The Ming period

The turbulent political situation in the Chinese empire during the late Ming period encouraged powerful warlords to take the law into their own hands, and banditry was widespread. Certain frustrated strongmen and men of derring-do brought their followers over the seas to Taiwan and set up new bases from which to carry out armed seafaring trade. One such figure was Lin Tao- ch'ien, who came from Ch'ao-chou in Kwang- tung province, and who had a long connec tion with Taiwan. It is claimed that his hoards of gold and silver treasure lie buried on cer tain hillsides in Kaohsiung county.

The first of these independent seafarers to become involved in mass Chinese immigration and the establishment of agriculture in Taiwan were two Fukienese, Yen Su-ch'i from Chang-chou and Cheng Chih-lung from Ch'Gan-chou. The former led a band of followers to Taiwan in 1622, occupying the harbor of Peikang on Taiwan's western seaboard and turning the slopes of Mount Chulo over to agriculture. After his death, the dominant authority passed to Cheng Chihlung. At that time, Fukien province had been suffering from the effects of famine for several years in succession. Cheng Chih-lung proposed to the provincial governor of Fukien, Hsiung Wen-ts'an, that several tens of thousands of refugees affected by the famine should be issued with two or three taels of silver each and a single water buffalo to be shared by every three, and shipped across to Taiwan to open up its virgin land to agriculture. This is no doubt the. first occasion on which the Chinese imperial government became involved in a largescale movement of its citizenry to Taiwan.

In 1604 the Dutch occupied Penghu and sent emissaries to Fukien to request the opening up of trade with the Chinese. The provincial governor of Fukien sent Shen Yu-jung with an armed escort to Pengh u to negotiate with the Dutch. Due to Shen's military might and his skillful handling of the situation, the Dutch finally left Penghu on their own power without any incident. In 1622, however, they returned and occupied Penghu once again. Two years later the provincial governor of Fukien was granted troops to battle with the Dutch over the territory. The fighting went on for over six months, when the Dutch finally sent an emissary to seek a peace settlement and agreed to leave Penghu. They did so, however, only to send a fleet across the straits to occupy the area of presentday Tainan city on the island of Taiwan itself. They erected two forts at An-p'ing, one guarding the seaward approaches to the harbor and serving as the military base for Holland's control of the island, and the other forming a center from which to conduct trade with China. Fort Provintia, known later as Ch'ih- k'an-lou, was established in what is now Tainan proper in 1653, which also acted as a center of political control. The Dutch held the island for 38 years, until Cheng Ch'eng- kung drove them out in 1661.

The administrative control of the Dutch never reached all corners of the island; in the north it extended only far enough to include present-day Tamsui and Keelung, as well as I-Ian. In most matters, the people were allowed to govern themselves more or less autonomously, as they had in the past. At the same time, the Dutch government implemented a policy of opening up new farmlands and providing education to the masses, in the hopes of gaining their trust and support.

The policy used by the Dutch in their effort to expand Taiwanese agriculture consisted of a hierarchical representative system by which a representative for each chieh (ten Chinese acres) of farmland was selected from the farmers; a higher-ranking official would then be selected from among every few thousand of these chieh chiefs, depending on the density of the population. The farmers were not allowed to own their own land; instead, it all belonged to the Dutch. Hence such land was known as "royal land." Many aspects of the land division system used during colonial times continued to be used, with minor changes, through Cheng Ch'eng-kung's control of the island, the Ch'ing period, and the Japanese occupation. Even today, many place names in Taiwan derive from old agriculture divisions dating back to the land system used by farmers since the Dutch occupation.

Two years after the Dutch established themselves in southern Taiwan, Spanish fleets landed on the northern coast, in present-day Keelung. There and on the nearby landmass now known as Ho-p'ing island, they built for- tifications and artillery towers to create a military stronghold. In 1629, they built a fort in present-day Tamsui, now an important cultural relic known as Hung-mao ch'eng ("fort of the redheads"). They engaged with equal fervor in the propagation of Catholicism and in profitable trade with Luzon and China. It was not until 1642 that the Dutch drove them off the island.

The first group to rise up in resistance to the Dutch colonialists were Taiwan's im migrants form mainland China. There were several reasons for this revolt:

1) the Dutch monopolized all trading profits;

2) they limited the rights of the immigrants to public assembly, confiscated their weapons and encouraged discord between Taiwan aborigines and Han Chinese;

3) they forced acceptance of the Christian religion;

4) they tyrannically extorted wealth from the Chinese.

In 1650, a rebel named Kuo Huai-yi led a revolt of over 10,000 men to surround and storm the Dutch headquarters at Ch'ih-k'an lou; the Dutch troops quickly came to the rescue and a bloody battle ensued, in which Kuo Huai-yi and his rebellion, due to inadequate supplies and lack of training, went to their deaths. In the process, the Dutch induced 2000 aborigines to fight on their side, and the total number of casualties from the conflict was almost 8000. This courageous rebellion against foreign occupation of Taiwan, led by an army with a strong national consciousness, is an important page in the history of the island's development, rich in meaning for the Chinese people.

Since the Dutch were mainly interested in economic gain for themselves, the real development and opening up of Taiwan did not begin until they were driven out by Cheng Ch'eng-kung in 1661.

Cheng was a native of Ch'Gan-chou, Fuk- kien. The Ming dynasty Lung-wu Emperor was greatly appreciative of Cheng, and encourged his service to the state; in addition, the emperor bestowed on him use of the imperial surname, Chu, as well as an honorary name, Ch'eng-kung, meaning "success"; the name Koxinga, by which he is known to foreigners, derives from this incident (Koxinga=Kuohsingye, lit. "Old gentleman with the national surname.") Cheng's special relationship with the emperor, and gratitude for his kindness, greatly contributed to his fervent leadership of the anti-Manchu Ming loyalist movement. In 1659 he led an army on a military expedition to the north, in an attempt to overthrow the Manchus; this attempt, although coming close to success, ultimately failed. Thus it was that in 1661 he retreated to Taiwan, driving out the Dutch and initiating the 22 year reign of the Cheng family.

Cheng's purpose in taking Taiwan was to establish a strong base from which to launch a counter-offensive against the Manchu forces of the Ch'ing dynasty and thereby restore the Ming dynasty. To this end he undertook various kinds of constructin work and established systems of law and administration in line with Ming practice by which to govern the populace. He promoted the establishment of schools, colleges and Confucian temples in a drive to assert Chinese educational and cultural values. He also established a system whereby his troops were allowed to cultivate their own farmland, and issued them with agricultural tools in order to open up virgin land to agriculture. Many of Taiwan's place names preserve reference to this army land or "camp" land (ying-p'an-t'ien), such as for example Hsin- ying in Tainan county and Tso-ying in Kaoh- siung county. Cheng turned the old "royal land" of the Dutch into "official land," with the tenant farmers becoming tenants of his government. He also permitted private ownership of land, and did much to en- courage greater agricultural output. As a consequence, Taiwan became well provided with foodstuffs, and its people enjoyed a self- sufficient mode of life.

Cheng was succeeded by his eldest son Cheng Ching, who owed much to his zealous chief minister Ch'en Yung-hua. The lafter urged a policy of encouraging maximum exploitation of Taiwan's agricultural potential, planting foodstuffs of every kind and storing surplus crops in great abundance in case of famine. He also encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane, the production of salt by boiling seawater and the felling of timber for boat- building in order to boost maritime trade. All these measures contributed to the growing prosperity of Taiwan. Minister Ch'en also had stockades erected to protect the fledgling towns from harassment, outlawed gambling to eradicate bad public habits and set up a national college to nurture talent and promote educational values. He also established an examination system for civil service. Thus began the exposure of the people of Taiwan to the values of imperial Chinese culture.

Cheng Ching was succeeded by his eldest son Cheng K'o-tsang, a skillful and intelligent ruler well-liked by the military and the people alike, who unfortunately was soon murdered. His younger brother Cheng K'o- shuang then took the helm, but due to his youth and inexperience, the quality of govern- ment and social order on the island gradually deteriorated. The Ch'ing court took this opportunity to send Admiral Shih Lang to attack Taiwan. General Liu Kuo-hs0an was defeated bythe Ch'ing forces at Penghu, and retreated to Taiwan proper. In 1683, Cheng K'o- shuang surrendered the island to Ch'ing rule, and it formally became part of the Manchu empire.