| Summary: | 博士 === 國立成功大學 === 歷史學系 === 104 === This thesis explores the history of Hakka migrants in southern Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945). It features an interdisciplinary approach combining document research and fieldwork in order to explore these issues from the perspectives socioeconomic history, ethnic relations, and religious life. Special attention is paid to how Hakka migrants interacted with the communities they settled in, a process that resulted in the growth of new forms of local culture.
During the colonial era, the Japanese authorities actively recruited Hakka workers from northern Taiwan to move south and help in production of camphor. One key factor underlying this policy has to do with disease history: Hakka people tend to suffer high rates of favism, which in turn has helped them build up resistance to malaria, a leading scourge of efforts to develop the camphor industry in Taiwan’s mountainous regions.
The bulk of the thesis is devoted to a case study of how one Japanese corporation, the Sango Koshi (三五公司), relied on Hakka migrants to develop an agricultural center known as Nanryū Nōzyō (南隆農場) located in Meinong 美濃 (today’s Gaoxiong City). The growth of this center had a major impact on Meinong local society, especially in terms of the relationship between northern and southern Hakka groups. This can be seen in the history of Meinong’s lineages, deity worship associations, and temple cults, most notably the sacred site known as the Futian Wugu Temple (輔天五穀宮). This temple served as a key node for the worship of the venerable agricultural deity known as the Great Emperor Shennong (神農大帝), and was also a Hakka phoenix hall (鸞堂) for the performance of spirit-writing rituals involving deities known as the Three Benevolent Ones (三恩主公).
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