Shot by a U.S. serviceman, this 16mm silent home movie shows rare footage of Taiwan and likely dates to 1948 or 1949. At the time, Taiwan had just emerged from an era where it was a Japanese colony for fifty years (1895-1945). A new era was beginning with the dramatic finale to the Chinese Civil War, with Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalist forces retreating to the island after their defeat on the mainland. The footage in the film provides a rare look at the immediate postwar era in Taiwan, with the trappings of Japanese colonization still visible.
0:09 Footage starts on the Kuroshio-maru, a Japanese tour ship, with US serviceman playing cards. It is likely in Tokyo Bay.
2:00 Pan shot of the port – over the water, the ships , the warehouses.
3:34 From here on – Taiwan – An Air Force DC-3 transport plane, being unloaded, the loadmaster standing on the truck bed, curious children and a Japanese man looking at the process
3:55 A civilian talking with a flight engineer
4:19 Lifting and trying to unload a jeep from the DC-3, by hand
4:32 Pilots and the engineer
5:05 The former Imperial Japanese Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan, now – Presidential Office Building.
5:50 A large square
6:10 Street, jeep with ” Graves registration” marked on it. Part of the Mortuary Affairs unit of the Army.
6:51 More of the Presidential Office Building and the street
7:09 The two servicemen, a sergeant and one without insignia, talking.
7:21 A crowd around the cameraman
8:43 Rowhouse panorama
8:57 Shops: Hall of Supreme Harmony Pharmacy, Felt and Nap clothing
9:05 Book store
9:09 Rowhouses – more shops – Prosperity Trading Co. Ltd.
9:17 Central Dental Clinic, across the street from a hospital, flower shop across the street
9.32 A buffalo cart, soap ad in the background
9:45 A traffic cop on a pedestal
9:57 A shipment of pigs with their feet tied outside
10:13 A stuffed pig skin – pork sales
10:39 A saleswoman with her small cigarette stand.
11:18 An 18-pier bridge in a wide river valley
12:40 Mountains of Taiwan
13:49 Armed guides returning. They are likely part of a force protecting against anti-Chinese agitation.
14:21 A shipment of supplies on horseback and in carts is waiting.
14:30 A mechanic trying to start his truck.
14 :48 A pet civet cat
15:04 Children saluting and waving the cameraman
15:24 Posing with the locals
16:21 Man carrying lamps
17:43 A bespectacled tall Asian man, probably their interpreter, in front of a travel agency building with a marriage license
18:03 Woman, cooking a dumpling soup base for the marriage feast
18:25 Woman, preparing betel nut chew for a wedding
19:09 Geese, outside a contemporary Japanese-style house
19:23 Townsfolk and the street
19:41 The green-specs man bearing a tin of candy, surrounded by children, as usual
20:06 People coming out of East Asia Travel Company. (The Pusan branch of the East Asia Travel Company shipped over 3,000 Korean workers to Japan during WWII, ostensibly for training but apparently mostly for menial work.)
20:36 Town square with shops and a monument
21:18 Linemen repairing phone and telegraph
21:21 A girl riding a water buffalo
22:38 Sign: “The war against Communism is to maintain ethical relationships and oppose the breaking up of families”
22:57 A betel girl with her display box
23:00 Older men, one chewing betel.
23:23 Various tradespeople – basketmaker
23:50 A street food salesman
24:00 Man, selling vegetables off a cart.
24:15 Metal kitchen utensils for sale
24:57 Town square
25:37 Main entrance to the East Asia Travel Company with 2 signs
25:47 A line of workers with backpacks at the entrance
25:50 Bar in the background. Workers – most of them Chinese , some native Seediq, wearing traditional striped shirt at 26:02. The Seediq are indigenous people primarily in Nantou and Hualien County.
26:56 Moving goods across the fast-flowing river
28:13 The Golfer, behind a crowd of Chinese and Seediq travelers.
28:40 The Green-Eyeglasses grabbing a cap off a head of a native
29:29 The Golfer and a man in a ROC military uniform
30:22 Countryside & mountains
30:57 Seediq man smoking a pipe.
32:20 A bridge construction site, moving stones by hand
32:50 Log and bamboo frames assembled by hand
33:00 The interpreter, together with the construction crew
34:45 Soldiers and workers wait at a train station
35:09 Reserved seat carriage
35:31 Peasants with their buffalo-driven carts and a tractor.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
