140年前，法國政府和清廷因為越南的外交歸屬爭議，殃及孤懸海外的臺灣，不只基隆、淡水和澎湖相繼淪為戰場，臺灣全島更面臨商貿閉鎖的經濟困境。這場蔓延超過一年的戰禍——「清法戰爭」，在臺灣人口中稱作「西仔反」，「西仔」即「法蘭西」。
面對這個臺灣涉外關係的轉捩點，本特展透過彙集十餘年來有關地方社會研究的成果，聚焦當時臺灣社會在強敵壓境下如何組織動員、團結北上抵抗侵略的過程；並重新解讀法軍留下的攝影圖像、戰場紀實與家書，重建戰場的動態實況。
戰爭結束後，在法國湧現的報刊、書籍出版風潮，以及臺灣特有的贈匾、廟宇壁飾、儀式等追念方式，則呈現了戰爭如何以不同形式轉化，留存於歷史、民俗、傳說與記憶中。
Despite its remoteness, Taiwan was effected 140 years ago by a conflict between the French and the Qing Dynasty over Vietnam. Keelung, Tamsui, and Penghu became battlegrounds and Taiwan as a whole faced economic difficulties stemming from a trade blockade. The Sino-French War, “Se-á-huán” in Taiwanese, was brought to Taiwan’s doorstep by France, “Se-á” in Taiwanese, and impacted the island for over a year.
This special exhibition addresses this turning point in foreign relations, presenting the results of more than a decade of research on local communities, focusing on how Taiwanese society mobilized and united to resist this invasion by a powerful foe. It also reinterprets photographs, battlefield accounts, and letters to families by French soldiers to reconstruct the dynamic realities of the battlefield.
After the war, the upsurge in newspaper and magazine articles and books in France on the subject and methods unique to Taiwan for commemorating events, such as the presentation of plaques as well as temple decorations and ceremonies, show the different ways the war evolved and was recollected in official history, folklore, legends, and memories.