Even if Taiwan's New Literature Movement was starting during the 1920s, the idea of a Taiwanese literature was not immediately assumed, and it was only after undergoing these two critical debates in the 1930s that such an idea reached fruition.

     On the other hand, the literature of the younger generation was taking shape with the establishment in Tokyo during 1932 of the Taiwan Arts Study Group; this was the period with literary creation conducted in Japanese. The Study Group's journal Formosa made the following declaration in its inaugural issue:

     In a passive sense, we wish to collate and study artistic and literary works that have become ever weaker, so as to match such native art as popular songs and folk-tales; and in an active sense, using all our energy produced from the above-mentioned special environment and from this new outpouring of our heartfelt thoughts and feelings, we are committed to the creation of a new art that is truly what the Taiwanese need. Most of all we want to create anew the "art and literature of the Taiwanese." We will never submit to narrow political and economic limitations, but rather survey problems from a higher and broader perspective, thereby creating a new cultural life suitable to the Taiwanese. Taiwan as a place belongs to the Taiwanese, who are between the motherland on the Mainland and Japan, giving all the appearance of a bridge, and so it is necessary to introduce the culture of both sides to each other, thereby contributing to the enrichment of East Asian culture.

     You young people of Taiwan! Wishing to freely enrich one's own life, in regard to the Taiwanese art and literature movement, one must first rely upon one's own efforts! Ally yourselves with others of like mind and unite. Put forth your efforts in unison and exchange your ideas. Supporting each other we will work hard to create art and literature. We should realize that Taiwan of the present is only superficially beautiful; it is actually a desolate wasteland, like a "Japanese style tomb" in which is buried rotting bones and flesh. Therefore we must create a truly "beautiful island" (Formosa) out of art and literature.

     What is worth noting here is that they set as their goal "Taiwanese art and literature"; and even though in form they used Japanese to express themselves, in content they wanted to establish Taiwanese art and literature, implying that although the times were different, the ideal being pursued was the same. Later on, when Japan implemented the Japanization Movement in 1937, there was an interlude represented by the "imperial subjects' literature" (huang-min wen-hsueh) of that period;

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