Tapani incident

The Tapani incident^[4] or Tapani uprising^[3] in 1915 was one of the biggest armed uprisings^[5] by Taiwanese Han and Aboriginals, including Taivoan, against Japanese rule in Taiwan. Alternative names used to refer to the incident include the Xilai Temple Incident after the Xilai Temple in Tainan, where the revolt began, and the Yu Qingfang Incident after the leader Yu Qingfang.^[6] Multiple Japanese police stations were stormed by Aboriginal and Han Chinese fighters under Chiang Ting (Jiang Ding) and Yü Ch'ing-fang (Yu Qingfang).^[7]

Tapani Incident
Taiwanese captured after the Tapani Incident being taken from the Tainan jail to court
Date 1915 Location Taiwan Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Da Ming Cibeiguo [zh] Han Taiwanese Taiwanese aborigines	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Yu Qingfang	Unknown
Strength
1,413[1][2]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
"Thousands"[3]	Unknown

Tapani incident
Chinese name
Chinese	噍吧哖事件
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jiaòbānián Shìjìan Wade–Giles Chiao4-pa1-nien2 Shih4-chien4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ta-pa-nî sū-kiāⁿ
Alternative name
Traditional Chinese	西來庵事件
Simplified Chinese	西来庵事件
Literal meaning	Xilai Temple Incident
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xīlaí'ān Shìjìan Wade–Giles Hsi1-lai2-an1 Shih4-chien4
Alternative name
Chinese	玉井事件
Literal meaning	Yujing Incident
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yùjǐng Shìjìan Wade–Giles Yü4-ching3 Shih4-chien4
Japanese name
Kanji	西来庵事件
Hiragana	せいらいあんじけん
Kyūjitai	西來庵事件
Transcriptions Romanization Seirai-an jiken

Recruitment

The largest group of participants came from the local ho and kō heads (gentry) from the mountainous areas of Tainan and Ahou prefectures, followed by numerous camphor industry workers of Nantou Prefecture. There were also a group of scholars and ex-officials from Tainan city. Only one recruit from the northern and central areas of Taiwan participated in fighting.^[8] The revolt recruited supporters from mainland China as well, although the overall worldviews of the revolt participants seem to be largely unaware of or unaffected by recent Chinese political events such as the Xinhai Revolution, but sought to create an imperial state with either Yü or Luo as emperor.^[9] The participants of the revolt believed that a force of "celestial troops," or troops from mainland China, would come to their aid, although they disagreed on whether these were to be from Chinese leader Yuan Shikai or from the already-defunct Qing dynasty, and also did not agree on whether the purpose was for China to take over Taiwan or to acquire state independence.^[10] During the height of the rebellion, Yu published an edict, reminiscent of ancient imperial Chinese legitimation ideology, based on the ideas of Zhonghua leadership over other nations, the Mandate of Heaven, and dynastic revolution. In the edict he declared the formation of a Da Ming Cibei Kingdom (Kingdom of Compassion and Great Luminosity). This rhetoric closely resembled those of triad or Heaven and Earth Society rebellions.^[11]

Legacy

Modern Taiwanese historiography attempts to portray the Tapani Incident as a nationalist uprising either from a Chinese (unification) or Taiwanese (independence) perspective. Japanese colonial historiography attempted to portray the incident as a large scale instance of banditry led by criminal elements. However, the Tapani Incident differs from other uprisings in Taiwan's history because of its elements of millenarianism and folk religion, which enabled Yu Qingfang to raise a significant armed force whose members believed themselves to be invulnerable to modern weaponry.^[12]

The similarities between the rhetoric of the leaders of the Tapani uprising and the Righteous Harmony Society of the recent Boxer Rebellion in China were not lost on Japanese colonial authorities, and the colonial government subsequently paid more attention to popular religion and took steps to improve colonial administration in southern Taiwan.

The aboriginals carried on with violent armed struggle against the Japanese while Han Chinese violent opposition stopped after Tapani.^[13]

See also

• Wushe Incident