Republic of Formosa
The Republic of Formosa (), was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and it being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan, established in 1869.
Carl von Hoffman
A number of years later, while on a lecture tour of Japan, von Hoffman came upon the idea of visiting Taiwan, which was then called Formosa and under Japanese control, and had wild areas not heretofore explored or photographed. Entry was not encouraged by the government, and in fact no foreigners were permitted. This made it all the more appealing to him, and by trickery he secured a ticket for passage on a government boat, with professors en route there to service the small educational system the Japanese maintained on the island. His exploration of this region permitted him to record on film some of the rites of the tribes of headhunters still living in the remote mountain areas. This seven-month effort produced a remarkable film shown at the Explorers Club. The visit also permitted him to secure a collection of treasured artifacts relating to the lives of these people and produced a lecture series on the subject.