Reconcile the past with the present by pranking on April Fool’s Day? A critical reflection on the Operation Bust of NTU History Gallery

ABSTRACT

To pique the interest of local audiences in learning the pre-WWII history of National Taiwan University (NTU) and facilitate the dialogue between different ideologists on protecting colonial heritage, the History Gallery of NTU conceived an April Fool’s prank revolving around the sculpted representations of Japanese colonial figures in Taiwan. The main plotline is based on an actual historical event of a bust-unveiling ceremony for president Shidehara, the first president of the antecedent of NTU—Taihoku Imperial University. The prank began with systemic dissemination of the news regarding the finding of a head sculpture of Viscount Kodama Gentarō, culminated in an announcement of a serendipitous discovery of the bust for president Shidehara on April Fool’s Day, and ended by recounting the stories of rescuing the busts for Dr Hidetaka and Dr Tomoe. Despite drawing some criticism, the Gallery was acclaimed by many for its originality, responsiveness, and thoroughness in the campaign.

KEYWORDS:

• April Fool’s Day
• University history museum
• Taira Shidehara
• National Taiwan University
• Taihoku Imperial University
• serendipity

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincerest gratitude to all the members of the organising team of Operation Bust for the synergistic collaboration in the execution of this experimental prank scheme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 See the timeline of SNU (accessed 11 Nov 2022).

2 An alternative narration is ‘established in 1928, reorganised in 1945’.

3 Dr Yamaguchi Hidetaka and Dr Takagi Tomoe are the first and second headmasters of Sotokufu Medical School (1899–1935). The School was amalgamated into TIU in 1936.

4 Dr Tu Tsung-ming is the first Taiwanese professor in Japan's imperial universities. He is also the first dean of the NTU College of Medicine and the acting president of NTU from 1st August 1948 to 20th January 1949.

5 The accounts are interpreted in a verbatim and vernacular way to fully express the commentator’s view.

6 The icon XD or XDD in Taiwan denotes a ‘haha face’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peng-Fan Chen

Peng-Fan Chen was the erstwhile chief of the History Gallery of National Taiwan University (NTU). He majored in Plant Pathology and Microbiology minored in Economics at NTU. He then finished an MSc programme in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Management at Imperial College London and acquired an MPhil degree in Education (Knowledge, Power, and Politics) from the University of Cambridge.

Yi-Jia Huang

Yi-Jia Huang obtained a BA degree in Library and Information Science at National Taiwan University. She was a teaching assistant at the NTU History Gallery when Operation Bust was launched. Her duties in the Operation included developing the scenario of the prank, recruiting team members, and directing the scripted ‘live show'. She currently serves as a project manager at the Preparatory Office of the National Railway Museum, Taiwan.