Wushe Incident

A rebel posing in the aftermath

Commander and Staff of Musha Punitive force

Mikata-Ban(Pro-Japanese aborigine)

Beheaded Seediq.

The Wushe Incident or Wushe Event or Wushe Revolution / Rebellion / Uprising / Insurrection (Chinese and Japanese: 霧社事件; Mandarin pinyin: Wùshè Shìjiàn; Japanese rōmaji: Musha Jiken; Taiwanese POJ: Bū-siā Sū-kiāⁿ) of 1930 was the last major uprising against colonial Japanese forces in Taiwan. In response to long-term oppression by Japanese authorities, the Seediq indigenous group in Wushe attacked the village, killing over 130 Japanese. In response, the Japanese led a relentless counter-attack, killing over 1,000 Seediq in retaliation. The handling of the incident by the Japanese authorities was strongly criticised, leading to many changes in aboriginal policy.

Background

Armed resistance to Japanese imperial authority had been dealt with harshly, as evident in the responses to previous uprisings such as the Ta-pa-ni Incident; this resulted in a cycle of rebel attacks and strict Japanese retaliation.^[1] However, by the 1930’s, armed resistance had largely been replaced by organised political and social movements among the younger Taiwanese generation. Direct police involvement in local administration had been relaxed, many harsh punishments were abolished, and some elements of self-government, albeit of questionable effectiveness, had been introduced to colonial Taiwan.^[2]

However, a different approach was used in order to control Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. Aborigines were still designated as "seiban" (生番^?, "raw barbarians"), and treated as savages rather than equal subjects. Tribes were ‘tamed’ through assimilation, the process of disarming traditional hunting tribes and forcing them to relocate to the plains and lead an agrarian existence. Further resistance was then dealt with by military campaigns, isolation and containment.^[3] In order to access natural resources in mountainous and forested indigenous-controlled areas, Governor-General Sakuma Samata adopted a more aggressive terrain policy, attempting to pacify or eradicate aboriginal groups in areas scheduled for logging within five years; by 1915, this policy had been largely successful, although resistance still existed in more remote areas.^[4]

Immediate causes

The Seediq aborigines in the vicinity of Wushe had been considered by Japanese authorities to be one of the most successful examples of this ‘taming’ approach, with chief Mona Rudao being one of 43 indigenous leaders selected for a tour of Japan a few years earlier.^[5] However, resentment still lingered, due largely to police misconduct, the continuing practice of forced labour, and the ill treatment of indigenous beliefs and customs.^[6]

In the days immediately prior to the incident, chief Rudao Bai held a traditional wedding banquet for his grandson Mona Rudao, during which animals were slaughtered and wine was prepared and drunk. A Japanese police officer named Katsuhiko Yoshimura was on patrol in the area, and was offered a cup of wine by Mona Rudao as a symbolic gesture. The officer refused, saying that Rudao’s hands were soiled with blood from the slaughtered animals. Rudao attempted to take hold of the officer, insisting he participate, and the officer struck him with his stick. Fighting ensued, and the officer was injured. Rudao attempted to apologise by presenting a cup of wine at the officer’s house, but was rejected.^[7] The simmering resentment among the Seediq in Wushe was finally pushed to the limit.

Incident

On October 27th, 1930, hundreds of Japanese converged on Wushe for an athletics meet at the Taiwan-Chinese Musyaji Elementary School. Shortly before dawn, Mona Rudao led over 300 Seediq braves in the raiding of strategic police sub-stations to capture weapons and ammunition. They then moved on the elementary school, concentrating their attack on the Japanese in attendance. 134 Japanese, including women and children, were killed in the attack. Two Taiwanese were also mistakenly killed, one of whom was a girl wearing Japanese kimono.^[8]

Consequences

The Japanese authorities responded with unprecedentedly harsh military action. A press blackout was enforced, and Governor General Eizo Ishizuka ordered a counter-offensive of two thousand troops to be sent to Wushe, forcing the Seediq to retreat into the mountains and carry out guerrilla attacks by night. Unable to root out the Seediq despite their superior numbers and firepower, the Japanese faced a political need for a faster solution. Consequently, Japan’s army air corps in Taiwan ordered bombing runs over Wushe to smoke out the rebels, dropping tear gas bombs in what was allegedly the first such use of chemical warfare in Asia.^[9] The uprising was swiftly quelled, with any remaining resistance suppressed by the third week of December 1930;^[10] Mona Rudao had committed suicide on November 28, but the uprising had continued under other leaders.^[11] Of the 1200 Seediq directly involved in the uprising, 644 died, 290 of which had committed suicide to avoid dishonour.

Due to internal and external criticism of their handling of the incident, Governor-General Kamiyama and Goto Fumio, his chief civil administrator, were forced to resign in January 1931. However, Kamiyama’s replacement, Ota Masahiro, also took a harsh approach to controlling Taiwan’s indigenous peoples: certain tribes would be disarmed and left unprotected, giving their aboriginal enemies an opportunity to annihilate them on behalf of the Japanese administration.^[12] Around 500 of the Seediq involved in the Wushe Incident had surrendered and were subsequently confined to a village near Wushe. However, on April 25th, 1931, indigenous groups working with the Japanese authorities attacked the village, killing all remaining males over the age of 15. This came to be known as the ‘Second Wushe Incident,’ and Ota was recalled in March 1932.^[13]

However, the uprising did effect a change in the authorities’ attitudes and approaches towards aborigines in Taiwan. Wushe had been regarded as the most ‘enlightened and compliant’ of the aboriginal territories, and the colonial power’s inability to prevent the massacre provoked a fear of similar nationalist movements being sparked in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan itself. ^[14] A change in policy was clearly needed. Ching suggests that the ideology of imperialisation (kominka) became the dominant form of colonial control; aborigines became represented as imperial subjects on equal footing with other ethnic groups in Taiwan, and were upgraded in status from ‘raw savages’ to "takasagozoku" (高砂族^?, "tribal peoples of Taiwan"). Furthermore, pro-Japanese messages education was intensified, tying Taiwanese civility to Japanese culture and loyalty to the emperor in the younger generation. In this way, the Japanese authorities were able to play off the Taiwanese-Chinese and indigenous peoples against each other to encourage competing in loyalty to the colonial forces.^[15]

Film

The Wushe Incident is also depicted in the 2011 Taiwanese film Seediq Bale.

See also

• History of Taiwan
• Taiwan under Japanese rule
• Ta-pa-ni Incident
• Taiwanese aborigines

References

1. ^ Denny Roy, “The Japanese Occupation”, in Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History, p. 35.
2. ^ Harry J. Lamley, “Taiwan Under Japanese Rule, 1895-1945: The Vicissitudes of Colonialism”, in Murray A. Rubinstein, ed., Taiwan: A New History (New York, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2007), p. 224.
3. ^ Roy, Taiwan: A Political History, p. 49.
4. ^ Ibid., p. 51.
5. ^ Chien-Chao, A History of Taiwan (Gambalunga, IL Cerchio Iniziative Editoriali, 2000), p. 222.
6. ^ Roy, Taiwan: A Political History, p. 51.
7. ^ The Takao Club, “The Mona Rudao Files: Wushe Incident” <http://www.takaoclub.com/monaludao/wusheincident.htm>, accessed September 21 2011.
8. ^ Hung Chien-Chao, A History of Taiwan, p. 222.
9. ^ Eric Croddy, “China’s Role in the Chemical and Biological Disarmament Regimes”, The Nonproliferation Review Spring 2002: 16, <http://cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/91crod.pdf>, accessed September 24, 2011, p. 17. The Takao Club. <http://www.takaoclub.com/monaludao/wusheincident.htm>.
10. ^ The Takao Club. <http://www.takaoclub.com/monaludao/wusheincident.htm>.
11. ^ Hung Chien-Chao, A History of Taiwan, p. 223.
12. ^ Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History, p. 51.
13. ^ Hung Chien-Chao, A History of Taiwan, p. 223.
14. ^ Leo Ching, “Savage Construction and Civility Making: The Musha Incident and Aboriginal Representations in Colonial Taiwan”, Positions Asia Critique 8:3 (2000): 795, p. 799.
15. ^ Ibid, pp. 802-804, 797.