No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Transnational networks of human resources and knowledge in East Asia: a case study of Taiwan merchant Wang Xuenong (1870–1915) and his trading company
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 March 2024
Abstract
Taiwan is an island and trade has always been the locomotive of its economic development. From the 1620s to the 1960s, cane sugar was Taiwan's most representative export commodity. Yet little attention has been paid to the business strategies of sugar traders and the changes in their thinking. How did the Takow (Kaohsiung) merchants who first went to Japan and Hong Kong to conduct cross-border trade in person learn about international trade and build a network of human resources that crossed borders, especially after the 1870s? And how did they face the great changes of an era in which tradition and modernity were intertwined, so that, following the regime transfer in the 1890s from the Qing Dynasty to the Japanese empire, they were able to expand their business territory and become major sugar merchants in southern Taiwan?
This article examines the career of Wang Xuenong—a well-known sugar merchant in Taiwan during the Meiji period (1868–1912). It attempts to explain, from the perspective of cross-cultural knowledge transfer and human resource strategies, why and how sugar merchants such as Wang, who had gone to Japan in the early years of the Meiji Restoration for purposes of cross-border trade, introduced a trading company system that incorporated a mixture of East Asian and Western elements. It further investigates how they expanded their business from the sugar trade into a wider commercial domain that included mechanical rice milling and steamship transport. Finally, it looks at how their actions affected a transformation of Taiwan's commercial culture from the late Qing Dynasty to the early days of Japanese rule, and the historical significance of these changes in Taiwan's transitions towards industrialisation and modernisation.
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society
References
1 Cochran, Sherman, ‘Dui Zhongguo qiyeshi yanjiu xianzhuang de sange tiaozhan [Chinese business history: three challenges to the state of the field]’, in Qiye fazhanzhong de zhidu bianqian 企業發展中的制度變遷 [Institutional Change in Enterprise Development], (eds.) Zhongmin Zhang 張仲民 and Xinglong Lu 陸興龍 (Shanghai, 2003), pp. 5–6Google Scholar.
2 Man-houng Lin 林滿紅, Cha, tang, zhangnao ye yu Taiwan zhi shehui jingji bianqian (1860–1895) 茶、糖、樟腦業與臺灣之社會經濟變遷 (1860–1895) [The Tea, Sugar and Camphor Industries and Socio-Economic Change in Taiwan] (Taipei, 1997), pp. 23–32.
3 Ibid., p. 118.
4 See So, Billy K. L. and Myers, Raymond (eds.), The Treaty Port Economy in Modern China: Empirical Studies of Institutional Change and Economic Performance (Berkeley, 2013)Google Scholar, translated into Chinese by Yinong Cheng 成一農 and Huanyi Tian 田歡譯 as Jindai Zhongguo de tiaoyuegang jingji: Zhidu bianqian yu jingji biaoxian de shizheng yanjiu 近代中國的條約港經濟：制度變遷與經濟表現的實證研究 (Hangzhou, 2013); Motono Eiichi 本野英一, Dentō Chūgoku shōgyō chitsujo no hōkai 伝統中国商業秩序の崩壊 [Collapse of the Traditional Mercantile System in China] (Nagoya, 2004).
5 王泰升, Tay-Sheng Wang, Taiwan falüshi de jianli 臺灣法律史的建立 [The Establishment of Taiwanese Legal History] (Taipei, 1997), pp. 290–91Google Scholar; 高淑媛, Shu-Yuan Kao, ‘Rizhi qianqi Taiwan zongdufu zhi qiye guanli zhengce 日治前期臺灣總督府之企業管理政策 [The Taiwan Governor-General's corporate policies during the early period of Japanese rule in Taiwan]’, Taiwan shi yanjiu 臺灣史研究 [Taiwan Historical Research], 12.1 (2005), p. 48Google Scholar. In the main text, references to East Asian figures follow the standard East Asian order in which surname precedes given name.
6 Ito Izumi 伊藤泉美, ‘Yokohama kakyo shakai no keisei 橫濱華僑社會の形成 [The formation of the overseas Chinese community of Yokohama]’, in Yokohama kaikō shiryōkan kiyō 橫濱開港資料館紀要 [Yokohama Archives of History Review], 9 (1991), ⅸ, p. 5; Youzhi Zhao 趙祐志, ‘“Shunhezhan” zai Hengbin (1864–1914) [The “Shunhe firm” in Yokohama (1864–1914)]’, Chonggao xuebao 重高學報 [Bulletin of [San]Chong High [School]], 3 (2000), p. 202.
7 Yang, Yuzi 楊玉姿, ‘Qingdai Dagou Chen Fujian jiazu de fazhan 清代打狗陳福謙家族的發展 [The development of the family of Chen Fuqian of Takow in the Qing period]’, Gaoshi wenxian 高市文獻 [Kaohsiung Historiography], 1.2 (1988), pp. 1–20Google Scholar; Zhao, ‘“Shunhejian” zai Yokohama (1864–1914)’, pp. 193–211; Chang, Shou-chen 張守真, ‘“Hengbin Shunhezhan” chanquan zhuancheng wenti tantao 「橫濱順和棧」產權轉承問題探討 [An examination of the transfer of property rights of the “Yokohama Shenhe firm”]’, Taiwan wenxian 臺灣文獻 [Taiwan historica], 62.4 (2011), pp. 368–92Google Scholar; 李佩蓁, Pei-Chen Li, ‘Taiwan tangye juzi Chen Beixue 臺灣糖業鉅子陳北學 [Chen Beixue, the giant of the Taiwan sugar industry]’, Guoshi yanjiu tongxun 國史研究通訊 [Academia Historica research newsletter], 2 (2012), pp. 43–49Google Scholar; 李佩蓁, Pei-Chen Li, ‘Guoji maoyi yu Taiwan tangshang de zhuanxing: Yi Dagou Chen Fuqian jianzu wei lie (1860–1905) 國際貿易與臺灣糖商的轉型：以打狗陳福謙家族為例 (1860–1905) [International trade and the transformation of Taiwan's sugar merchants: a case study of the family of Chen Fuqian of Takow]’, Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives 海外華人研究, 9 (2019), pp. 54–72Google Scholar.
8 The primary reason for this common mistake is reliance on Man-houng Lin's translation of W. W. Myers’ 1890 report. See Man-houng Lin 林滿紅, ‘Qingdai nanbu Taiwan de zhetangye 清代南部台灣的蔗糖業 [The sugarcane industry in southern Taiwan during the Qing period]’, Taiwan wenxian 臺灣文獻 [Taiwan historica], 28.2 (1977), pp. 137–42. Lin took ‘H.H.’ to refer to the Shunhe Hong, but actually it referred to the Hexing Company.
9 Shu-Yuan Kao has reconstructed the pivotal role of the late Qing transition in the sugar trade from the Shunhe Hong to the Hexing Company; the competition and push and pull between the sugar merchants and foreign merchants; and the situation of late Qing Taiwan sugar from observations of changes in the Japanese market. See 高淑媛, Shu-Yuan Kao, ‘Yangren shengchan jixiehua yu Taiwan tangye: Yi Hengbin de Dagoutang wei lie (1870–1895) 洋人生產機械化與臺灣糖業：以橫濱的打狗糖為例（1870–1895 年）[Foreign mechanisation of production and the Taiwan sugar industry: Takow sugar in Yokohama (1870–1895)]’, Gaoxiong wenxian 高雄文獻 [Kaoshiung Historiography], 4.3 (2014), pp. 7–25Google Scholar; Pao-tsun Tai 戴寶村, Chen Zhonghe jiazu shi: Cong tangye maoyi dao zhengjing shijie 陳中和家族史：從糖業貿易到政經世界 [A History of Chen Zhonghe's Family: From the Sugar Trade to the World of Politics and Economics] (Taipei, 2008); Youzhi Zhao 趙祐志, ‘Rizhi shiqi Gaoxiong Chenjia de ziben wangluo fenxi: Yi qiye jingying yu touzi wei zhongxin 日治時期高雄陳家的資本網絡分析：以企業經營與投資為中心 [An analysis of the capital networks of the Kaohsiung Chen family during the period of Japanese rule: enterprise management and investment]’, Taiwan wenxian 臺灣文獻 [Taiwan historica], 62.4 (2011), pp. 417–84; Shou-chen Chang 張守真 and Yuzi Yang 楊玉姿, Chen Zhonghe xinzhuan 陳中和新傳 [A New Biography of Chen Zhonghe] (Kaohsiung, 2014).
10 Wang Xuenong was born in March 1870. He entered school in 1876 and in 1883 began working for Shunhe Hong. During the decade between 1885 and 1895, he learned the rice and sugar trade at the Shunhe Hong offices in Yokohama Hong. See Wang Xuenong lülishu 王雪農履歷書 [Records of Wang Xuenong]’, in Taiwan zongdufu gongwen leizuan 臺灣總督府公文類纂 [Records of the Government of the Governor-general of Taiwan], held at the Taiwan Historica 國史館臺灣文獻館, classification no. 00002254004, 1914.
11 Huai Hsien Huang 黃懷賢, ‘Taiwan chuangtong shangye tuanti Tainan sanjiao de zhuanbian (1760–1940) 灣傳統商業團體臺南三郊的轉變（1760–1940） [The Transformation of Taiwan Traditional Merchant Associations: The Three jiao of Tainan, 1760–1940]’ (unpublished master's thesis, National Chengchi University, 2012), pp. 53–54.
12 Ueno Sen'ichi 上野專一, ‘Taiwan shisatsu fukumei sho 臺灣視察復命書 [Reports on Taiwan], p. ⅱ, (1894), unnumbered manuscript, held at the National Central Library; Ōkurashō Rizaikyoku 藏省理財局, Taiwan keizai jijō shisatsu fukumei sho 臺灣經濟視察復命書 [Reports on Economic Affairs in Taiwan] (Tokyo, 1899), p. 213.
13 Rizaikyoku, Taiwan keizai jijō shisatsu fukumei sho, 213; Higuchi Hiroshi 樋口弘, Nihon tōgyōshi 日本糖業史 [A History of the Japanese Sugar Industry] (Tokyo, 1956), pp. 495–96.
14 Chang and Yang, Chen Zhonghe xinzhuan, pp. 17–21; Yang, ‘Qingdai Dagou Chen Fujian jiazu de fazhan’, pp. 1–19; Zhao, ‘“Shunhejian” zai Yokohama (1864–1914)’, pp. 193–210.
15 ‘Taiwan no satō bune 臺灣の砂糖船 [Sugar boats of Taiwan]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 1 January 1907, p. 37.
16 ‘Chen Zhonghe lülishu 陳中和履歷書 [Records of Chen Zhonghe]’, in Taiwan zongdufu gongwen leizuan 臺灣總督府公文類纂, held in the Records of the Government of the Governor-general of Taiwan at Taiwan Historica國史館臺灣文獻館, classification no. 0000011121, 1897.
17 At first, Chen Beixue chose to begin his career in Tainan. By 1870, he was already managing the Xinruihe hao in the cloth store located on Neigonghou Street there. In 1884, he became a guarantor for lijin duties. Three years later, the family divided and he received the greater part of Chen Fujian's property, including the Bangji hao, Takow Shunyuan hao, Donggang Shunmao hao, Aligang Shunyuan zhan, and the compradorship of the Tait Company in Qihou. Li, ‘Taiwan tangye juzi Chen Beixue’, pp. 44–45.
18 Shou-chen Chang and Yuzi Yang have pointed out that, after the Yokohama Shunhe Hong became a branch of Hexing Company, it changed its name to Shunhe Xingji Zhan; see their Chen Zhonghe xinzhuan, p. 92. However, judging from documents and inscriptions, it was still called Yokohama Shunhezhan. Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai 臨時臺灣舊慣調查會, Taiwan tōgyō kyūkan ippan 臺灣糖業舊慣一斑 [A General Survey of Old Customs in the Taiwan Sugar Industry] (Kobe, 1909), p. 115; ‘Guangxu sanshi'er nian chongxiu Changqi Tianhougong beiwen 光緒三十二年重修長崎天后宮碑文 [Inscription on the reconstruction of the Nagasaki Tianhou temple in the thirty-second year of the Guangxu reign (1906)]’, now preserved at the ruins of the Chinese temple to Mazu in Nagasaki.
19 ‘Chen Zhonghe lülishu’; Li, ‘Guoji maoyi yu Taiwan tangshang de zhuanxing’, pp. 61–63; Chang and Yang, Chen Zhonghe xinzhuan, pp. 90–92.
20 ‘Chen Zhonghe lülishu’.
21 See Chang, ‘“Hengbin Shunhezhan” chanquan zhuancheng wenti tantao’, pp. 379–85; Chang and Yang, Chen Zhonghe xinzhuan, chapter Ⅲ.
22 ‘Wang Xuenong lülishu’; Nakagami Nagafumi 中神長文, Tainan jijō 臺南事情 [Tainan Affairs] (Taipei, 1985), p. 132. Comparing Nakagami's account with the ‘Wang Xuenong lülishu’, the records concerning Wang Xuenong during the period of Japanese rule have a number of mistakes. Nakagami's record of events also has some discrepancies and errors; for example, from 1885 to 1895, Wang Xuenong was in Yokohama and he only returned to Taiwan in 1895.
23 Tiankai Zheng 鄭天凱, Gong Tai tulu: Taiwan shi shang zuida yichang zhanzheng 攻臺圖錄：臺灣史上最大一場戰爭 [An Illustrated Record of the Invasion of Taiwan: The Greatest War in the History of Taiwan] (Taipei, 1995), pp. 128–37. On the founding and disappearance of the Republic of Formosa, see Chiautong Ng黃昭堂, Taiwan Minzhuguo yanjiu: Taiwan duli yundongshi de yiduanzhang 臺灣民主國研究：臺灣獨立運動史的一斷章 [A Study of the Republic of Formosa: One Chapter in the History of the Taiwanese Independence Movement], (trans.) Weizhi Liao 廖為智 (Taipei, 2005).
24 ‘Kuaiji de ren 會計得人 [Accountants]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō [Taiwan Daily News], 20 November 1898, Chinese-language paper, 6th edn.
25 Chen Zhonghe transported Takow sugar to Yokohama in 1873 and sold it to Abe Kōbei in Enobuya. In 1884, Abe opened Masudaya Abe Kobei Store in Yokohama. Chang and Yang, Chen Zhonghe xinzhuan, pp. 80–81.
26 Taiwan zongdufu gongwen leizuan, classification no. 00002217011, 1897; ‘Kuaiji de ren’.
27 Yokohama was the first treaty port in Japan, and it was the first to absorb Western culture and new knowledge, and to the greatest degree. Under the leadership of Godai Tomoatsu (1836–85), Osaka not only continued to maintain its status as a commercial centre, but was also a major centre of commerce and Westernisation in the Kansai region. Tsugawa Masayuki 津川正幸, ‘Godai Tomoatsu to Dōjima Beishō Kaisho Meiji 13 nen 3 gatsu 4 gatsu gen baibai chūshi ikken 五代友厚と堂島米商会所明治13年3月4月限売買中止一件 [A document on Godai Tomoatsu and the Dojima Rice Exchange suspension in the 3rd and 4th months of Meiji 13 (1880)]’, Kansai Daigaku keizai ronshū 關西大學経済論集 [The Economic Review of Kansai University], 22.1 (1972), p. 1.
28 Dadetang was run by the Guangzhao commercial group established by merchants from Guangzhou and Zhaoqing. It mainly imported sugar from Hong Kong into Yokohama. Its products included rice, camphor, poria (a kind of mushroom), and rhubarb. Zhao, ‘“Shunhejian” zai Yokohama (1864–1914)’, pp. 206–7.
29 Ito, ‘Yokohama kakyo shakai no keisei’, pp. 16–21; Zhao, ‘“Shunhejian” zai Yokohama (1864–1914)’, pp. 203–5.
30 ‘Chen Zhonghe lülishu’.
31 Trade documents of the Taichang firm, 1862–1901, collection no. T1001-13306-13309, held at the Archives of the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.
32 See the following articles from Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News]: ‘Nanbu sōgyōodan 南部商業談 [A discussion of commerce in the south]’, 8 July 1905, 4th edn; ‘Nanbu sōgyō dan (shozen) [A discussion of commerce in the south (continued)]’, 9 July 1905, 4th edn. See also Miyazaki Kenzō 宮崎健三, Chin Chūwa ō den 陳中和翁傳 [Biography of Mr. Chen Zhonghe] (Taipei, 1931), p. 10.
33 Kao, ‘Yangren shengchan jixiehua yu Taiwan tangye’, pp. 7–25.
34 ‘Nanbu sōgyō dan’; ‘Nanbu sōgyō dan (shozen)’.
35 Taiwan zongdufu gongwen leizuan, classification no. 00002217011, 1897.
36 The word ‘company’ had already appeared in the Qing Dynasty (see Liu Shiuh-Feng 劉序楓, ‘Jindai Huanan chuantong shehuizhong “gongsi” xingtai zaikao: You haishang maoyi dao defang shehui 近代華南傳統社會中「公司」形態再考：由海上貿易到地方社會 [A reconsideration of the “company” form in traditional southern Chinese society in the modern period: from maritime trade to local society]’, in Bijiao shiyexia de Taiwan shangye chuantong 比較視野下的臺灣商業傳統 [Commercial Traditions in Taiwan: A Comparative Perspective], (ed.) Lin Yu -ju (Taipei, 2012), pp. 227–66. Before Hexing Company, however, Taiwan did not have a business name that included the word ‘company’. For instance, businesses in the Zhuqian and Lukang areas were named using the word hao before 1895. Yu-ju Lin 林玉茹, Qingdai Zhuqian diqu de zaidi shangren ji qi huodong wangluo 清代竹塹地區的在地商人及其活動網絡 [Merchants in the Zhuqian Area and Their Networks of Association during the Qing Dynasty] (Taipei, 2000), Appendix Chart 2.
37 Zhongmin Zhang張忠民, Jiannan de bianqian: Jindai Zhongguo gongsi zhidu yanjiu 艱難的變遷：近代中國公司制度研究 [An Arduous Transformation: An Analysis of the Modern Company System in China] (Shanghai, 2001), p. 103.
38 The UK enacted the Limited Liability Act in 1855. After its amendment in 1862, the law was officially called the Company Act. In 1865, Hong Kong formulated its first Company Ordinance in accordance with the Company Act. Hong Kong Companies Registry 香港公司註冊處, Xianggang gongsi zhuce de lishi―Yanjiu baogao 香港公司註冊的歷史――研究報告 [The History of Hong Kong Company Registration: A Research Report] (Hong Kong, 2013), p. 12; Zong'e Li李宗鍔, Xianggang heyuefa yu gongsifa 香港合約法與公司法 [Contract Law and Company Law in Hong Kong] (Hong Kong, 1995), pp. 100–4.
39 Takamura Naosuke 高村直助, Kaisha no tanjō 会社の誕生 [The Birth of the Company] (Tokyo, 1996), pp. 31, 54.
40 In 1899, Wang Xuenong donated to the reconstruction of the Temple of Heaven initiated by Cai Guolin and others in the name of the Dechang Foreign Company. See ‘Chongxiu Tiantan beiji 重修天壇碑記 [Inscription on the reconstruction of the Temple of Heaven]’, at present located in Tiangongtan Park in present-day Hsinchu City, Taiwan.
41 Li, ‘Guoji maoyi yu Taiwan tangshang de zhuanxing’, p. 62; Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai 臨時臺灣舊慣調查會, Taiwan shihō 臺灣私法 [Civil Law in Taiwan], III, part 2 (Tokyo, 1911), p. 120; Wang, Taiwan falüshi de jianli, pp. 290–91.
42 For details, see Li, ‘Taiwan tangye juzi Chen Beixue’.
43 Mitsui Bunko 三井文庫 (ed.), Shiryō ga kataru Mitsui no ayumi: Echigoya kara Mitsui zaibatsu 史料が語る三井のあゆみ─越後屋から三井財閥 [The Development of Mitsui as Described in Historical Materials: From the Echigoya [shop to] the Mitsui Financial Conglomerate] (Tokyo, 2015), p. 39.
44 In addition to Hexing Company, another important sugar merchant was the Zhang Yangqing family. See Lin, ‘Qingdai nanbu Taiwan de zhetangye’, pp. 137, 141–42; Yu-ju Lin 林玉茹, ‘Zhengzhi, zuqun yu maoyi: Shiba shiji haishang tuantijiao zai Taiwan de chuxian 政治、族群與貿易：十八世紀海商團體郊在臺灣的出現 [Politics, lineage and trade: the emergence of maritime trade organisations in eighteenth-century Taiwan]’, Guoshiguan guankan 國史館館刊 [Academia Historica Journal] (December 2019), pp. 22–28.
45 ‘Wang Xuenong lülishu’, 1914.
46 For example, in 1899, Taiwan's Governor-General Kodama Gentarō made a tour of the south. Chen Zhonghe was unable to receive the governor because he was in mourning for his father, so he was received by Wang Xuenong on his behalf. ‘Zappō mondai zōkō 雜報門第增光 [Miscellaneous reports: a family gains glory]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 30 September 1899, 5th edn.
47 Among the 15 shareholders, Huang Zhaoji was from China and Chen Longji, who also invested in Jiexing Company, was most likely from Lingyaliao. Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai 臨時臺灣舊慣調查會, Taiwan shihō furoku sankōsho 臺灣私法附錄參考書 [Civil Law in Taiwan: Appended Reference Materials], juan 3 xia, juan 4 (Taipei, 1911), pp. 7, 27; and Taiwan shihō, juan 3, xia, p. 250.
48 It was also known as Dechang Hong, Dechang Firm, Dechang Foreign Co., etc.
49 Traditional Taiwanese import and export trade merchants were divided into two types: the ‘98 firms’ (jiuba hang) and the ‘bow firms’ (chuantou hang). A 98 firm helped merchants or ships visiting Hong Kong search for local cargo and sell the goods, for which it charged a 2 per cent commission. A bow firm had its own vessels and operated a shipping industry.
50 He Dexiu also came from Takow. He ran the Deying firm, which was involved in the rice and sugar trade.
51 Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan shihō furoku sankōsho, juan 3 xia, pp. 7–8.
52 On such ‘additional investment’, the interest was 1 to 1.5 per cent per month. Naosuke, Kaisha no tanjō, pp. 34–35.
53 Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan shihō furoku sankōsho, juan 3 xia, juan 4 xia, pp. 7–10.
54 Li, ‘Guoji maoyi yu Taiwan tangshang de zhuanxing’, p. 66.
55 Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai 臨時臺灣舊慣調查會, Taiwan shihō 臺灣事情, juan 3 xia (Taipei, 1903), p. 179.
56 Naosuke, Kaisha no tanjō, pp. 31–32, 49–77.
57 Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan shihō furoku sankōsho, juan 3 xia, juan 4, pp. 3–5, 20.
58 Negotiation of export bills can frequently be seen in the trade documents of the Taichang firm.
59 ‘Lüefen yanqing 略分言情 [Exchanging conventional greetings]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 13 June 1899, 3rd edn.
60 Wang Xuenong was the wealthiest man in Tainan during the early years of Japanese rule. See Lin, ‘Kuaguo maoyi yu wenhua zhongjie’, part 3.
61 Taiwan Shinpōsha 臺南新報社, Nanbu Taiwan shinshiroku 南部臺灣紳士錄 [A Record of Gentry in Southern Taiwan] (Tainan, 1907), pp. 56, 125, 539; ‘Nihonsen no fu shin'yō 日本船の不信用 [The untrustworthiness of Japanese ships]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 30 August 1898, 3rd edn; ‘Hontō shōko no shihon gyōtai kumitoriin ginkō-chō Taiwan ginkō e sōfu 本島商賈ノ資本業體汲取引銀行調臺灣銀行ヘ送付 [Survey of businessmen on the island and bank transactions sent to the Bank of Taiwan]’, Taiwan zongdufu gongwen leizuan, classification no. 00004600020, 1899; Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai 臨時臺灣舊慣調查會, Chōsa keizai shiryō hōkoku 調查經濟資料報告 [Report on Materials from the Survey of the Economy] (Taipei, 1903), I, pp. 284, 310, 369.
62 Hui-wen Xu 許蕙玟, ‘Yanxu he xinsheng: Rizhi qianqi Taiwan de shangbiaofa yu shangye (1899–1921) 延續和新生：日治前期臺灣的商標法與商業（1899–1921） [Continuity and Rebirth: Trademark Law and Business in Taiwan during the Early Decades of Japanese Rule (1899–1921)]’ (unpublished PhD thesis, National Chi Nan University, 2022), p. 74.
63 Kawakita Koju 川北幸壽, Taiwan kin'yū jijō shisatsu fukumeisho 臺灣金融事情視察復命書 [Reports on Financial Affairs in Taiwan] (Taipei, 1902), p. 139; ‘Hontō shōko no shihon gyōtai kumitoriin ginkō-chō Taiwan ginkō e sōfu’; ‘Shimasei Tōkin aitsuna 島政 糖金相繫 [Island policy: mutual connections between sugar and gold]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 16 December 1900, 5th edn.
64 The Dechang Chan in Kobe was probably established in 1899. Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan tōgyō kyūkan ippan, pp. 115–18.
65 From March 1900 to February 1910, Dechang Company wrote ten letters to the Nagasaki Taichang and Taiyi firms. Most of these are concentrated between 1900 and 1903 or in 1910. They commissioned the Taichang firm to sell sugar and rice on Dechang's behalf and provided the expenses for intermediaries and for import bills (yahui) negotiated on Dechang's behalf. After 1904, there is no record of further correspondence. Between 1907 and 1909, there is only mention of Wang Xuenong's son, Wang Guobin, sending New Year's greetings to the Taiyi firm. Only in 1910 did trade resume. See ‘Changqi Taiyihao wenshu 長崎泰益號文書 [Documents of the Nagasaki Taiyi firm]’, collection no. 10931–10940, held by the Archives of the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.
66 Trade documents of the Taichang firm, 1862–1901, collection no. T1001-13306-13309, held at the Archives of the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.
67 Rinji Taiwan Tōmukyoku 臨時臺灣糖務局, Dainiji tōgyō kiji 第二次糖業記事 [Second Report Record of the Sugar Industry] (Taipei, 1903), p. 101; ‘Hokubu no shin tō 北部の新糖 [The new sugar of the north]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 15 November 1905, 2nd edn.
68 Yu-ju Lin 林玉茹, ‘Shangye wangluo yu weituo maoyi zhidu de xingcheng: Shijiu shijimo Lugang Quanjiao shangren yu Zhongguo neidi de fanchuan maoyi 商業網絡與委託貿易制度的形成：十九世紀末鹿港泉郊商人與中國內地的帆船貿易 [Commercial networks and the formation of a cooperative commissioning system: the traditional junk trade between Lugang Quan[zhou] guild merchants and mainland China during the late nineteenth century]’, Xin shixue 新史學 [New History], 18.2 (2007), pp. 71–72.
69 ‘Changqi Taiyihao wenshu’, collection number 10933; ‘Nanbu no Annan kome yunyū 南部の安南米輸入 [The importing of Annan rice from the south]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 1 January 1902, 2nd edn.
70 Please see note 49.
71 ‘Kuaiji de ren’.
72 Zhanfei referred to fees charged for goods stored in a warehouse. There was also a zi'antang fee, but the specifics of this latter fee are not clear. Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan tōgyō kyūkan ippan, pp. 115–18.
73 Shinpōsha, Nanbu Taiwan shinshiroku, p. 539.
74 Lin, Qingdai zhuqian diqu de zaidi shangren jiqi huodong wangluo, pp. 115–21.
75 Wang Xuenong was the first-born child of Wang Quan. He replaced his father as the head of the household in 1902. ‘Wang Xuenong huji tengben 王雪農戶籍謄本 [Wang Xuenong's household registration]’, provided by Wang's descendants in Tainan.
76 ‘Zhinaxingchuan Jinyutai, Jinfengcheng, Jinyi'an, Jinjieshun, Jinzhenxing, Jindeshun and Jinchunhe chuanji dengshu xiafu 支那形船金豫泰、金豊成、金怡安、金捷順、金振興、金德順、金春和船籍證書下付 [Issuance of ship registrations for the junk Jinyutai, Jinfengcheng, Jinyi'an, Jinjieshun, Jinzhenxing, Jindeshun and Jinchunhe]’, Taiwan zongdufu gongwen leizuan 臺灣總督府公文類纂, classification no. 00004590011, 1898; see also ‘Zhinaxingchuan Jindeshun hao guoji zhengshu jiaofu de jian 支那形船金德順號國籍證書交付ノ件 [Documents on the issuance of an international certification for the Chinese-style sailing ship Jindeshun]’, classification no.00004618026, 1900; ‘Zhinaxingchuan Jindeshun hao guoji zhengshu jiaofu de jian 支那形船金德順號國籍證書交付ノ件 [Documents on the issuance of an international certification for the Chinese-style sailing ship Jindeshun]’, classification no. 00004921010, 1906.
77 ‘Kisen kensa shōsho hasshutsusū 汽船檢查證書發出數 [Numbers of steamship inspection certifications issued]’, Taiwan sotokufu fuho 臺灣總督府府報 [Gazette of the Taiwan Governor-General's Office], no. 890 (19 January 1901); no. 1203 (14 August 1902); see also the following articles from Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News]: ‘Engan kaikō 沿岸開航 [Coastal voyages]’, 6 August 1898, 3rd edn; ‘Rin'un tomikyō 輪運頓興 [The increasing of steamship transport]’, 14 August 1898, 5th edn; ‘Kisen shingō 滊船信號 [Steamship signals]’, 11 November 1899, 3rd edn.
78 Robert J. Hastings, a British subject, took a position with the Takow Customs in 1869; he transferred to Anping Customs in 1876 and resigned his post circa 1882. In 1886, he partnered with David M. Wright (1849–95), who was also British, to establish Wright & Co. In 1887, he served as the agent of Qichang & Co., the largest US firm in southern Taiwan. In 1897, he went bankrupt. See Pei-Chen Li 李佩蓁, ‘Yifu yi hezuo? Qingmo Taiwan nanbu kou'an maiban shangren de shuangchong jiaose 依附抑合作?：清末臺灣南部口岸買辦商人的雙重角色 [Dependence or cooperation? The double role of compradors in southern Taiwan ports at the end of the Qing period]’, Taiwan shi yanjiu 臺灣史研究 [Taiwan Historical Research], 20.2 (June 2013), pp. 39, 42; Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica 中央研究院近代史研究所 (ed.), Zhong Mei guanxi shiliao 中美關係史料 [Historical Materials on China-America Relations], Guangxu 2 (1876) (Taipei, 1988), pp. 1315–16; James W. Davidson, The Island of Formosa; Past and Present: History, People, Resources and Commercial Prospects (London and New York; Yokohama, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, 1903), p. 124.
79 As the Temporary Commission for the Survey of Traditional Taiwan Customs pointed out in 1904, Haixing Company was a branch of the South Formosa Trading Company Ltd that had been founded in Hong Kong in 1849; it opened stores in Anping, Tainan, and Fengshan in 1899. Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan shihō, juan 3 xia, pp. 250–51.
80 Koju, Taiwan kin'yū jijō shisatsu fukumeisho, pp. 138–39; Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan shihō furoku sankōsho, juan 3 xia, pp. 142–43.
81 Regarding the identity of the newly added Chinese partner, no sources have been found. Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai, Taiwan shihō, juan 3 xia, p. 251.
82 In 1898, Japan, due to an insufficient rice harvest, imported rice from Taiwan for the first time. Rice prices remained very high in 1899. ‘Beitō no kakaku 米糖の價格 [Rice and sugar prices]’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News], 1 May 1907, 22nd edn.
83 See the following articles from Taiwan nichinichi shinpō 臺灣日日新報 [Taiwan Daily News]: ‘Tainan seimaijo no setsuritsu 臺南精米所の設立 [The establishment of a rice mill in Tainan]’, 30 May 1901, 2nd edon; ‘Anping seimaijo no keikyō 安平精米所の景況 [Business outlook for the Anping rice mill]’, 27 August 1903, 2nd edn; 28 August 1903, 3rd edn.
84 Tai, Chen Zhonghe jiazu shi, p. 111; Li-Yung Lee, Migu liutong yu Taiwan shehui (1895–1945) 米穀流通與臺灣社會（1895–1945） [The circulation of rice and other grains and Taiwan society (1895–1945)] (Taipei, 2009), p. 51.