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T. V. SOONGSEE Song Ziwen (T. V. Soong).

TAIBEI (TAIPEI)Taibei, the capital of Taiwan, is unusual in that it is locatedin a basin surrounded by volcanoes and mountains. Someparts of the Datun (Tatun) Volcano Group dominatingthe northeastern skyline of the city still emit sulfur gasevery day, even though their last eruption occurred anestimated two hundred thousand years ago. The sunkenbasin was previously a lake in different phases of topographictransformation, and after the water receded for the last timeduring the Kangxi period (1662–1722) of the Qing dynasty,the fertile catchment area nourished by four major rivers (theJilong [Keelung], Dahan, Xindian, and Danshui [Tamsui],into which the others converge) soon became the foundationof the city. Such landscape antecedents not only mark theboundary and watersheds of the present city but also nurtureTaibei’s environmental resources (prominently the hotspring in the Beitou area) and irreplaceable urban character-istics that coincide with the association of the volcano, whichis volatile, restless, and energetic.

The major rivers played a vital role in Taibei’s irriga-tion and agriculture and led to the formation of traderoutes and port towns. Early settlers of the Lowland Tribes(Pingpuzu) paddled their canoes (pronounced mankah inthe aboriginal language) along the rivers for small-scalefishing and farming, and when the first-generation Hanimmigrants arrived in the early eighteenth century andbuilt their first row of shop-houses by the Danshui River

quay (Guiyang Street of today), the image of canoe tradingsoon elicited a name for Taibei’s first port town: Mankah.This port’s strategic location at the confluence of theXindian and Dahan rivers gained for the port the greatadvantage of extended trade with mainland Chinese mer-chants, and by 1740 it had already evolved into a signifi-cant township where merchant guilds operated businessesand built temples and shop houses.

Internal conflicts between Han clans and guilds ofdifferent immigrant origins led to bloodshed and conse-quential “exile development” in Dadaocheng (Tuatiutia),farther downstream the Danshui River. Dadaocheng devel-oped by leaps and bounds owing to its flourishing tea tradewith foreign merchants operating through the compradorsystem. Dadaocheng enjoyed wealth accumulated from for-eign sources and became the most densely populated area inTaiwan of the late nineteenth century.

Taibei’s morphological evolution took an unprece-dented turn when Imperial Commissioner Shen Baozhenproposed to the Qing court in 1874 to build a city wall inthe heart of the Taibei basin to secure an increased tea andcamphor economy and satisfy demands for fortification.Taibei’s inner city would be the last square city in Chinesehistory according to the rules of cosmology and its city wallone of the most short-lived before its demolition by theJapanese colonial regime at the turn of the twentieth cen-tury. But Taibei was also the first modernized city in Chinato have electric street lamps and other civil engineering andstreetscape upgrades under the administration of the firstprovincial governor of Taiwan, Liu Mingchuan. The formalplanned city drew private capital from Mankah and Dadao-cheng to build up regular shop-houses along well-linedstreets and boost market vitality. The tripod coordination

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of Taibei’s three city blocs (Mankah, Dadaocheng, and theinner city gave rise to remarkable commercial prosperity anda vigorous street life, and allowed Taibei to emerge as apolitical and economic hub of northern Taiwan.

TAIBEI UNDER JAPANESE COLONIALRULE

The Japanese colonial authorities, after they took controlin 1895, reconfigured the inner city. The colonial plannersushered in baroque planning based on functional ration-ality and the Western “City Beautiful” concept. Accord-ingly, the symbolic city walls of the Qing period were torndown to yield their ramparts to tree-lined boulevards. Aneclectic Renaissance-style architecture dominated most pub-lic buildings and street facades, while the old city gateswere peculiarly preserved as landmarks inside the novelspatial form of grand boulevard circles. By imposing build-ing codes, Japanese measurement standards, urban infra-structure, public parks, and public facilities, the Japaneserefashioned Taibei into a crossover of Western urban plan-ning superimposed on a traditional Chinese city scheme.

Under the Japanese, urban planning became an effec-tive tool for building modern industrial cities in Taiwan toserve the purposes of Japan’s imperial capitalism. None-theless, its implementation improved the living quality ofcommon housing and the city as a whole, helping toimprove sanitation and reduce riots in the colonial cities.During the period of colonial pacification, the Japanese—inthree stages of urban-rectification planning and implemen-tation in 1899, 1901, and 1905—modified the fabric of theexisting city of around 61,221 and, despite demolitions oftemples and houses on designated public domains, peace-fully transformed the regional seat of Qing-dynasty admin-istration into a modern city.

Prewar Japanese economic prosperity spilled overfrom Japan to its colony through Japanese merchants andadministrative officials who brought their families andbusinesses to Taiwan. The population of Taibei reached264,420, with the rate of increase peaking at 34.18 percentin 1931. Subsequently the comprehensive Urban Plan forGreater Taibei, drastically modifying the original plan, wasannounced in 1932. The 1932 plan incorporated the out-lying areas of the Taibei basin and demarcated the boun-dary of the present-day city. The plan, covering an area of25.7 square miles, 9.5 times the scale of the 1905 plan, wasprojected to the year 1955 when the population wasexpected to be 600,000.

During the Japanization phase of the colonial period,the planned development of Taibei manifested the Japa-nese determination to further modernize the colonial cityeven during wartime. The implementation of the influen-tial Taiwan Urban Planning Ordinance (Taiwan DushiJihua Ling) started at 1937. This ordinance, the firstcomplete regulation of physical planning, introduced

land-use zoning to Taiwan, a practice that increased thesegregation of urban landscapes by use, by land rent, andby class and ethnic distinctions. It is still followed, as of2008, by the Taibei Bureau of Urban Development anddictates urban patterns of most formal sector development.The ordered and modernized city of colonial Taibei man-ifests the Japanese intention to build a regional centerfeaturing an integrated economy that merges the monop-olistic state with private capital.

TAIBEI UNDER THE GUOMINDANG

Japan’s fifty-year-long (1895–1945) colonial rule of high-handed measures and ostentatious conciliation had a tre-mendous impact on all aspects of Taibei’s urban life andinstitutions and left an array of cultural legacies. AfterWorldWar II, Taibei proved to be more advanced and modernizedthan most Chinese cities. When Chiang Kai-shek’s Guo-mindang (Nationalist) regime resumed rule over Taiwan, itconveniently adopted Taibei’s colonial planning and zoningcodes with little reinterpretation. For nearly two decadesafter the war, Taibei developed by gradual spatial expansionbased on the well-established colonial plan.

After Chiang Kai-shek’s complete retreat in 1949, Tai-bei became the “temporary” capital of the Republic of Chinaas well as the regime’s political, economic, and judicialcenter. The tremendous amount of U.S. aid between 1950and 1965 enabled the Guomindang to extensively developTaiwan. In return, Taiwan strengthened its dependent affili-ation with the United States and allowed itself to beabsorbed into the world system of capitalism. The govern-ment instituted policies to move surplus capital and laborout of the agricultural sector into industrial production.Intensive industrialization fostered rapid urbanization. Pre-dictably, Taibei and its surrounding regions absorbed thelargest share of immigrants from rural areas all over theisland. As a result of the influx of Mainlanders and ruralimmigrants, Taibei’s population surged to a record-breaking half million by 1950. In 1967 Taibei was pro-moted as a Special Municipality, and most surroundingcities and towns in the Taibei basin east of the DanshuiRiver were incorporated into the growing metropolis.The city’s area increased to nearly 105 square miles, whilethe population jumped to 1.55 million.

The total population of the Taibei basin (includingTaibei City and part of Taibei County) climbed from 2.62million in 1970 to 4.07 million by 1980. Transportationbecame a critical issue, and the bridges connecting bothsides of the Danshui River, originally built as escape routesin case of war, became directly responsible for the sprawl ofTaibei’s satellite cities. After its completion in 1957, theSongshan International Airport gradually assumed its keyrole as the new gateway of the capital and impelled thedevelopment of Taibei’s northeast corner.

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In the 1960s and 1970s the grand Dunhua Boulevard,extending from the entrance of the airport, was an impres-sive showcase of civil works to greet the visitor. It crossedRen’ai Boulevard, of the same scale and meticulously culti-vated landscape, and at the far end of Ren’ai Boulevardstood the symbolic Presidential Hall. But during the sameperiod a brief detour from the boulevards into the backalleys and old districts of the city revealed activities andinformal-sector constructions that told a different urban tale.

Nestled in small openings between buildings or sprawlingout into the arcade spaces directly from private living roomswere subcontracting laborers engaged in piecework to helpachieve and sustain the Taiwan miracle. Behind the facadeof Taiwan’s economic miracle of the early 1970s hid many ahumble family working together as a nameless unit, so manythat “the living room as factory” became a state slogan.

The economic takeoff since 1964 produced double-digit growth in Taiwan’s gross national product. With a

Taibei 101, the world’s tallest occupied building, Taibei, Taiwan, June, 2004. Set in a basin,surrounded by mountains, the capital city of Taiwan grew considerably after Chiang Kai-shek tookcontrol of the nationalist government on the island in the 1950s. Taibei quickly became a leadingeconomic force in the region, initially producing simple manufactured goods before becoming known asa major exporter of high tech items since the 1980s. ª LOUIE PSIHOYOS/CORBIS

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national saving rate higher than 25 percent, both devel-opers and buyers were able to accumulate the capitalnecessary to stir-fry the housing market, particularlywalk-up apartments. The inflation of land prices in Taibeisince the 1970s made housing development costly andcreated an investment environment favoring capital-richcorporations and those who hoarded land from an earlierperiod. Housing became an unaffordable commodity for alarge number of salary earners, and this situation evolvedinto a serious social problem in Taibei. In the 1980s one ofthe most significant social movements in the capital city wasthe Shell-less Snail Movement (Wu Ke Woniu Yundong),which, on the night of August 26, 1989, summoned morethan 10,000 “snails without shells” (or people who couldnot afford housing) to take over and sleep on the street as ademonstration against the Guomindang’s poor housingpolicy.

The lifting of martial law in 1987 was a turning pointin Taiwan’s grassroots movements. Ever since, protests andstreet demonstrations occupying the streets of the capitaland paralyzing traffic have became common street scenes.Social movements transformed into many nongovernmen-tal organizations, which advocated democratic participa-tion at all levels. In the 1990s the concept of communityempowerment prevailed in social discourse and action proj-ects, and those who were disempowered learned to organizethemselves or find like-minded citizens to advocate andinitiate social action. Voices calling for preservation of histor-ical heritage and landscape conservation began to challengethe predominant ideology of Taibei’s urban development.Slogans jelled into policies and ordinances.

In 1994 Chen Shuibian, representing the DemocraticProgressive Party, became the first directly elected mayorof Taibei. The 2000 direct election sent him to the pres-idency of Taiwan and toppled the long rule of the Guo-mindang. Taibei witnessed the incredible process ofTaiwan’s democratization. The city government was relo-cated to Xinyi Special District in 1994, which propelledthe rapid development of the immediate neighborhood.With special design guidelines and zoning ordinances, theXinyi District vied to establish itself as a regional businesscenter for the global market and as a financial center forEast Asia. Especially with the rise of Taibei 101 as thetallest building in the world in 2003, at 1,670 feet, thewest-side historical cores of Mankah and Dadaocheng werefurther marginalized under its shadow. Yet the historicaltraces of the old city survived, including such sites as theWest Gate area (Ximending), the squatter village at Bao-zangyen, and Dihua Street, and are irreplaceable.

But most of Taibei’s 2,630,000 citizens (along withmany urban commuters from Taibei County) would prob-ably agree that the uniqueness of the capital city lies not inhaving the tallest building or a clean subway system in a

bustling financial hub, but in having a liberal metropolitanatmosphere, a vibrant and nonstop nightlife, and a firmmiddle class society that likes to patronize numerous goodbookstores, coffee shops, and teahouses at street corners.Some of the most distinctive urban experiences of Taibeican be explored by wandering into the crevices betweenTaibei’s different historical layers: its beginning as a pro-gressive Qing administrative city, its undeniable colonialpast, overlaid with Westernization, democratization, andmodernization. This distinctive city, which happens to pre-serve some of the most traditional traits of Chinese culture,such as the treasures in the National Palace Museum andtraditional Chinese characters, is also the most liberal, het-erogeneous, and open-minded of all Chinese cities.

SEE ALSO Taiwan, Republic of China; Urban China: Citiesand Urbanization, 1800–1949; Urban China:Organizing Principles of Cities; Urban China: UrbanPlanning since 1978.

B IBL IOGRAPHYChen, Zheng-xiang. Taiwan di zhi [Taiwan’s geographic records].

Taibei: Nan-tien, 1993.Huang, Shih-meng, ed. and trans. Taiwan dushi jihua Jiangxi lu

[Taiwan urban planning seminar records of 1937]. Taibei: Hu-Shih, 1992.

Wang Guofan, Chen Sanjing, and Huang Yuyuan, eds. Taibei-shifazhan shi [A developmental history of Taipei]. Vols. 1–4.Taibei: Taibei Wenxian Weiyuanhui, 1981.

Zhang, Jingsen. Taiwan de dushi jihua (1895–1988) [Taiwanurban planning (1895–1988)]. Taibei: Yeqiang, 1993.

Zhuang, Yong-ming. Taibei laojie [Old streets of Taipei]. Taibei:China Times Press, 1991.

Min Jay Kang

TAIPING UPRISINGThe Taiping Uprising (1851–1864) was the largest and, interms of human lives, most costly armed conflict worldwideduring the nineteenth century. The Taipings set out toestablish a “heavenly kingdom of great peace” (taiping tian-guo) under Christ returning in the shape of his younger, thistime Chinese, “brother,”Hong Xiuquan (1814–1864). TheTaipings challenged the Qing court and its Manchu (notHan-Chinese) rulers as “of the devil” and set out to replacethe Confucian state-examination system with a new canonmade up of the Taiping testament and Christian testamentsbrought by Protestant missionaries.

The uprising is associated with three different andlinked trajectories, including the Second Great Awakening,a highly energized outpouring of religious enthusiasm thatbegan around 1800 in Europe and the United States. TheSecond Great Awakening was transnational in character,

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HONG XIUQUAN�

Hong Xiuquan (1814–1864) was the messianic leader of the

Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. Born near Guangzhou

(Canton) into a modest Hakka clan, he pursued education

instead of emigration or rebellion as a way up, thus, like his

eventual opponents, gaining familiarity with the Confucian

canon. Failing to make the diminutive Hakka examination

quota, in 1837 he fell into a mental crisis and experienced a

vision, which became the blueprint for its later reenactment

on earth: Brought to heaven on a “direct road,” he was

cleansed inside and out, and then brought before an “old

man” with a blond beard and an unfamiliar outfit. This man

complained that the Chinese had forgotten even the name

of the creator and had sided with the devils. He ordered

Hong to drive out the devils and redeem mankind, the first

such effort having been made earlier by his first son. Hong

was supported in his battle by the old man and his son, who

referred to Hong as his “younger brother.” After Confucius

sided with the devil and drew many “brothers and sisters”

with him, he was whipped on the old man’s orders. After

driving the devils back into their hell, Hong was ordered to

go back to Earth and do the same, a mandate he reluctantly

accepted. A promised explanation and proof for the

authenticity of the vision failed to materialize, and he

returned to teaching.

Not until 1843 did the proof turn up: the compilationGood Words to Admonish the Age, by the Protestant convertLiang Afa. Its excerpts from the Christian testamentsexplained the old man, his son, the devil, the battle, andHong himself. In a strictly scriptural way, Hong concludedthat he was God’s second son, and that his was the SecondComing beginning with the apocalyptic battle. Unsure ofthis reading, he sought confirmation in Canton in 1847from the American revivalist missionary Issachar JacoxRoberts (1802–1871), who rejoiced in the conversion ofthis untutored “Cornelius soul.” Like many other newreligious movements at the time, Hong’s dispensationformed in a contact zone with a missionizing Christianreligion. The Christian testaments, together with his ownvision testament, became the fundaments of Taiping faith.After he began rallying supporters to destroy religious“idols” as counterparts to the “devils” of his vision,government persecution set in. In a dramatic turn, two ofHong’s associates, Yang Xiuqing (d. 1856) and XiaoChaogui (d. 1852), started acting as mediums for the old

man and his son respectively and were installed as militarycommanders. Such mediums of gods are familiar in southChinese temples. After the Taiping had established the NewJerusalem in Nanjing, Hong assumed the title “King of theHeavenly Kingdom of Great Peace.” The old man gave himthat title rather than di (emperor) because that was the Qingemperor’s blasphemous abuse of God’s name.

Hong’s main concern was to restore China to its beliefin the one God from pre-imperial times and to guide thedeluded “brothers and sisters” with a new orthodox Taipingcanon and the iron rod of a Moses to become true“humans.” He pruned the Chinese classics and wrote newsongs, prayers, poems, and doctrinal works. At the sametime, he was willing to absorb the best from the Christian“overseas brethren.” Firmly convinced that God’s supportalone secured victory, he looked in vain for other signs afterthe death of the two mediums. Even during the final siege ofNanjing in 1864, the soldiers on the city wall were heardday and night reciting the new prayer written by Hong forthe purpose. While the city fell, Hong took his own life.

An approach that treats religious fervor as a medicalcondition has long dismissed Hong as a mentally ill man;another approach has described him as cleverly disguisinghis anti-imperialist and antifeudal aims with religion.Research focused on the relative importance of thetranscultural element in Taiping thought and practice hasestablished links between the Second Great Awakening, anearly-nineteenth-century Protestant revival movement inthe United States, while others focused on elements ofChinese popular religion.

BIBL IOGRAPHY

Spence, Jonathan. God’s Chinese Son: The Taiping HeavenlyKingdom of Hong Xiuquan. New York: Norton, 1996.

Teng, Yuan Chung. Reverend Issachar Jacox Roberts and theTaiping Rebellion. Journal of Asian Studies 23, 1 (1963):55–67.

Wagner, Rudolf G. Reenacting the Heavenly Vision: The Role ofReligion in the Taiping Rebellion. Berkeley: Institute of EastAsian Studies, University of California, 1982.

Weller, Robert P. Resistance, Chaos and Control in China:Taiping Rebels, Taiwanese Ghosts, and Tiananmen. Seattle:University of Washington Press, 1993.

Yap, P. M. The Mental Illness of Hung Hsiu-ch’uan, Leader ofthe Taiping Rebellion. Far Eastern Quarterly 13, 3 (1954):287–304.

Rudolf G. Wagner

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