The Renewal Hospital in Taipei

The Renewal Hospital has an important place in medical history. Before being acquired by the Japanese government it was the first private comprehensive hospital in Taiwan. In 1930, the League of Nations accused officials in Taiwan of selling opium, causing the Governor-General of Taiwan to renovate it into an opium rehabilitation center. This picture was taken for Imperial Secretary Takagi while in Taiwan on an inspection tour. The head of the hospital at the time was Shimojō Kumakazu from the Ministry of Health. The person in charge of daily operations was Du Congming, Taiwan’s first certified doctor of medicine. He is in the center of the front row in black civil official dress, with his hands in his pockets in a debonair manner. After the war, the Renewal Hospital was put under the jurisdiction of the Chief Executive Office and was renamed the Provincial Taipei Opium Recovery Center. It was located at 8 Liangzhou Street. However, it was shut down not long after. In 1954, it was converted into offices for the newly-formed Planning Committee for Returning to the Mainland. Then in 1995 it was demolished.