Chang Wen-huan had no choice but to agree, thus both Literary Taiwan (bungei Taiwan/wen-yi Taiwan) and Taiwan Literature (Taiwan bungaku/T'ai-wan wen-hsue) were shut down.

1944
In place of the two magazines, Taiwan Literary Public Service Association (Taiwan bungaku hokokai/T'ai-wan wen-hsueh fung-kung-huei) published Taiwan Literary Arts (Taiwan bungei/T'ai-wan wen-yi). Not only true literary works were no longer possible, some well known writers lost their freedom to be silent. Many were even mobilized to work in factories or on farms.

Underneath the desperation, however, the unyielding literary spirit of Wu Cho-lyu continued to persist. By evading police surveillance, he completed his giant work Orphan of Asia (Asia no koji/Ya-hsi-ya de ku-erh) in the Spring of 1945, almost two years after he started. He kept the Taiwan Literature alive.

POST-WAR PERIODS (1945 - PRESENT)

1945
With Japan's unconditional surrender in August, the Island was transferred to the Chinese Nationalist (KMT) government of Chiang Kai-shek in October. The Islanders celebrated the departure of the Japanese colonial ruler, and welcomed the arrival of the Chinese. However, both Taiwan and mainland China had vastly different experiences between 1985 and 1945, and reintegration of Taiwan into China was marked by conflict.

1946
The new government imposed Mandarin as the new national language (kuo-yu), which became the only language in various facets of Taiwan's educational, cultural, as well as religious life. Taiwanese language was suppressed. This new language barrier greatly hampered creative activities of Taiwanese writers.

The Taiwan Provincial Government of Ch'en Yi banned Japanese language in all publications. The majority of books sold on the market were those of the mainland writers of 1930s. For middle-school textbooks, works of writers such as Hsu Chih-mo, Chu Tzu-ch'ing, etc., were selected. In elementary and secondary schools, China was taught, and Taiwan was barely mentioned.

1947
The February 28 incident of 1947 resulted in massacre of tens of thousands of Taiwanese elites. Writers were cowed into silence.



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