1. Ethnic Groups Involved in the Development of Central Taiwan

Chapter IV Findings and Discussions

1. Ethnic Groups Involved in the Development of Central Taiwan

“Development” originally means “cultivating a piece of wild land until it becomes productive”, and people also use the word to refer to the civilization process not only limited to agriculture but including cultural, social, economical and behavioral changes as well (Yin, 1989). Since development is a kind of purpose-driven activity, people involved in the process must play an important role. There had been Austronesian groups, Dutch, Han people and Japanese living in Central Taiwan along the time axis before Taiwan was returned to China in 1945, and in the following account we will start from Austronesian groups.

1.1 Austronesia People

An account of Taiwan can be traced back to Sui Dynasty (隋朝), called “Liuqiu” (流 求) at that time. In “History Book of Sui” (隋書) it was written that the “Liuqiu

kingdom is located in the ocean.” At that time, the emperor of Sui intended to conquer it, but their language was not intelligible, so the emperor recruited people from the south to form an army, for one of the southern ethnic groups, Kun-lun (崑崙), also known as Malaysian (馬來人), can understand Liuqiu’s language quite well (Abe,

1994). According to this passage and recent linguistic research, these people should

belong to Austronesian groups and were the earliest inhabitants of Taiwan.

Austronesian people in Taiwan can be divided into two groups: mountain groups and plains groups, also known as Pingpu groups. The mountain groups are better known by people in Taiwan, for their language and culture are still distinguishable. There were once Pingpu people all over the plains of Taiwan, but ever since they started to come in contact with the Han people in the fifteen century, their assimilation has been so rapid that the Pingpu groups have almost totally become extinct. Actually “Pingpu”

is a cover term, for Pingpu groups contain different sub groups who have distinct languages and cultures. Scholars vary as to how many sub groups there are under the Pingpu groups, ranging from seven to twelve. According to the majority of scholars, there were five Pingpu groups inhabiting in central Taiwan; the Pazah, Babuza, Taokas, Papora and Hoanya. Scholars generally agree that the interaction among these Pingpu groups was far more complicated than what happened in other parts of Taiwan.

1.1.1 Pazah (拍宰海)

The Pazah centered in Feng-yuan (豐原), the present seat of Taichung County, stretching north to the Da-jia Xi (大甲溪), south to Tan-tzu (潭子), east to Tung-shih (東勢) and west to Da-du Mountain (大肚山). Chang Da-jing (張達京), a famous

interpreter of central Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty, married six princesses of

Pazah. There were four sub-groups of Pazah and each one of them contained a

number of tribes of different sizes. Some of the villages’ names became modern place names (see Map 3). The four sub-groups are:

(1) Bali groups (岸裡社群), including:

Map 3 The Old Map of Central Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty (Pazah) (Cited from 平埔文化資訊網: http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~pingpu/)

An-Dong Village (岸東社) (Daiyadaran): in Da She (大社), Shengang Township (神 岡鄉), Taichung County. “Daiya” means “east”;

“daran” means “stronghold” in Pazah, so the village name means “eastern stronghold”.

An-Xi Village ( 岸 西 社 ) (Rahotodaran): west of Da She, Shengang Township,

Taichung County. “Rahoto” means “west” in Pazah,

so the village name means “western stronghold”.

County. “mari” means “under the hill”; “pu” means

“grandmother”, but the Chinese call it An-Nan Village.

The translation of the place name maybe on analogy with An-Dong for it was located on the south bank of Da-jia Xi (大甲溪).

Hulu-Dun Village (葫蘆墩社) (Furuton): in Feng-yuan, Taichung County. Feng-yuan was called Hulu-Dun (葫蘆墩), which was a Chinese

transliteration of Furuton, which in Pazah means “foot hill of a mountain”.

Xi-Shi Wei Village (西勢尾社) (Babawata): in She-pi Village (社皮里), Feng-yuan.

“babaw” means “top”; “ta” means “aunt “ in Pazah, but the village name was translated by the Han people for it was located in the end of the west side of somewhere.

Wengzai Village (翁子社) (Barlaton): in She-pi Village, Feng-yuan, meaning “a place

where sorgos grow” in Pazah, and its Chinese translation was according to the last syllable of the village name “on”.

Malilan Village (麻裡蘭社) (Balisan): in She-pi Village, Feng-yuan. “Bali” means

“wind”; “san” means “brother” in Pazah, but the Chinese transliteration did not put the meaning into consideration.

Qizai Village (岐仔社) (Paiten): in Xizhou (溪洲), Shengang Township, Taichung

County. The meaning of “Paiten” is uncertain, but might come from the Atayal language. 　

Mazhu- Jiu Village (麻薯舊社) (B(V)ali): in Jiu She (舊社), Howli Township (后里 鄉), Taichung County. “Bali” means “wind” in Pazah,

but the village name was simply translated by Han people according to its sound.

(2) Poaly groups (樸仔籬社), including:

She-liao Jiao Village (社寮角社) (Varrut): in She-liao Jiao (社寮角), Taichung

County, meaning “a place where green bamboo grows”.

Da-Nan Village (大湳社) (Karehut): in Da-nan (大湳), Feng-yuan. The meaning of

“Karehut” is uncertain, but might come from the Atayal language.

Shui-di Liao Village (水底寮社) (Tarawei): in Shui-di Liao (水底寮), Shin-she Township (新社鄉), Taichung County. The meaning of

“Tarawei” is uncertain, but might come from the

Atayal language.

Shan-ding Village (山頂社) (Samtonton): on hill top of Mali-pu (馬力埔), Shin-she Township (新社鄉), Taichung County. The meaning

of “Samtonton” is uncertain, but might come from the Atayal language. 　

Da-ma-lin Village (大馬遴社) (Patakan)：in Shin-bo-gong Aboriginal Village (新伯公 番社), meaning “a place where all kinds of bamboo

grow”.

(3) Alisai Village (阿里史社):

In Pazah “ali” means “soldier”, “sai” means “foreigners who come to seek shelter” The village was originally located in Tan-tzu Township (潭子鄉) of Taichung

County. In 1804 many people from Alisan Village, together with other Pingpu people and totaling about a thousand, moved to Yi-lan because of Han persecution. This is the reason why there are place names called “Alisan” as well in Luo-dong (羅東) and San-shing (三星) in Yi-lan County (宜蘭縣). The residual villagers finally gave up their hometown in 1823 as well and moved to Pu-li Basin (埔里盆地).

(4) Auran Village (烏牛欄社):

　 Auran means “a place where tomatos grow”, and is located in Wu-niu-lan (烏牛

欄), Feng-yuan, Taichung County. In 1823 people from Auran Village also moved to

Pu-li. So there is a place called Wu-niu-lan in Pu-li Township as well. However, today it has been changed to “Ai-lan” (愛蘭).

However, just like other Pingpu groups, the Pazah did not have a writing system to record their language. So these village names were transliterated by the Ching government after the Pazah were naturalized in 1715. According to a descendant of the Pazah Pan, Da-ho (潘大和), some of these transliterated names after their

naturalization were translated by meaning, e.g. An-Dong Village and An-Xi Village.

Others were by sound, e.g. Wu-niu-lan (Pan, 2002). Because most government officials did not understand the Austronesian language, village names were mainly transliterated by sound, with these meaningful village names as rare exceptions.

Pingpu groups have almost been totally assimilated into the Han and because they lack writing systems to record their languages, Pingpu languages are considered dead languages so that we have only limited knowledge on how these languages functioned.

But relatively speaking, the Pazah language did not decline as abruptly as other Pingpu groups, for they inhabited closer to mountains. There were still a few Pazah speakers in the central of 20

century, so scholars have had a chance to retain some records of this dying language and Prof. Li, Paul Jen-Kui (李壬癸), for example, has

edited a Pazah dictionary (Li, 2000).

1.1.2 Babuza (巴布薩)

Babuza’s main territory was between the Da-du Xi (大肚溪) and Zhuo-sui Xi (濁水

溪), encompassing the majority of the Chang-hwa Plain and stretching to the west of

Taichung City. Their major tribes were:

Dong-luo Village ( 東 螺 社 ) (Doubale Boata): in Fan-zi Pu ( 番 仔 埔 ), Pi-tou Township ( 埤 頭 鄉 ), Chang-hwa

County

Er-lin Village (二林社) (Gilim): in Er-lin Township (二林鎮), Chang-hwa County Mei-li Village (眉里社)：in Jiu-mei Village (舊眉里), Xi-zhou Township (溪洲鄉), 　 　 　 　 Chang-hwa County

Ban-xian Village (半線社) (Passoua): Chang-hwa City

Chai-zi-keng Village (柴子坑): in Da-zhu Village (大竹里) and A-yi Village (阿夷里) A-shu Village (阿束社) (Asock): in Fan-she Ko (番社口), Chang-hwa City

Ma-zhi-lin Village ( 馬 芝 遴 社 ) (Betgirem): in Lu-kang Township ( 鹿 港 鎮 ),

Chang-hwa County

Mao-wu-jian Village (貓霧揀社) (Babosack): near Nan-tun District (南屯區) of

Taichung City (see Map 4)

Like the Pazah, many Babuza villages moved to the Pu-li Basin with the exception

of Dong-luo Village, which moved to Yi-lan.

Map 4 The Old Map of Central Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty (Babuza) (Cited from 平埔文化資訊網: http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~pingpu/)

Besides Siraya from the south, Babuza was also a Pingpu language which had a writing system. This is because the Dutch missionaries called those who believed in Christ in this area “Favorlang” and had the Bible translated into their language, called a Favorlang Bible, for them. According to Tsuchida (1982), Favorlang was very close to Babuza and can be considered as a dialect of Babuza (Li, 1992). The word

“Babuza” means “human beings” in its language (Ogawa, 2003). This practice of calling the tribe and its language by adopting its way to refer to human beings is also a common practice among the Bunnan and Tsou peoples (Abe, 1994).

1.1.3 Taokas (道卡斯)

Miao-li (苗栗) and Hsin-chu (新竹) Counties. They were mainly located along the

seaboard plains. Some people from the Taokas also moved to the Yi-lan Plain and Pu-li Basin. But those who went to Yi-lan chose to come back in the end. There are three major communities of Taokas from south to north (see Map 5):

Map 5 The Old Map of Central Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty (Taokas) (Cited from 平埔文化資訊網: http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~pingpu/)

(1) Beng-shan groups (崩山社群), including:

Da-jia Xi Village (大甲西社) (Tommel): also known as “Dehua Village” (德化社), near Fan-zi Liao ( 番 仔 寮 ),

Da-jiaTownship, Taichung County

Da-jia Dong (大甲東社) Village (Tomel): near Da-dong Village (大東村), Wai-pu Township (外埔鄉), Taichung county Ri-nan Village (日南社) (Warrewarre): in Ri-nan Village (日南里), Da-jia Township,

Taichung County

Shuang-liaoVillage (雙寮社) (Tannatanangh): in Shuang-liao Village (雙寮里), Da-jia

Township, Taichung County

Fang-li Village (房裡社) (Warrowan): in Nan-bei Village (南北里), Fang-li Village (房裡里), Yuan-li Township (苑裡鎮), Miao-li County Mao-yu Village (貓盂社): in Mao-meng Village (貓孟里), Yuan-li Township, Miao-li

County

Yuan-li Village (苑裡社): in Yuan-Dong (苑東), Yuan Xi (苑西), Yuan Nan (苑南), Yuan Bei (苑北) four Villages and Xi-ping Village (西平 里)

Tung-xiao Village (通宵社) (Parrewan): in Tung Dong (通東), Tung Xi (通西) these two villages of Tung-xiao Township (通宵鎮), Miao-li

County (2) Ho-long groups (後壟社群):

Miao-li Village (貓裡社): in Miao-li City

Jia-zhi-ge Village (加志閣社): in Jia-sheng Village (嘉盛里), Miao-li County

Hou-lung Village (後壟社): in Hou-lung Township (後龍鎮), Miao-li County

Xin-gang Village (新港社): in Xin-gang Village (新港村), Hou-lung Township (後龍 　 　 　 　鎮), Miao-li County

Zhong-gang Village (中港社): Zhong-gang Village (中港里), Nan-Zhuang Township 　 　 　 　(南庄鄉), Miao-li County

(3) Zhu-qian groups (竹塹社群), including:

Zhu-qian Village (竹塹社) (Pocaal): in Hsin-chu City

Xuan-xuan Village (眩眩社) (Gingingh): in Shu-lin Village (樹林里), Fu-lin Village (福林里) and De-lin Village (德林里), Hsin-chu City.

This was a clear case of transliteration as 眩眩 in

Hoklo pronunciation is “Hin-hin”, which was quite close to Taokas’ word “Gingingh”.

1.1.4 Papora (拍瀑拉)

　 The Papora spread south to the Da-du Xi, north to Ching-shui (清水) and east to

Da-du Mountain, also along the seaboard plains (see Map 6), including:

(1) Da-du Village (大肚社) (Tatuturo): in Da-du Township (大肚鄉), Taichung

County

(2) Sui-li Village (水裡社) (Bodor): in Lung-jing Township (龍井鄉), Taichung 　

　 　 　 　　 County

(3) Sha-lu Village (沙轆社) (Salach): in Sha-lu Township (沙鹿鎮), Taichung County (4) Niu-ma Village (牛罵社) (Gomach): in Ching-shui Township (清水鎮), Taichung 　 　 　 　 County

Map 6 The Old Map of Central Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty (Papora) (Cited from 平埔文化資訊網: http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~pingpu/)

Except for 水裡社(Bodor), all the remaining three village names were complete

or partial transliteration of the original Papora village names.

1.1.5 Hoanya (洪雅)

Hoanya, located between Wu-feng Township (霧峰鄉) of Taichung County and Sin-ying Township (新營市) of Tainan County, but further inland bear the hills,

comprised two sub groups: Lloa from the south and Arikun from the north (see Map

7).

(1) Lloa groups (羅亞社群), including:

Duo-luo-guo Village (哆囉國社) (Dorcko): in Dong-shanVillage (東山村), Dong-jia Village (東甲村) and Dong-Zheng Village (東 正村), Tainan County

Chai-li Village (佳里社) (Talackbayan): also known as “Dou-liu Village” (斗六社), in Dou-liu City (斗六市), Yun-lin County Xi-luo Village (西螺社): in Xi-luo Township (西螺鎮), Yun-lin County

Ta-li-wu Village (他里霧社) (Dalivo): in Dou-nan City (斗南市), Yun-lin County Hou-men Village (猴悶社) (Gaumul/Docovangh): in Jiang-jun Village (將軍里),

Dou-nan City (斗南市), Yun-lin County Mao-er-gan Village (貓兒干社) (Badsikan): in Lun-pe Township (崙背鄉), Yun-lin 　 　 　 　 County. 貓 (cat) is pronounced “ba” in Hoklo.

Zhu-luo-shan Village (諸羅山社) (Tilaossen): near Jia-yi City (嘉義市)

Among these place names, 哆囉國，斗六，他里霧，猴悶，貓兒干 and 諸羅山

originated from transliterations of the Hoanya village names.

(2) Arikun groups (阿里昆社群), including:

　 Mao-luo Village (貓羅社) (Kakar baroch): in Fen-yuan Township (芬園鄉), 　 　 　 　 Chang-hwa County

　 Da-wu-jun Village (大武郡社) (Tavocal): in She-tou Township (社頭鄉), 　 　

　 　 　 Chang-hwa County

　 Da-tu Village (大突社): in Xi-hu Township (溪湖鎮), Chang-hwa County 　 Nan-tou Village (南投社): in Nan-tou City

　 Bei-tou Village (北投社) (Tausa bata): in Bei-tou Village (北投里), Tsao-tun 　

Township (草屯鎮), Nantou County

　 Wan-dou-liu Village (萬斗六社): in Wu-feng Township (霧峰鄉), Taichung 　 　 　 　 County

Map 7 The Old Map of Central Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty (Hoanya)

(Cited from 平埔文化資訊網: http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~pingpu/)

village name. Two others 貓 羅 and 北 投 got their names through partial transliteration in Hoklo of the original Hoanya village names. Da-li (大里), where

“Lin, Shuang-wen Revolt” (林爽文事件) happened, was a village name of the

Hoanya as well. The Arikun group gave up their original inhabitation and moved to the Pu-li Basin in the early 17

century, so did Chai-li (柴裡) and Mao-er-gan (貓兒 干) two villages from Lloa, while the remaining groups chose to stay.

1.1.6 Atayal (泰雅)

Besides the Pingpu, that is, the Austronesian plains group, there was also the Atayal, belonging to the mountain group, who stayed in this area during the time of development. Traditionally the Austronesian people of Taiwan were classified into

“sheng fan” (生番, uncivilized aborigines) and “shu fan” (熟番, civilized aborigines),

for Han people called those aboriginal people who were cooperative and obedient

“shu fan” and those absolutely wild “sheng fan”, and the Atayal were categorized as

the latter. The mountains of central Taiwan were the Atayal’s main territory. So after

the seaside plains had been totally cultivated, the Han people cannot avoid facing the

threats from the Atayal as Han people gradually moved close to these mountains,

especially in the Dong-shi and Pu-li area. Although the aboriginal policy of the Ching

Government was to separate Han people and “sheng fan” by setting up barriers

between them, there were still illegal contacts going on under the table and armed

conflicts and fighting between the two groups were much more vigorous and intense compared to what was seen in northern Taiwan.

1.2 Foreigners

　 Although the Spanish discovered Taiwan earlier than the Dutch, their influence

was only in the north of Taiwan. Thus the Dutch were the earliest colonial government in this area. In 1642 the Dutch drove out the Spanish and occupied the whole island. Taking Tainan as the center, they separated Taiwan into North (north of Tainan), South (south of Tainan), Pyuma (Tai-dong) and Tamsui ( 淡水) areas

(Dakamura, 2001). So what we take as central Taiwan actually belonged to the

“Northern” part of Taiwan. At the beginning of Dutch rule, the people they governed were mainly Pingpu. They requested the chiefs of Pingpu groups who had been submissive to the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC, also known as the East India Company) to continue to rule their own tribes, requiring these chiefs to pay taxes and to attend the annual meeting of the chiefs of Taiwan arranged by the company, to proclaim their loyalty.

In 1661 Zheng Cheng-gong (鄭成功) drove out the Dutch and Taiwan was

governed by the Ming-Zheng government and later by the Ching government. In 1895

Taiwan was ceded to Japan after the Ching regime lost the first Sino-Japanese War

(Jia-wu War). Unlike the Dutch, the Japanese government intended to make Taiwan a

part of their territory, so in the fifty years of colonization, the Japanese government carried out strict assimilatory policies in almost every aspect of society, such as politics, economics, education, culture and language. No wonder that there are still Japanese traces everywhere today sixty years after they withdrew from Taiwan. There are, for example, quite a few Japanese-style place names in central Taiwan. Almost every elder who was born before World War II can speak some Japanese, and many words in use in Taiwan Southern Min were borrowed from Japanese.

1.3 Han People

　 Among all the ethnic groups that inhabited this part of the island at one time or

another, the Han people undoubtedly contributed the most to the development of Taiwan. They were mainly the immigrants from the provinces of Fukien and Canton.

Although there were already a few Han people staying along the seaside plains even

before the Spanish and Dutch invasions of the island, they came to Taiwan

individually and the number was very limited; Zheng Cheng-gong brought his army to

Taiwan and recruited immigrants from Fukien and Canton after he drove out the

Dutch. However his focus was in the south just like the Dutch, and since Ming-Zheng

only ruled Taiwan for 23 years, their contribution in the development of central

Taiwan was not significant. In the 22

year of Emperor Kang-xi (1683) the Ching

government took over Taiwan from Zheng Ke-shuang (鄭克塽), a grandson of Zheng

Cheng-Kong, and from then on Taiwan became a part of China. In the beginning there were strict constraints on emigrating to Taiwan until Emperor Qian-long started to relax the order. However, people kept stowing away to Taiwan because of the problem of overpopulation in their hometowns. South to north, then west to east, Taiwan was gradually developed along this general trend.

According to Abe’s investigation, Han immigrants mainly came from Fukien and

Canton, and their hometowns can be listed as follows:

Province Prefecture County Min group

(閩族)

Quanzhou

（泉州）

Jin-jiang (晉江), Nan-an (南安), Hui-an (惠安), Tong-an (同安), An-xi (安溪)

Zhangzhou

（漳州）

Long-xi （ 龍 溪 ） , Zhao-an （ 詔 安 ） , Ping-ho( 平 和 ), Chang-pu（漳浦）, Nan-jing（南靖）, Chang-tai（長泰）, Hai-cheng（海澄）

Dingzhou

（汀州）

Yong-ding（永定）

Xinghua

（興化）

Pu-tian（莆田）, Xian-you（仙遊）

Yue group

（粵族）

Huizhou

（惠州）

Hai-feng（海豐）, Gui-shan（歸善）, Bo-luo（博羅）, Chang-ning（長寧）, Yong-an（永安）, Lu-feng（陸豐）, Long-chuan（龍川）, He-yuan（河源）, He-ping（和平）

Chaozhou (潮州)

Chao-yang（潮陽）, Hai-yang（海陽）, Feng-shun（豐 順）, Jie-yang（揭揚）, Da-pu（大埔）, Rao-ping（饒平）, Hui-lai（惠來）, Cheng-hai（澄海）, Pu-ning（普寧）

Jiaying

（嘉應）

Zhen-ping (鎮平), Ping-yuan（平遠）, Xing-ning（興寧）, Chang-le（常樂）

Table I Hometown of Taiwan immigrants

Abe called people from Fukien the “Min group” (閩族) and people from Canton

the “Yue group” (粵族), but this grouping criterion by the province they emigrated

from has some problems. Language can best represent a certain group. For example, we can easily tell Hoklo people from Hakka people because these two languages are distinctive. Even though it is true that most people from Fukien speak Hoklo and people from Canton speak Hakka, but there were people from Canton who spoke Hoklo and there were people from Fukien who spoke Hakka. There were more Hakka speakers than Hoklo speakers in Yong-ding (永定), Dingzhou prefecture (汀州府) of Fukien province. Besides Yong-ding, Zhao-an (詔安) of Zhangzhou prefecture is

another area where Hakka people inhabit Fukien province. There are several dying Hakka dialect islands in Yun-lin and Jia-yi. The inhabitants are descendants of speakers of Zhao-an Hakka who immigrated from Zhao-an prefecture of Fukien province. Chaozhou prefecture of Canton province had the contrary phenomenon.

Chaozhou prefecture contains nine counties, with Da-pu (大埔) and Feng-shun (豐順) being pure Hakka, while Cheng-hai (澄海) being pure Hoklo. Except for these three

counties, the other six are similar in having a Hoklo major Hakka minor condition (Wu, 2001) with a majority of inhabitants being Hoklo speakers and the minority of inhabitants being Hakka speakers. So we can conclude from the above discussion that there are Hakka speakers in Fukien province and Hoklo speakers in Canton province as well.

Concerning Hakka groups in Taiwan, people from Zhen-ping (鎮平), Ping-yuan（平

遠）, Xing-ning（興寧）, Chang-le （長樂）Counties of Jia-ying prefecture (嘉應 州) comprise the biggest group, and they are so-called “Si Xian Ke” (四縣客), i.e.

Hakka speakers from the four counties. There are two places in Taichung City named Zhen-ping, and they are believed to be the communities of Zhen-ping immigrants during an earlier date of development. The second largest group comes from Hai-feng and Lu-feng. Immigrants coming from these two counties of Huizhou prefecture, Canton are so-called “Hai Lu Ke”(海陸客). The third largest group of Hakka speakers are Da-pu Hakkas which centered around Dong-shi (東勢), Shi-gang (石岡), Xin-she (新社) Townships of Taichung County. Hakka people from Zhao-an, Rao-ping of

Changzhou prefecture are relatively diffused in the central and northern part of Taiwan.

　 It maybe true that it was Hakka people who started the work of development in

central Taiwan, but Hoklo people should be accredited with the lion’s share of pioneering work of development. Shi Shi-bang (施世榜), who constructed the Ba Bao Irrigation Ditch (八堡圳) and Shi-wu Zhuang Irrigation Ditch (十五庄圳), came from Jin-jiang county (晉江縣) of Quanzhou prefecture (Lin, 1998). The Ba Bao Ditch

uses the water from the Zhuo-sui Xi to irrigate the southeastern fields of Passoua

(Chang-hwa). It was the greatest irrigation work of Taiwan of the Ching Dynasty,

which laid the cornerstone for the development of central Taiwan.

2. The Development of Central Taiwan

Taiwan’s development is a long progression. We will discuss the issue of development from both diachronic and synchronic aspects, first noting the progress of development to be followed by the ways of development.

2.1 Progress of Development

Because Spanish territory was limited to the northern part of Taiwan during 17

century, central Taiwan’s development had to wait until the Dutch occupation which only lasted for twenty years (1642-1661). Continuous cultivation on the whole island started from the Ching dynasty. We will discuss it along the time axis in the following sections.

2.1.1 Dutch Occupation

Generally speaking, the Dutch started to develop Taiwan from the south and

gradually moved north. Thus they spent relatively more time and energy in central

Taiwan than the greater Taipei area. However, missionary work and the extraction of

natural resources had always been their main focus, and they ruled the island without

any long-term management plans. Thus most development affairs were authorized to

the chiefs of the Pingpu groups. Only few wells and farms were directly owned by the

Dutch, and their purposes were mainly for self-supply. In Shalu Township of Taichung

County there was a place called Hong-mao Well (紅毛井), which was dug by the

Dutch, for people in Taiwan usually used the term “Hong-mao”, meaning “red-hair”, to refer to Europeans. Another example was “Wang-tien”(王田), which means “king’s

field” and referred to the field owned by the King of Netherland. It was located in Da-du Township of Taichung County (Chen, 1998).

Although the Dutch did not have much direct contribution to the development of central Taiwan, the village list they kept for tax collecting purpose, which was written in Dutch, has become a valuable witness of the Pingpu groups’ distribution. In addition, they translated the Bible into certain Pingpu languages for missionary work, which has also become an important document in studying Pingpu languages in the area.

2.1.2 Ming Zheng

　 In 1661 AD Zheng Cheng-gong (鄭成功) chased the Dutch out of the island and

declared Taiwan “East Capital “of the Ming regime, serving as the base for the recovery of the Chinese mainland. Zheng, realizing that it would take a long time to achieve a complete recovery, applied “army of farmers” (寓兵於農) policy in his

administration training his soldiers to be farmers when not at war. He used troops to open up uncultivated lands, starting from Tainan and moving both south and north.

Han immigrants from the nearby Fukien and Canton provinces were recruited to join

the cultivation. It was the first time in the history of Taiwan when organized

development was formed. Because the soldiers were the main force in agricultural affairs, all the places in central Taiwan which were named after the words “Ying-pan”

(營盤, meaning “military camp”) were once operated by Zheng’s army, such as

“Ying-pan-ko” (營盤口) in Da-jia Township of Taichung County and Nan-tou City,

“Ying-pan-nei” (營盤內, Da-du Township of Taichung County) and “Ying-pan-pu”

(營盤埔) in He-mei Township (和美鎮) of Chang-hwa County. We can tell from these

place names that originally they must be places which were easily defended but difficult to access. As the Ming Zheng regime merely lasted for about twenty years, their contribution to the development of central Taiwan was only marginally felt.

2.1.3 Ching Dynasty

Ming Zheng’s government gave in to the Ching regime in 1683 and Taiwan became a part of China the in 23

year of Emperor Kang-xi (康熙). A period of steady

development, which lasted for more than 300 years, began. During that long period

the administrative system of Taiwan went through several changes (Abe, 1994):

Time Prefecture County(縣)/Ting(廳) Total

1684

(part of Fukien province)

Taiwan (台灣府)

Taiwan (台灣縣), Feng-shan (鳳山縣), Zhu-luo (諸羅縣)

1 prefecture 3 counties

1723 Taiwan (台灣府)

Taiwan ( 台 灣 縣 ), Feng-shan ( 鳳 山 縣),Peng-hu (澎湖廳), Zhu-luo (諸羅 縣), Chang-hwa (彰化縣), Dan-shui (淡水廳)

1 prefecture 4 counties 2 tings 1812 Taiwan

(台灣府)

Taiwan (台灣縣), Feng-shan (鳳山縣), Peng-hu ( 澎 湖 廳 ), Jia-yi ( 嘉 義 縣 ), Chang-hwa (彰化縣), Dan-shui (淡水 廳)

1 prefecture 4 counties 2 tings

1874 Taiwan (台灣府)

Taiwan (台灣縣), Feng-shan (鳳山縣), Heng-cun (恆春縣), Peng-hu (澎湖廳), Jia-yi (嘉義縣), Chang-hwa (彰化縣), Dan-shui (淡水廳), Ge-ma-lan (葛瑪蘭 廳), Bei-nan (卑南廳)

1 prefecture 5 counties 4 tings

Taiwan (台灣府)

Taiwan (台灣縣), Feng-shan (鳳山縣), Heng-cun (恆春縣), Peng-hu (澎湖廳), Jia-yi ( 嘉 義 縣 ), Chang-hwa ( 彰 化 縣),Pu-li-she (埔里社廳), Bei-nan (卑 南廳)

1875

Taipei (台北 府)

Hsin-chu (新竹縣), Dan-shui (淡水縣), Kee-long (基隆廳), Yi-lan (宜蘭縣)

2 prefecture 4 counties 8 tings

Tainan (台南府)

An-peng (安平縣), Feng-shan (鳳山 縣), Heng-cun (恆春縣), Peng-hu (澎湖 廳), Jia-yi (嘉義縣)

Taiwan (台灣府)

Chang-hwa (彰化縣),Pu-li-she (埔里社 廳), Yun-lin (雲林縣), Taiwan (台灣 縣), Miao-li (苗栗縣)

Taipei (台北 府)

Hsin-chu (新竹縣), Dan-shui (淡水縣), Kee-long (基隆廳), Yi-lan (宜蘭縣) 1888

(became an independent province)

Taidong State (台東直隸州)

3 prefecture 11 counties 4 tings 1 state

Table II Administrative System of Taiwan during the Ching Dynasty

　 From Table II we can see that the development of Taiwan follows a general trend;

spreading from the south to the north along the seaboard plains, and then step by step extending to the basins and finally to the foothills of the Central Mountain Range.

In the beginning, central and northern Taiwan were still kept very natural. Contrary

to the south, which had long been cultivated by the Dutch and Ming Zheng, most part of central Taiwan were the Pingpu groups’ territory. This can be seen from some old maps. A lot of place names were called “X She” (X 社, name of a certain village),

implying that the inhabitants were Pingpu people. Place names containing the word

“lu” (鹿, deer) possibly once belonged to the Pingpu groups’ deer-hunting fields, such as “Lu liao” ( 鹿 寮 , deer cottage) (e.g. Lu-feng and Lu-liaoVillages of

Sha-luTownship in Taichung County), which means “a cottage for deer-hunting or for raising deer”. Siraya, a Pingpu group which inhabited the Jia-nan Plain (嘉南平原), had been well known as “Deer chasers” (追鹿人).

Nevertheless, not every place name which has the word “lu” (鹿) is related to

deer-hunting or deer-raising. “Sha-lu” ( 沙 鹿 , sand deer), a township name of

Taichung City, actually has nothing to do with deer, for its Hoklo pronunciation is

“Sua-la” but not “Sua-lo”. It was transliterated from the Pingpu Papora group’s

village name “Salach”. If we try to understand the meaning of this place name only by

its Han Chinese characters and Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, we would easily be

misled. Besides “Sha-lu”, there is a place in Ching-shui Township (清水鎮) of Taichung County called “Wu-lu” (武鹿, fighting deer), which is not related to real

deer business either. According to Dutch document, this place name might be transliterated from Pingpu Papora group’s village name “Bodor”, to which their Hoklo pronunciations were quite similar.

　 In the beginning of this development period all of central and northern Taiwan

was under the administration of Zhu-luo County (諸羅縣), and very few places in the

region were cultivated. It is believed that the development of central Taiwan started in the 44

year of Emperor Kang-xi (1705), when Chang Kuo (張國), who came from

Quanzhou of Fukien province, applied for permission to cultivate the land of Babuza (貓霧揀), and built Chang-Xing Village (張興莊), including Nan-tun District of now Taichung City, which was called “Li-tou Dien” (犁頭店, plow shop) at that time. In

the year 1731 AD, the Ching government set up the Babuza police office at this place, and Li-tou Dien thus became a crucial location in the development of Taichung area (Lin, 1998). Chang Kuo can be taken as a pioneer, but development on a big scale had already begun in 1723 AD, when Chang-hwa County was split from Zhu-luo County (諸羅縣), becoming an independent administration unit governing central Taiwan. It

was approximately at the same period that the greater Taipei area began its big-scale

development. Chang Da-jing (張達京), mentioned earlier, entered the northern part of

Taichung basin at this stage. Together with Chang-xing Village (張興莊) from the

south, Chang Da-jing’s group developed the greater Taichung area step by step.

　 The climax of the development in the Taichung area during the Ching dynasty was

in 1888 when Taiwan was set apart from Fukien Province to become an independent Province, with Taichung County selected to be the capital. Taichung had long been under the administration of Chang-hwa County, for the latter controlled Lu-kang (鹿 港), which was the second largest seaport city of Taiwan at that time. In the 13

year

of Emperor Guang-xu (光緒) (1888) the first governor of Taiwan Province, Liu Ming-chuan(劉銘傳), chose Taichung to be the capital because it was strategically

situated in the center of Taiwan. Taichung then became the seat of the provincial government which used to be located in Tainan. However, partly because they had problems with the budget of the city and railway construction, and partly because there was a sharp rise in the importance of Taipei, the succeeding governor Shao You-lian(邵友濂) moved the capital to Taipei in 1891, taking away the glory of

Taichung which lasted for only four years (Zhao, 1998).

2.1.4 Japanese Colonization

　 Japan took over Taiwan in 1895 immediately after the Jia-wu Sino-Japanese War,

and the administrative organization of Taiwan went through seven modifications

during their fifty-year rule of the island. Differing from the Ching Dynasty, the

modification in Japanese colonization was not due to the administrative needs arising from development progress. As an intruding government, Japanese came to know Taiwan better and better throughout the years. And as they made progress, they adjusted their idea of how to rule the place more efficiently. Meanwhile, each Japanese governor of Taiwan had their own personal convictions, which can be seen from the fact that most modifications took place in the first half of the occupation and the intervals among them were quite short (see Appendix 1). Take the forth and the fifth for example, the interval between them was only six months.

　 In general, the Japanese inherited Taiwan’s original place names in the higher

administrative levels, such as Taichung and Tainan. But as for local place names, there were significant changes, which we will discuss in a later section.

　 Japanese Taiwan policies were aggressive, active and top-down in every aspect.

Since governance was highhanded, resistance was continuous in the beginning. But as

a whole, society was stable and people in Taiwan also experienced living

improvement through submission to the Japanese government. Railroads were

extended, production of rice and sugar increased, post and telecommunication became

popularized, etc.—all these economic achievements led to a steady population

increase. The population of Taiwan was more than doubled in this 50-year period,

from 2.6 million in 1895 to 6.5 million in 1945.

China had had a long tradition in agricultural development, and the abundant natural resources were one of the main reasons for Japan to occupy Taiwan. “Industrial Japan, agricultural Taiwan” was Japan government’s guiding principle in the beginning.

Taiwan was in sub-tropics, and the demands of rice and sugar in Japan were mainly met by imports from Taiwan. Old sugar workshops became modern sugar factories.

Yu-mei Sugar Factory (月眉糖廠), in Hou-li Township (后里鄉) of Taichung County, used to be called “Da-jia Zhi Tang Suo”(大甲製糖所) and was in the northern line of

sugar production.

This economic type started to change in 1930, however, because Japan began to be involved in World War II. Since they needed help from Taiwan, the Japanese government changed their governing policies in Taiwan into one of industrialization, which for better or for worse set off the industrialization process in Taiwan.

2.1.5 Republic of China

After Taiwan was returned to China, numerous soldiers and citizens moved to

Taiwan along with the government of the Republic of China in 1949. Different from

the majority immigrants from Fukien and Canton Provinces, who had stayed in

Taiwan for several generations, Han immigrants in this period of time mainly came

from the other provinces, and they came to be called “mainlanders”. These people

were mainly soldiers and government officials. Since they dwelled in military

communities and government dormitories, they were seldom involved in agricultural cultivation. Furthermore, since they have stayed in Taiwan for only about 60 years, their influence can not be investigated in local place names. On the other hand, since this group of people constituted the ruling class in Taiwan for a decade or two after their arrival, many official place names were renamed in a fashion similar to what they have in mainland China. Take Taichung City for example. Almost all city streets were renamed after the names of certain cities in China such as “Shen-yang Road”(瀋 陽路), “Shan-xi Road”(山西路), “Tien-jin Street”(天津街), etc.

2.2 The Ways of Development

The ways of development can be categorized into cultivation and trade dimensions.

They are not independent from each other but the relationship is rather that of mutual influence, for products from cultivation are the sources of trading. And prosperous trade would in turn attract more people to participate in development activities.

2.2.1 Cultivation

　 Three hundred years ago central Taiwan was quite wild, full of wetlands, bushes

and forests. At that time Austronesian people were the main inhabitants. Thus to Han

people, cultivation was a tough and risky task. They had to face natural disasters and

fight for the ownership of fields and water. Although the manufacturing and service

industry have become the main economic activities in modern central Taiwan, all

these were later developed on the basis of earlier agricultural developments. Even though the scenery has been totally changed, the ancestors’ hard work in building their homes has still left some traces in our place names. Through these clues, we can somehow reconstruct the history of central Taiwan in its early development period.

We will discuss the issue of cultivation from the aspects of organization, defense and barriers, measurement of area and tax collecting bureau, irrigation, implements and storehouse, and workshop.

2.2.1.1 Organization

　 There was a great difference in the organization of cultivation between the south

and the north of Taiwan. No matter whether they were cultivating king’s field during the Dutch occupation or “Ying-pan Farm” for Ming Zheng, these farmers needed to get people from the same hometown in the mainland, or their relatives from the same family, to cultivate together because they were powerless as individuals. Many place names reflect these phenomena, such as Quanzhou Village (泉州厝) and Huang Village (黃厝庄). On the other hand, the “Chief Cultivator System” (墾首制) was

popular in the north. This was because during the Ching period, the scale of

cultivation had become greater. And if a chief cultivator wanted to acquire land

cultivation right, he had to apply to the government first. Then the government would

send officials to investigate whether the land under application fell in the area

administered by the local government, i.e. it did not cross the barrier which separated the Han people from the Austronesians. If it was not, the chief cultivator would receive a license, giving him the right to cultivate that land (Wen, 1988). Central Taiwan started its cultivation activities at approximately the same time as the north, thus in cultivating organization it was also close to Chief Cultivator System in the north.

When a chief cultivator got the right, he would start to recruit tenant-farmers to join

the cultivation project. However, since cultivation demanded great amounts of capital, such as for the construction of irrigation ditches, thus they often raised funds through selling shares, like a modern corporation. Interpreter Chang Da-jing (張達京), mentioned earlier, used “Chang Zhen-wan” (張振萬) as the name for his cultivation

corporation, and invited five other investors to form the famous “Six-house Cultivation Company” (六館業戶) and dug the “Hu-lu-dun Ditch” (葫蘆墩圳). When

the cultivation work was completed, the land was then divided into shares for these share holders, and normally these places were named after the portion or order of the share (Hong, 1980). Take Bei-tun District of Taichung City as an example. There are place names such as “Er-fen pu” (二分埔, the second share plain) and “San-fen Pu”

(三分埔, the third share plain), which belonged to Chin Ting-jian (秦廷鑑), one of the

share holders.

2.2.1.2 Defense and Steles

Various protective measures were adopted by the Ching government to protect Han people from Austronesian people. To begin with, they required Han people to cultivate within their territory by setting up steles on the boundary, normally called

“Shi pai” as a warning signpost. There is “Shi pai”(石牌) station on Taipei’s MRT

route. In central Taiwan there are several similar place names. For example

“Jiu-bai-a”(Hoklo pronunciation of 石碑仔), which is in Xi-tun District, Taichung City. Besides Shi pai, “Tu-niu” (土牛, mud cow) is another kind of boundary marker

separating Han people from Austronesian people. In the 25

year of Emperor Qian-long severe fighting brake out in Shi-gang Township (石岡鄉). The fighting

lasted for a long time, and the government had to step in by agreeing to dig a deep trench separating the two groups. The mud was pilled like mud cows to mark the boundary line. Therefore “Tu-niu” has become the place name of a certain place, for example “Tu-niu Village” (土牛村) in Shi-gang Township (石岡鄉).

Even though there were concrete steles to mark the boundary, conflicts between

Han and Austronesain people still can not be totally avoided. In order to defend

themselves from the Austronesain people, especially those of mountain groups, Han

people often built defenses along the border to protect themselves. “Mu-zha” (木柵,

wood barrier) was the most common one. Upstream of “Wu Xi” (烏溪) there was a

stream which was called “Nei Mu-zha Xi” (內木柵溪) in the past. Now it belongs to Tu-cheng Village (土城里), Tsao-tun Township (草屯鎮) in Nan-tou County (南投縣).

From the names of Mu-zha and Tu-cheng we can tell that this place must have suffered a lot of attacks from Austronesian people, probably the Atayal. “Tu-cheng” is a kind of wall built with clods of soil, and there are other places called Tu-cheng as well, such as Tu-cheng Village (土城村) of Wai-pu Township (外埔鄉) and Tu-cheng (塗城) of Da-li City (大里市) in Taichung County. Another defense related word is

“Ai” (隘) meaning a narrow pass. In Ji-ji Township (集集鎮) there is an old place name “Ai Liao”( 隘 寮 ), meaning “cottage for guards”, for there were guards

protecting people from an Atayal attack.

In addition to Nan-tou, Miao-li (苗栗) and Dong-shi (東勢) were also close to

Atayal’s territory. People had to work in the fields and defend the Atayal’s attack at the same time. Thus they used stones to build up walls for protection. So both these places have old an place name “Shi Wei-qiang” (石圍牆, stone walls).

　 Not only places near the mountain areas needed defense, plain area also had

security problems. There is a township in Chang-hwa County (彰化縣) called “Da Cheng” (大城), because there were many armed fights in the Ching Dynasty. Thus

inhabitants piled up soil clods as walls for self-defense.

2.2.1.3 Measurement of Area and Tax Collecting Bureau

“Jia” (甲) has been used as a basic unit for the measurement of area in Taiwan since

Dutch occupation. It should be the transliteration of the Dutch word “acre” (Tsao, 2004). There are many place names containing the word “jia”. For example, “Shi Jia”

(十甲) in Dong District of Taichung City. This place name came from a new

cultivated land which was about ten acres. However, not every place name which contains “jia” refers to measured units. Da-jia Township is famous for its Ma-zhu Temple. But “Da-jia” is transliterated from a Pingpu group, “Taokas,” for Da-jia’s Hoklo pronunciation “Dai-ga” is close to “Taokas”.

“Chang-li” (張犁) is another measure unit. Five acres equals one chang-li. This is

because one chang-li can be used to cultivate a land of five acres (Hong, 1980).

Central Taiwan has many place names containing the word “chang-li”, like “Si Chang-li “ (四張犁, in today’s Taichung City), ”Liu Chang-li” (六張犁, in Today’s Da-ya Township of Taichung County), ”Upper Qi Chang-li “ (上七張犁)、”Lower Qi Chang-li “ (下七張犁)、”Ba Chang-li” (八張犁)、”Jiu Chang-li” (九張犁, in today’s Taichung County), ”San-shi Chang-li” ( 三 十 張 犁 , today’s Bei-tun District of

Taichung City), etc.

Tenant-farmers had to pay a certain amount of their product to the chief cultivator

of the tax collecting bureau, which was often called “Gong-guan” (公館). Gong-guan

had two functions: one was to serve as a protected area to collect grains and the other was to serve as dormitories for officials or tax collectors. In Taiwan Gong-guan mainly functioned as the former one, and place names which contain “Gong-guan”

can be found in many places, such as Gong-guan Township (公館鄉) of Miao-li County, Gong-guanVillage (公館村) of Hou-li Township (后里鄉) in Taichung County, Taichung City, Da-cheng Township (大城鄉) of Chang-hwa County and Xi-luoTownship (西螺鎮) of Yun-linCounty (雲林縣).

2.2.1.4 Irrigation

Rice was the main grain product Han people’s cultivated. It required a large amount of water, and ditches and ponds were basic facilities for irrigation. Ditches of various sizes spread out over central Taiwan, and “Ba-bao Ditch” ( 八 堡 圳 ,

eight-district Ditch) was the most important one. Ba-bao Ditch, dug in the time of Emperor Kang-xi (康熙), was the greatest irrigation facility of Taiwan created during the Ching Dynasty. It was constructed by Shih Shi-bang(施世榜) who came from Quanzhou. Thus it was also known as “Shih-cuo Ditch” (施厝圳). The reason why it

was called “Ba-bao” was because its irrigation scope covered eight districts, including

Dong-luo Dong Bao (東螺東堡), Dong-luo Xi Bao(東螺西堡), Wu-dong Bao(武東

堡), Wu-xi Bao (武西堡), Yan-wu Upper Bao (燕霧上堡), Yan-wu lower Bao (燕霧

下 堡 ), Ma-zhi Bao ( 馬 芝 堡 ) and Xian-dong Bao ( 線 東 堡 ), corresponding

approximately to present-day Er-shui (二水), Tien-zhong (田中), Tien-wei (田尾), Yung-jing (永靖), She-tou (社頭), Yuan-lin (員林), Xi-hu (溪湖), Da-tsun (大村), Hua-tan (花壇), Shou-shui (秀水), Fu-xing (福興), Lu-gong (鹿港), Pu-yan (埔鹽), He-mei (和美), Pi-tou (埤頭), Xi-zhong (溪洲) and Chang-hwa (彰化市), eighteen

townships in Chang-hwa County. In terms of area, this amounts to about half of Chang-hwa County. It thus played a crucial role in the development of Chang-hwa.

Although these ditches made great contributions towards cultivating central Taiwan, they sometimes created problems for the area as well. “Shui-nan” (水湳), which is in Bei-tun District (北屯區) of Taichung City, received its name because this area was surrounded by a number of branches of Ba-bao Ditch (八寶圳). The ditches caused

low-lying wetland areas to have great difficulties draining. The waterlogged land thus became constantly muddy and was called “Shui-nan”, the record character of which in Hoklo pronunciation was “L’am”. “L’am” refers to low-lying muddy land. The word

“Nan” (湳) is quite common in place names in this area, “Da-nan” (大湳) of Feng-yun County, “Liu-shu-nan” ( 柳 樹 湳 ) of Wu-feng Township ( 霧 峰 鄉 ),

“Lu-chu-nan” ( 蘆 竹 湳 ) of Wu-ri Township ( 烏 日 鄉 ), “Tsao-nan” ( 草 湳 ) of Ching-shui Township (清水鎮) in Taichung County were good examples in central

Taiwan.

Ditches normally exist in plain areas, where geographical features are relatively

simple. Thus these irrigation ditches were often used to mark a certain place. There are also many place names containing the word “cun” (圳, ditch), like “Cun liao” (圳 寮, in today’s Feng-yun City of Taichung County), “Cun-liao Keng” (圳寮坑, in

today’s Hou-li Township of Taichung County), “Cun du” (圳堵, in today’s Ching-shui Township of Taichung County), “Heng cun” (橫圳, in today’s Da-jia Township of

Taichung County).

Building a ditch was not an easy job. Sometimes due to the uneven geographical

features of the area, special arrangements had to be made. Sometimes because the ditch has to cross over another natural stream, large conduits called “king” (枧) have to be made. Since Hoklo 枧 (king) is pronounced the same as 景 (scenery), many place names related to 枧 (king) were written as 景. For example the place name 景 美 in Taipei was actually written as 筧尾 in earlier records, meaning the end of the

conduit (筧). It was only much later that it was replaced by 景美, meaning a scenic

spot, as part of the effort to make place names sound more elegant. In Taichung City there is also a place called “Shui-jing tou” (水景頭). The place was so named for a

similar reason, i.e., as a large conduit carrying ditch water was built. People started to dwell around the head of the water pipe and this new community became associated with it. Another similar place name is “Shui-ban tou” (水汴頭). It was a name given

to communities located near a ditch division gate.

Besides ditches, ponds used for water storage are another kind of irrigation facility.

Chang-hwa County has a township called “Pi-tou” (埤頭). It acquired its name

because the original community was located around the head of an irrigation pond.

Another township “Zhu-tang” (竹塘) was named because, in the beginning, the

cultivators dug the ponds for water storage, and because at that time there was much bamboo growing around these ponds, the place was called bamboo pond (竹塘). Note that 埤 can also be written as 陂, but 陂 is often changed to 坡, which in its written form looks similar to 陂, but it actually means “a slope” rather than “a pond”.

2.2.1.5 Implements and Storehouse

Beside serving as a unit of measurement, “Li” (犁, plow) itself is an agricultural

implement. Nan-tun District was one of the earliest developing areas in Taichung, and it was called “Li-tou Dien Street” (犁頭店街), for there was a street where all shops sold plows. Another implement related word is “Shui-zhui” (水碓). It referred to an

instrument using water to pound rice, and there used to be a Shui-zhui in the stream in Nan-tun District, so the place was named after that.

Cows also played a very important role in the cultivating period. Thus place names

like “Niu-chou” (牛稠, “Gu-diao” in Hoklo pronunciation, barn), “Niu-pu” (牛埔,

“Gu-bo” in Hoklo, a farm to keep cows), and “Niu-xu” (牛墟, a place for cow

exchange) can be found all over Taiwan. In central Taiwan, there are “Niu-xu” (牛墟,

in today’s Miao-li County), “Ha-gu-bo” (Hoklo pronunciation of 下牛埔, in today’s Ching-shui Township 清水鎮) and many others containing the word “Gu-bo” (牛埔).

As for ”Gu-diao” (牛稠), there are “Ha-gu-diao” (下牛稠, in today’s Da-cheng Township 大城鄉), “Gu-diao-a” (牛稠子, in today’s Chang-hwa County), etc. Also note that 「芙朝」or「扶朝」(pronounced as “fu-diao” in Hoklo) is a variation of the Hoklo pronunciation of 牛稠.

“Gu-ting” (古亭) was a kind of storage facility. It should be the shortened form of

“Gu-ting Ben” (古亭笨) (Hong, 1980). Gu-ting Ben’s shape was like a drum, made by

weaving bamboo sticks and then spreading mud outside as a cover, which was very common in old villages. For example, in Ji-ji Township (集集鎮) there was a place called “Gu-ting Ben” (Chen, 1998). Besides Gu-ting, “Tu-ku” (土庫) was another

kind of storage and defense facility. Both Taichung City and Chang-hwa County have places named “Tu-ku”. There is even a township in Yun-lin County (雲林縣) named

“Tu-ku”.

2.2.1.6 Workshop

　 Taiwan is in the sub-tropics, and consequently sugar production is an important

industry. Taiwan has long been the sugar supplier for Japan. Before sugar production

was mechanized, brown sugar was the main product of Taiwan’s sugar industry. They

were produced in old-fashion workshops, which were near sugar cane fields, called

“Bu-zi” (廍子, “pho-a” in Hoklo). 廍 is pronounced “pho” in Hoklo, but since most Chinese dictionaries do not contain this word, 部 is often used instead of 廍, which

lost its original meaning. In central Taiwan there are quite a few place names containing this word, such as “Pho-a” ( Hoklo pronunciation of 廍子, in today’s Wai-pu Township 外埔鄉 of Taichung County, Taichung City and Pu-yan Township 埔鹽鄉 of Chang-hwa County), “Jia-pho” (Hoklo pronunciation of 蔗廍, in today’s

Da-du Township 大肚鄉 of Taichung County), etc (Chen, 1995).

2.2.2 Trade

　 Trade and transportation are highly related. Railways and roads were not popular in

the past, thus goods exchange mainly relied on water transportation, so big rivers were often used for business. There are four main rivers in central Taiwan: Da-an Xi (大安溪), Da-jia Xi (大甲溪), Da-du Xi (大肚溪) and Zhou-sui Xi (濁水溪).

However, the first trading harbor of Taichung was “Wu-chi” Harbor (梧棲港),

which was in the mouth of Niu-ma Xi (牛罵溪). Wu-chi originally was named

“Gou-tsei” (五汊), for the river split into five smaller streams as it got close to the mouth (Zhao, 1998). Local elites in 1891 transformed the name 五汊 into 梧棲 according to a poem which reads as follows: “鳳非梧不棲、非靈泉不願、非竹實不 食”. From 1770 (the 35

year of Emperor Qian-long) there had been merchant ships

from Fukien as early as doing business here, exporting rice and camphor to Amoy (廈

門) and Hong Kong and importing cow skin, tung oil, textile and tobacco from Amoy

and Quanzhou. Within fifteen years, Wu-chi Harbor quickly developed into a harbor city. However, due to agricultural cultivation and continuous ditch construction, the water of Niu-ma Xi gradually dried up. The harbor became stagnant and had to be given up in the end. Not until 1970 was there a new harbor built. This harbor, now known as Taichung Harbor, started to be built on the same site, while the river mouth has moved several hundreds meters out into the sea.

　 Tu-ge ku Harbor (塗葛堀港) sat in the mouth of Da-du Xi, “Tu-ge” means “clods

of soil” in Hoklo, for there were many “tu-ge cu” (土角厝), which were houses built

of soil clods. At that time Da-du Xi was quite deep, and many merchant ships having their home base there sailed to Fukien and Amoy from there. So its prosperity was once close to Lu-gang (鹿港). During the reign of Emperor Guang-xu the harbor was

destroyed by a flood, so it was buried in the riverbed of Da-du Xi.

　 Another harbor which experienced the same fate was Da-an Harbor. Da-an Harbor

was in Da-jia, springing up at the same period as the former two harbors. It also was an important merchant harbor in central Taiwan, exporting rice and tea and importing textile and food. Beside business, Da-an harbor also served as a military harbor.

Unfortunately, because Da-jia Xi and Da-an Xi had severe floods around the same

time, Da-an Harbor soon ceased to function (Zhao, 1998).

Most harbors in central Taiwan only existed at or near the mouth of a river and almost none of them could support shipping along the river. Lu-gang was the only exception. Lu-gang was in the mouth of Zhuo-sui Xi, which flows through most of Chang-hwa County. In 1784 (the 49

year of Emperor Qian-long) Lu-gang got the permission to do business with the harbors in Fukien Province, and became prosperous immediately. At the peak of its operation almost all kinds of trading companies can be found there. When big cargo ships berthed at Lu-gang, goods such as silk, opium and seafood would be shipped by small boats along Da-du Xi and then changed to bamboo rafts to enter Da-li Dai (大里杙). Da-li was transliterated from a village name of Pingpu Babuza group, and “Dai” (杙) means wood pillar, for at that

time the water was quite strong, forcing boats and rafts had to be tied to this wood pillar as it anchored. At that time Da-li was an important river harbor, located in the entrance of Nan-tou from Taichung, so it was once a prosperous city. However, because of the famous revolt by “Lin Shuang-wen Incident” (林爽文事件), Da-li was

almost totally destroyed by the Ching government’s army. Da-li then fell into oblivion

for almost 200 years, only being brought back to life because of the re-organization of

the Taichung area.

3. Ethnic Groups Interactions

In section one we have introduced ethnic groups who were involved in the

development of central Taiwan. They had very close interactions during this period of time, and we will discuss what the interethnic relationship was between the two members of different pairs along the time axis.

3.1 Dutch vs. Austronesian Plain Groups

When the Dutch arrived in Taiwan, most inhabitants were Pingpu. The Dutch treated the Pingpu according to their reaction; if they resisted, the Dutch would suppress them with armed force; if they were submissive, the Dutch would leave the authority for the chief of every village to handle general affairs. But these chiefs had to attend the VOC’s annual assembly to show their loyalty. As of 1636 there had been 57 villages under the Dutch government. In central Taiwan, the most famous event between the Dutch and Pingpu people would be “Da-du Fan Wang” (大肚番王,

Da-du Aboriginal King). In 1642 the Dutch drove the Spanish out of northern Taiwan and had the whole island under their control. They heard from Chinese pirates that between Lu-gang (鹿港) and Dan-sui（淡水）there existed twenty-two villages, and

eighteen of them were ruled by a king called “Quataong”. In 1644 the Dutch sent an

army to conquer these villages from the north to the south in a conflict that lasted for

only six months. According to Dakamura’s book “Study on Taiwan’s History during

the Dutch Occupation” (荷蘭時代台灣史研究), this “Da-du Kingdom” was a

cross-group kingdom. In 1645, when Quataong attained VOC’s annual assembly, he said there were fifteen villages under his control, including Bodor (拍瀑拉族水裡社), Dorida amicien (拍瀑拉族北大肚社), Dorida babat (拍瀑拉族中大肚社), Dorida mato (拍瀑拉族南大肚社), Assocq (巴布薩族阿束社), Abouan tarranogan (拍宰海 族岸裡大社), Abouan auran (拍宰海烏牛欄社), Babosaq (巴布薩族貓霧揀社),

Barariengh (uncertain), tausabato (洪雅族北投社), Kakar barroch (洪雅族貓羅社),

Kakar sackaley, kakar tachabouw, tausa talakey, and Tausa mato (the exact affiliation of the last four villages can not be ascertained, but our guess is that they probably all belonged to the Pingpu Hongya group).

In addition to their top-down governing style, the Dutch also actively spread their

religion through teaching. According to Abe, the Dutch called people who received their religion “Favorlan”. These people were centered around the Lu-gang to Chang-hwa plain, along Da-du Xi, and might have belonged to the Pingpu Babuza group. The Dutch even translated the Bible into the Favorlang language, thus we can infer that there were quite a few Pingpu people who were converted into Christianity at that time.

3.2 Han People vs. Austronesian Plain Groups

Official contact between the Han and Pingpu people started during the reign of

Ming Zheng. Although Zheng Cheng-gong was considered as “Kai-tai Sheng Wang”

(開台聖王), it was a totally different story in the Pingpu people’s eyes. Zheng applied

“army of farmers” policy in Taiwan, using troops to open up uncultivated land, and categorized land into “Guan Tien” (官田, official field), “Si-tien” (私田, private field) and “Ying-pan Tien” (營盤田, army field). Official and army fields both originally

belonged to the Pingpu, but Zheng compelled them to give up their land. Zheng’s Taiwan policy was to construct Taiwan as the base for the restoration of the Ming Dynasty. In order to raise funds for a revolt, Zheng asked each Pingpu individual to pay tax. We can imagine that Pingpu people would stand up to fight against this kind of oppression. Unlike the Dutch, who ruled Taiwan with peaceful dominance, Zheng was a soldier and tended to adopt harsh suppressive measures. There were at least two revolts: the “Da-du Fan Uprising” (大肚番之役) and the “Salach Fan Uprising” (沙轆 番之役) during this period. Tsao-tun Township (草屯鎮) in Nan-tou County was

called “Tsao-xie Dun” (草鞋墩, pile of sandals), because Zheng’s army threw their

broken sandals here on their way to attack the Austronesian people in Pu-li (Lin, 1998). Zheng’s attitude toward the Pingpu was typical “Han chauvinism”, and the Pingpu people’s impression of his regime was even worse than what they had for the Dutch.

The Ching government only separated Han people from “sheng fan” (生番,

uncivilized Austronesian people), thus Han immigrants in the beginning stayed together with Pingpu people, so called “shu fan” (熟番, civilized Austronesian

people). Unlike Ming Zheng’s oppression, the Ching took a different approach towards Austronesian people. They guaranteed their rights of owning land, and as a consequence Han people can only rent the land from Pingpu people. The Ching government also set up interpreters to propagate official orders. In the beginning the interpreters were Han people who can speak the Pingpu language. Since they owned the advantage of language intelligibility, scandals about cheating Pingpu people were often heard. Pazah interpreter Chang Da-jing (張達京) of the irrigation right to

exchange Pingpu people’s land ownership was a notorious example. Han people

gradually got the superior position in economics, and mixed marriages blurred the

distinction between Han and Pingpu people. Meanwhile, many armed conflicts arose

in the central era of the Ching Dynasty, and the Ching government became weaker

and weaker at protecting Pingpu people. In the end they were forced to move to the

inner mountains, to the Pu-li Basin or even to crossing high mountains to the Yi-lan

Plain. Even these migratory moves did not save them from the fate of being

assimilated by the Han, and central Taiwan, once inhabited by five Pingpu groups,

finally became a part of Han society.