Social Networking and Economic Performances of the Indigenous People and the Hans in Taiwan:A Comparison of Tea-Farming in Dongpu and Cao Ping DingComparison of Tea-Farming Management in Dongpu and Cao Ping Ding Districts

• Main Authors: YANG, HUI-CHEN, 楊蕙禎
• Other Authors: 郭文般
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07902993940810146784

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 社會學系 === 95 === The economic achievements of the indigenous people have been comparatively low through several decades. Many factors were singled out for this particular fact. Among them, psychological defects, technological backwardness, financial insufficiency and fewer sale channels in the markets were the most often cited ones. This study takes a quite different perspective from the former ones and focuses on the differential patterns of social networking among the tea growers of the indigenous people and the Hans. Dongpu and Cao Ping Ding are chosen as the study sites. These two are nearby villages situated in a high-altitude mountain where high-price teas are grown. While Dongpu is an indigenous people’s village, Cao Ping Ding is of the Hans. Qualitative fieldwork and in-depth interviews were administered. High-price tea growing is one of the most profitable sectors in the Taiwanese agriculture. However, in order to make one a successful tea-grower, that is, one who goes through the whole processes of planting, making and selling teas on ones own, sophisticated tea-making skills, in-time market information and the all-round knowledge of the whole industry are required. However, these cannot simply be obtained from either workshops held by the farmer’s associations or other formal channels, such as publications of all sorts, but should be obtained through aggressive social networking. In this study, we found only a handful of the indigenous tea-growers are able to do so, most of the indigenous tea growers are shot off the relevant tea industry networks, entirely composed of by the Hans. As a result, they can only engage in low-profit tea-planting business and sell their tea leaves to the Hans. We found this pattern of social division simply a continuation of the former cooperative pattern between the indigenous people and the Hans. However, a few indigenous people did break through. Extra conditions inaccessible to most of the indigenous people have to be existent. Church is found to be a significant one. Besides its organization among the indigenous people, whenever it links to the Han growers, it provides a point of contact for the indigenous people to the tea industry networks where relevant knowledge can then be obtained.