English

Medicine and Colonial Expansion:

 Taiwan’s Malaria Research in under Japanese Rule

Yann-Chiou Fann

Department of History, National Cheng-Chi University

In the medical history of Taiwan, malaria research seems to be the most noticeable part of tropical medicine in the Japanese colonial era. Why and how was the malaria research established?

This article takes the view of medicine as a central agency is the political and structure of colonial rule. My main points are:

1. Malaria is omnipresent and an endemic disease in Taiwan. To the new colonizer─Japanese, it was a fatal and incapacitating disease. This situation compelled the colonial government to establish preventive medicine of malaria.

2. Two conditions afforded the possibility of establishing of malaria research: first, the introduction of bacteriology from Japan into Taiwan; second, the establishment of a professional institution for malaria research by the colonial government.

3. Within the context of which rule, malaria research contributed to the establishment and consolidation of governmental power, and facilitated colonial expansion.

After the end of the colonial rule, malaria research was continued, becoming a force in the medical profession. From this point of view, malaria research represents an important part of the development of modern medicine in Taiwan.