The modern history of Formosa, as an integral part of World history, began at the period when Western nations made their appearance in the South Seas and when Chinese and Japanese were also active there. The shift in the appellation of this island is somewhat indicative of the vicissitude in international relations around it. Important are such namea as Takasago, Taiwan and Formosa. The name Takasago given by Japanese has gone out of use for long, because of the Japanese policy of self-seculusion in Tokugawa Era, whereas Taiwan by Chinese and Formosa by European remain still in general use. The so-called baccaneers in the Chinese documents had a more or less important role in the history of Formosa. In fact, they were mainly traders, among whom the CHENG 鄭 family of the 17th century was an outstanding figure. Among the Westerners of the South Seas, the Hollanders were the first to secure a footing on the island. It was in 1624 when they were persuaded by Chinese authority not to occupy the P'eng-hu 澎湖 islands lying between Formosa and the Continent, and to remove to Formosa that was not under the Chinese dominance. Thus the Hollanders built their fort at Taijouan (Anping) on the southwestern coast of this island, and, after having driven the Spaniards out of northern Formosa, they took possession of the whole island. Now they could concentrate themselves in the development of industry and trading. They tried to promote the production of rice and sugar and also the exploitation of gold, sulphur, and skin of deers in which the Western plain of the island abounds at that time. Before long, the island of Formosa became their treasury in the Far East. The Dutch dominance came to an end with the invasion of a troop headed by CHENG Cheng-kung 鄭成功 whose family in turn ruled there for three generations covering twenty-three years. Having been unable to cope with the growing power of the Manchu Dynasty, however, the Cheng government surrendered in 1683 to the Manchu forces under command of General SHIH lang 施琅. It is told that the Manchu authorities had an intention to give up the island and even to remove the immigrants to the Continent, though such a plan was not put into operation because of a strong opposition on the part of SHIH Lang. In view of maintaining public order, the Manchu government had truly put some restriction at first upon the Chinese immigrants who were occasionally rebellious. However, such a restriction was not strictly observed, and the Chinese were streaming more and more into the island ; particularly in and after the era of Chienlung 乾隆 (1736-95), they increased rapidly in number. Generally speaking, these immigrants cleared the land without any permission on the part of the authorities, and this caused grave frictions with aboriginal inhabitants mainly of the west plain of the island. Of these immigrants, the Fukienese came earlier than the Cantonese (Hakkas) and the former occupied main part of fertile plain, while the latter tended to distribute in foothill zone. They were at variance each other according to the affiliation respectively with the mutually antagonistic districts or clans of their homeland, thus leading not infrequently to civil war. In addition, Formosa inhabited by these immigrants was so notorious for insurrection that there was a popular saying : "a small revolt in three years and a big revolt in five years". On the other hand, the pressure of the Western powers upon the Manchu dynasty in its later days became grave more and more, and after the Opium War, the island was opened to Western nations for trade. Among the main exports there were tea and sulphur of the north and sugar of the south of the island, while opium and miscellaneous goods ranked among the main imports. It was true, however, that the growing contact with the Westerners tended to accelerate anti-foreign and anti-Christian trends among both general people
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