1877: Start of Telecommunication in Taiwan
During the later years of the Qing Dynasty, telecommunication was introduced to Taiwan. With their invasion, western countries introduced the wire telegraph and wireless telegraph and telephone into China. After realizing the convenience and effectiveness of telecommunications in politics, commercial, diplomatic and military affairs, the Qing government started to set up its own communication lines and initiated the development of the telecommunications business.
In the early stage, it was only used for military purposes but soon it was open for public service. In the short space of only thirty years, China’s telecommunications systems started to take shape. In addition, the basic structure with a supervision agency was set up by the Qing government. Taiwan was the first place where the Qing government laid its telecommunications cables.