Taipei, June 16 (CNA) An exhibition featuring historic stamps and artifacts kicked off Friday in Tainan, revisiting the five-month period of "the Republic of Formosa," also known as "the Republic of Taiwan" on the island in 1895.
The five-day exhibition is running at the Old Japanese Patriotic Women's Association building, where a total of 70 exhibits are on display, said the Chunghwa Post Co. The exhibits include rare collections from three stamp collectors, it added.
Historic stamps used in the Republic of Formosa have rarely been displayed publicly, and only a few were on display at the World Stamp Championship Exhibition in Taipei last year, Chunghwa Post said, adding that the Tainan exhibition is the first to showcase an array of stamps and artifacts from that period.
It chose to hold the event in Tainan because the southern city was the last base of the Republic of Formosa, it said.
In addition to the exhibits, the event includes several lectures on the history of the short-lived republic, said Chunghwa Post, which is co-organizing the event with the Chinese Taipei Philatelic Federation.
The Republic of Formosa existed in 1895 between the cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty to the Empire of Japan, which was included in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after China lost to Japan in the first Sino-Japanese War, and Japan's takeover of Taiwan.
The republic was proclaimed on May 25, 1895 and extinguished on Oct. 21 October that same year, when the republican capital of Tainan was taken over by Japanese troops. The republic adopted a national flag featuring a yellow tiger on a blue background.
