*
Homepage

 

01/22 (Thu)

Opening Hours 9:00-17:00
*
*
The Taiwan Shinminpo News Special – Opening of Hualien Port, 1939
The Taiwan Shinminpo News Special – Opening of Hualien Port, 1939

Publication date: 11 Oct 2023
Author: Chu Feng-chung, Kawashima Naoko |Staff member of the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

The Taiwan Shinminpo and its related newspaper series were the only newspapers published by the Taiwanese during the Japanese colonial era. Among the contents, in-depth special reports on places, events and people are very important historical materials for studies on family histories and local regions. The Institute of Taiwan History has collected almost a hundred local news specials, covering topics such as economy and industry, infrastructure, cultural history, and school education. The issues presented include banana production and industrial economic trends, major infrastructure completion and current political situation, upgrade of towns and villages, rail service resumption and local development. The Taiwan Shinminpo carried what might not be described or documented in regular publications, such as local cultural characteristics and industrial histories, which were precious records for understanding our homeland. With the reference to the news special “Commemorative Special on Opening of Hualien Port” published in The Taiwan Shinminpo on October 1-2, 1939 and other archival collections of Institute of Taiwan History, this article focuses on the completion and opening of Hualien Port in 1939, detailing the construction process and its impact during the Japanese colonial era.

*
IV. The equipment and technique of photography that John Thomson applied

The photography technique that John Thomson applied was wet-plate collodion, which was invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. The equipment included a wooden camera, a portable tent to be a dark room, glass plate negatives, collodion and silver nitrate used to be sensitizers and developers. However, walking in the old-growth forest with the equipment was not convenient at all. Hence, John Thomson hired several porters assisting him to take photographs. Since the exposing process of wet-plate collodion took several seconds to 2 minutes, the photographer’s expertise and his interaction with the models were both tested. Surprisingly, there were no serious conflicts between the plain aborigines in Taiwan and western people. It was likely that Dr. Maxwell’s introduction already won the trust from Taiwanese plain aborigines. Therefore, they were calm and comfortable when facing John Thomson’s lens. According to what Thomson wrote in Through China: with a Camera, we can know that Taiwanese plain aborigines were very hospitable.

‹ III. John Thomson’s footprints in Formosa up V. Conclusion ›

11F., South Wing, Building for Humanities and Social Sciences, 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei City 11529,
Taiwan Tel: +886-2-2652-5181 Fax: +886-2-2652-5184 【Contact us】
Copyright © 2010 Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica. All Rights Reserved