英文摘要
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This article discusses the development of household electric heaters in Taiwan from 1914 to 1939. In addition to analyzing the popularization, regional differences, and rural-urban disparity in the use of electric heaters, this article also explores the constraints brought by economic conditions, from the perspective of families, to the household electric heater market before the Second World War. Furthermore, using Kagoshima and Seoul as selected cases, comparisons are made in examining the development of electric heaters in the peripheral areas of the Japanese Empire, thus demonstrating the critical impact of geographical environment on the choices of residents with regard to household electric heaters. In the middle of the 1910s, after the outbreak of the First World War, the household appliances industry in Japan started to move away from dependence on the European countries and the United States. A domestic industry of household appliances was quickly constructed. At the latest, electric heating products also appeared in Taiwan in 1914. In the early 1920s, in order to consume possible excessive electric power caused by the construction of the Sun Moon Lake hydraulic power plant, the Taiwan Power Corporation promoted household electric heaters in 1922, which formally launched the electric heaters market in Taiwan. Before the 1930s, however, electric power for household use was not popular in Taiwan. Due to the limitation of economic conditions and the relatively hot climate in Taiwan, the penetration of electric heaters on the island remained low. Nevertheless, the use of household electric heaters before the Second World War signaled the introduction of home electrification in Taiwan.
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