![]() When Japan surrendered to the allies at the end of the war, control of Taiwan was handed over to Chiang Kai Shek and his Republic of China. The colonial period (1895-1945) which lasted for a half century had its fair share of resistance from the local people and the colonial power was guilty of a great many atrocities, however the general feeling today is that people of this country share a strong bond with the Japanese and enjoy a friendship that despite a troubled history is based off of mutual understanding and respect for each other. Unfortunately history has shown that things didn't exactly turn out that way for some of Japan's other colonies. Taiwan's experience under Japanese colonial rule is considered to be a bit tamer than that of neighbouring countries as the regime sought to transform the island into a " model colony" and develop the islands infrastructure and economy as well as provide a modern education to the people living here.Īs Taiwan was Japan's first colony, the Japanese Empire wanted to show the world that being under Japanese control wasn't such a terrible thing and that the people of Taiwan would only benefit from becoming a part of the empire. The bitter memory of that era is still felt today throughout Asia and a day doesn't go by that Japan isn't reminded of the horrific atrocities that were committed during that period. ![]() These dorms, which hide in plain site are over a century old and are a reminder the Japanese colonial period - a very different era in Taiwanese history.Ī lot can be said about the crimes committed by the Japanese Empire leading up to the Second World War. ![]() ![]() You might think police dormitories don't really sound all that interesting or important historically, but I hope I can convince you otherwise. I feel quite lucky however that before any of these changes took place that I took the initiative to figure out what these beautiful little buildings were that were hidden from the general public for the past few decades. My post today is from a location of historical importance which sits (somewhat) hidden within the heart of downtown Zhongli and while many people may not even know it exists, big things are about to happen and these amazing pieces of local history which have been left to decay are about to receive a make-over giving them the honour and recognition that they deserve. Having him around and telling me stories about places that I feel I really should have known about forced me to reevaluate the way I look at the area I live in and Taiwan as a whole! The problem with that however is that after a few years I became too comfortable living here and basically stopped exploring as I had mistakenly assumed that I'd seen everything.Ī few months ago, my friend and fellow blogger Alexander Synaptic moved into town for a short time and really opened up my eyes to the fact that I've been missing a lot of cool stuff that has sat there hidden from me in plain sight for all these years. I have called Zhongli (中壢) home since my arrival and when I think back to when I first arrived, I remember the excitement I felt about the new city I lived in. I was curious about my surroundings and I spent a lot of time at first exploring and familiarizing myself with not only the roads but the history, culture and cuisine of the area. I had just graduated from university and felt like the monotony of starting a career fresh out of school wasn't as appealing as experiencing new cultures, languages and people, yet I never would have expected that I'd be sitting in a coffeeshop in Taiwan over ten years later writing this blog. When I left Canada over a decade ago I didn't really have any long-term plans apart from travelling a bit and seeing the world.
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