Despite its remoteness, Taiwan was effected 140 years ago by a conflict between the French and the Qing Dynasty over Vietnam. Keelung, Tamsui, and Penghu became battlegrounds and Taiwan as a whole faced economic difficulties stemming from a trade blockade. The Sino-French War, “Se-á-huán” in Taiwanese, was brought to Taiwan’s doorstep by France, “Se-á” in Taiwanese, and impacted the island for over a year.
This special exhibition addresses this turning point in foreign relations, presenting the results of more than a decade of research on local communities, focusing on how Taiwanese society mobilized and united to resist this invasion by a powerful foe. It also reinterprets photographs, battlefield accounts, and letters to families by French soldiers to reconstruct the dynamic realities of the battlefield.
After the war, the upsurge in newspaper and magazine articles and books in France on the subject and methods unique to Taiwan for commemorating events, such as the presentation of plaques as well as temple decorations and ceremonies, show the different ways the war evolved and was recollected in official history, folklore, legends, and memories.
1 Taiwan, Embroiled in a War out of the Blue
In 1884, the conflict between the French and Vietnamese became bogged down when the Black Flag Military became involved. To force the Qing forces to withdraw from Vietnam and for the purpose of using Taiwan as a “pledge” in peace talks, the French launched attacks against Keelung, Tamsui, and Penghu.
The military actions undertaken by the French can be divided into four phases: First, the formation of the French Far East Fleet; second, the launching of attacks on Keelung and Tamsui and the seizing of Keelung; third, the blockading of the Taiwan Strait and the intercepting and harassing of ships off the coast; fourth, the attacking and occupation of Penghu as an excuse for withdrawing from Keelung.
Despite having nothing to do with the cause of the conflict, Taiwan somehow got caught up in it and eventually became key its outcome, once again underscoring the absurdity of war.
2 Defending Our Own Homeland
To meet the challenge of the Se’a’huan, troops deployed from the Hunan and Anhui armies and local volunteers in Taiwan took part in the fighting. Faced with this foreign invasion, locals united as a community, armed and mobilized themselves and headed to battlefields to provide support. Key leaders included Lin Chaodong, Chang Licheng, and Jiang Shaoji.
Today, koji pottery, murals, and plaques can be found in temples in places like Keelung and Tamsui depict legends of deities assisting in combat. Tamsui’s “pài-mn̂g-kháu” ceremony honoring the fallen and the route taken by the procession of King Baoyi from Muzha to Tamsui embody the intertwining of beliefs, networks of people, and collective memories of war.
3 Actual Battlefield Situation: Looking Forward to Going Home Soon
Photo documentaries by French military officer Firmin André Sallesare the currently earliest known photographic records of war related to subjects in the history of Taiwan. When viewed together with the letters of medical assistant René Coppin, and the book L'Expédition Française de Formose 1884-1885 by Eugène Germain Garnotwhich includes sketches of maps and handwritten accounts of events, allow us to re-examine the intentions behind the French Empire’s expansion in East Asia and reveal the hardships of war, including issues related to food and disease. They also give us glimpses into the people, customs, and conditions of Taiwan in the late 19th century.
Wartime letters to families, newspaper obituaries, compilations of military records, as well as different methods for remembering and reproducing have reshaped our the understanding and impression of the war.