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In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War (a.k.a. the War of Jiawu) broke out between the Great Qing and the Empire of Japan. Along with the surrender of the Qing Empire, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between two nations. As a consequence, the Qing dynasty ended its regional dominance in Taiwan and Penghu, as well as ceded them to the Empire of Japan. Hence, Taiwan turned into Japan's first colony overseas, and the Empire of Japan followed Imperialism acquiring territories to extend its power. Tadao Yanaihara, as a scholar of Japanese colonial policy, in order to write theses in relation to the colonization in Taiwan, went on a field trip to Taiwan in 1927 and completed the book "Taiwan under Imperialism" which mainly discusses Japanese capitalists investing in Taiwan's economic development with emphasis on the sugar industry. Furthermore, education, politics, and national movement in Taiwan are also included in the book. "Taiwan under Imperialism" is one of Yanaihara's important research works. Since its publication, it has been acknowledged as a masterpiece of studies in both Taiwan's colonization and Japanese colonial policy. Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze this book in order to explore the perspectives which Yanaihara advocated for. This thesis primarily takes the contents of "Taiwan under Imperialism" as the core, together with other works from Tadao Yanaihara, as well as related researches in order to carefully analyze Yanaihara's discourses on the colonization in Taiwan. Moreover, it also hopes to examine that period of Taiwan from a new point of view.
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