Taihoku Imperial University (now National Taiwan University)

Taihoku Imperial University (台北帝国大学, Taihoku Teikoku Daigaku) was founded on March 16, 1928, by Imperial Ordinance as the seventh of Japan's imperial universities, following Tokyo, Kyoto, Tohoku, Kyushu, Hokkaido, and Keijo (Seoul). Its first president was the historian Dr. Taira Shidehara (幣原坦). Located in the Tomita-chō (富田町) district of Taihoku City — present-day Da'an District (大安區), Taipei — the university was conceived as the academic spearhead of Japan's colonial policy in the southern territories.

At its founding, the university comprised two faculties: the Faculty of Literature and Politics (文政学部) and the Faculty of Science and Agriculture (理農学部), enrolling just 59 students. The campus was planned around a grand palm-lined boulevard (椰林大道), with Western-style red-brick buildings designed by the colonial Government-General's engineering department. The Administration Building (1926, originally from the Taihoku Higher School of Agriculture and Forestry) and the main library (completed January 1930) remain standing today as designated cultural heritage sites.

Unlike the metropolitan imperial universities, Taihoku Imperial University was explicitly oriented toward research on tropical and southern regions. The Faculty of Science and Agriculture conducted studies on tropical agriculture, sugar chemistry, and tropical animal husbandry. The Faculty of Literature and Politics included Southern Studies humanities — South and Southeast Asian history, folk and racial studies, and Austronesian linguistics. This academic orientation was inseparable from Japan's nanshin-ron (南進論, "southward advance" doctrine), which envisioned Taiwan as the empire's gateway to Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

The Faculty of Medicine (医学部) was added in 1936, absorbing the Taihoku Medical College (台北医学専門学校), and expanded research into tropical hygiene and infectious diseases — particularly malaria, which remained endemic in Taiwan's mountainous interior. In 1939, the Tropical Medicine Research Institute (熱帯医学研究所) was established, studying malaria, dengue, cholera, and parasitic diseases vital to military operations in tropical theaters. Research on quinine alternatives and tropical disease prevention had direct military applications as Japan expanded into Southeast Asia.

As the Pacific War intensified, the university's role became increasingly militarized. In 1943, the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Agriculture were separated, and a new Faculty of Engineering (工学部) was established to support wartime industrial and weapons production. On March 13, 1943, two new research institutes were created by Imperial Ordinance: the Southern Humanities Research Institute (南方人文研究所, Imperial Decree No. 124), which studied the cultures, languages, and societies of Southeast Asian territories under Japanese occupation; and the Southern Resources Science Research Institute (南方資源科學研究所, Imperial Decree No. 125), which investigated natural resources — oil, rubber, minerals, and agricultural products — in the occupied southern territories to support the war economy.

Under the October 1943 学徒出陣 (gakuto shutsujin, student mobilization) decree, male students aged 20 and above at Taihoku Imperial University, as at all imperial universities, lost their military deferments and were conscripted into the armed forces. Taiwanese students (本島人学生) and Japanese students alike were affected, though their wartime experiences differed significantly. Academic programs were shortened, and remaining students were mobilized for factory labor, air defense, and civil defense duties.

On May 31, 1945, during the devastating Taipei Air Raid (台北大空襲), 117 B-24 Liberator bombers of the U.S. Fifth Air Force struck central Taipei, damaging the university hospital. Campus activities were severely disrupted in the final months of the war.

Following Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 15, 1945, the Republic of China assumed sovereignty over Taiwan. On November 15, 1945, Taihoku Imperial University was officially renamed National Taiwan University (國立臺灣大學, Guólì Táiwān Dàxué). Dr. Lo Tsung-lo (羅宗洛) served as the first Chinese president, overseeing the reorganization into six colleges: Liberal Arts, Law, Science, Medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture. Many Japanese faculty returned to Japan during repatriation, though some remained temporarily to ensure academic continuity.

Today, National Taiwan University (commonly known as NTU or 臺大) is Taiwan's premier research university, ranked consistently among Asia's top institutions. The main campus at No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road retains its original Japanese-era layout and many heritage buildings. The Gallery of NTU History (臺大校史館), housed in the former main library (completed 1930), documents the university's evolution from its colonial origins. The original red-brick main gate (completed 1931) is a designated Taipei municipal heritage site, serving as a tangible reminder of the institution's imperial past.