Knowledge about Formosa Constructed by Westerners in Taiwan from Late Qing to Early Japanese Period: A Case Study of Charles Le Gendre and James Davidson

• Main Authors: Wenpei Lin, 林紋沛
• Other Authors: Shao-Li Lu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/6qd7h6

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 歷史學研究所 === 105 === When the treaty ports in Taiwan opened in the 1860s, many Westerners arrived as merchants, missionaries, officials, or researchers. Using resources from networking, Westerners traveled to places under and beyond Qing control and published abundant works about Taiwan. Travel was an important source of knowledge, and networking enabled their travels. This thesis uses Westerners’ writings about Taiwan to explore the knowledge about Taiwan constructed by Westerners in Taiwan from the 1860s to the 1900s, analyzes the mechanism employed for knowledge production, and presents the formation and changes of their knowledge. The major materials include Charles Le Gendre’s Notes of Travel in Formosa, completed in the 1870s, and James Davidson’s The Island of Formosa, Past and Present, published in 1903. Le Gendre (1830-1899), American Consul at Amoy, made frequent visits to Taiwan to settle the 1867 Rover Incident and later assisted Japan in the 1874 expedition to Taiwan. Not only was he familiar with Taiwan, he also sought to influence the politics of East Asia with his knowledge, serving as a good entry point for observation of knowledge construction. James Davidson (1872-1933), a war correspondent and later American Consul in Taiwan, spent eight years to compose The Island of Formosa, a work representing complete knowledge about Taiwan in his time. These two books, together with other relevant works, allow us to grasp Westerners’ understanding of Taiwan from the 1860s to the 1900s. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction to the Western communities in Taiwan and their publications. Chapter 2 analyzes Notes of Travel in Formosa to see how Westerners acquired knowledge through travel and how they understood Taiwan from the aspects of natural history, ethnic relations and sovereignty. Chapter 3 explores the knowledge about Taiwan developed in the 1880s and beyond to illustrate the formation and changes of Westerners’ knowledge about Taiwan. The final discussion on the interaction of Qing, the West and Japan seeks to reflect on the viewpoints of civilization and cultivation in the construction of knowledge about Taiwan.