How Taiwan Became Chinese
Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century

The incorporation of Taiwan into the early modern European colonial trading networks, and its subsequent incorporation into the Chinese empire, are topics almost completely unexplored in Western language scholarship. This superb monograph not only opens them up but does so in an exciting way by exploring the complex interactions between the European trade diasporas and existing patterns of Asian migration and trade. The author is well acquainted with recent and current debates on the critical transformation taking place in the global economy during the late 16th and 17th centuries, and imaginatively covers a broad range of issues. He argues convincingly, and in wonderfully rich detail, that it was Dutch protection that made possible the slow Chinese colonization of Taiwan-and ultimately its incorporation into China. Andrade brilliantly reminds us of how important the brief episode of European occupation was to the future development of Taiwan, including the birth of its sugar industry.

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Praise for How Taiwan Became Chinese

Lively and deeply researched. . . . [W]ill be an enjoyable, enlightening, and de-centering read for every student of late imperial China and of early modern empire.

—John E. Wills, Jr., University of Southern California (emeritus)

Through the prism of a single island's experiences, Andrade develops implications for the early modern world as a whole. . . . [Brings] the complex dynamics of the period into clear focus [and] offers perceptive insights on the nature of European and Asian colonial expansion in early modern times.

—Jerry Bentley, Editor, Journal of World History

The contemporary standoff between the Republic of China cum "Chinese Taibei" vis-à-vis the People's Republic of China remains a political headache with the potential for causing a global economic downturn. [This] book is the best . . . account that places the present situation in historical context.

—Benjamin Elman, Princeton University

Tonio Andrade accomplishes handsomely three original tasks: He explains how Chinese ethnicity came to dominate Taiwan under non-Chinese leadership; he develops a new theoretical model, that of co-colonization, to explain this transformation; and he demonstrates the relevance of Taiwan's experience to the early modern history of the wider Asian littoral. Withal, his writing is fast-paced and full of arresting anecdotes.

—Victor Lieberman, University of Michigan

[A] masterpiece. . . . Should interest not only scholars of Taiwan History but also . . . those who work on European Expansion, colonialism, and Chinese History. This first monograph on the early history of Taiwan will doubtless become a standard reference.

—Han Jiabao, author of Helan shidai Taiwan de jingji, tudi, yu shuiwu

A wonderful introduction to the global world in the seventeenth century.

—Benjamin Elman, Princeton University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Sources, Romanization, and Nomenclature

Introduction
1. Taiwan on the Eve of Colonization
2. A Scramble for Influence
3. Pax Hollandica
4. La Isla Hermosa: The Rise of the Spanish Colony in Northern Taiwan
5. The Fall of Spanish Taiwan
6. The Birth of Co-Colonization
7. The Challenges of a Chinese Frontier
8. "The Only Bees on Formosa That Give Honey"
9. Lord and Vassal: Company Rule over the Aborigines
10. The Beginning of the End
11. The Fall of Dutch Taiwan
Conclusion

Works Cited
Taiwan in the Mid-Seventeenth Century, Selected Sites
Appendix A: Weights, Measures, and Exchange Rates
Appendix B: Governors-general, Governors, And Missionaries
Appendix C: Income And Outlays In Dutch Taiwan
Appendix D: Taiwan in Antique Maps