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Development of Imperial Japan and Dams as Cultural Heritages —The Transformation of Cultural Heritage and the Practice of a Local Society in Taiwan—

MURASHIMA KENJI 1

1한림대학교 일본학연구소

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine how dams, which were built for the development of imperial Japan, are now accepted as cultural heritage in postwar Taiwan. This study explores the Wushantou Reservoir in southern Taiwan as an example and basis of cultural heritage studies in Taiwan. In the process of De-Japanization in the postwar Taiwan, colonial buildings used to be considered as negative legacies of Japanese imperialism in the past, which brought about shame and embarrassment for the Taiwanese. However, since the 1990s in the midst of Taiwanization progress, the Taiwanese society began to re-think about colonial buildings as important historical heritages, which need to be preserved. The transformation of the Wushantou reservoir provides as an important aspect of postcolonial landscape in Taiwan. The Wushantou reservoir did not survived with iconoclastic fervor in the process of De-Japanization. However, it has become a symbol of promoting Chinese culture by displaying the statues of Chiang Kai-shek and the Temple of Heaven. In particular, the Chia-nan irrigation association's campaign to reestablish the statue of Yoichi Hatta (founder of the Wushantou Reservoir) was marked as a turning point. In the progress of Taiwanization, Hatta was represented by various groups and, as a result, related colonial buildings were reconstructed. In contrast to previous studies, this study argues that the preservation of the Wushantou reservoir is resulted from a manipulation of Japanese colonial period. In the process, the irrigation association played an important role. The association intended to use the colonial buildings for overriding the De-Japanization and glorifying the Japanese colonial period.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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