China lost the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. As a consequence, the Qing Dynasty was forced to surrender Taiwan to the Japanese in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Japanese changed the name of the city from Dadun to Taichū (台中), and began to develop the city, setting out to make it the first “modern” area of Taiwan.
However, Taichū bore the brunt of early Japanese repression. There were many rebels who stated that they had accepted amnesty from the earlier period of rebellion when the Republic of Taiwan was declared in 1895. However, many of those same people continued anti-Japanese activities. On May 25, 1902, some 360 rebels and their families accepted invitations to surrender and receive amnesty and rewards. Instead of receiving amnesty, once inside, the Japanese locked the doors and slaughtered the former rebels.
Taichū Park was completed in 1903. The old north gate, one of the few Liu-era structures to survive the Japanese reconstruction of the city, was moved to the new park. To this day, Taichung Park is one of the most popular places in the city for people to relax.
The first market in Taichū was built in 1908 along JiGuang Road between ZhongZheng and ChengGong Roads. It is still used today, and is a popular spot to purchase food and other items in downtown Taichung. Taichung Middle School (now known as Taichung First High School) was founded in 1913 by Lin Hsien-tang and his brother Lin Lie-tang, two wealthy Taiwanese intellectuals of the era. This was done in an effort to teach children the traditional culture of Taiwan and to foster a sense of local pride.
Taichū was officially designated as a city by Japanese Imperial authorities in 1920, and Taichū City Hall was completed in 1924 after eleven years of construction.
A Taiwanese cultural association founded in 1921 in Taipei by Lin Hsien-tang was moved to Taichū in 1927. Most of the members of this association were from Taichū and the surrounding area. The city became a center of Taiwanese culture and nationalism.
The newfound prosperity of Taichū was eventually squandered by the war effort. When World War II ended in 1945, Taiwan’s economy, like Japan’s, was in shambles.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Taichung
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Taichung - updated May 2024
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Taichung Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
