For the first 20 years of the Japanese era, some Taiwanese maintained an armed resistance that the Japanese forcefully suppressed. Following the First World War, a desire for democracy began to arise. US President Woodrow Wilson's call for "self-determination" in the colonial world had provided an impetus for democracy movements in Asia.
殖民統治的前二十年，台灣人的武裝抗日前仆後繼，遭日本政府強力鎮壓；一次大戰後民主思想抬頭，美國總統威爾遜高唱「民族自覺」，亞洲各國也掀起了風起雲湧的民族運動。