About Us

Taiwan Church News

The Taiwan Church News (台灣教會公報; Tâi-oân Kàu-hoē Kong-pò) is a publication of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. It was first published in 1885 as the Tâi-oân-hú-siâⁿ Kàu-hōe-pò (臺灣府城教會報; Tai-oan Hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po) under the direction of Scottish missionary Thomas Barclay, and was Taiwan’s first printed newspaper. This early edition was also notable for being printed in romanised Taiwanese using the Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Church Romanization ) orthography.

The publication was banned during the latter stages of Japanese rule and editions were also impounded on several occasions during the martial law era in post-war Taiwan for discussing forbidden subjects. In 1942 after Japan and the United States declared war on each other, the missionaries were expelled from Taiwan, which was at the time a Japanese colony, and the press was closed. After the defeat of Japan and the takeover by the Kuomintang, the Taiwan Church News resumed publication. However, in 1969 the printing of the Taiwan Church News in Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Church Romanization ) was banned by the Kuomintang government of the time, who were taking action to restrict the use of local languages.

From that point on, the publication appeared in Mandarin Chinese characters, and even after the restrictions were lifted in the 1980s, Mandarin continued to be the dominant language, with “native languages” (Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka and Formosan languages) confined to a “Mother Tongue Section” from 1991 onwards. On several occasions the magazine was confiscated by the authorities for running articles on forbidden topics, such as a discussion of the February 28 Incident which saw the entire print run of 6,700 copies seized in 1987.

Now, the incarnation of the periodical takes the form of a weekly magazine, the reports contents includes Social issues, Church Mission Services and ecumenical news release, etc. For keeping pace with the times in the information age and development, Taiwan Church News Network (TCNN) was officially launched in 2011. We also plus ad hoc English reports on the website to let our foreign readers, ecumenical church partners and organizations receive the first-hand messages from Taiwan.

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