A Study on the Tobacco and Wine Monopoly in Early Post-war Taiwan, 1945-1947

• Main Authors: Yap, Gan-Bang, 葉彦邦
• Other Authors: Chang, Yen-Hsien
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/72902886683750406575

博士 === 國立政治大學 === 中山人文社會科學研究所 === 94 === The monopoly of tobacco and wine in Taiwan has been a major source of revenue for the Japanese Colonial Government since the middle period of its occupation. After Japan ceded Taiwan to the Nationalist Government of China in October 1945, it continued to be the policy of the new ruling power, the result of which greatly redounded to the new government’s fiscal income, especially during the early post-war years. As the monopoly policy has left a deep imprint on Taiwan’s economics, it should have been the focus of much attention. Nevertheless, due to the ruins ravaged by the war and the ineptitude of the government, a lot of historical documents concerning Taiwanese society and economic development were lost, leaving a blank of the history of the monopoly policy. This dissertation aims to survey the history of tobacco and wine monopoly in Taiwan. Starting with the Japanese Colonial Government which laid down a good foundation of the monopoly policy, my research would then focus on the policy of the Nationalist Government toward Taiwan after reclaiming its territory, the way the new government took over the monopoly business and kept it running, the kind of problem it confronted, and the significance of the monopoly business in its contribution to the government’s revenue. The author would also examine the political incident related to the monopoly business, arguing that the real cause of the February 28 Incident(known in Chinese as the “2-2-8 Incident”), though triggered by an anti-smuggling crackdown on February 27, 1947, was Taiwanese refusal to accede to the peremptory policies set by Kuomintang(Nationalist Party or KMT) Government. This research is done based on the limited first-hand documents and the newly released governmental archives, besides some non-governmental documents. Efforts have been made to reconstruct the history of the tobacco and wine monopoly business in the early post-war years with a view to enriching the Taiwan Studies.