30-Second Overview: The artillery fire of the 1884 Sino-French War pushed Liu Ming-chuan to a turning point in Taiwan's history. He not only successfully resisted foreign invasion; during his subsequent six years as governor, he also turned Taipei into one of the Qing Empire's most advanced cities, with its first passenger railway, first electric lamp, and earliest Western-style school. Yet this "first modernizer" did not govern without difficulty. His decision to retreat on the battlefield and his high-pressure domestic policies remain focal points of unresolved debate among historians.

Liu Ming-chuan: Lighting Taiwan's First Electric Lamp, a Modernizing Pioneer Running Through Power and Controversy

The Strategic Vision of a Salt Smuggler's Son: From the Huai Army to the Sino-French War

Born in 1836 in Hefei, Anhui, Liu Ming-chuan, courtesy name Shengsan, had a background that was highly unusual in the status-conscious officialdom of the Qing dynasty. As the son of a salt smuggler, he abandoned the imperial examinations in his youth and even entered the world of local strongmen before later joining Li Hung-chang's Huai Army to fight the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom¹. This "atypical" path of growth freed him from the burdens of the traditional Confucian scholar and instead gave him a sharp instinct for Western military technology and modern administration².

📝 Curator's Note: Liu Ming-chuan's rough, unconventional background became the strongest driving force behind his pursuit of modernization. What he valued was practical effectiveness and strategy, not ancient dogma.

When the Sino-French War broke out in 1884, French forces sought to seize Keelung's coal mines to supply fuel for their Far East fleet³. Liu Ming-chuan was appointed in a moment of crisis and came to Taiwan in his capacity as governor of Fujian to supervise the war effort. His most famous decision in this campaign was "abandoning Keelung to reinforce Huwei." When French forces threatened both Keelung and Huwei, present-day Tamsui, Liu judged that although Keelung had coal mines, if Huwei fell, French troops could advance directly into Taipei Prefecture, causing military supplies and pay to be lost and the whole situation to collapse³. Although the move drew fierce criticism at the time as "abandoning Keelung without a fight," and even led to Liu being surrounded by angry residents at Longshan Temple⁴, the final outcome of preserving Taipei City also demonstrated his strategic calm and decisiveness³.

Lighting Taipei City: The Qing Empire's First Electric Lamp

After the Sino-French War, Taiwan was formally established as a province in 1885, and Liu Ming-chuan became its first governor. His construction plans for Taiwan were not limited to military affairs; they also reflected a forward-looking sense of urban planning. He shifted the orientation of Taipei's city walls from due north toward Qixing Mountain to accord with feng shui, and established an administrative and commercial center between Dadaocheng and Taipei City²⁵.

In 1888, Liu Ming-chuan invited merchants to raise capital and establish the Xingshi Company. He brought in a Danish engineer to install a small steam-powered coal generator, lighting Taiwan's, and the Qing Empire's, first electric lamp inside Taipei City⁶. Although the lamp used at the time was an expensive arc lamp unsuitable for household use and appeared only briefly around the North Gate area, it symbolized Taiwan's formal entry into the age of electricity⁶⁷.

📝 Curator's Note: While Beijing's Forbidden City was still lit by candles, Taipei's streets were already flickering with the firelight of modern civilization. Liu Ming-chuan made Taiwan the Qing Empire's "laboratory."

Beyond electricity, Liu Ming-chuan's modernization blueprint also included:

• The Western School and Talent Cultivation: He opened the Western School in Dadaocheng. Its curriculum was no longer the rigid eight-legged essay, but English, French, geography, mathematics, and surveying. He even established a telegraph school, aiming to train technical personnel capable of connecting with the international world⁸¹.
• Postal Services and Railways: He founded a modern postal system. When railway tickets could not be printed in time, "Dragon Horse stamps" were overprinted with place names and used as tickets, opening a new era in Taiwan's transportation history⁹.

The Shadows Behind Reform: The Costs of Land-Tax Reform and Indigenous Administration

Modernization, however, required enormous funding, and Liu Ming-chuan's methods of raising revenue triggered severe social unrest. To increase tax receipts, he promoted land surveys in an attempt to identify hidden farmland. But poor implementation by officials and the further pressure of corruption provoked the 1888 Shi Jiuduan Rebellion, in which Changhua gentry led crowds in besieging the city. The uprising reflected strong resistance from lower levels of society to rushed reform².

In Indigenous policy, Liu Ming-chuan promoted "Indigenous administration" by establishing Pacification and Land-Reclamation Bureaus and adopting a two-pronged strategy of inducement and force². He attempted to incorporate Indigenous peoples into the tax system through "Sinicization," but these high-pressure measures led to the destruction of many communities and forced migration, leaving heavy historical scars². In addition, his power struggle with Liu Ao, an official in southern Taiwan, ultimately led to Liu Ao's exile and death from illness, which also caused later generations to criticize Liu Ming-chuan's character as intolerant of others².

Historical Position: An Unfinished Dream and the Foundation of Modernization

In 1891, Liu Ming-chuan resigned under political pressure and amid controversy, then returned to his hometown. The railway he left behind had been completed only from Keelung to Hsinchu, and the electric lamps were extinguished not long after he left office because of funding problems⁶. Yet the infrastructure and urban framework he established laid an indelible foundation for further development during the later period of Japanese rule.

Today, as we walk the streets of Taipei or take the train through northern Taiwan, Liu Ming-chuan's name can still be found everywhere. He was a man running through the twilight of empire. Although his steps sometimes appeared impatient and cold, he did indeed light for Taiwan that lamp leading toward modern society.

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