Imperial Gateway.

Having loved A City of Sadness (see this post), I decided to read Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan’s Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia, 1895–1945 by Seiji Shirane and now that I’ve finished it, I’m impressed enough to recommend it to anyone interested in the topic (according to that Amazon link, the Kindle version is free at the moment). I’ll quote some passages of linguistic interest: Although Taiwanese interpreters left few written accounts from Xiamen, recollections published in The China Incident and Kyokuei Academy (1940) provide a brief glimpse—albeit through the lens of Japanese censors—into their activities. According to Xu Rongzong, he and his Taiwanese colleagues in Xiamen translated for the navy and helped supervise Chinese construction workers. Xu’s Japanese colleague, Gotō Kaoru (also a teacher from Xiamen Kyokuei Academy), recalled that their duties included interpreting for Japanese interrogators of Chinese prisoners and spies; serving as local…