廿世紀初日美關係中的臺灣：以1904年聖路易萬國博覽會為例

Caught Between Japan and the U.S.: Taiwan’s Participation in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair

甫成日本殖民地數年的臺灣，在1904年參與美國聖路易萬國博覽會，雖非首次參加國際博覽會，卻是在國力漸增之美國登場的最初且極盛大的一次。透過日本中央農商務省、臺灣總督府及美國駐臺使節協力合作，由臺北茶商公會主導之臺灣喫茶店提供飲茶體驗，搭配相關英語出版品，對外展示臺灣之農產及商貿實力，主打臺灣烏龍茶。相較此際前後眾多臺灣參與之博覽會將展示之重心放在原住民，聖路易萬國博覽會時的「特殊日美關係」，使前一年剛舉辦大阪博覽會、此刻亦正與俄交戰之時之日本當局仍參與力挺。但此時日本對臺之展示非以原住民為重心，而以帝國治績之宣揚、臺灣烏龍茶大量在美販售、以及美國亦跨洋發展之態勢為背景，一方面突顯了廿世紀之交日美帝國擴張過程中合作互利的一面，也是兩國關係緊密的高峰；二方面臺灣開始大量參與國際博覽會，與日本海外擴張之發展帶動臺灣走向國際有關，此際臺灣人的茶商公會獨立經營喫茶店是一重要突破。但對往後百年餘間日益緊密之臺美關係而言，但此契機之開展對臺灣人而言卻有局限，姑且不論對烏龍茶銷售之影響，糾纏著與會臺灣人的卻是受制於美國排華法案之華人身分與無窮盡的內部爭鬥。

In the latter half of 1904, Japan, along with her newly-acquired colony Taiwan (Formosa), participated in the St. Louis World’s Fair. This was not the first time that Taiwan had taken part in a world's fair, but the one in St. Louis was the largest that it had ever been a part of. The year before, Japan itself had held a large domestic industrial expo in Osaka; and during the St. Louis World’s Fair, Japan was still engaged in a war with Russia. Its taking part in the 1904 fair was thus an indication of the importance it attached to“the special Japan-U.S. relations.”The Governor-General’s Office of Taiwan, with assistance from the Agriculture and Commerce Ministry of the central government in Japan, assembled the Taiwanese delegation. American diplomats in Taiwan also pitched in to help. It was believed that taking part in the fair would help to promote Taiwan's economic growth, in particular by increasing exports of Formosa Oolong tea. To this end, a specially designed Taiwan Tea House was created. Though Taiwan’s participation in the fair was successful, it was also not without problems, caught as it was between several great powers. Taiwanese attended the fair as Japanese subjects; at the same time, however, they were subject to the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1882. This meant that Taiwanese could not take part in the fair as ordinary Japanese citizens. And unlike in other world fairs both prior and subsequent to the one in St. Louis, the indigenous people of Taiwan were not represented at all in the 1904 Fair; they were made completely invisible.