■ 1895~1945 Japanese Colonization Era

Occupation Timeline:
In 1894, the first Sino-Japanese war broke out with the end result of China losing heavily. In 1895 the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided for the cession of Taiwan to Japan. In May of the same year, the Japanese troops landed on north-east Taiwan and began annexation of Taiwan by force, which ended in September when the troops entered Tainan. After annexation the Japanese set up a Tainan County and changed the status of Anping to a branch office.

In 1895 Tainan County was renamed Tainan Civil Government Branch, Anping was renamed Anping Sub-Branch, which was placed under the jurisdiction of Tainan Civil Government Branch.
In 1901 the Siaojhong Village was renamed Anping street,Siaojhong Villaget. (With jurisdictions over areas from YikunShen to chikunshen)
In 1904 the Japanese Government began building the Kaohsiung Harbor, this policy dealt a blow to the traditional status of Anping as an important shipping port.
In 1910 the English Embassy at Anping was abolished.

In 1920 Taiwan's Consular Government changed the local government institutions by setting up four cities; Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan. This was accompanied with the formation of 47 prefectures and 155 hamlets. Anping was then placed into the jurisdiction of Tainan City as the Tainan-Anping Executive Area.

During the Japanese Occupation Era, Anping was divided into 5 protectorates with the head of the protectorate named Protector. The Protector under Japanese officials’ approval was allowed the license to sell opium and cigarettes; this was the Protector’s privilege. At that time the Protectors were not elected by the people but appointed by the Japanese government. However, sometimes a Protector was appointed by the people by virtue of his services to the neighbourhood. A Protector’s work includes arbitrations for any conflicts between the locals, census management of the neighbourhood, taxes, any relief efforts, neighbourhood miscellaneous affairs and the dissemination of new government regulations to the people. The work of the police was the same as a Protector but with greater power.

In 1922 the Japanese government began building the Anping Canal and was officially opened on 1925.
On Oct.26, 1930, the 300 Years of Taiwan Culture Remembrance Gatherings was held in Anping.

Loss of Importance as a Strategic Military Position:
Due to Japanese colonization policy, the coastlines were now regarded as strategic maritime defense position. This had diminished the traditional military status of Anping, which relies on upholding a strategic defensive position. Taiwan’s defense was integrated at national level with Taiwan and its surrounding islands forming a single defense unit. Apart from the soldiers within the island, the introduction of national guards and police system was a new and unfamiliar experience to the traditional society and diminished the special status of Anping.

Commerce and Internal Affairs:
During the 50 years of Japanese occupation, Taiwan went through the stages of military occupation, adaptation of mainland Japanese laws, society movements, southward embarkations and nationalization. The political and economic landscape of Taiwan also changed during that time.

The Japanese Empire restructured Taiwan’s cities and the policy of “Rice on the North, Sugar on the South” forced the southern plains to a sugar canes economy. As the cross island railway system was built, all the economic products flowed to the major cities by train. Subsequently the products were sent to Keelung or Kaohsiung Harbor for transportation to Japan; thus the appearance of two large port cities was gradually formed. During that process it was initially designated that Keelung, Tamshui, Anping and Kaohsiung were special ports providing services to the commercial ships of other countries. The Japanese Empire also tried to cut off all of Taiwan’s political, economic and cultural ties to Mainland China. Forcing all Chinese ships to report to the customs office at the 4 major ports before moving to the original port for unloading; thus altering the normal trading practices between Mainland China and Taiwan.

In 1906 the Anping Harbor began to lose its shipping functions due to gradual build up of sands on the Harbor. The situation was made more adverse because the Consular Government’s decision to opening the Kaohsiung Harbor in line with the Japanese policy in South-East Asia. At the same time the Japanese Empire began introducing changes to the bureaucratic system and administrative regions; all with the intention of diminishing Anping’s traditional status. These political and economical changes had added to the woes of the traditional port of Anping.

However, the colonization also brought about the modernization of Anping. The lighthouse built at the customs port provides directions to returning shipping vessels; The ZhuZhiMen electricity supply plant provide electricity to Anping and brings light to the place; The Anping Canal project, usage of tap water and Anping Harbor Improvement Project were the signs of modernization. The setting up of salt production plant, oil production plant, chemical plant, ship construction plant and western style education schools were indicators of Anping’s modernization during the Japanese occupation. At the later stage of occupation the nationalization policies even produced empire’s young adolescents and the embarkations to the south for selling products.

In 1899 the Consular Government of Taiwan announced a series o f regulation with regards to the housing and city planning. Using modern technology standards, the winding roads that were prominent before Japanese occupation were bulldozed to enable long and straight roads to be built like a chess board; forming the basis of modern day city structures. During that time there were many Japanese and Western style buildings constructed in Anping. The Japanese style housings were mainly public buildings used by officials and as a sign of Japanese colonization. At the later stages of occupation, many stone-laid western style buildings were built such as wangjishi building. The co-existence of Japanese and Western style buildings demonstrated a sign of the differences in cultures, powers and class.

Later Stage of Occupation:
At the later stage of Japanese occupation the Pacific War broke out and during that time the age and gender distributions of Anping changed greatly. This was because of dispatches of military workers, military personnels, voluntary soldiers, draft soldiers, nurses and military engineers. The responsibilities of military workers include logistics work; supplying arms and food to the front and managing of miscellaneous affairs within the military. They are not the frontline soldiers and work with the army brigades; whenever the brigades move, military workers move. The military personnels must understand Japanese before they could become the army’s interpreter or contact.

As the statistics shows that after the war, the population losses of Anping were estimated to be more than 100. Most of them went missing in South-East Asia. Only 10 or so people who died in Mainland China were interred back in Taiwan.

After Japan’s surrender the Japanese Armed Forces were disbanded and moved to concentration camps awaiting deportation. After negotiations by the Japanese government and the Nationalist Government, the Japanese soldiers finally left for Japan by boarding ships from Kaohsiung Harbor, ending 50 years of Japanese occupation.