Taiwan Governor-General Taipei Industrial School

The Taiwan Governor-General Taipei Industrial School (台湾総督府台北工業学校) was established on July 5, 1912 as the "Industrial Lecture Institute Attached to the Civil Administration Bureau" (民政部學務部附屬工業講習所), making it the earliest industrial education institution in colonial Taiwan. Founded during the early years of Japanese rule, the school was created to train local industrial workers and technicians needed for the modernization of Taiwan's infrastructure and industries under Japanese colonial administration.

The institution underwent numerous name changes reflecting the evolving colonial education system. In 1914 it became the "Taiwan Governor-General's Industrial Lecture School" (台灣總督府工業講習所). By 1918-1919, it was reorganized as the "Taiwan Public Taipei Industrial School" (台灣公立台北工業學校). In 1921-1923 the school was further restructured, eventually becoming the "Taipei Prefectural Taipei Industrial School" (台北州立台北工業學校), offering departments in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, architecture, chemical engineering, and applied chemistry.

During the Second World War, the school played a direct role in Japan's wartime mobilization. Students were conscripted into labor service at military factories (学徒動員), producing materiel for the Imperial Japanese war machine. This student mobilization (学徒勤労動員) was part of a broader colonial policy that redirected Taiwan's educational institutions toward war production. The school's technical training made its students particularly valuable for aircraft repair, munitions manufacturing, and other military-industrial tasks throughout the island.

After Japan's surrender in August 1945 and the transfer of Taiwan to the Republic of China, the school was renamed "Taiwan Provincial Taipei Industrial Vocational School" (臺灣省立臺北工業職業學校). In 1948 it was upgraded to "Provincial Taipei Institute of Technology" (臺灣省立臺北工業專科學校), becoming one of Taiwan's leading technical colleges. It was nationalized in 1981 as "National Taipei Institute of Technology" and finally elevated to full university status in 1997 as "National Taipei University of Technology" (國立臺北科技大學, commonly known as Taipei Tech).

The most significant surviving colonial-era structure on campus is the Red Building (紅樓, Hónglóu), constructed in 1926 as a library annex to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Emperor's wedding. This red-brick building was designated a Taipei City municipal historic site in 1998 and underwent restoration in 2016. Today it serves as a reception hall and exhibition space. The campus also preserves a 1939 tensile testing machine (引張試驗機), a tangible relic of the school's pre-war engineering education, and features a Centennial Memorial Park commemorating the institution's founding in 1912.