Did you know that the earliest financial institutions in #Taiwan were so-called "merchant houses (媽振館)" that handled loans and currency exchanges for #Taiwanese #tea traders and international buyers? The term "媽振" is derived from the English word "merchant" during the 1860s.

Merchant houses were replaced by banks upon the start of the colonial era. The first modern #bank in #Taiwan was a branch of the Japanese Osaka Churitsu Bank (大阪中立銀行), which was established in 1895 next to #Keelung Harbor to receive shipments of silver coins from Japan.

With the objective of unifying the currency and controlling resources in #Taiwan, the Bank of Taiwan was founded in 1899. As an agent of Nippon Kangyo #Bank, it provided long-term loans at low interest to fund land development, afforestation, irrigation projects, and agriculture.

Then came the Second Sino-Japanese #War in 1937, in which colonies were fully mobilized for wartime efforts. The financial institutions of #Taiwan, which was the envisioned "base for southern expansion," also issued military supply #bonds to show their loyalty to state power.

In 1936, #Taiwan Development Co. Ltd. was established to support Japan's southbound military expansion by developing the industrial + agricultural prowess of Taiwan. It also actively carried out #land reclamation on the west coast and land leasing funded its overseas businesses.

After #WWII, many of these assets as well as the #Taiwanese branches of Nippon Kangyo Bank were combined to create the Land Bank of #Taiwan. Its mission was to provide capital for land development and back the "Land to the Tiller" policy to push for more equal #land rights.

From 1947 to 2005, the #bank managed state-owned farmlands such as Taitung's Chu-lu #Ranch (初鹿牧場), Chi-shang #Silk Farm (池上蠶桑場), and Du-lan #Forest Station (都蘭林場); Hualien's He-gang #Farm and Factory (鶴岡農場 + 製茶廠); and Yilan's Nan-ao Farm (南澳農場). #Taiwan

The exhibition ends with some interesting factoids about company culture and practices, including hand-drawn #etiquette instructions prior to the computer age and #wage standards for 1950s #Taiwan (NT$70 per month for entry-level jobs vs. NT$85 for an assistant position).

Fun fact

This 1933 building was the first air-conditioned facility in #Taiwan. The motor was placed in a room behind the bank vault and the air was cooled before it was blown through underground ducts. It was also equipped with a temperature-control function.

Fun fact

NT$1, NT$5, and NT$10 were once issued as #bills (L); #currency marked with "in limited circulation (限金門地區通用)" were rolled out in 1949 for wartime Kinmen, Matsu, and Dachen (R) to prevent devaluation in the case of Communist occupation of those isles. #Taiwan

Fun fact

There are #dinosaurs in this building. The Land Bank Exhibition Hall has been rebranded as the "Natural History Branch" of the #Taipei-based National #Taiwan Museum and offers this permanent exhibition: https://event.culture.tw/NTM/portal/Registration/C0103MAction?useLanguage=en&request_locale=en&actId=90081