The name Formosa dates from 1542 when Portuguese sailors sighted an uncharted island and noted it on their maps as Ilha Formosa ("beautiful island"). The name Formosa eventually "replaced all others in European literature" … See more

When the news of the treaty's contents reached Taiwan, a number of notables from central Taiwan led by Qiu Fengjia decided to resist the … See more

Since the island had already been ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Western powers were not in a position to recognize the Republic of Formosa as a legitimate … See more

Premises were found for the republican parliament and the republican ministries in the yamens of the former Qing administration in Taipei. Tang Jingsong, the president of the … See more

In 1894, China and Japan went to war. In a few months, the Japanese defeated China's Beiyang fleet, routed the Chinese armies in Manchuria, and captured Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. Although nearly all the fighting took place in northern China, Japan had … See more

The declaration has not been preserved in its original Chinese version, although an English version of it was recorded by the American war correspondent James Wheeler Davidson, who was in Taipei when it was issued. Davidson's version reads as follows: See more

Knowing that a Japanese landing was imminent, the Republican leaders did what little they could in the short time given to them to prepare the island's defences against invasion. Taiwan in May 1895 was not short of soldiers. Tang Jingsong, in order to hearten the … See more