Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Higher Technical School

The Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Higher Technical School (台湾総督府台南高等工業学校) was established on January 15, 1931, in Tainan, making it the sole institution of higher engineering education in colonial Taiwan until Taihoku Imperial University opened its Faculty of Engineering in 1943. The school was founded to address the growing demand for trained engineers and technicians as Japan accelerated industrialization across its empire. Prior to its founding, Taiwan's higher education was concentrated in medicine, agriculture, and commerce, with industrial training limited to middle-level vocational schools.

The school comprised three departments: Mechanical Engineering (covering railways, shipbuilding, and textiles), Electrical Engineering (power generation and transmission systems), and Applied Chemistry (sugar refining, rubber processing, and tropical product manufacturing). These departments were specifically designed to serve the industries most vital to Taiwan's colonial economy. The first principal was Wakatsuki Michitaka (若槻道隆), and the campus was constructed in the Sanfenzi, Houjia, and Asahicho districts of Tainan.

During the Pacific War, the school underwent significant transformation. In 1944, it was renamed the Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Industrial Specialized School (台湾総督府台南工業専門学校) as part of wartime educational reforms. Military training courses were incorporated into the curriculum, with Imperial Army infantry officers serving as instructors. Students and school facilities were increasingly mobilized for wartime industrial production, supporting Japan's war effort in the southern theater.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the school was taken over by the Republic of China government and reorganized as Taiwan Provincial Tainan Junior College of Technology in March 1946, then upgraded to Taiwan Provincial College of Engineering in October of the same year. It was further elevated to Provincial Cheng Kung University in 1956, named after Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), the Ming-loyalist general who expelled the Dutch from Taiwan. In 1971, it became National Cheng Kung University (NCKU).

Today, several original Japanese-era buildings survive on the NCKU campus and are designated as historic monuments, including the former main school building (now the NCKU Museum), the Gezhi Hall and the physics and chemistry department buildings, and the former principal's residence. The campus's iconic banyan trees, planted during the colonial period, remain a beloved landmark. NCKU has grown into one of Taiwan's top comprehensive research universities, a testament to the educational foundation laid during the colonial era.