The history of modern mountaineering is no more than two hundred years; a hundred years ago the Japanese colonial government introduced it into Taiwan and achieved considerable development in it. This paper is intended to make an inquiry into the mountaineering activities, which were part of the sports culture during the period of Japanese rule , in order to reflect the interrelationship manifested by the imperialistic power of the colonialists; and the process is examined from the perspective of a colonization and modernization process, to probe the elaborate process of the transformation of mountaineering activities from being “exploration-“ into “recreation-oriented,” as well as their effects on the Taiwanese. The findings of the research:
The development and evolution of mountaineering activities from the unknown to the known followed the five stages of “exploration,” “health,” “physical education,” “exercise”, and “recreation.”
In the beginning, the exploratory mountaineering activities that accompanied colonial expansionism arrived with flying colors, following in the footsteps of Japanese soldiers and scholar-explorers to Taiwan. The Japanese colonizers who had modern Western mountaineering know-how actively conquered high mountains in Taiwan and set Taiwan’s initial pattern of mountaineering; and the concept of exercise for health arose opportunely, together with the advancement of the “theory of human degeneration,” to turn the idea of “ use of elevations” of the tropical areas in Taiwan into a major issue of maintaining physical health, which became an important axis in promoting the development of modern mountaineering. Secondly, schools and mountaineering groups were locations necessary for the institutionalization of mountaineering and the mass education of mountaineers; through the “object lessons” and physical education teaching at educational institutions, and through the model of mountaineering groups in teaching Alpine mountaineering know-how in an organized manner, the ideas of mountaineering activities enabled mountaineering to be more known to and accepted by the people on the basis of the above-mentioned accumulative efforts. Lastly, mountaineering became a space for recreation that was the object of active operation among the tourist activities promoted by the Japanese colonial government; however, it just made for the pleasures that came with the rule of this land by the colonizers and became a visible status symbol of their class.
On the whole, mountaineering activities during the period of Japanese rule were conducted with the practice of mountaineering first, which was then followed by the introduction of the thought of modern mountaineering, that is, “practice” first, then “ideas.” The operational process of implementing mountaineering activities was full of the shades of Japanese imperialism, which tried to extend the cultural thought of a strong power to Taiwan’s spatial perception of mountains and, through the joint support from various experts, to project a positive image of mountaineering for the advantage of the ruler’s ideology.
For the Taiwanese and aborigines, in the workings of power in the colonial rule, though they came into contact with mountaineering activities in such different systems as schools, organizations, and society at large, and expanded their opportunities for mountaineering activities to broaden their horizons, the existence of mountaineering activities was always based on the premise of Japan’s national consciousness. In the social structure dominated by a hegemony, most Taiwanese residents could not enjoy this blessing of modernization from the “benevolent government,” nor did they find it easy to be integrated into the powerful system of mountaineering knowledge initiated by the colonizers; but they still had to accept the widespread promotion of mountaineering knowledge in the framework of a Japan-centered “modern mountaineering” paradigm.