Wintry Night Read online

  Wintry Night

  Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan

  Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan

  EDITORIAL BOARD

  Pang-yuan Chi

  Göran Malmqvist

  David Der-wei Wang, Coordinator

  Wang Chen-ho,

  Rose, Rose, I Love You

  Cheng Ch’ing-wen,

  Three-Legged Horse

  Chu T’ien-wen,

  Notes of a Desolate Man

  Hsiao Li-hung,

  A Thousand Moons on a Thousand Rivers

  Chang Ta-chun,

  Wild Kids: Two Novels About Growing Up

  Michelle Yeh and N.G.D. Malmqvist, editors,

  Frontier Taiwan: An Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry

  Wintry Night

  •

  LI QIAO

  Translated from the Chinese by

  TAOTAO LIU & JOHN BALCOM

  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

  NEW YORK

  Columbia University Press wishes to express its

  appreciation for assistance given by the

  Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange

  in the preparation of the translation and in the publication of this series.

  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

  Publishers Since 1893

  New York Chichester, West Sussex

  cup.columbia.edu

  Copyright © 2001 Columbia University Press

  All rights reserved

  E-ISBN 978-0-231-50556-7

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Li, Ch’iao, 1934–

  [Han yeh. English]

  Wintry night / Li Qiao ; translated from the Chinese by Taotao Liu and John Balcom.

  p. cm.—(Modern Chinese literature from Taiwan)

  ISBN 0–231–12200–4 (cloth)—ISBN 0–231–12201–2 (paper)

  1. Li, Ch°’ao, 1934–—Translations into English. I. Title. II. Series.

  PL2877.C519 H2913 2001

  895.1’352—dc21

  00–035882

  A Columbia University Press E-book.

  CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].

  Contents

  Foreword

  Translator’s Introduction

  PART ONE Wintry Night

  1. The Peng Family Make Their Way to Fanzai Wood

  2. Days on Guard

  3. Planting Potatoes, Making Potash, Death

  4. The Unexpected

  5. Love

  6. Death and Disaster

  7. Change

  8. The Japanese Arrive

  9. Endless Wintry Night

  PART TWO The Lone Lamp

  1. The Sound of Weeping

  2. Good-bye

  3. Ten Thousand Miles of Sea and Sky

  4. The Clouds and the Moon

  5. Misfortune

  6. Good-byes on the Grass

  7. Misty Spring Days

  8. Sacrificial Rites

  9. Women of the Mountains

  10. The Journey of the Salmon

  11. The Eternal Lamp

  Foreword

  The publication of the English version of Wintry Night is a great dream come true. This saga chronicles the ups and downs of a Taiwan “Hakka” family of three generations from the late nineteenth century to the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945. Recounting this family’s adventures, struggles, frustrations, and expectations amid endless natural and man-made trials, it vividly records the time when hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants tried to relocate themselves on the island of Taiwan and redefine their cultural and political identities. Most of the plot elements are based on records left in the archives of the Japanese governor of Taiwan.

  The author, Li Qiao, is one of the most prominent writers in Taiwan. As he explains in his original preface, this ambitious trilogy is based on the story of his mother, “the woman who not only gave birth to me but is also the embodiment of our native land.” Li Qiao’s tender reminiscences about his mother and motherland enable him to invoke an unusual lyricism throughout his narrative. His rendition of the morals and manners of Taiwanese society under colonial rule is full of piety and compassion.

  I am sure that this novel will inspire the coming generations of overseas Taiwanese who may not be able to read Chinese. They will find in this book their own families’ history vividly portrayed with affection and eloquence. More important, Wintry Night will also serve as a compelling introduction for general readers interested in the cultural and historical dynamics of Taiwan over the past century. The novel is well translated by Professors Taotao Liu and John Balcom, to whom I wish to express my heartfelt thanks.

  Pang-yuan Chi

  TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION

  •

  John Balcom

  Li Qiao’s novel Wintry Night (Han ye) is accorded the near sacred status of a classic by many readers in Taiwan. Written over a five-year period from 1975 to 1980, it is a three-volume saga detailing the lives of three generations of Hakka settlers in the mountainous village of Fanzai Wood near Miaoli over fifty-five years. The story focuses on the Peng family, their foster daughter, Dengmei, and her husband, Liu Ahan; their struggles in opening up unsettled mountainous lands in the last decade of the nineteenth century during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911); and their lives during the Japanese occupation period (1895–1945). The first volume, titled Wintry Night, is included in abridged form as part 1 of this book; it describes the dangers and hardships of the first generation of Hakka settlers and their children. It ends with the arrival of the Japanese after the imperial government of China was forced to cede Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki that ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1895.

  The second volume, titled The Deserted Village, which has not been translated here, recounts the anti-Japanese activities of Liu Ahan and ends with his death shortly after being released from a Japanese prison. Liu Ahan and Dengmei are members of the second generation of settlers who arrived with their parents and elders of the first generation.

  The third volume, titled The Lone Lamp, is included in abridged form as part 2 of this book. It deals with the sufferings of the third generation of settlers, those actually born in the settlement areas. Liu Mingji, the youngest son of Liu Ahan and Dengmei, is the central character. The novel ends with the defeat of the Japanese in World War II and the deaths of Dengmei, by then an aged grandmother, and Liu Mingji, conscripted by the Japanese for their war efforts in the Philippines.

  Because Li Qiao’s saga is so imbued with the culture and history of Taiwan, the series editorial board felt that an introduction to explain its cultural and historical background for readers with little or no knowledge of Taiwan was essential. The editors also felt that adding an introduction was preferable to encumbering the text with footnotes. The introduction is divided into seven parts on the following topics: Qing-dynasty Taiwan; the island during the Japanese occupation; the Hakka; the aboriginal peoples; religion in Taiwan; festivals in Taiwan; and the historical and literary significance of the novel.

  Qing-Dynasty Taiwan

  The historical connections between Taiwan and China go back to the Three Kingdoms period (A.D. 221–263). But significant settlement by the Chinese did not begin until about the fourteenth century. Most of the early settlers came from nearby Fujian province. The island had also provided ports for fishermen and pirates. The first Westerners—the Portuguese—arrived in 1517. As regional trade increased, armed Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish ships regularly passed through the Taiwan Strait. Everyone became aware of the island’s strategic importance, and Chinese settlement continued. The Dutch actually took Taiwan in 1624, with littl
e opposition from its few thousand Chinese inhabitants, most of whom were farmers, or from the aborigines living on the coastal plains. The Dutch established an outpost in Anping, on the coast west of Tainan city. There they built a stone fort called Casteel Zeelandia, the ruins of which can still be seen today. As the Dutch expanded and tried to tax the local inhabitants and Japanese traders, they met with resistance.

  The collapse of the Ming dynasty in 1644 was to have a profound effect on Taiwan. The chaos on the mainland drove many people across the Taiwan Strait to seek a new life. The Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong (also known as Koxinga) fled the mainland and landed in Taiwan in 1661. By 1662, he and his followers had expelled the Dutch. Over the next two decades, Zheng and his close followers and relatives set up their own government and ran the island, collecting taxes on local agriculture and on trade. Taiwan fell to the Qing in 1683. The government really did not want to deal with the island, but retained it so as to keep it out of the hands of foreigners and dissident Chinese elements. In 1864, Taiwan was made a county in Fujian province, and remained so until 1887 when it was made a province in its own right.

  In the period after Taiwan fell to the Qing, the imperial government imposed a partial quarantine on the island, prohibiting immigration by Han Chinese. The Qing government was more concerned about preventing dissidents from gaining a foothold than developing the island. The government was also concerned about the effects of Han settlement on the local population of aborigines, fearing conflicts. Civil and military offices were established in the southwest part of the island to regulate immigration and exports. The government continued Zheng Chenggong’s practice of taxing the coastal aborigines, known as “cooked” or “civilized” aborigines, but could do nothing with the “raw” or “uncivilized” aborigines who inhabited the mountainous areas beyond government control.

  The Qing quarantine policy remained in effect until Han settlers took up arms to rebel against heavy taxation in 1721. The rebellion threatened Qing control of the island. In its wake, the government strengthened the quarantine policy, but gradually it was seen as ineffective and ultimately counter to Qing interests. In 1731 another rebellion occurred, this time by the aborigines who opposed the corvée labor policy of the government, which was actually another remnant of Zheng Chenggong’s time. In the aftermath, the government began an assimilation policy through education. It was only after yet another rebellion of Han settlers that the quarantine restrictions were at last removed, allowing Han settlers to immigrate; by 1740, entire families were finally allowed to immigrate. The easy availability of open land attracted large numbers of settlers. In 1735, the population of Chinese immigrants was tallied at 415,000; by 1756, that figure had risen to 660,147 people.

  The period from 1680 to 1770 is generally considered one of a pioneering and frontier society. An intermediate stage in the development of Taiwan occurred between the 1780s and the 1860s, just prior to the opening of Taiwan’s ports to foreign trade. Immigrants continued to pour in; the number in 1824 was listed as close to two million. It was during this time that the complicated land tenure system depicted in Wintry Night was introduced. It was also during this time that a significant and powerful landed gentry emerged.

  The land tenure system evolved for a number of reasons. The island’s Han settlers were prohibited by the government from encroaching on aboriginal lands. To get around this, many Han entered into private tenancy agreements with the aborigines. These agreements became even more complicated with lands officially opened for Han cultivation. A landlord class emerged that actually owned the land and was responsible for paying property taxes. They in turn leased the land to tenants, who, if successful, also became landowners. Many of the more successful tenants actually never farmed but sublet the land to a host of sharecroppers. In many cases, a system of dual ownership evolved, with a landlord who owned the land and a major tenant who owned cultivation rights.

  After Taiwan’s ports were opened to foreign trade in 1860 and until the island was ceded to Japan in 1894, it again underwent many changes. The Taiwanese became more involved in both the cultural and the economic currents sweeping through all of Asia, as well as in local government and defense. Instead of simply producing rice and sugar exports for the mainland, the island now began trading internationally in other commodities such as tea and camphor. The camphor trade produced a great deal of wealth, especially for the Hakka settlers in the mountainous areas, such as those depicted in Wintry Night. By the early 1890s Taiwan was supplying two thirds of the world’s camphor, used in the production of celluloid and smokeless gunpowder. It was also during this time that foreign consuls, merchants, and missionaries began to settle in Taiwan, strengthening the island’s international ties.

  In 1884, Taiwan became a province, and Liu Mingchuan, the island’s first governor, arrived. Under him, the “raw” aborigines of the mountains were finally forced to submit to Han rule. Liu also embarked on innovative infrastructure projects, including a telegraph system, a railway system, a postal service, and a local steamship service as well as the expansion of roads and harbor facilities and the mechanization of a number of key industries. Under Liu Mingchuan, Taiwan grew from a marginal backwater of the empire to the most technologically advanced province in the country. Liu left Taiwan in 1891 and was replaced by Shao Yulian, who left in 1894 after Qing China and Meiji Japan had already gone to war.

  Taiwan Under the Japanese

  China went to war with Japan in 1894 over Korea. The war ended the following year with China’s defeat. The Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895, ceding Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan.

  The Qing court recalled all its officials from Taiwan on May 20, 1895, and in anger and frustration at having been abandoned, the Taiwanese came out and burned the governor’s yamen in Taipei. The first Japanese arrived southeast of Keelung harbor, five days before the official transfer. Resistance had begun, and the island’s first Japanese governor-general knew from the shelling his ships received at Tamsui that military occupation would be necessary.

  It took until 1915 to quell all major armed resistance. Tang Jingsong, the last Chinese governor of the island, rather than turning Taiwan over to the Japanese, declared it a republic, the first in Asia, with himself as the new president. The Taiwanese, led by a Hakka scholar, rallied a defense force, but to no avail. Tang turned tail and ran as the Japanese pushed into Taipei. Rebellions continued to occur. “Black Banner Liu,” a Chinese general loyal to the Qing court, declared a second republic, but he too fled the island, taking the treasury with him as reward for his efforts. The Japanese continued trying to put down Chinese and aborigine rebellions for many years.

  Within a year and a half after the Japanese stepped ashore in Keelung, sixteen thousand Japanese civilians had come in to manage the island. But colonial rule only began to improve under the fourth governor-general, General Kodama Gentaro. Kodama restricted the power of the military in Taiwan and turned domestic affairs over to his chief of the civil administration, the competent Goto Shimpei. Goto sought to make Taiwan an agricultural appendage of Japan, and to that end, he revamped the entire agricultural sector. He also introduced extensive improvements to Taiwan’s infrastructure, laying the foundation for economic development and modernization of the island. By the time Goto left in 1906, the total number of miles of roads had tripled, major rail lines were operating, the postal and telegraph systems were greatly expanded, the first modern newspapers had been established, the first hydroelectric plant was running, and accounting and banking systems along with Japanese corporate enterprises had been introduced. The Bank of Taiwan, which had been founded in 1899, began issuing currency. Also, having received Western medical training, Goto brought advances and reforms to the area of public health and sanitation. Rule of law was imposed, and China’s complicated legal system was brought in line with Japan’s modern one. An extensive police system was implemented.

  But Goto’s reforms had to be financed
, and the Japanese were not going to take the burden entirely upon themselves. Local taxes were the answer, but the Chinese land registers were inaccurate. Goto and his administration undertook a census, which took five years to complete, largely due to local resistance. According to Chinese records, there were 867,000 acres yielding revenue, but according to Goto’s fact finders, there were actually more like 1,866,000 acres! The Japanese Land Commission had its work cut out for it, because of the complicated ownership system under the Chinese. In addition, much of the land was held in aboriginal areas outside the jurisdiction of the Chinese government. Under the Chinese, land claims were always settled according to the personal interests of all involved, including local government officials. The Japanese grew impatient with the complicated litigation and finally set terminal dates for all cases. The Japanese officials decided that if a claimant was not able to produce proof of ownership, his land would be confiscated and sold. This made the Japanese very unpopular—some farmers lost lands opened by their ancestors, and many landowners were reduced to tenant and sharecropper status.

  In 1919, Den Kenjiro was selected as Taiwan’s first civilian governor-general. He and the eight civilian governors who succeeded him until 1936, the eve of the outbreak of war in China, all emphasized the need for the cultural assimilation of the Taiwanese, using a variety of strategies. Den focused on education and proper training for all Taiwanese. Language was a problem, and translators were needed badly. The Japanese language and Japanese textbooks were used in school to indoctrinate the locals. Government-sponsored associations were also formed to bring about social and cultural change. Many of these practices were also implemented in aboriginal areas. The local population was encouraged to change their lifestyle and learn Japanese. Education did allow social mobility, and by 1922, 2,400 Taiwanese students were studying in Japan. Many ended up working as doctors, government functionaries, and corporate agents.