40926541taiwan, Hong Kong, and The Pacific, 1895-1945

Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Pacific, 1895-1945
Author(s): MAN-HOUNG LIN

Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 44, No. 5 (SEPTEMBER 2010), pp. 1053-1080
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40926541
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Modern Asian Studies 44, 5 (2010) pp. 1053-1080. Cambridge University Press 2009
doi:10.1017/S0026749X09990370 First published online 2 December 2009
Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Pacific,

1895-1945
MAN-HOUNG LIN*
Academia Histrica, 406 Sec. 2, Beiyi Road,

Xindian, Taipei 23152, Republic of China
E-mail: mhlmh@gate.sinica.edu. tw
Abstract
For the history connecting East Asia with the West, there is much literature
about contact and trade across the Atlantic Ocean from the sixteenth to the
early nineteenth centuries.1 This paper notes the rapid growth of the Pacific
Ocean in linking Asia with the larger world in the early twentieth century b
perceiving the economic relationships between Taiwan and Hong Kong whi
Japan colonized Taiwan. The Pacific route from Taiwan directly to America or
through Japan largely replaced the Hong Kong-Atlantic-Europe-USA route to
move Taiwan's export products to countries in the West. Other than still usin
Hong Kong as a trans-shipping point to connect with the world, Japan utilize
Taiwan as a trans-shipping point to sell Japanese products to South China, and
Taiwan's tea was sold directly to Southeast Asia rather than going through Hong
Kong. Taiwan's exports to Japan took the place of its exports to China. Japanese
and American goods dominated over European goods or Chinese goods from Hon
Kong for Taiwan's import. Japanese and Taiwanese merchants (including some
anti-Japanese merchants) overrode the British and Chinese merchants in Hong
Kong to carry on the Taiwan-Hong Kong trade. America's westward expansion
towards the Pacific, the rise of the Pacific shipping marked by the opening o
the Panama Canal in 1914, and the rise ofjapan relative to China, restructured
intra-Asian relations and those between Asia and the rest of the world.
Introduction
Among the booming intra-Asian trade study relative to works on th

economic history of some particular country within East Asia, Kazu
* I would like to thank Joseph Wicentowski and Robert Bruce Sheeks for their help
in editing preliminary drafts of this paper.
Cf. Rainer F. Buschmann, Oceans in World History (Boston and others: McGraw
Hill, 2007), pp. 76-86.
IO53
1O54 MAN-HOUNG LIN
Hori has worked on the intra-Asian trad

but has not covered the economic relatio
Hong Kong, or between the Pacific and
Takeshi has pointed out the financial n
Korea and Japan in the late-nineteenth c
the leading role of Taiwanese merchants
period in the triangle of remittance transa
Hong Kong, South China and Taiwan, wh
the Shanxi bankers. Furuta Kazuo observed that overseas Chinese in
Kobe helped the sale of British textiles from Shanghai to this port in
the late-nineteenth century.4 By contrast, this paper will describe the
competition between the overseas Chinese, in both Hong Kong and
Taiwan, the Taiwanese, and between the Japanese merchants and the
British merchants for the Taiwan-Hong Kong trade. It will also reflect
the rise of the Pacific powers relative to China and England in Asia in
the 1900S-1940S.
Paul M. Kennedy gave 1897 as the turning point from the zenith
to the fall of Pax Britannica in 1945. More and more England relied
upon Japan, and then America, for naval support in the Far East. Japan
gradually eclipsed the British commercial power in China.5 Study of
the economic relationship between Taiwan and Hong Kong during the
period 1895-1945, reveals a lively local chapter for this shift.
Taiwan studies by John Shepherd and Emma Teng describe
how Taiwan became China's periphery in the Qing period.6 The
introduction in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of Asian Studies
entitled 'Taiwan: A Periphery in Search of a Narrative', focused on the
history of Taiwan. The 'periphery' relates to 'Taiwan as the periphery
2 Hori Kazuo, 'Shokuminchi teikoku Nihon no keizai kz: 1930 nendai wo chshin
ni (The economic structure of the Japanese empire: examining the 1930s)', Nihonshi
kenky, (2001), 462: 26-54.
Takeshi Hamashita, Overseas Chinese financial Networks and Korea, in
Sugiyama Sinya and Linda Grove (ed.), Commercial Networks in Modern Asia (London:
Curzon Press, 2001), pp. KK-70.
4 Kazuo Furuta, 'Kobe Seen as Part of the Shanghai Trading Network: The Role
of Chinese Merchants in the Re-export of Cotton Manufacture to Japan', in Sugihara
Kaoru (ed.), China in the Growth of the Asian International Economy, 1850- 1949 (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 21-48.
5 Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of British Navy Mastery (London: Penguin Books
Ltd., 1976), pp. 119, 155, 221, 261-262, 291, 294.
b John Shepherd, Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan frontier, iboo-
1800 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993); EmmaJ. Teng, Taiwan's Imagined
Geography: Chinese Colonial Travel Writing and Pictures, 1683-1895 (Harvard University
Asia Center, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004).
TAIWAN, HONG KONG, AND THE PACIFIC, 1895-1945 IO55
of China' or 'the east periphery of Taiwan.' This paper, however, will

describe how Taiwan was transformed from a 'periphery of China'
into a periphery of Japan, or, from a more structural perspective, a
periphery of the Asia-Pacific world in the Japanese colonial period.
Taiwan's periphery role for the Asia-Pacific world in the post- 1950
cold war period has been discussed by political scientists or diplomatic
historians.7 This paper explores its pre-1945 role.
Research materials for this paper have come from a number of
countries, including the archives of the Japanese Foreign Ministry,
reports on commerce from Japanese Consulates, China's Customs
Service reports, the Commercial Gazetteer dating from the late
Qing period, British consular reports, and reports of the Taiwan
Government-General and the Bank of Taiwan during the Japanese
colonial period. The Taiwan Daily {Taiwan nichinichi shinp), the most
widely read newspaper in Japanese colonial-era Taiwan, and various
biographies compiled during this era have also been much used.8
The first section of this paper relates to the growth of Pacific
shipping lines with the decline of trade relations between Taiwan
and Hong Kong in terms of its percentage in Taiwan's total external
trade and in comparison with the late Qing situation. Section Two will
connect the relative decline of the Taiwan-Hong Kong relation with
Japanese colonial policies and other factors. Section Three describes
how Taiwanese merchants, together with Japanese merchants, made
inroads on the British and Chinese merchants at Hong Kong for the
remaining business between Taiwan and Hong Kong, and for selling
Japanese goods to South China. The paper concludes by exploring the
implications of this study for the history of intra-Asian relations and
the relations between Asia and the rest of the World.
From the Suez Canal to the Panama Canal
After the opening of its harbour in 1842, following the Opium W

Hong Kong developed rather gradually. In the 30-40 years followi
7 For example, Gary Klintworth, New Taiwan, New China: Taiwan's Changing Role
the Asia-Pacific Region (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995); Robert Accinelli, Crisi
Commitment: United States Policy toward Taiwan, 1950-1955 (Chapel Hill and Lond
The University of North Carolina Press, iqq6).
8 Statistics information will be presented more structurally when long-term dat
are available. Where this is impossible, institutional background and qualitati
evidence are provided.
IO56 MAN-HOUNG LIN
the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, however, alo
adoption of a free trade policy in this harbour, the pac
increased markedly,9 turning Hong Kong into a m
East Asian trade, migration and financial remittanc
of opening the Suez Canal decreased the distance b
and Hong Kong by 26 per cent,10 and significantl
expansion of steamship transportation. This is also
through the Suez Canal required passage throu
where winds were unfavourable for sailing vessels.
of the world's merchant ships were wooden sailing
metal-hulled steamships became dominant. Betwee
England possessed two-thirds of the world's steam
Kong was England's largest steamship harbour in
number of ships using Hong Kong's harbour equal
London's harbour.12 In 1913, Hong Kong ranked hi
Asia's main ports in value of trade, being twice as hig
five times that of Taiwan's ports.13 In 1916, Hong
the world's largest port in terms of volume of tonnag
exported, particularly when the First World War ru
of many important harbours.14
Hong Kong's trade consisted mainly of trans-shipp
Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, Europe and Ameri
of Japan, after the Tokugawa opened up to foreign
and American shipping companies established lines
Hong Kong. During the years 1885-1887 the port
most of its goods to Hong Kong, followed by Londo
San Francisco. In 1880, most of the foreign ship
9 Ogura Hirokatsu, Honkon (Hong Kong) (Tokyo: Iwanami Sh

10 Daniel R. Headrick, The Tentacles of Progress, Technology T
Imperialism, 1850-1Q40 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 198
11 Shangwu guanbaoju (ed.), Shangwu guanbao (Commercia
Taiwan shangwu yinshueuan, iQ7i), Wushen, vol. 8, 30.
12 Headrick, The Tentacles, pp. 28, 32. Kennedy, The Rise and
Mastery, p. 207 has an illustrative map to show the important B
coaling stations in the world and Hong Kong's crucial position in
13 Furukawa Hiroshi, Minami Shina kenkyu shi (A study of
Osaka keizai shimbunsha, 1920), p. 168.
14 Taiwan stokufu, Honkon no kinyu kik (Hong Kong s fi
(Taipei: the editor, IQ16), p. 63.
15 Taiwan stokufu kanb chsaka, Honkon y oran (A glance of
the editor, 1936), Minami Shina oyobi nan'yo chsa, no. 55, p.
were British.16 The rise of the European and American lines shipping
between China, Japan, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific,
turned Hong Kong into the pivotal point of the network, linking Asia
with the rest of the world. Many trading firms and other business
organizations benefitted by the availability of shipping, and developed
using Hong Kong as their headquarters. A major example was
Taiwan's largest Western firm, Jardine, Matheson and Company Ltd,
which established its main office in Hong Kong, and only branch offices
at Tianjin, Shanghai, Hankou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Kobe, Yokohama,
Hakata, Shimonoseki, Nagasaki, Jakarta, London, and New
York.17
These developments helped cement Hong Kong's commercial
relationship with Taiwan prior to 1895. Chart 1 shows that during
the years 1871-1895, the final years of Qing rule over Taiwan, the
gross value of trade between Taiwan and Hong Kong was increasing,
especially in the import of Western goods via Hong Kong. The Taiwan
Daily, in an 1899 issue, stated, 'It used to be that Taiwan, Hong Kong,
and Xiamen (Fujian Province) were inseparably interdependent in
commercial development'.18 During the late Qing period, between
1868 and 1895, 93 per cent of Taiwan's outbound camphor shipments
were transferred through Hong Kong en route to other markets. The
remaining 7 per cent went through Xiamen. Taiwan sugar sold to
Europe, America and Australia was transferred through Hong Kong.
Western goods imported into Taiwan were primarily transferred
through Hong Kong and partly through other ports in China. Between
1884 and 1894, 78 per cent of Western goods brought into northern
Taiwan came through Hong Kong; 18 per cent through other ports in
Mainland China, and only 1.4 per cent were directly imported from
England. Of the Western goods brought into southern Taiwan, 86 per
cent came through Hong Kong, 13 per cent from other ports in China,
and only 0.27 per cent and 0.12 per cent respectively were brought
directly from Japan or England.19
16 Chka kaikan (ed.),Rakuchi seikon - Kobe kakyo to Shin-Han chka kaikan no hyakunen
(Indigenization: Overseas Chinese and Chinese association in Kobe and Osaka for
one hundred years) (Tokyo: Kenbun shuppan, 2000), p. 2Q.
17 Taiwan stokufu kanbo chsaka, Honkon voran, d. 12^.
18 Taiwan nichinichi shinto (Tananese section). Meiii 32.1.20.
Man-houng Lin, 'Qingmo Taiwan yu woguo dalu de maoyi xingtai bijiao, 1860-
94' (A comparison of the trade pattern between Taiwan and the Mainland during the
late Qing period), Guoli Taiwan shifan daxue lishi xuebao (Historical bulletin of National
IO58 MAN-HOUNG LIN
Chart 1. Gross value of trade between Taiwan and Hong Kong
Data Source: Huang Fusan, Man-houng Lin, Ong Jiayin comp

haiguan.
After 1905, Japan's development of shipping lines in the Pacific

slowly lessened the reliance on Hong Kong by Japan and Taiwan.
Japanese steamship transportation, begun in 1870, had been
restricted to domestic coastal shipping routes such as those between
Tokyo and Osaka. In late 1884, the Mitsui Company and the Kyd
Shipping Company were competing to monopolize Japanese coastal
shipping. In 1885, tne two companies merged to form the Japan
Post Shipping Company, which operated abroad to China, Korea, and
part of Russia. In 1890, the Osaka Commercial Shipping Company,
a domestic coastal company, expanded to include a Korean line.
Many other Japanese shipping companies started up after the 1905
Russo-Japanese war. Japan extended its steamship lines across the
Pacific only in 1 896, much later than America ( 1 867) , China ( 1 870s) ,
England (late-nineteenth century), or Canada (1891). 20 Also in 1896,
Taiwan Normal University), 6 (May 1978), pp. 215-217. The findings on these pages
were calculated from customs records for these years.
/u Yamataka Goro, Hinomaru sentai shiwa (Stories of Japanese ocean liners) ( 1 okyo:
Chitse shob, 1942), 88; Yu Shengwu, Liu Cunkuan, Shijiu shiji de Xianggang (Hong
Kong in the nineteenth century) (Beijing: Zhonghua shufang, 1994), p. 261.
TAIWAN, HONG KONG, AND THE PACIFIC, 1895-1945 105g
Map 1. The Pacific shipping lines of the Japan Post Shipping Company
Sources: Kobe Museum of History, Nichu rekishi kaid nissennen (Two thousand years of
the sea routes between China and Japan) (Kobe: Kobe Museum of History, 1997),
150.
the Japan Post Shipping Company set up shipping lines across the
Pacific, (see Map 1) and by 1911, it had become one of the world's
major shipping companies.22
After the Russo-Japanese War, development of Japan's Pacific lines,
and the American westward extension and expansion into the Pacific,
reshaped the relationship between Asia and the rest of the world.23 The
following chronological list reveals the pace of American developments
which effected the expansion of transportation across the Pacific:
1849: California was declared a State;

1 854: a 'clipper ship' rounded the tip of South America and arrived
at Hong Kong in 1 18 days;
1869: America's continental railroad was completed;
1898: Hawaii was annexed and the Philippines occupied;
21 Okazaki Yukitoshi, Kaiun (Tokyo: Daiamondosha, 1938), p. 7.

11 Tsurumi Sakio, Nihon boeki shiko (An outline of Japan's trade history) (Tokyo:
Ganshd, 1939), pp. 200, 201, 559.
Kokaze Hidemasa, Teikoku shugika no Nihon kaiun (Maritime transportation under
Japanese empire) (Tokyo: Yamakawa shuppansha, 1995), pp. 5-6, 15-16.
1O6O MAN-HOUNG LIN
1903: Panama was made independen

American control;
1905: planning for the Panama Cana
1914: the Panama Canal was complet
The outbreak of World War I in Eur

development of shipping across the Pac
shipping.25 Before the war, Japan was in
world, but by the end of the war Japan w
nation in shipping. In shipping volume, Ja
the United States of America, but in term
took second place.26 In 1919 it was even
is the Japanese merchant fleet's sphere of
half the regular shipments between East
were Japanese.28 By 1943, Japan was vyin
for domination of the Pacific.29
Expansion of shipping on the Pacific reco
between Asia and the rest of the world. W
Pacific shipping, manyjapan-owned shippin
Hong Kong on their way to San Francisco.
Kobe and Osaka were becoming top port
In 1935-1936 Hong Kong was seventh am
in ship tonnage; while the five top ports,
London, Kobe, Rotterdam and Osaka.31
24 Miura Akio, Kita Taiheiy teiki kyakusenshi (A

shipping lines in the North Pacific) (Tokyo: Shupp
developments in the Pacific contrast with England
the early nineteenth century, English shipping lin
world mostly ran through the Atlantic Ocean. Af
of England's line destinations proceeded as follows
1840; Suez andjakarta, 1842; Ceylon and Hong Ko
1850; Sydney, 1852; Myanmar, 1854; Nagasaki, 1
/D Toda Teijir, Beikoku kaiun shiyo (An outlin
(Tokyo: Niriki Shoten, 1943), pp. 14, 76-101; K
(Maritime history of Taiwan) (Taipei: Taiwan kai
26 Okazaki Y ukitoshi, Kaiun, p. 265.
27 Taiwan gink chsaka, Nanshi Nan'y ni okeru
Japanese in the Southeast Asia) (Taipei: the edit
28 Okazaki Yukitoshi, Kaiun, p. 9.
29 Toda Teiiir, Beikoku kaiun shiy, p. si-
30 Taiwan Stokufu Kanb Chsaka, Minami Shin
31 Onishi Isuki, Honkon to Kainanto (Hong Kong
Simbunsha, 1939), p. 52.
TAIWAN, HONG KONG, AND THE PACIFIC, 1895-1945 io6l
Along with the growth of Japanese shipping lines in the Pacific,

Taiwan's direct trade with Southeast Asia, Japan, and America grew
and slowly took over part of Hong Kong's transfer trade.
Direct exports from Taiwan to Southeast Asia gradually increased
after the Taiwan-Southeast Asian steamship route was opened by
Japan in 191 1.32 In the early Japanese colonial period, Taiwan's
baozhong tea (a kind of green tea with a flowery fragrance) was
still shipped from Danshui (Tamsui) in northern Taiwan to Xiamen,
and then onwards to Hong Kong, where it was trans-shipped to Java,
Bankok, and other Southeast Asian cities for the overseas Chinese
market. It was in 1911 that the Japanese government first subsidized
the Kobe-Southeast Asia route, shipping a portion of Taiwan baozhong
tea (a blend scented with flowers) to Southeast Asia via Jilong
(Keelung, a port in Northern Taiwan) and Hong Kong. In 1913 the
Japanese government opened direct shipping from Jilong to Java.33
Expanded shipping strengthened the trade between Taiwan and
Japan. In particular, the Osaka Commercial Shipping Company
and the Japan Post Shipping Company agreed to lower prices for
shipping between Japan and Taiwan and along Taiwan's coast. Most
significantly, they agreed to halve the price for special products from
Taiwan, such as camphor, camphor oil, sugar, seaweed, salt, and
oolong tea (a blend between green and black tea).34 The shipping-cost
reduction for Taiwanese goods to Japan made this route preferable
over the old route through Xiamen. The shipping cost for Taiwanese
tea bound for America sent through Xiamen was 1.33 times the cost
through Kobe.35 The opening of steamship navigation between Taiwan
and Japan also played a major role in the export of Japanese products
to Taiwan.36
Pacific shipping lines also strengthened trade relations between
Taiwan and America, it being the largest consumer of Taiwan oolong
tea and camphor, and Taiwan-imported American products such as
petroleum, iron ore, rails, construction lumber, and machinery. In
1899, the volume of trade between Taiwan and America was not even
one per cent of Taiwan's gross total of foreign trade (not including
32 Taiwan sotokufu shokusankyoku, Taiwan chagyo ippan (The general situation of

Taiwan's tea industry), no. 86 (Taipei: Shokusankyoku, iqif;), p. 83.
33 Kitsukai Ushida, Taiwan kaiunshi, pp. 242-3^0.
Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), Meiji 32.6.9
Calculated from Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Japanese section), Meiji 34.7.10.
Taiwan sotokufu minseibu zaimukyoku, Meiji sanjkyunen Taiwan beki gairan (A
glance of Taiwan's trade, 1906) (Taipei: the editor, 1908), p. 331.
1O2 MAN-HOUNG LIN
Taiwan's actual trade with Japan). By 190

to 10 per cent, and by 1907 it exceeded
by a decline in Taiwan's trade with Ch
proportion had been as high as 23 per c
9 per cent in 1919. Factors influencing
America included the construction of T
processing industries, as it needed to im
from there. Also, the increase in direct,
was a major reason for the rapid growth of
America.37
From 1899 onward, part of Taiwan's te
Hong Kong to America began to be forward
government encouraging Japanese shipp
route change.39 Hong Kong's Chamber o
British consulate in Tokyo to protest aga
text of the letter of protest was published in
however, responded that it had not violated
and continued to implement their new ship
In 1901, a portion of Taiwan tea was tr
reason being that in 1900 the Taipei-Jilo
business for shipping products to Japan
shipping through Xiamen and Hong Kon
time. A third reason was that it was mor
Osaka Commercial Shipping Line.41
Before the Japanese took over Taiwan, T
carried for American or English merch
Danshui, a situation that lasted until 19 io.4
connected Xiamen and America:, an app
the Suez Canal, or a 26-27-day transit v
Tacoma, and then overland shipment to Ne
era, when Xiamen was the port through
would travel to America, tea was being
37 Taiwan stokufu minseibu zaimukyoku, Meiji san

38 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Chinese section), Mei
39 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), M
40 Kitsukai Ushida. Taiwan kaiunshi, pp. 387-388
41 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), M
42 Kitsukai Ushida, Taiwan kaiunshi, p. 387; Taiwa
roncha no gaiky narabini cha kin'yjyo no enkaku, pp.
43 Sassa Hidehiko, Taiwan no sangy to sono tor
exchanges) (Taipei: Tainan shinpsha Taihoku insa
TAIWAN, HONG KONG, AND THE PACIFIC, 1895-1945 I063
Coast. In 1900, New York was still the main destination for Taiwan's
oolong tea shipped via Kobe, but San Francisco had also become a
destination for Taiwan tea.44
In 1902, when the Jilong's outer harbour gained capacity to
anchor large ships, American firms once based in Yokohama such as
Smith Baker & Company, and Samuels Company went to Jilong and
began shipping Taiwan tea from there directly to America. In 1909,
long-time, Xiamen-based foreign firms, including Tait & Company,
and Ellis & Company, moved most of their operations to Taiwan.
Increasingly firms were shipping Taiwan tea to America through
Jilong via the Pacific instead of the Xiamen-Hong Kong-Suez route.
Moreover, increasingly Hong Kong and Xiamen firms were shipping
via the Pacific. International ships transporting Taiwan tea via the
Pacific outnumbered those shipping through the Suez.45
Pacific shipping lines also changed the direction of Taiwan's
camphor exports. Between 1899 and 1900, the amount of camphor
that the Taipei-based Daid Company shipped from Danshui to Hong
Kong dropped by 25 per cent. Very quickly, firms such as the Taiwan
Trading Company, the Daid Company, and the Komatsu Camphor
Company started in 1899 to ship camphor from Jilong to Kobe.46
In 1906, the amount of Taiwan camphor exported through Danshui
decreased, while the amount shipped through Jilong increased,
because Jilong could ship directly to America.47 A secret report by
Mitsui Company in 1919 concluded that after Japan had taken
Taiwan, the centre of the East Asian camphor market shifted from
Hong Kong to Kobe.48 In the late Qing period, Germany was Taiwan's
largest market for camphor, but during the Japanese colonial period,
America's was the largest.49
With the availability of Japanese shipping, Taiwan developed more
trade with Korea and Manchuria. In 1908 Tainan's coarse salt began
to be sold to Korea. At first Taiwan's trade with Korea was conducted
44 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Chinese section), Meiji 33.Q.IQ.

1 Taiwan gink smubu chosaka, Taiwan moncha no gaiky narabini cha kin'yujyo no
enkaku, pp. 12-14, 48, 50.
Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), Meiji 32.1.29.
Taiwan stokufu minseibu zaimukyoku, Meiji sanjukyunen Taiwan beki gairan,
D. 1 12.
48 Tanaka Morikazu (ed.), Nihon san shon sanko shiry (Reference mat
camphor produced in Japan) (Kobe: Mitsui bussan kbe shiten, lgig),
Taiwan yinhang jingji yanjiushi (ed.), Taiwan de zhangnao (Taiwan'
Taiwan techan series, no. 10 (Taipei: the editor, 1952), p. 46.
IO64 MAN-HOUNG LIN
Chart 2. Gross trade value between Taiwan and Hong Kong,
Sources'.
1 . 1 896-192 1 : Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan beki (T

the editor, 1935), 35, 36, 41, 42, 47, 48; Taiwan beki yonj
Taiwan's trade for forty years) (1896-1935) (Sept. 1936), 9
2. 192 1-1925: Taiwan tai Shina Honkon oyobi Nan'yo hmen beki
Taiwan's trade with China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asi
and 1920; Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku. Taiwan beki (Taip
35, 36, 41, 42, 47, 48; Taiwan beki yonjnen hy, 9, 19.
3. Taiwan tai Shina Honkon oyobi Nan'yo hmen beki ichiran,
1935. Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan beki (Taipei: t
36, 41, 42, 47, 48. Taiwan beki yonjnen hy, 9, 19.
4. 1927-1930: Shwa ninen Taiwan beki gairan (A glance over
31, 38, 52, 56. Shwa sannen Taiwan beki gairan (A glance
1928), 38, 45, 29, 63. Shwa gonen Taiwan beki gairan (A
trade, 1930), 36, 45, 58, 62. Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku.
the editor, 1935), 35, 36, 41, 42, 47, 48. Taiwan beki yonjne
5. 1931-1939: Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan tai Nans
Appendix of middle China, north China, Manchukuo, Gua
the editor, 1935), 2, 6. Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan
editor, 1935), 35, 36, 41, 42, 47, 48. Taiwan beki yonjnen h
Note: 'Import' means imports from Hong Kong into Taiwa

exports from Taiwan to Hong Kong.
through Shimonoseki or Moji, but in June 192

routes between Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria wer
primary purpose of establishing Taiwan-Korea routes
of Taiwanese fruit, molasses, and alcohol to Kore
and 1 939, far more goods were imported into Taiwan
and Guandongzhou than from Hong Kong. Taiwan
50 Taiwan stokufu ktskyoku teishinbu, Taiwan no kaiu

transportation) (Taipei: the editor, 1940), pp. 13, 24.
Chart 3. Proportion of trade with Hong Kong in Taiwan's overall foreign trade
Percentage
45 r
40 I "'
35 j X-
30 ; ' , '
25 i ' ,. j
20 I V--' / ' A I
1 5 i ' / v
10 ' v^-^' ""' x '

5 I |
0 [
1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1920 1923 1926 1929 1932
Sources'. Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan no beki

36, 41, 42, 47, 48; Calculation method: Percentage o
Taiwan's overall foreign trade = (gross value of Taiw
gross value of Hong Kong imports into Taiwan) -r- (g
exports + gross value of Taiwan foreign imports).
Kong, which before 1933 still came ahead of

and Guandongzhou, afterwards fell below th
The development of Taiwan's shipping a
between Taiwan and England after 1 907, with
Following the expansion of Taiwan's trade n
as Chart 2 shows, by contrast with the ever-in
1, there was a decreasing trend in gross tra
and Hong Kong from the second year aft
Taiwan, with an exceptional spike during th
I to 1927, partly caused by Japan's inflatio
that the proportion of Taiwan- Hong Kong t
51 Tokyo Nihon Kokusai Kyokai, Taiwan keizai nenp

economy) (Taipei: the editor, 1941), pp. 608-610.
Taiwan sotokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan no boeki (Th
(Taipei: the editor, 1935), p. 32.
Based upon the trade price index compiled by Ye h S
Science Council, research report, 1996: NSC-85-2
Taiwan zhi yichuru wujia zhishu guji yu fenxi' (An
price index of Taiwan-Japan trade in the Japanese co
annual growth rate of money supply of Japan was not
of 1915, but it increased to 32-41 per cent between 1
of trade surplus. The increase in Hong Kong-Taiwan t
as Chart 2 indicates, if adjustment is made for the rise
based on the World War I-era yen.
1O66 MAN-HOUNG LIN
trade value exhibited a long term declinin

early period of Japanese rule in Taiwa
constituted 42 per cent of Taiwan's for
share did not even constitute 10 per cent
Japanese Colonial Policies
Two main policies of the Japanese c

relations between Hong Kong and Taiw
the use of Taiwan as a base to expand
in East Asia and Southeast Asia. The second was still to make use
of Hong Kong as a transit shipping port. Map 2 puts Taiwan at th
centre of Japan's Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Althoug
this map was published in 1944 by the Asahi S himbun, Japan had put
forward this concept as early as 1910.
In 1 9 1 9, the Taiwan Government-General looked forward to Taiwan
becoming a transit point for Japan, from which Taiwan's coal could be
exported to Southeast Asia.54 In 1922, at the Conference of Japane
Consuls, the Bangkok Consul Matsumiya said, 'It is necessary to us
Taiwan as a transit point'. Singapore Consul Fuda also suggeste
that The Taiwan Government-General should shift the centre of its
shipping routes from Hong Kong to Jilong'.55 The overseas travel
investigation report in 1922 by members of Kobe's Senior High
Commercial School recommended using Jilong to replace both Hong
Kong and Shanghai as transit points for Japanese goods being sold to
South China, and that Kobe should replace Hong Kong.56 In 1926,
the Taiwan Governor-General pointed out:
The Taiwan Governor-General supports the reconstruction of the Sun Moon

Lake power plant and lowered the costs of rail transport and other production
costs, so as to expand foreign trade. On this foundation, we will strive to
develop Taiwan's transit trade so that Taiwan can gradually replace Hong
54 Taiwan stokufu Shokusankyoku shkka, Nan'yo ni okeru Nihon senpaku no gaikyo

(An outline of the Japanese ships in southeast Asia), Minami Shina oyobi Nan'yo
chsa, no. ^q (Taipei: the editor, 1919), p. 34.
55 Nihon gaik shirykanz, Nihon gaimush kiroku, Nihon ryji kaigi giji tekiroku (A
record of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: A summarized record of Japan's consular
meetings) (Taish 1 1.6), pp. 809, 811-12, 838.
bb Makimoto Masaichi, Taiwan wo chkei to suru waga tai Nanshi yushutsu beki
(The trans-shipping position of Taiwan for our country's southeast Asian export
trade),' Kobe kt shgy gakko, kaigai ryok chsa hkoku, Summer 1922.
Map 2. Taiwan at the centre of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
Sources'. Asahi Shimbunsha, 'Nanp no kyoten, Taiwan (The bastion at the south)'
(Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1944). Quoted in Goto Ken'ichi, 'Taiwan yu Dongnanya:
1930-45 (Taiwan and the Southeast Asia, 1930-1945)', in Taiwanshi yanjiu yibainian
(A study of the history of Taiwan in the last 100 years) (Taipei: ZhongyangYanjiuyuan
Taiwanshi Yanjiusuo, 1997), 343-358.
Kong. This is one of Taiwan's missions, and it is a long term plan for the
nation in the next hundred years.57
In 1930 an additional piece of writing advocated to use Taiwan as a

transit point in Japan's expansion into Southeast Asia. It considered
not only Taiwan's geographical position, but also ethnic factors:
57 Taiwan stokufu kanb chsaka, Shina saikin no jikyoku to beki kankei (China's
recent situations and its relation with trade), Minami Shina oyobi Nan'yo chsa,
no. 170 (Taipei: the editor, 1928), p. 95.
1O68 MAN-HOUNG LIN
The backbone of the Southeast Asian econo

of them come from Guangdong or Fujian
language and customs as the Taiwanese, and
as Japanese at Taiwan have already bee
Asia.58
On 11 June, 1934, Amoy Consul Tsukamoto Hatatsu sent a

letter to the Taiwan Governor-General's chief of general affairs,
Hiratsuka Hiroyoshi, suggesting a simplification of custom procedures
to facilitate foreigners and Chinese to enter Taiwan and to lead to
Taiwan's prosperity and help it to take Hong Kong's place as a trans-
shipping point.59
In 1938, both the number of ships and total tonnage carried to
Taiwan was the greatest of all Japan's coastal shipping, not including
shipping within Japan itself.60 In other words, not even Korea or
Manchuria shared the same flourishing shipping relationship with
Japan as did Taiwan.
The Japanese concept of using Taiwan to compete with Hong Kong
subtly contained a plan to compete as an empire with the British
Empire. The Tainan Daily {Tainan shinp) reporter, Kawakami Sson,
wrote in his travel account,
England obtained Hong Kong to use it as a base of operations to command

China. In the annual reports of China's trade, England's products always
rank first. Japan, too, is using Jilong as a transit point through which to sell
Japanese goods to China. Jilong is the port for delivering Japanese goods to
Xiamen and Shantou'.61
After establishing rule over Taiwan, Japan used several systems to

influence trade between Taiwan and Hong Kong, not only by subsidies
for Japanese merchants, but also through customs duties, monopolies,
banks, currency, and shipping. Like China, prior to 1895 Japan had
been tied by Western Powers to a five per cent ad valorem customs
duty. With prestige gained by victory over China in 1895, in 1899
Japan succeeded, through negotiations, to triple its import duty rate.
In 1911, Japan completely abrogated the 'unequal treaties' that had
58 KadaMasao, Hatarakiiku Taiwan (Moving-up Taiwan) (Tokyo: Kaigaisha, 1930),

p. 282.
59 Nihon gaik shirykanz, Nihon gaimush kiroku, Nanshi ryji kaigi gijiroku (Record
of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, minutes of Japan's consulars in South China),
p. 596.
bU Okazaki Yukitov^Kaiun, p. 128
Furukawa Hiroshi, Minami Shina kenky shi, p. 122.
TAIWAN, HONG KONG, AND THE PACIFIC, 1895-1945 1069
governedjapan's customs duties, and raised duties even higher. By this
means, when foreign products were imported into Taiwan, the duties
were higher than those levied on Japanese products. Thus Taiwan's
rice, sugar, or tea exported outside of Japan carried export duties
which were not charged for those exported to Japan.62 Even though
Hong Kong was a free port, goods leaving Taiwan to Hong Kong,
or goods from Hong Kong to enter Taiwan, had to face a higher
tariff than in the late Qing period or those between Japan itself and
Taiwan.
Japanese colonial government's monopolies of opium and camphor

also had a great influence on Hong Kong, which previously imported
great amounts of opium to Taiwan and was the crucial transit point
for Taiwan's camphor sent to Europe and America. Establishment of
the Bank of Taiwan also replaced much of the loan and remittance
business in Taiwan previously performed by foreign firms based in
Hong Kong. The Japanese colonial empire adopted the gold standard,
which made it difficult for Taiwan in its dealings with silver-based
China and Hong Kong, and further reinforced Taiwan's trade with
Japan.63
A result of these machinations by Japan was that the foreign firms
in southern Taiwan closed, one by one. By 1902, only a handful
of firms remained. Some foreign merchant houses closed and some
reorganized.64 Similarly, as duties increased, the number of foreign
firms in northern Taiwan that had been engaged in the Hong Kong
transit trade dwindled. For example, until Japanese rule in Taiwan,
Jardine, Matheson and Company Ltd had imported refined sugar to
Taiwan from Hong Kong. By 1905, however, 'Because of the customs
duties,' reported the Taiwan Daily that year, 'there is no longer a
trace of Hong Kong refined sugar on the island'.65 The newly-imposed
Japanese customs duty policy left one of Jardine, Matheson and
Company Ltd's capable managers at his wits end as his business in
sugar, cement, petroleum, coal, and cotton withered, leaving only his
business in the tea trade. For this he took the blame and resigned.
62 Zhou Xianwen, Taiwan jingjishi (The economic history of Taiwan) (Taipei:

Kaiming shudian, 1980), p. 624.
Taiwan stokufu minseibu zaimukyoku, Meiji sanjky nen Taiwan boeki gairan,
Taiwan gink smubu keisanka, Daiichiji Taiwan kin'yujiko sankoshofuroku, p. 37,

137.
65 Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Chinese section), Meiji 38.3.19.
1070 MAN-HOUNG LIN
The next manager had no choice but to co

firms, Mitsui, Takada, and kura.66
The direct export of Taiwanese tea to A
Kong, was related also to the Japanese gov
From 189g onwards, the Taiwan Governor
yen per picul of processed Taiwan tea ship
America or Europe, while no tax was levie
and Japan, because the two territories we
same country.67
In terms of shipping, the process of displa
of Taiwan was clearest in the moves to dr
Kong-based British firm, Douglass Compan
years Douglass Company monopolized ste
Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, becau
General subsidized the Osaka Commerci
that it could compete by offering lower f
Company, and due to maligning by local n
Company backed out of the Hong Kong-T
1QO5-69
On the other hand, the Japanese government still used Hong Kong
as a transit point. In 1935 at the Conference of Consuls in Taiwan,
it was discussed whether to use Hong Kong as a transit point or to
turn Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung, i.e. 'Takao' in southern Taiwan) into a
free port.70
In 1899, 1900, and 1911, in terms of the tonnage of ships
entering and exiting Hong Kong, British ships ranked first; second
was Germany, followed by Japanese ships. In the years 1919-1925,
66 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Chinese section), Meiji 38.3.24.

67 Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Japanese section), Meiji 33.5.31. Kitsukai Ushida,
Taiwan kaiunshi, pp. 386-88.
68 Irish University Press area studies series, British parliamentary papers: Japan
(Shannon: Irish University Press, 1071-72), North Formosa, 1897:7, 1898:9.
69 Hisrashi Yoshio, 'Qingdai Taiwan de maoyi yu waiguo shangye ziben,' p. 126.
70 Nihon gaik shirykanz, Nihon gaimush kiroku (Archives of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs): Taiwan stokufu gaijika (The section for the foreign relation bureau
of Taiwan Government-General) (Shwa 10.3.10, the talk between the Head of the
East Asian Bureau and the Director of Section of General Affair in the Taiwan
Government-General); Shwa 9, The meeting of the Consuls on the China Mainland
and their hope to the Taiwan Government-General, Shwa 10.5: The agenda for the
meeting of the Consuls held in Taiwan).
Japan even outranked Britain.71 Of all the types ofjapanese companies

in Hong Kong, shipping companies had the most capital.72
About 90 per cent of the value of Japanese goods imported
and exported through Hong Kong was coal, which was also the
most important product that Taiwan exported to Hong Kong. And,
Hong Kong was the largest market for Taiwan's exported coal.73
The remaining Taiwan- Hong Kong relations or Japan- Hong Kong
relations still developed around Hong Kong's fundamentally unique
role as a shipping centre.
Other than the rise of the Pacific shipping lines and the effects of
Japanese colonial policies, boycotts ofjapanese goods in Hong Kong
and in the South China hinterland, and shortages of capital due to civil
wars and increased taxes on trade in China, also lessened Taiwan-
Hong Kong ties.74 The British government's shift from appeasement
to confrontation towards Japan in 1940 worsened the relationships
between Taiwan and Hong Kong. 75
Shifts in the Power of Merchants
The rise of Pacific shipping, Japanese policies, and the anti-Japanese

policies from China and England also affected the shift of power of
merchants from Japan and Taiwan versus merchants from England
and China for the remaining Taiwan-Hong Kong trade.
During the latter part of the Qing period major imports and exports
between Taiwan and Hong Kong were managed by Western firms. For
example, the main office of Jardine, Matheson and Company Ltd,
was located in Hong Kong, and its branches in Xiamen and Taipei
managed trade in tea, sugar, and petroleum.76 After Japan colonized
71 Furukawa Hiroshi, Minami Shina kenkyu shi, p. 168; Taiwan Stokufu Kanb
Chsaka, Minami Shina no kaikj, pp. 176-177; Taiwan stofuku kanb gaijika,
Taiwan to Minami Shina, pp. 165-166; Gaimush tsshkyoku, Tssh kh 4, 32,
p. 30; Gaimush tsshkyoku, Tssh yisan pp. 60, 2Oi(Meiji 34.10), p. 33.
Furukawa Hiroshi, Minami Shina kenky shi, pp. 43Q-442.
73 Furukawa Hiroshi, Minami Shina kenky shi, pp. i6q, 177.
74 Please refer to Nihon shk kaigijo,Z)z nikai ryosho dai ippan hokokusho (The second
report of the overseas merchants, no. 1) (Tokyo: the editor, 1928), p. 86; Honkon
Nihon shgy kaigisho (ed.), Honkon nenkan, p. 98.
75 Ogura Hirokatsu, Honkon (Hong Kong) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shten, 1942), p. 61.
76 Taiwan ginko somubu keisanka, Daiichiji Taiwan kin'y jik sanksho furoku (An
appendix for the reference book for Taiwan's financial affairs) (Taipei: the editor
1902), pp. 37, 137.
IO72 MAN-HOUNG LIN
Taiwan, Taiwan's Japanese refined sugar

Hong Kong's refined sugar companies run
Butterfield & Swire Company, for the Ch
Hong Kong trade, even though its importan
an average 22 per cent of Taiwan's foreig
1933 (calculated from statistics in Chart
Taiwan began, the Taiwan-Hong Kong tr
clear shift, from being led by Chinese and B
led by Japanese and Taiwanese merchants
The most successful Japanese firm invo
Taiwan trade was Mitsui Company. Mit
exporters of Taiwan's coal to Hong Kong
Hong Kong from Taiwan during the perio
World War I, Mitsui handled 40 per cent
sold in Hong Kong.79 From 1911 onward
Hong Kong, and Mitsui engaged in the tra
Mitsui managed all of Taiwan's salt export
sundries division branch in Hong Kong w
that marketed Taiwan's citrus fruits to Ho
signed a contract with a British pure sugarc
with its main office in England and bran
Taiwan's excess molasses at this port.
Before the Japanese government monop
primarily German and Indian merch
merchants, imported several thousand
77 Sugiyama Sinya, 'Marketing and Competition i

Sugar Refinery', in Sugiyama Sinya and Linda Grove
Modern Asia, pp. 140-158.
78 Furukawa Hiroshi, 'Honkon jij gaiy (A guide
Minami Shina kenkyshi (A study of South China)
1920), p. 180.
Taiwan stokufu, Sengo Nanshi ni okeru rekkoku beki no shch oyobi sono susei
(Fluctuations and Trend of post-war South China's trade with various countries).
Nanshi oyobi Nan'yo chsa, no. 39, Shokusankyoku shk chsa (Taipei: the editor,
1919), p. 59.
80 Taiwan stokufu senbaikyoku, Taiwan no engyo (Taiwan's salt industry) (Taipei:
the editor, 1937), p. 85.
Taiwan stukufu shokusan kyoku tokusan ka, Shina oyobi Nanyo ni okeru kankitsu
hanro chsa (An investigation of the market of oranges in South China and Southeast
Asia), Shokusankyoku shuppan no. 520 (Taipei: the editor, 1928), p. 30.
b Sugino Kasuke, comp. Taiwan togy nenkan (Almanac of laiwan s sugar) (Shwa
5 edition). (Taipei: Taiwan tsshinsha, 1930), p. 317.
from Taiwan to Hong Kong.83 Between 1899 and 1908, the

Taiwan Government-General's Monopoly Bureau sold Taiwan's
camphor entirely to a British merchant. Following this, the Taiwan
Government-General gave the export monopoly to Mitsui, and the
government also sent officials to London and New York to supervise
this business.84
After invading Hong Kong on 25 December, 1941, Japan instituted
control over the volume and prices of Hong Kong's trade. On 8
October, 1942, the Hong Kong Trade Union was set up primarily to
oversee the importing of food and daily essentials. Through December
1943, Mitsui's branch manager in Hong Kong was the Chairman of
the Board of the 95-member Union.85
In addition to Japanese merchants and the Japanese government,
Taiwanese merchants also entered Taiwan-Hong Kong trade during
the Japanese colonial period.
Some Taiwanese merchants worked for the Japanese merchants
for such trade. For example, Osaka Commercial Shipping opened
a shipping line between Hong Kong and Taiwan and signed a
comprador contract with Taiwanese merchant Lin Guanying in Taipei
for cooperation.86
Some Taiwanese merchants based their business in Hong Kong
because of its importance to Taiwan's camphor export trade during the
late Qing period.87 After the Japanese government implemented the
camphor monopoly in Taiwan, Zhang Shunzheng went to Hong Kong
and became one of the leading Taiwanese or Fujianese merchants in
Hong Kong. Zhang previously had been Lin Chaodong's subordinate
involved at the Hong Kong end of the camphor trade. Lin Chaodong
of the Lins of Wufeng at central Taiwan assumed a monopoly on
the camphor trade during the late Qing period, while Lin cooperated
83 Gaimush tsushokyoku, 'Honkon oyobi Kant (Hong Kong and Canton),' Tsush
isan (A combined commercial report) 97(1) (Meiji 3g. 1.8), contained in the Meiji
38.6.1g entry 'Honkon teikoku ryji hkoku (report from Japanese empire's consul
from Honff Kon^,' p. 16.
84 Shidehara Hiroshi, Taiwan 0 taihyo sum mono (Things representing Taiwan)
(Taizhong: Taiwan hakurankai kinen, ig35), p. 777. Tanaka Morikazu (ed.), Nihon
san shn sank shiry (Reference materials for the camphor produced in Japan) (Kobe:
Mitsui bussan Kobe shiten, iqiq), p. 15.
85 Kobayashi Hideo and Shibata Yoshimasa, Nihon gunsei ka no Honkon (Hong Kong
under Japan's military rule) (Tokyo: Shakai hyronsha, igg6), p. 228.
Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Japanese section), Meiji 32.4.15.
87 Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Japanese section), Meiji 32.g.i.
1O74 MAN-HOUNG LIN
with Taiwan Governor, Liu Minchuan.88 D

Shunzheng was chosen by Taiwan magnate
Lins of Banqiao) and Gu Xianrong (who h
Army's entry into Taipei) to be the Hong
their Zhennan [literally, 'promoting the so
Zhang entertained visiting Tainan Daily re
at an evening party at the Orchid Club f
people. Chen Wangzeng (who held an Imp
Taiwan) also hosted Kawakami Smura. Lin
Wufeng, his son, and others also received K
In 1940, several powerful Hong Kong C
Japanese nationality, including, Zhang Sh
also Tongfu Hao (an import-export firm)
firm), Jinchang (a sugar firm), Siyi (a minin
grain and sugar firm).91 The Jinchang fir
Kong by Guo Chunyang, a Chinese merch
Japanese nationality obtained in Taiwan
Taiwanese merchants with Japanese nation
Kong, including the Lin family of Wufen
'anti-Japanese family' in post-war Taiwan'
from doing business in Hong Kong, Taiwan
on trade with Hong Kong from Taiwan and J
However, the areas in which Taiwanese m
succeeded in replacing Chinese merchants
forwarding of Japanese goods onto South
remittances business among Taiwan, South
88 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), Taish

89 Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Chinese section), Taish
9U Kawakami Sson, 'Shinajunyki' (An excursion in
Minami Shina kenkyshi, pp. 1 20-1 2 1 .
9 Yuchi Kohei, NanShi shisatsu hkokusho (A report
South China), Minami Shina oyobi Nan'yo chsa, n
1919), pp. 22,38.
92 Suzuki Tatsumi, Taiwan kanmin shokuin roku (A
Taiwan Shk, 1Q2^), p. 46.
93 Lin Cuigong, among these Taiwanese merchants, was the eldest son of Lin
Xiantang's elder brother, Lin Lietang. See Lin Xiantang (ed.),Linshi zupu (Geneology
of the Lin family) (Taichung: Toshin Shokai, 1936), p. 41a. Ye Rongzhong and others,
Taiwan minzu yundong shi (A history of Taiwan' nationalist movement) (Taipei: Zili
baoxi, 1971) provides anti-Japanese views of the Lins of Wufeng.
94 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Chinese section), Meiji 31.7.20.
The real power within Hong Kong's large import-export trade was
held by Chinese wholesale merchants. These merchants managed
commission-based on the rice, sugar, and seafood markets - and
they organized into two associations: one for selling goods from
coastal areas of northern China and South China, the other for
the two per cent commission charge for intermediating between the
exchanges.95
Before Japan ruled Taiwan, Chinese merchants of Kobe sold
Japanese matches to Hong Kong and Chinese merchants in Hong
Kong, who, in turn, sold them on to South China, Taiwan, and
Southeast Asia. These Chinese merchants also dominated sugar
imports from Taiwan for Japan. By the late Qing period, the hold
of Chinese merchants was gradually eroded by Western firms. For
example, Butterfield & Swire Company set up a sugar-processing
factory in Hong Kong, using unrefined sugar from Taiwan, with the
refined product then being exported to Japan.96
Prior to 1895, Japanese merchants had to go through Chinese
merchants in order to purchase or sell goods in Hong Kong or
throughout East Asia. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895,
and especially after the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, Japanese
merchants increased direct sales as they developed their own shipping
lines. Their need to ship through Hong Kong therefore decreased, and
the 'middleman' Chinese merchants lost out.97
Before Japan took over Taiwan, South China's large demand for
Japanese goods was met by Chinese merchants in Kobe and Yokohama,
who were shipping through Hong Kong for distribution all over
China.98 After Japan took over Taiwan, the largest volume of Japanese
goods shipped through Taiwan was sent to South China.99 Destinations
for the Japanese goods shipped through Taiwan included, in order
of volume, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Shantou, Hong Kong and Canton. The
95 Kamei Einosuke, Sat torihikijij no taiy (Guidelines for the exchange of sugar)
(Tokyo: Takushoku shinpsha, io 14), p. 50.
96 Chka kaikan (ed.),Rakuchi seikon - Kobe kakyo toKo-Saka chukka kaikan no hyakunen
(Indigenization: Overseas Chinese and Chinese association in Kobe and Osaka for
one hundred years) (Tokyo: Kenbun shuppan, 2000), pp. 38, 80.
7 Sugahara Ksuke, Nihon no Kaky (Overseas Chinese in Japan) (Tokyo: Asahi
shimbunsha, iq7q), PP. 84-88.
98 Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Japanese section), Meiji 34.12.1.
Taiwan stokufu, Sengo Nanshi ni okeru rekkoku beki no shcho oyobi sono suisei,
PP- 1M~lSb-
IO76 MAN-HOUNG LIN
largest transit port in Taiwan for Japanese goods t
Jilong, followed by Danshui and then Gaoxiong.100
The proportion of transit trade in Japanese goods
Taiwan to South China in Taiwan's total import
decreased in some years after the end of World W
from 1924 to 1929 and, despite declines during the
1929-1934, there was another increase in 1934, the
for the whole period from 1912 to 1934 being 20 per
In terms of remittances business among Taiwan,
South China, Taiwan held the lead. The most im
native bank (qianzhuang) that performed remittanc
Hong Kong, Taipei, and Fuzhou in 1 906 was that of th
family, the Lins of Banqiao - who 'possessed' Ch
British, and French nationalities.102 In 1930 alone
deposited a sum of over 3 million yen into the
Shanghai Banking Corporation. 103 Lin Jishang, a Sun
historically described as an 'anti-Japanese perso
Wufeng, was the manager of the Trust Bank for
business, for which Lin Erjia, the head of the Lin
supplied capital.104 Some Taiwanese with Japanese
involved with other native banks and remittance
including Zhou Ziwen and Cai Huinan, but most of th
100 Sugino Kasuke, Taiwan shokojynen shi (Ten years of Taiw

industry) (Taipei: Taipei insatsu kabushiki kaisha, iqiq), p. 108
101 Calculated from: Taiwan sotokufu zaimukyoku (ed.), Taiwan
pp. 1-2.
1 For the Lins of Banqiao' multiple nationalities (Lin Benyuan, Lin Heshou,
and Lin Erjia) and their leading role in the remittance business among Taiwan,
Hong Kong, and South China, see: Gaimush Tssh kyoku, 'Amoy ni okeru honp
zakka genky' (The situation of Japanese sundries in Xiamen), Tsshisan (Collection
of consular commercial reports) pp. 101, 35 (Meiji 3.6). Attached to the Japanese
consular report of Xiamen of Meiji 39.5.1, p. 2; Kikuchi kygi, Amoi no tska narabini
kin'y (Currency and financial situation in Xiamen) (Taipei: Taiwan gink Smubu
chsaka, 1912), p. 23;Japanese consular report of Xiamen of Taish 2.5.6, pp. 28-29.
For more on the flexibility in choice of nationalities displayed by Chinese merchants in
multinational enterprises, see: Man-houng Lin, 'The Multiple Nationality of Overseas
Chinese Merchants: A means for Reducing Commercial Risk,' Modern Asian Studies,
(2001), 315(4): 085-1000.
103 Taiwan nichinichi shintoo (Chinese section), Meiji 37.1 1.3.
104 Lin Jishang was the third son of Lin Chaodong (Lin Xiantang (ed.), Linshi
zupu, 38a). Lin Jishang helped anti-Japanese Taiwanese in Fujian, and spread anti-
Japanese opinions and even denounced his Japanese nationality, see: Xu Xueji, Lin
Zhengheng de shengyu si (A biography of Lin Zhengheng) (Nantou: Taiwanshengwenxian
weiyuanhui, 2001), pp. 5-15.
banks were too insignificant for this business.105 Linjingren (of the Lin
family of Banqiao) was among the Taiwanese who set up remittance
shops on the Taiwan side,106 and some Hong Kong merchants set up
remittance shops in Taiwan.107 Taiwanese merchants also cooperated
with Chinese merchants in Hong Kong to develop trade between
Taiwan and Hong Kong.108
Taiwan or Taiwanese merchants played the intermediary role
between the Japanese empire and the Chinese commercial world.
Conclusions
The ever-increasing trade between Taiwan and Hong Kong since t

1 870s to 1 895 was made possible by the opening for Western trade
Taiwan due to the regulations of the Tianjin Treaty - signed mai
to solve the military conflicts between Qing China and Engla
and with France. However, it was the United States of America
which asked for the opening of Taiwan's ports for Western trade -
the most-favoured clause. American proposals to purchase Taiwan,
made before the outbreak of its Civil War, showed the increasing
interest of America in Taiwan after it became a Pacific country in the
mid-nineteenth century.109 The mid-nineteenth-century opening for
Taiwan's Western trade did not minimize Taiwan's peripheral position
to China, as Taiwan's increasing Western trade was channelled
through Hong Kong and China's other coastal ports, so the trade
between Taiwan and Chinese mainland also increased.110 Before
Taiwan's colonization byjapan, over 50 per cent of Tainan's (southern
Taiwan) external trade had been conducted with Chinese mainland,
followed by Hong Kong, England, and British India. Tainan's exports
105 Kikuchi kygi,Amoy no tsuka narabini kin'yjijyo (Currency and financial situation
in Xiamen) (Taipei: Taiwan ginko somubu chosaka, 1912), pp. 19-20, 23.
Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), Shwa 2.4. Q.
107 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), Shwa 2.4.7; Taiwan nichinichi shinp
(Japanese section), Shwa 2.4.Q.
108 Sassa Hidehiko, Taiwan no sansy to sono torihiki, p. 484.
109 Huang Jiamou, Meiguoyu Taiwan, 1874-1895 (The United States and Taiwan,
1874-1895) (Taipei: The Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 1966 first
print, 2004 reprinted), pp. 127-158, 166.
Man-houng Lin, 'Decline or Prosperity? Guild Merchants Trading across the
Taiwan Straits, 18 20s- 1895,' in Sugiyama Sinya and Linda Grove (eds), Commercial
Networks in Modern Asia, pp. 1 16-39.
IO78 MAN-HOUNG LIN
were sent only to Chinese mainland and Hong K
Taiwan's Western trade went through the Hong Kon
route, particularly through British merchants. Japan'
also relied heavily on Hong Kong and on British me
During the Japanese colonial period, the percent
trade with Hong Kong in Taiwan's total foreign trade
the trade betweenjapan and Hong Kong in Japan's tota
Between 1900 and 1930, Japan's trade with Hong K
average 5.45 per cent of Japan's total foreign trade va
In contrast, from 1896 to 1938, the proportion of
Hong Kong and China in the total value of China's
dropped from 44 per cent to 14 per cent, with an
whole period of 26.19 per cent. The value of tra
and Hong Kong for this period took many dips, wh
with Hong Kong was stable over the long term, excep
dip.113 A report by the Taiwan Government-Gener
out that Hong Kong's economy was deeply influence
of its daily food was provided by China, its impor
linked to China, it was an important warehouse f
between South China and the rest of the world, and 9
population came from South China - mostly Guangd
Clearly, in the early twenty century, Hong Kong's
with China was more important than its relationship
After Japan began ruling Taiwan, their relation
stronger. The levels of trade between Taiwan and
steady for the seven years since 1895, but after tha
China's place in the relationship. From 1902 throu
trade value between Taiwan and Japan was 16 time
between Taiwan and China, and four times the valu
and all other countries.
111 Taiwan stokufu minseibu zaimukyoku, Meiji sanjkynen Taiwan boeki gairan,
p. 65.
u Calculated from: Okurash (ed.) , Nihon gaikoku beki nenpy (Annual trade record
of Japan's foreign trade) (Tokyo: kurash, 1936), 2; Gaimush tssh kyoku comp.,
Kakkoku tssh no dk to Nihon (The commercial trend of various countries and Japan)
(Shwa 13 edition) (Tokyo: Nihon kokusai kykai, 1938), p. 26.
113 Calculated from Liang-lin Hsiao, China's Foreign Trade Statistics, 1864- 1949,
pp. 22-23, 149-50.
Taiwan stokufu nettai sangy chsa kai, Honkon keizai chosa iinkai hokokusho (
report of the committee to investigate Hong Kong's economic situation) (Taip
Taiwan stokufu nettai sangy chsa kai, 1937), p. 12.
From 1937, because of the outbreak of war between China and

Japan, all trade between Taiwan and China under Chiang Kai-shek's
rule ceased, and trade with other countries also declined.115 In the
early-twentieth century, both Taiwan and Japan severed their previous
trade ties with Hong Kong and China.
The rise of Japan's Pacific steamship lines from the end of the
Russo-Japanese War, and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914,
markedly reshuffled the ranking of ports within Asia. With the
development of trans-Pacific shipping, the tonnage of ships anchoring
at Kobe and Osaka had by 1936 already exceeded tonnage of ships
anchored at Hong Kong - which had been the top harbour of East
Asia in the 1910s.116 Pusan, the Korean port opposite Japan, grew
into a major harbour in the Japanese colonial period.117 The port of
Japan-influenced Dairen also replaced the Chinese port of Yingkou
in the growing trade between Taiwan and Manchukuo.118 After
Japanese ships began coming to the northern port of Jilong, the trade
between Jilong and Japan essentially replaced the trade once carried
on between Tainan and Hong Kong, mainly via British ships.119 It
was against this background that Taiwan turned from a periphery
of China, or an Atlantic-bound place, into a periphery of Japan, or a
Pacific-bound place.
Like many other borderlands around the world that Michel Baud
compared,120 Taiwan played some central roles whilst being a
periphery of the Asia-Pacific world. Along with Japanese merchants,
and the Japanese government which replaced the British merchants
for the Taiwan-Hong Kong trade, Taiwanese merchants replaced
Chinese merchants from Hong Kong as trans-shippers of Japanese
goods into South China. Some Southeast Asian overseas Chinese
merchants, like Guo Chunyang, acquired Japanese nationality in
Taiwan and became active in Hong Kong. The baozhong tea business,
1 15 Calculation based on Taiwan sheng tongzhi (A General history of Taiwan) (Taipei:

Taiwan sheng wenxian weiyuanhui, 1971), vol. 4, Jingji zhi shangye pian, pp. 170b-
171b.
1 16 Tanaka Morikazu (ed.), Nihon san shono sank shiryo, p. 1 1 .
117 Informed by Professor Wu Songdi of Fudan University at Shanghai in his June,
2007 visit to Taipei.
118 See Man-houng Lin, 'Taiwan yu Dongbei jian de maoyi, 1932-41' (Taiwan's
trade with Manchukuo), Zhongyang yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo jikan, vol. 24 (June
1995), PP- 24, 653-96.
Taiwan nichinichi shinpo (Japanese section), Meiji 32.9.9.
Cf. Michiel Baud, 'Toward a Comparative History of Borderlands,' Journal of
World History (1997), 8(2): 211-242.
io8o MAN-HOUNG LIN
which had originally been shipped by

Xiamen and Hong Kong in the late Q
by Taiwanese merchants from Taiwan
period.121 In the late Qing period, Taiwa
including that of the Shanxi banks o
Kong.122 Although Japan colonized T
themselves continued to play the le
business between Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Taiwanese merchants (including so
Chinese nationalist literature lauds, st
took advantage of Japan's state pow
steamships, its customs system, its m
system, and its policy of promoting Tai
Kong as a trans-shipping centre. Ther
Japanese empire, and the Chinese com
merchants played an important interme
The outbreak of the Korean War of 195
Pacific anti-Communist line. To count
as a middle station to placate the ant
Southeast Asia and Japan. This paper
background regarding the role of Taiwa
periphery of China, or an Atlantic-boun
Asia-Pacific world, or a Pacific-bound pl
121 Kitsukai Ushida, Taiwan kaiunshi, pp. 342-

Man-houng Lin, Decline or rrosperityr , p
123 Detailed in Man-houng Lin, 'Elite Survival
Merchant Cooperation in Taiwan's Trade with
and Nick White (eds), The International Order of

40926541taiwan, Hong Kong, and The Pacific, 1895-1945

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40926541taiwan, Hong Kong, and The Pacific, 1895-1945

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Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Pacific, 1895-1945

Author(s): MAN-HOUNG LIN

Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Pacific,

Academia Histrica, 406 Sec. 2, Beiyi Road,

Among the booming intra-Asian trade study relative to works on th

Hori has worked on the intra-Asian trad

of China' or 'the east periphery of Taiwan.' This paper, however, will

From the Suez Canal to the Panama Canal

After the opening of its harbour in 1842, following the Opium W

9 Ogura Hirokatsu, Honkon (Hong Kong) (Tokyo: Iwanami Sh

Data Source: Huang Fusan, Man-houng Lin, Ong Jiayin comp

After 1905, Japan's development of shipping lines in the Pacific

1849: California was declared a State;

21 Okazaki Yukitoshi, Kaiun (Tokyo: Daiamondosha, 1938), p. 7.

1903: Panama was made independen

The outbreak of World War I in Eur

24 Miura Akio, Kita Taiheiy teiki kyakusenshi (A

Along with the growth of Japanese shipping lines in the Pacific,

32 Taiwan sotokufu shokusankyoku, Taiwan chagyo ippan (The general situation of

Taiwan's actual trade with Japan). By 190

37 Taiwan stokufu minseibu zaimukyoku, Meiji san

44 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Chinese section), Meiji 33.Q.IQ.

1 . 1 896-192 1 : Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan beki (T

Note: 'Import' means imports from Hong Kong into Taiwa

through Shimonoseki or Moji, but in June 192

50 Taiwan stokufu ktskyoku teishinbu, Taiwan no kaiu

10 ' v^-^' ""' x '

Sources'. Taiwan stokufu zaimukyoku, Taiwan no beki

Kong, which before 1933 still came ahead of

51 Tokyo Nihon Kokusai Kyokai, Taiwan keizai nenp

trade value exhibited a long term declinin

Japanese Colonial Policies

Two main policies of the Japanese c

The Taiwan Governor-General supports the reconstruction of the Sun Moon

54 Taiwan stokufu Shokusankyoku shkka, Nan'yo ni okeru Nihon senpaku no gaikyo

In 1930 an additional piece of writing advocated to use Taiwan as a

The backbone of the Southeast Asian econo

On 11 June, 1934, Amoy Consul Tsukamoto Hatatsu sent a

England obtained Hong Kong to use it as a base of operations to command

After establishing rule over Taiwan, Japan used several systems to

58 KadaMasao, Hatarakiiku Taiwan (Moving-up Taiwan) (Tokyo: Kaigaisha, 1930),

Japanese colonial government's monopolies of opium and camphor

62 Zhou Xianwen, Taiwan jingjishi (The economic history of Taiwan) (Taipei:

Taiwan gink smubu keisanka, Daiichiji Taiwan kin'yujiko sankoshofuroku, p. 37,

The next manager had no choice but to co

66 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Chinese section), Meiji 38.3.24.

Japan even outranked Britain.71 Of all the types ofjapanese companies

Shifts in the Power of Merchants

The rise of Pacific shipping, Japanese policies, and the anti-Japanese

Taiwan, Taiwan's Japanese refined sugar

77 Sugiyama Sinya, 'Marketing and Competition i

from Taiwan to Hong Kong.83 Between 1899 and 1908, the

with Taiwan Governor, Liu Minchuan.88 D

88 Taiwan nichinichi shinp (Japanese section), Taish

100 Sugino Kasuke, Taiwan shokojynen shi (Ten years of Taiw

The ever-increasing trade between Taiwan and Hong Kong since t

From 1937, because of the outbreak of war between China and

1 15 Calculation based on Taiwan sheng tongzhi (A General history of Taiwan) (Taipei:

which had originally been shipped by

121 Kitsukai Ushida, Taiwan kaiunshi, pp. 342-

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