台灣人四百年史

by 史明

《台灣人四百年史》是一部歷史書，由台灣獨立運動家史明所撰寫。

史明有感於台獨運動者對台灣歷史的瞭解不夠深入，於是花了三年的時間，在1962年完成了日文版《台灣人四百年史》。其後又花了六年完成《台灣人四百年史》的中文版，英文版亦在1986年出版。1999年對中文版作出增補。2014年全新校訂版出版，由南天書局製作發行。

《台灣人四百年史》一書內容龐大，但不是史料的堆積，也不是文獻的剪輯，而是透過辯證的思維方式，從生產力與生產關係的角度詮釋台灣歷史，並且以長達三分之一的篇幅揭露中國國民黨的統治本質。長久以來，史明的《台灣人四百年史》是不少人認識台灣歷史的主要來源。

史明站在被統治殖民的立場來書寫臺灣的發展歷史，以臺灣人的觀點出發，觀照臺灣四百年來的開拓與建設以及被統治的過程，進一步探索臺灣民族的歷史發展，並論述臺灣人意識的形成過程，希望透過臺灣民族發展的歷史過程，尋找臺灣的出路。全書以分析基層構造即社會經濟為出發點，觀察臺灣社會各階段的形成發展，並著重於陳述圍繞臺灣社會各時代的國際形勢與時代潮流，及外來統治者的國內情況與殖民政策，為探討臺灣被殖民心路歷程的重要參考資料，可視為一部臺灣人奮鬥史。

Genres: History

567 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oof. This one took me longer than expected due to various reasons but definitely learned a lot through reading this book. I have been struggling to find a history of Taiwan through a leftist critical lens. Beng does have pitfalls in his book, namely not acknowledging the settler colonialism of the Han "pioneers" that he constantly refers to. He begins equating them with the indigenous people even though they only started coming in the 1600s. This felt hypocritical and offputting throughout the book.

Although this was published in 1962, Taiwan's vision of independence that Beng and many others put forth is still in jeopardy and continually shaped by the histories of colonization that he talks about. This book was very informative for me as I did not know a lot about the histories prior, but I imagine would be less useful for someone who is more familiar already.

[Sharon Chang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seminal work on Taiwanese independence. VERY important contribution to English-language canon on Taiwanese history, of which there still isn’t much. However, translation is clunky and publication is sloppy (e.g. three different romanizations of the same word on the same page). Would also liked to have seen more radical voices in the intros/epilogues for this 2017 anniversary edition. Womxn, queer folks, Indigenous peoples, etc. Those most impacted by colonialism/imperialism/militarism, and who we are increasingly recognizing as the needed visionaries of our modern era. Especially since Su Beng was such a revolutionary himself in his own time.

[Alan Tsuei · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.第一、史明並不是歷史學家，也沒有經過歷史學的專業訓練，這本書充其量只是他個人政治傾向下的產物…

2.史明所謂的“台灣人”是根據日本人所創出來的名詞加以發揮的，日本在二戰侵華前為了不讓台灣漢人在背後對其反抗，而創造出“台灣人”不是“中國人”的觀念，並灌輸給台澎兩地的百姓（在此之前日本人都以土人、台灣島人、台灣籍民甚至支那人來稱呼在台漢人），這個觀念到現在仍被台獨勢力與台獨史觀給借用…

3.台灣不是有原住民？難道原住民的歷史只有四百年？當然不只，只是在日本人眼裡，原住民只是牲畜，連人都不算（日本警察有便宜處分權），自然不包含在“台灣人”裡，而史明就用原住民沒有“信史”來對他台灣人四百年的論述加以辯解，對原住民族的過往一概不論，想想看，這是寫歷史應該有的態度嗎？當然不是，如果真要如此，那歷史上許多民族也不用寫進歷史裡了，反正沒有文字、沒有信史嘛…

4.為了建立其台獨史觀，只好大量藉用日本殖民者的角度來篆寫本書，這樣的方式自然會無法合理解釋二戰、盟軍與中國近代史的部分，這只要拿近代世界史加以比較就可看出其中無法自圓其說的部分，當然要騙騙沒有世界觀的人們也許還有點用，但真要上了台面只會漏洞百出不攻自破…

5.隔行如隔山，如果基本功不夠扎實，是無法輕易著書立說的，更何況作者還自帶有色眼鏡來寫歷史，只能說這是歷史學上的大忌，這本書能在台灣有市場不過是獨派勢力這幾年的抬頭，利用其作為“政治”目的罷了，當然就我們喜歡歷史的人來說，也不能說完全沒有用處，至少不失為一個負面教材，將來寫台獨史的時候可以當成很好的案例…

[Jeff Mann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not surprised that Beng, who attempted to assassinate Chiang Kai Shek, doesn't write much about history in a book titled "Taiwan's 400 Year History." 2/3rds of this book is the indictment of the Chiang family and name dropping random Taiwanese activists in bullet points. Still had some good information that helped me with my essay in Development Policies in the Asia-Pacific Region (926032011).

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historically important work by one of Taiwan’s leading nativist leaders. The book is full of facts and interesting threads for further research. But the book lacks the rigor necessary for such an important topic. The editing was also very inconsistent - pinyin and use of Chinese characters.

Still very important for anyone interested in Taiwans history.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much a history of Taiwan but rather a history of foreign oppression and the struggle for Taiwanese independence, from a Marxist-Leninist perspective. Not what I was looking for as an historical work on Taiwan, but it did contain a lot on the 228 incident.