An essential book for scholars of East Asian history, Prescribing Colonization addresses the impact of Western-influenced Japanese medicine on medical practices in Taiwan during Japanese colonial rule and examines the role colonial medicine played in Japanese empire building.Taiwan was Japan’s first overseas colony and the Japanese government was eager to transform the island into a showpiece “model colony.” Despite the colonial government’s intentions to encourage immigration, the unsanitary conditions, severe epidemics, and social unrest in Taiwan often derailed their efforts. The Japanese government believed that Taiwan required an infusion of fundamental medical knowledge from “modern” Japan. “Medicine” and “civilization” were two of the main themes used repeatedly to persuade the indigenous population to accept colonization. Written as part of a new wave of scholarship on colonial medicine, science, and technology that has emerged in the past decade, Michael Liu clearly explains the complex relationship between merciful modernization, brutal colonization, and the expansion of the global discourse on modern medicine.

Michael Shiyung Liu is a Research Fellow/ Professor of the Institute of Taiwan History and Joint Research Fellow of the Research Center of Humanity and Social Science, Academia Sinica. He has been Visiting Scholar at National Yokoham University, Harvard-Yenching Scholar, Visiting Professor of Chun-Chiu Lecture at Oregon State University, EU Erasmus Mundus Masters Scholar, and Senior Researcher at the Center of Historical Research, Ohio State University.