Lin Xiantang

Lin Xiantang

Lin Xiantang (October 22, 1881 - September 8, 1956), known as "the father of Taiwan parliament", is a politician, poet and pioneer of national movement in Taiwan. He was born in Youxi, Fujian Province. He was born in the family of Wufeng Lin, a famous family. He was called the third young master of amang fog. His father, Lin Wenqin, was a Juren in the late Qing Dynasty. He was of the same generation as Lin Chaodong, a famous Taiwan anti French general in the Qing Dynasty. It is the Japanese's mission to fight against the traditional way of life. Lin Xiantang's works are best known for his travels around the world from 1927 when the Literary Association split up to the time when he traveled to Europe and America. Lin Xiantang kept a diary from 1927 to 1954, which is the most important private literature in Taiwan history.

Life of the characters

He was born in the Lin family of Wufeng, a famous family in Taichung, Taiwan. He was born in amang Wu (now Wufeng District, Taichung City). He is the third elder of five cousins in the dingcuo branch of the Lin family in Wufeng. Therefore, he is also known as amang Wu's third young master. His father Lin Wenqin was the same generation as Lin Chaodong in the late Qing Dynasty.

At the age of 7, Lin Xiantang received Sinology education in his family school, rongjingzhai. At the age of 14, Taiwan was ceded to Japan according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Under the order of Mrs. Luo Tai, Lin Xiantang's grandmother, the family moved to Quanzhou, Fujian Province, but decided to return to Taiwan a few years later.

In 1899 (the 32nd year of Meiji), his father Lin Wenqin, who devoted himself to the export of camphor, died in Hong Kong. Lin Xiantang took over the family business at the age of 19. Later, in order to win him over, the governor's office of Taiwan appointed him as Wufeng counsellor and district chief (1902). In 1905, he was granted the title of "Shen Zhang". In the same year, he was appointed as a banned Officer (equivalent to a director) of Taiwan hemp Making Co., Ltd.

In 1902, Lin Xiantang served as a counsellor and district chief of Wufeng, and was awarded the title of gentry in 1905.

In 1907, when traveling in Nara, Japan, he met with Liang Qichao, the leader of the reform movement of 1898 in China. Under the influence of Ireland's struggle for autonomy, because their dialects hindered their communication, they talked with each other in writing, leaving a lot of precious historical materials.

In 1910, he joined the "oak society".

In 1913, the gentry from north and central Taiwan petitioned the governor's office to express the Taiwanese 'willingness to pay for the establishment of Taichung middle school.

In May 1915, public Taichung middle school (the predecessor of Taichung No.1 Middle School) was established.

In March 1914, the Earl of Tanigaki was invited to visit Taiwan. In December, the "assimilation society" was established (dissolved in 1915).

In 1919, he and CAI Huiru and others set up the "enlightenment Association", which was changed to "new democratic Association" the next year. Lin served as president and was founded in Tokyo.

Since January 1921, Lin Xiantang began to ask the Japanese parliament to set up a Taiwan parliament, which was the first petition movement in Taiwan.

In October 1921, the Taiwan Cultural Association was established in Dadaocheng, Taipei. Following the system of the Chinese Kuomintang, it elected Lin Xiantang as prime minister, Jiang Weishui as special director and Lin Youchun as executive director.

In 1923, in order to arouse the national consciousness of Taiwan people, the Cultural Association took Taiwan people's daily as its propaganda, and Lin served as its president.

In February 1927, Dadong Trust Co., Ltd. was established. It took Lin Xiantang and others two years to set up it. In order to break the situation that the Japanese and imperial gentlemen controlled the banking, trust, insurance and other financial industries, Lin served as the chairman and Chen Xin as the general manager.

In January 1927, the Taiwan Cultural Association split and turned to be controlled by the left. Lin Xiantang also withdrew from the Cultural Association. In July of the same year, another Taiwan people's party was formed.

In August 1930, Lin Xiantang and others set up the Taiwan local autonomy alliance as advisers. The purpose of the alliance is to set up elected local parliaments at all levels.

On July 15, 1937, under the pressure of the Japanese authorities, the Taiwan local autonomy alliance was dissolved.

In May 1946, he was elected as the first Taiwan Provincial Councillor. In late October, Chiang Kai Shek met with him when he came to Taiwan for inspection. Four months later, the February 28 incident occurred in Taiwan, and Lin Xiantang was included in the blacklist of "Taiwan traitors". Fortunately, with the help of friends, he was not imprisoned.

In September 1949, Lin Xiantang left Taiwan for convalescence and lived in Japan, leaving behind a sentimental poem: "if you can live in a foreign country, who can pity the flowers and plants of your country?".

He died in Tokyo in 1956 at the age of 76.

Character evaluation

Lin Xiantang devoted all his life to the national movement in Taiwan, but he died in a foreign country in his later years, which is a pity.

On April 28, 2013, the opening ceremony of "Lin Xiantang exhibition hall of Anti Japanese deeds" was held in Wugui building, Taiwan Street, Shijingshan District. Liang Qichao, representatives of Lin's descendants in Wufeng, Taiwan, and nearly 100 guests from both sides of the Taiwan Strait witnessed this moment.

In 1746, the Lin family of Wufeng in Taichung, Taiwan, crossed the sea from Zhangzhou, Fujian Province to settle down in Taiwan. There are many outstanding descendants, including Lin Chaodong, a famous Taiwan general who resisted France in the Qing Dynasty, Lin zumi, commander of the southern Fujian army who abandoned his family and property in the early Republic of China and followed Sun Yat Sen to participate in the 1911 Revolution, and Lin Xiantang, a famous national movement leader in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation period. CCTV's once popular TV series "hundred years of the sea" is about the legendary history of the Lin family in Wufeng.

More than 30 letters of communication between Liang Qichao and Lin Xiantang from 1907 to 1914 are on display in the exhibition hall, all of which are displayed in the mainland for the first time. At the same time, there are pictures of historical relics related to Lin Xiantang's unarmed Anti Japanese deeds, as well as advocating the establishment of the Taiwan Cultural Association.

In 1911, Liang Qichao and his daughter visited Taiwan and lived in Wugui building of Lin family in Wufeng for five days. The "relief of Liang Qichao and Lin Xiantang" in the exhibition hall is based on the situation that Liang and Lin met at that time. Liang Sili, the son of Liang Qichao and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Lin fangluo, Lin Xiantang's daughter-in-law, jointly unveiled the relief.

On the same day, the wuguilou guild hall in Beijing, which imitated the wuguilou of Lin family in Wufeng, Taiwan, also opened. Lin Weimin, curator of Lin Xiantang exhibition hall of Anti Japanese deeds in Beijing, said that the Wugui building in Beijing will form a sister building with the Wugui building of Lin family in Wufeng, Taiwan, to contribute more to cross-strait cultural exchanges.

personal works

Lin Xiantang's works are best known for his travels around the world from 1927 when the Literary Association split up to the time when he traveled to Europe and America.

Lin Xiantang kept a diary from 1927 to 1954, which is the most important private literature in Taiwan history.

Research bibliography

(arranged according to the author's surname in pinyin order)

Zhou Wanyao, 1989, the petition movement of Taiwan parliament during the Japanese occupation. Taipei: Department of culture and publishing

Huang Fusan, 2004, biography of Lin Xiantang. Nantou County Nantou City: National History Museum Taiwan Literature Museum

Huang Yuyuan, 2000, on the study of characters and national view: Taking Lin Xiantang's "national thought" as an example. Shihui, no.4:95-116

Lai Xian (Li Tong), 1978, advocate of Taiwan National Movement: biography of Lin Xiantang. Taichung: Literature Committee of Taiwan Province

In 1999, Mr. a MengWu. Taipei: Yuanshen publishing house

Liao Zhenfu, 1996, a study of the three poets in Lishe: Lin chixian, Lin Youchun and Lin Xiantang. Doctoral Dissertation of National Taiwan Normal University

In 1999, the voice of anti war and anti imperial Democratization: Lin Xiantang's poems at the end of the Japanese occupation. Taiwan Literature 50, no.4:61-77. Edited by Taiwan Provincial Council

2001, Taiwan Provincial Council, provisional Provincial Council and provincial council period historical data compilation plan: Mr. Lin Xiantang's historical data compilation, presided over by Huang Zhengyi plan

Wufeng Township, Taichung County: Taiwan Provincial Council. Lin Xiantang (1881-1956): striving for the dignity of Taiwan people (VHS). Taipei: World Magazine

Xu Qianhui, 2002, an analysis of the travel notes of Taiwan people during the Japanese Occupation: Taking the travel notes of Li Chunsheng, Lian Heng, Lin Xiantang and Wu zhuoluu as the analysis field. Master's thesis of Institute of Chinese studies, National Taiwan Normal University

Xu Xueji, 1998, Lin Xiantang, a research on "travel around the world". Taiwan Literature 49, no.2:1-33

In 1999a, a study of the huangminfeng guild: Taking Lin Xiantang's participation as an example. Journal of Institute of modern history, Academia Sinica, no.31:167-211

Introduction, 1999b, Mr. Lin Xiantang and social activities in Taiwan: focusing on Wufeng new society. Taiwan Literature 50, no.4:100-108

In 2002, resistance and submission: the appointment and resignation of the councilor of Lin Xiantang government. Journal of history, National Chengchi University, no.19:259-96

Kaniko ITO, 2005, a study of Taiwan's political thought in the late period of Japanese Occupation: an analysis of the Anti Japanese thoughts of the Anti Japanese movement in Taiwan. Taipei: Hong Ru Tang press

Zhang Huizhen, 2005, the cultural imagination and national discourse in the domain of the other: an analysis of Lin Xiantang's travels around the world. Journal of Taiwan literature, no.6:89-120

Zhang Yanxian, foreword, 1999, Lin Xiantang's contribution to the national movement. Taiwan Literature 50, no.4:95

Zhang Yimin, 2001, capital accumulation of landlords in Taiwan during the Japanese Occupation: a case study of Lin Chengtang in Wufeng. Doctoral Dissertation of Department of land science, National Chengchi University

Zhang Zhengchang, 1981, Lin Xiantang and Taiwan national movement. Taipei: Yiqun Bookstore

Zhong Mei fang, 1986, a study of the oak society during the Japanese occupation. Master Thesis of Institute of history, Donghai University

Zhu Peiqi, 2000, the cradle of elite education in the period of Japanese occupation in Taiwan: Taking Taichung No.1 middle school as an example. Master's thesis of Institute of history, National Tsinghua University

By Ruolin Zhengzhang, translated by he Yilin et al., 2007, a study on the history of Anti Japanese movement in Taiwan. Taipei: planter publishing company

Anecdotes and allusions

Born in Taiwan

Chinese PinYin : Lin Xian Tang