The history of lacquer-ware manufacture in Taiwan dates back to the Japanese colonial period, when Akira Yamanaka established the Taichung College of Industrial Arts in 1916. Under the cultural and economic influences of the occupation, the school taught students to make goods that visitors to Taiwan could take back as souvenirs. Such items tended to feature decorative motifs focusing on things typical of Taiwan--aboriginal clothing, bananas, wild boars, and the like.
台灣的漆藝發展始於日據時代，一九一六年日本人山中公在台中設立「台中工藝專科學校」，當時在殖民地文化和經濟考量下，教導學生製作以台灣特有原住民服飾圖騰、香蕉、山豬為紋飾的漆器，作為來台旅遊者的紀念品。