Public Emotion in a Colonial Context: a Case Of Spirit-Writing in Taiwan under Japanese Occupation

Abstract

Lu Lin Wumu was born in a shack by a stream in the mountains of northern Taiwan, near the very small mining town of Shiding. He was adopted into the family of a small shopkeeper in the town as a young married-in son-in-law to a girl who had also been adopted into the family. At the age of 12, in the year 1886, his adopting father died leaving him, as the oldest male in the family, responsible for the public face of the family, including its shop, though his adopting mother remained in the role of the responsible adult.