Swatow 1895-1937

Very few people in Taiwan know of the adventures of teachers from Taiwan who worked in Swatow (汕頭, Shantou or Suátao) for a time. This is now reported by 曾齡儀 Tseng Lin-yi in her PhD dissertation, "A Cross-boundary People: The Commercial Activities, Social Networks, and Travel Writings of Japanese and Taiwanese Sekimin in the Shantou Treaty Port (1895-1937)" (2014). Dissertations and Theses, 2014-Present. Paper 119 (here).

And the Abstract in part: "This dissertation explores Japanese imperial history in East Asia and focuses on a group of “cross-boundary people”—Taiwanese sekimin ([台灣籍民] Taiwanese who registered as Japanese subjects) and Japanese—who went to the treaty port of Shantou in southern China during the period between 1895 and 1937. The starting time point (i.e., 1895) corresponds to the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, by which Japan acquired Taiwan as a colony and informal privileges in Chinese treaty ports. The ending time point (i.e., 1937) corresponds to the decline that Shantou’s Japanese community experienced owing to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War on July 7, 1937."

Wedding photo of 鄭嘉昌 and 潘瑾, courtesy of the Cheng Fanily

One of the Taiwanese teachers at Swatow’s Tōē (東瀛) School was Mr 鄭嘉昌 (Jia-chang Zheng) who later married his fellow teacher Miss 潘瑾, and together, they raised 3 children during the family's stay in Swatow from late 1920s to early 1930s before returning to Taiwan. In June, 1939, Swatow was occupied by the Japanese and in July 1941, the Zheng family moved to Swatow again with Mr 鄭 appointed by the Taiwan General Gov't as a linguist. He later joined the Yoshimura Trading Co and became a successful businessman.

The recall of life in Swatow by the eldest daughter Miss 鄭美華 (Mei-hua Zheng) is astoundingly complete and vivid, readers are encouraged to have a close look (pp 178-185).

The Zheng/Cheng Family was from Tamsui. After the war, Mr 鄭嘉昌 became the Principal of WenHua (文化,1945-61) and Tamsui (淡水, 1961-69) Elementary Schools, educating Tamsui children for nearly a quarter of a century.