The Emergence of "History" A Survey of the History of Taiwanese Historiography

The Literature on Taiwan Series (Taiwan wenxian congkan), compiled and published by the Office of Economic Research of the Taiwan Bank, contains the largest number of historical sources on Taiwan written in Chinese. There are four types: (1) government archives and official records, mostly from the Qing period; (2) a variety of writings about Taiwan by officials and sojourners from the mainland; (3) a number of local gazetteers (fangzhi) compiled officially or semi-officially by Qing officials and their assistants, who included Taiwanese gentry and scholars; (4) a greater number of local gazetteers and writings in various genres by the Taiwanese in the period of Japanese rule. Though the fourth type extended the third, it was more significant in the development of Taiwanese historiography, because it reflected and registered the emergence of a native, or Taiwanese, consciousness. This Taiwanese consciousness was nurtured by the unique experience the islanders underwent after the Qing ceded their land to Japan, living under Japanese rule.