Taiwan Business TOPICS Chikan Tower. Photo credit: Louise Watt
Not known for being a particularly international city, Tainan has nonetheless been influenced by foreigners for hundreds of years. Contemporary visitors can still see and experience a number of their lasting contributions.
It’s been almost 400 years since Dutch traders disembarked in present-day Tainan, kicking off a long history of foreign interaction and influence. In the centuries that followed, European and Japanese figures left their mark on the city with the construction of forts, buildings, and roads, as well as irrigation systems that made land more fertile. Foreign religious figures introduced romanized writing systems for indigenous and Taiwanese languages and Taiwan’s first newspaper. These aspects of the city’s past can still be glimpsed on a trip to Tainan today.
Dr. James L. Maxwell
2021 marks the centenary of the death of Dr. James L. Maxwell. The stamp depicts a portrait of Dr. Maxwell with a glimpse of the Thài-Pêng-Kéng Maxwell Memorial Church in the background. Dr. James L. Maxwell was born in Scotland in 1836 and graduated from Edinburgh University Medical School. On June 16, 1865 he began his work as a medical missionary at Khòan-sai Street, Tainan. The Khòan-sai Street Clinic was the first Western-style clinic in Taiwan. Dr. Maxwell combined medical work with his preaching. He trained staff and assisted innumerable patients, earning him the title Father of Taiwan’s Medical Missionaries.