Gu Xianrong

• Born: 1866
• Died: 1937
• Chinese: 辜顯榮 (Gu Xianrong)

Gu Xianrong was a Chinese collaborator with the Japanese in colonial Taiwan.

A local merchant on Taiwan, he infiltrated the Japanese navy as it arrived, and as Qing forces withdrew, offering to help aid the Japanese in taking Taipei. Though Mizuno Jun, Chief of Home Affairs, was initially skeptical towards Gu and suspected him of being a Chinese spy, in the end, Mizuno accepted Gu's aid.

Gu continued to work closely with Mizuno afterward, accompanying him back to Tokyo in December that same year; this was Gu's first trip to mainland Japan. He was presented a formal award for his role in the suppression of resistance on Taiwan, and attended inspection tours of factories and the like, as well as the opening ceremony of the National Diet.

Gu later played a key role in getting bronze statues of Mizuno and of Kodama Gentarô (fourth Governor-General of Taiwan) erected in Taipei.

References

• Suzuki Eka, "Building Statues of Japanese Governors: Monumental Bronze Sculptures and Colonial Cooperation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule," presentation at 2013 UCSB International Conference on Taiwan Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 7 Dec 2013.