---
title: 劉永福懸賞抓拿日本奸細告示 (Liu Yongfu's notice offering rewards for capturing Japanese spies), Taiwan
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/liu-yongfu-reward-notice-japanese-spies-1895/
description: A printed and brush-completed official notice, sealed and dated in the third lunar month of Guangxu 21 (1895), announces silver rewards for handing in…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![劉永福懸賞抓拿日本奸細告示 (Liu Yongfu's notice offering rewards for capturing Japanese spies), Taiwan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/liu-yongfu-reward-notice-japanese-spies-1895.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/liu-yongfu-reward-notice-japanese-spies-1895.jpg)

# 劉永福懸賞抓拿日本奸細告示 (Liu Yongfu's notice offering rewards for capturing Japanese spies), Taiwan

A printed and brush-completed official notice, sealed and dated in the third lunar month of Guangxu 21 (1895), announces silver rewards for handing in suspected Japanese spies in Taiwan, with a schedule of four categories and prices. It labels the enemy 'Japanese pirates' and 'Japanese devils in Chinese dress' and tells residents that infiltrators are already among them; those two moves are the name-calling and the fear appeal.

- **Date:** 1895
- **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914)
- **Made by:** Liu Yongfu (劉永福), Qing-appointed assistant manager of Taiwan's defence, Tainan
- **Region:** [East Asia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=east-asia)
- **Country:** [Qing China](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=qing-china)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=military)
- **Regime:** [Qing Dynasty](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=qing-dynasty)
- **Leader:** [Guangxu Emperor](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=guangxu-emperor)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Security and surveillance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=security-surveillance)
- **Event:** [First Sino Japanese War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=first-sino-japanese-war)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (photograph of an object in the National Museum of Taiwan History)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E5%8A%89%E6%B0%B8%E7%A6%8F%E6%87%B8%E8%B3%9E%E6%8A%93%E6%8B%BF%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E5%A5%B8%E7%B4%B0%E5%91%8A%E7%A4%BA.JPG), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (Qing official notice of 1895, before 1931); photograph dedicated CC0 1.0 by its photographer on Commons Notice of Liu Yongfu, 1895, National Museum of Taiwan History; photograph by Pbdragonwang (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons

## Text on the object

Original (Chinese (traditional characters, official register)) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
[heading, large block print, right] 欽命幫辦臺灣防務開缺廣東南澳鎮總鎮依博德恩巴圖魯劉 為

懸賞購拿奸細事倭寇現犯澎湖四處派人窺探軍情訪聞府城
拿獲多名已經正法查鳳屬所後為通商港口奸細混跡在所不
免本幫辦加重花紅以期必獲合行曉諭為此示仰軍民人等知
悉凡遇面生可疑行為可怪者不妨細詳盤問拿解一
經訊確立即照款給賞決不食言所賞是實其各凜遵毋違特示

計開
一日本鬼假扮華裝混入境內打聽各事或在砲台左右窺探形跡可疑者立行拿送訊明確實每名賞銀式百兩正
一華人為日本奸細或假冒官差或落髮為僧借寓民房或宿寺院打聽軍情往來無定者立即拿送究明確實每名賞銀壹百兩正
一或係華人或係教民往來境內謠言惑眾告說日本待民厚道祇與官兵不對形跡可疑者立即拿送究明確實每名賞銀壹百元正
一游勇形跡可疑混入各營情願當勇向說日本利害又問我軍細底者立即拿送究明確實每名賞銀伍拾元正

[left] 告示
光緒二十一年三月十[day numeral in red brush, uncertain]日示
[red seal] [left margin] 發貼
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
[heading] Liu, by imperial command Assistant Manager of Taiwan's defence, holder of the vacated post of General of the Nan'ao garrison in Guangdong, bearing the title Ibodeen Baturu, hereby issues [this notice].

On offering rewards to buy the capture of spies: the Japanese pirates have now attacked four places in Penghu and sent men to spy out our military situation; it has been learned that in the prefectural city several have been captured and executed by law. [The clause beginning 'Having examined ... Feng ...' is uncertain in reading; it says that ports open to trade are places where spies mingle unnoticed.] So that none escapes, this Assistant Manager raises the reward money so that capture is certain, and issues this notice for soldiers, people and all others to know: whenever you meet a strange-faced person of suspicious and odd conduct, you may question him closely and seize and deliver him; once interrogation confirms it, the reward will be paid at once according to the schedule and will not be a broken word; the reward is real. All are to obey and not disobey. Specially notified.

Schedule:
1. Japanese devils disguised in Chinese dress who slip into the territory to gather information, or spy around the gun batteries with suspicious traces: to be seized at once and delivered; on confirmed interrogation, 200 taels of silver each.
2. Chinese acting as Japanese spies, or posing as official messengers, or shaving their heads as monks, lodging in people's houses or sleeping in temples to gather military information, coming and going without fixed purpose: to be seized and delivered at once; on confirmation, 100 taels of silver each.
3. Any Chinese or Christian converts who come and go within the territory spreading rumours to mislead the crowd, saying that Japan treats the people kindly and is only at odds with the officials and soldiers, of suspicious conduct: to be seized and delivered at once; on confirmation, 100 dollars each.
4. Stragglers of suspicious conduct who slip into camps, volunteer to serve as soldiers, talk of Japan's advantages and ask about our army's inner workings: to be seized and delivered at once; on confirmation, 50 dollars each.

[left] Notice. Guangxu 21st year, 3rd month, [day uncertain], notified. [red seal] [margin] Posted.
```

Read from a 1280-px museum photograph with glass reflections. The heading's middle characters (title string), the phrase after 查鳳屬 in line 2 and the red brush numeral for the day of the month are uncertain and not resolved; the variants 拿/拏 were not reliably distinguished (拿 used throughout) and 式 is kept as written where 貳 would be expected. The red circles and red brush strokes on the paper are official approval marks, not text.

[← En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894/) [Le Traître: Dégradation d'Alfred Dreyfus (The Traitor: Degradation of Alfred Dreyfus), Le Petit Journal, 13 January 1895 →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/le-traitre-petit-journal-dreyfus-1895/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)