in Taiwan. Shortly before the proclamation of the Republic of Formosa, the Ch'ing court ordered Li Ching-fang (李經芳), the nephew and adopted son of China's elder statesman Li Hung-chang, to proceed to Taiwan and transfer sovereignty over the island from China to Japan. It also cabled an imperial edict to Taipei on 20 May, directing T'ang Ching-sung
to order all Ch'ing civil officials and all officers and soldiers to leave Taiwan. Tang himself was ordered to return to Peking.
Spurned by European public opinion and officially disavowed by China, the Republic of Formosa enjoyed only one week of uninterrupted existence. During this time it decked itself out with the conventional trappings of sovereignty. The Republicans adopted a national flag with a yellow tiger on a blue background, ordered a large silver state seal to be made, and began to issue paper money and postage stamps in the name of the Republic. The foreign minister Ch'en Chi-t'ung, who had lived in France for many years, was responsible for crafting much of this republican symbolism.
s of the former Ch'ing administration in Taipei. T'ang Ching-sung
, the president of the republic, remained in the palatial Government House he had previously occupied as the Ch'ing governor-general of Formosa. T'ang's cabinet included the heads of the four great ministries of state (war, the navy, home affairs and foreign affairs), who ran their ministries from the large yamens that had previously been the premises of the provincial treasury. The yamens previously used as the headquarters of the Defence Board became Parliament House. The navy department was housed in the old military secretariat.
The Ch'ing garrison of Formosa amounted to around 50,000 soldiers, armed for the most part with modern repeating rifles. Liu Yung-fu commanded around 20,000 men down in the south, around Tainan, while Ch'iu Feng-chia commanded the central garrisons, perhaps another 10,000 men. The 30,000 men of the northern garrisons were under the command of a Chinese admiral named Yang. Local volunteer and Hakka militia units seem to have accounted for a further 25,000 men.
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The Republic of Formosa survived for only five months. The Japanese landed near Keelung on the northern coast of Taiwan on 29 May 1895, and in a five-month campaign swept southwards to Tainan. During the night of 4 June, on the news that the Japanese had captured Keelung, President T'ang and General Chiu fled to Tamsui, and from there sailed for the mainland on the evening of 6 June. The Japanese entered Taipei shortly afterwards.
Following T'ang's flight, Liu Yung-fu assumed the mantle of leadership of the Republic in Tainan. The capture of Tainan now became both a political and a military imperative for the Japanese. During the next three months, although their advance was slowed by guerilla activity, the Japanese defeated the Formosan forces whenever they attempted to make a stand. The Japanese victory at Baguashan
on 27 August, the largest battle ever fought on Taiwanese soil, doomed the Formosan resistance to an early defeat. The fall of Tainan on 21 October ended organised resistance to Japanese occupation, and inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule in Taiwan
.
One of the republic's resistance fighters was Lin Sen
, future President of the Republic of China
. During World War II
, Lin urged the return of Taiwan be included in the Allies
' war aims which was accomplished shortly after his death with the Cairo Declaration
. There are roads named after him throughout the island.
who call for the establishment of a Republic of Taiwan are wary of claiming that their own movement owes anything to the example of the 1895 Republic. The reason for this is that T'ang Ching-sung
and his adherents continued to recognise Chinese suzerainty
, while modern advocates of a Republic of Taiwan seek political independence from China.
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
that existed on the island of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
by the Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took place from March 20 to April 17, 1895...
and its invasion and occupation by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan
Tainan
Tainan City is a city in southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest after New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei. It was formerly a provincial city, and in 2010, the provincial city merged with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single special municipality. Tainan faces the Taiwan Strait in...
was occupied by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic
Lanfang Republic
The Lanfang Republic was a Chinese state in West Kalimantan in Indonesia that was established by a Hakka Chinese named Low Lan Pak in 1777, until it was ended by Dutch occupation in 1884 .The sultans of...
, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo
Republic of Ezo
The ' was a short-lived state established by former Tokugawa retainers in what is now known as Hokkaidō, the large but sparsely populated northernmost island in modern Japan.-Background:...
established in 1868.
Background
In 1894, China and Japan went to warFirst Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...
. In a few short months the Japanese defeated China's Beiyang fleet
Beiyang Fleet
The Beiyang Fleet was one of the four modernised Chinese navies in the late Qing Dynasty. Among the four, the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang, one of the most trusted vassals of Empress Dowager Cixi and the principal patron of the "self-strengthening movement" in northern...
, routed the Chinese armies in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, and captured Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. Although nearly all the fighting took place in northern China, Japan had important territorial ambitions in southern China. As the war approached its end, the Japanese took steps to ensure that Taiwan would be ceded to Japan under the eventual peace treaty and that they were well placed militarily to occupy the island. In March 1895 peace negotiations between Japan and China opened in the Japanese city of Shimonoseki. Although hostilities in northern China were suspended during these negotiations, Taiwan and the Pescadores were specifically excluded from the scope of the armistice. This exclusion allowed the Japanese to mount a military operation against the Pescadores Islands in March 1895 without imperilling the negotiations. The Pescadores, lying midway between mainland China and Taiwan, were the key to a successful occupation of Taiwan. In a swift campaign in the last week of March the Japanese captured the islands
Pescadores Campaign (1895)
The Pescadores Campaign was the last military operation of the First Sino-Japanese War and an essential preliminary to the Japanese conquest of Taiwan.- Background :...
, preventing further Chinese reinforcements from being sent across the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan. This brisk fait accompli influenced the peace negotiations, and the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took place from March 20 to April 17, 1895...
, concluded on 17 April 1895, duly provided for the cession by China of Taiwan to Japan. On 10 May, Admiral Kabayama Sukenori was appointed the first Japanese governor-general of Taiwan.
Proclamation of the Republic
When the news of the treaty's contents reached Taiwan, a number of notables from central Taiwan led by Chiu Feng-chiaQiu Fengjia
Qiu Fengjia was a Chinese patriot, educator and, poet. He was born in Miaoli County in Taiwan. He was given the command of militia forces in Taiwan during Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895, but soon fled to mainland China after President Tang Chin-sung of Republic of Formosa fled the island...
(丘逢甲) decided to resist the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese rule. On 23 May, in Taipei, these men declared independence, proclaiming the establishment of a free and democratic Republic of Formosa. T'ang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung was a Chinese general and statesman. He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War , and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yung-fu to serve under Chinese command...
(唐景崧), the Ch'ing governor-general of Taiwan, was prevailed upon to become the republic's first President, and his old friend Liu Yung-fu (劉永福), the retired Black Flag Army
Black Flag Army
The Black Flag Army was a splinter remnant of a bandit group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, who crossed the border from Guangxi province of China into Upper Tonkin, in the Empire of Annam in 1865. They became known mainly for their fights against French forces in...
commander who had become a national hero in China for his victories against the French in northern Vietnam a decade earlier, was invited to serve as Grand General of the Army. Chiu Feng-chia
Qiu Fengjia
Qiu Fengjia was a Chinese patriot, educator and, poet. He was born in Miaoli County in Taiwan. He was given the command of militia forces in Taiwan during Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895, but soon fled to mainland China after President Tang Chin-sung of Republic of Formosa fled the island...
was appointed Grand Commander of Militia, with the power to raise local militia units throughout the island to resist the Japanese. On the Chinese mainland Chang Chih-tung
Zhang Zhidong
Zhang Zhidong ; Pseudonyms: Xiāngtāo , Xiāngyán , Yīgōng , Wújìng-Jūshì , later Bàobīng ; Posthumous name: Wénxiāng ) was an eminent Chinese politician during the late Qing Dynasty who advocated for controlled reform...
(張之洞), the powerful governor-general of Liangkiang, tacitly supported the Formosan resistance movement, and the Republicans also appointed Ch'en Chi-t'ung
Chen Jitong
Chen Jitong . Chinese diplomat, general and scholar during the late Qing dynasty. Chen was born in Houguan, in present day Fuzhou. In 1869 he started to study the French language at the school attached to the Fuzhou shipyard. In 1876, he was selected to accompany Shen Baozhen to Europe and he wrote...
(陳季同), a disgraced Chinese diplomat who understood European ways of thinking, as the Republic's foreign minister. His job would be to sell the Republic abroad.
Declaration of Independence
The declaration has not been preserved in its original Chinese version, although an English version of it was recorded by the American war correspondent James Wheeler DavidsonJames W. Davidson
James Wheeler Davidson was an explorer, writer, United States diplomat, businessman and philanthropist...
, who was in Taipei when it was issued. Davidson's version reads as follows:
Official Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Formosa.
The Japanese have affronted China by annexing our territory of Formosa, and the supplications of us, the People of Formosa, at the portals of the Throne have been made in vain. We now learn that the Japanese slaves are about to arrive.
If we suffer this, the land of our hearths and homes will become the land of savages and barbarians, but if we do not suffer it, our condition of comparative weakness will certainly not endure long. Frequent conferences have been held with the Foreign Powers, who all aver that the People of Formosa must establish their independence before the Powers will assist them.
Now therefore we, the People of Formosa, are irrevocably resolved to die before we will serve the enemy. And we have in Council determined to convert the whole island of Formosa into a Republican state, and that the administration of all our State affairs shall be organized and carried on by the deliberations and decisions of Officers publicly elected by us the People. But as in this new enterprise there is needed, as well for the resistance of Japanese aggression as for the organization of the new administration, a man to have chief control, in whom authority shall centre, and by whom the peace of our homesteads shall be assured—therefore, in view of the respect and admiration in which we have long held the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Tang Ching Sung, we have in Council determined to raise him to the position of President of the Republic.
An official seal has been cut, and on the second day of fifth moon, at the ssu hour [9 a.m. May 25th], it will be publicly presented with all respect by the notables and people of the whole of Formosa. At early dawn on that day, all of us, notables and people, farmers and merchants, artizans and tradesmen, must assemble at the Tuan Fang Meeting House, that we may in grave and solemn manner inaugurate this undertaking
Let there be neither delay nor mistake.
A Declaration of the whole of Formosa.
[Seal in red as follows] An announcement by the whole of Formosa.
Illegitimacy
There was little or no popular support in Taiwan for the proclamation of the Republic, and many Western observers considered its establishment as a cynical ploy by its authors to evade China's obligations under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Acting under the authority of the new Republic, Chinese troops would be able resist the Japanese in Taiwan without technically breaching the terms of the treaty, and if they were successful Taiwan could return to Chinese rule at some future date. (In this respect, it was significant that the nominally-independent Republic acknowledged the suzerainty of China.) There was therefore little sympathy in Europe for the Republic, despite its impeccably 'Parisian' manifesto.Although there was considerable unofficial support for the Formosan resistance movement in Peking, the Qing government's official stance was one of punctilious adherence to the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took place from March 20 to April 17, 1895...
, as considerable diplomatic efforts were then underway to persuade Japan to relinquish the Liaotung Peninsula, which had also been ceded to Japan under the treaty. Japan's rapacity had aroused concern in Europe, and in a diplomatic demarche known as the Triple Intervention
Triple Intervention
The was a diplomatic intervention by Russia, Germany, and France on 23 April 1895 over the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed between Japan and Qing dynasty China that ended the First Sino-Japanese War.-Treaty of Shimonoseki:...
, Russia, France and Germany put pressure on the Japanese government in late April 1895 to restore the peninsula to China. On 5 May the Japanese agreed to retrocede the Liaotung Peninsula to China in return for an increased indemnity, but it took until December 1895 to negotiate the necessary treaty amendments, and while the negotiations were in progress Japanese troops remained in place. During this period the empress dowager and her officials were anxious not to offend Japan, and the Ch'ing court therefore formally disavowed the Republican resistance movement in Taiwan. Shortly before the proclamation of the Republic of Formosa, the Ch'ing court ordered Li Ching-fang (李經芳), the nephew and adopted son of China's elder statesman Li Hung-chang, to proceed to Taiwan and transfer sovereignty over the island from China to Japan. It also cabled an imperial edict to Taipei on 20 May, directing T'ang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung was a Chinese general and statesman. He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War , and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yung-fu to serve under Chinese command...
to order all Ch'ing civil officials and all officers and soldiers to leave Taiwan. Tang himself was ordered to return to Peking.
Spurned by European public opinion and officially disavowed by China, the Republic of Formosa enjoyed only one week of uninterrupted existence. During this time it decked itself out with the conventional trappings of sovereignty. The Republicans adopted a national flag with a yellow tiger on a blue background, ordered a large silver state seal to be made, and began to issue paper money and postage stamps in the name of the Republic. The foreign minister Ch'en Chi-t'ung, who had lived in France for many years, was responsible for crafting much of this republican symbolism.
Administrative organisation
Premises were found for the republican parliament and the republican ministries in the yamenYamen
A yamen is any local bureaucrat's, or mandarin's, office and residence of the Chinese Empire. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing Dynasty....
s of the former Ch'ing administration in Taipei. T'ang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung was a Chinese general and statesman. He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War , and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yung-fu to serve under Chinese command...
, the president of the republic, remained in the palatial Government House he had previously occupied as the Ch'ing governor-general of Formosa. T'ang's cabinet included the heads of the four great ministries of state (war, the navy, home affairs and foreign affairs), who ran their ministries from the large yamens that had previously been the premises of the provincial treasury. The yamens previously used as the headquarters of the Defence Board became Parliament House. The navy department was housed in the old military secretariat.
Defense
Knowing that a Japanese landing was imminent, the republican leaders did what little they could in the short time given to them to prepare the island's defenses against invasion. Taiwan in May 1895 was not short of soldiers. T'ang Ching-sung, in order to hearten the people, exaggerated their numbers considerably, claiming that he had under his command 150,000 soldiers, regulars and volunteers. Judicious observers believed that this figure should be halved. In all, they calculated, there were 75,000 soldiers scattered throughout the island, of whom 50,000 were in the northern half and 25,000 in the southern half. These troops included the regular soldiers of the Qing garrison, local volunteers, and Hakka militia units hastily raised on the orders of Ch'iu Feng-chia.The Ch'ing garrison of Formosa amounted to around 50,000 soldiers, armed for the most part with modern repeating rifles. Liu Yung-fu commanded around 20,000 men down in the south, around Tainan, while Ch'iu Feng-chia commanded the central garrisons, perhaps another 10,000 men. The 30,000 men of the northern garrisons were under the command of a Chinese admiral named Yang. Local volunteer and Hakka militia units seem to have accounted for a further 25,000 men.
Collapse
Following T'ang's flight, Liu Yung-fu assumed the mantle of leadership of the Republic in Tainan. The capture of Tainan now became both a political and a military imperative for the Japanese. During the next three months, although their advance was slowed by guerilla activity, the Japanese defeated the Formosan forces whenever they attempted to make a stand. The Japanese victory at Baguashan
Battle of Baguashan
The Battle of Baguashan , the largest battle ever fought on Taiwanese soil, was the pivotal battle of the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. The battle, fought on 27 August 1895 near the city of Changhua in central Taiwan between the invading Japanese army and the forces of the short-lived Republic of...
on 27 August, the largest battle ever fought on Taiwanese soil, doomed the Formosan resistance to an early defeat. The fall of Tainan on 21 October ended organised resistance to Japanese occupation, and inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule in Taiwan
Taiwan under Japanese rule
Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....
.
One of the republic's resistance fighters was Lin Sen
Lin Sen
Lin Sen , courtesy name Zichao , sobriquet Changren , was President of the National Government of the Republic of China from 1931 until his death.-Early life:...
, future President of the Republic of China
President of the Republic of China
The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Lin urged the return of Taiwan be included in the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
' war aims which was accomplished shortly after his death with the Cairo Declaration
Cairo Declaration
The Cairo Declaration was the outcome of the Cairo Conference in Cairo, Egypt, on November 27, 1943. President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China were present...
. There are roads named after him throughout the island.
Historical significance
In spite of the similarities between their names, modern supporters of Taiwan independenceTaiwan independence
Taiwan independence is a political movement whose goals are primarily to formally establish the Republic of Taiwan by renaming or replacing the Republic of China , form a Taiwanese national identity, reject unification and One country, two systems with the People's Republic of China and a Chinese...
who call for the establishment of a Republic of Taiwan are wary of claiming that their own movement owes anything to the example of the 1895 Republic. The reason for this is that T'ang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung
Tang Ching-sung was a Chinese general and statesman. He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War , and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yung-fu to serve under Chinese command...
and his adherents continued to recognise Chinese suzerainty
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
, while modern advocates of a Republic of Taiwan seek political independence from China.
Presidents
- T'ang Ching-sungTang Ching-sungTang Ching-sung was a Chinese general and statesman. He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War , and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yung-fu to serve under Chinese command...
(23 May 1895 – 5 June 1895) - Liu Yung-fuLiu Yung-fuLiu Yongfu was a Chinese soldier of fortune and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French in northern Vietnam in the 1870s and early 1880s...
(5 June 1895 – 21 October 1895)
In culture
- In 2007 the Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation broadcast the 20 episode historical drama 亂世豪門 (The War of Betrayal 1895).
- The Taiwanese movie 一八九五 (1895 in Formosa) was released in 2008. It is based on the novel 情歸大地 (Love Back to the Earth) by 李喬 (Li Chiao).