A slightly niche request perhaps, but am trying to find information about what Taiwan was like before European settlers arrived here. My level of Mandarin means finding something in English would be fantastic, but I know that’s probably a big ask, so anything at all would be great - books, websites, museums, academics to contact, anything at all.
Cheers.
One stop is the Taiwan History Museum at 2 Xiangyang Road, in Peace Park not far from the Taipei train station. There’s also the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines at 282 Zhishan Rd Sec. 2 near the National Palace Museum. I don’t exactly remember the level of English explanation at either place but I’m pretty sure there’s some at least. By the way, by “before European settlers” do you mean pre-Dutch?
Yes, I’m looking to find out about Taiwan before the first Dutch settlers arrived. The people, where they lived, the landscape, and so on. Thanks for those two tips. Am based in Kaohsiung, so not very familiar with all the Taipei Museums. Any other suggestions very welcome!
My impression is that not much of a historical record survives from that period. Han settlement was still minimal; it’s mostly the history of the aboriginal peoples at that point.
I’m currently reading A New Illustrated History of Taiwan, which touches on the “pre history” (before written records) of Taiwan in the first couple of chapters. But, as Tempo said, there doesn’t seem to be a wealth of information. One of the problems, as the book brings out, is that historical archeological sites in Taiwan haven’t been well preserved, at least not until pretty recently.
In addition to the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines mentioned above, I would recommend the following two museums, closer to Kaohsiung:
The National Museum of Taiwanese History, Tainan: there are some exhibits on Taiwanese aboriginal culture, both prior to the 16th century and thereafter.
The National Museum of Taiwanese Prehistory, Taitung: I think this might be just what you’re looking for - there are extensive exhibits on the origins of the various Taiwanese aboriginal cultures, in addition to exhibits on the geological formation of Taiwan and the megafauna that used to inhabit the island. In addition, you may find the Beinan cultural park in Taitung interesting (the site of an archaeological excavation).
Both museums are excellent, and I highly recommend making the trips.
David, before the Europeans arrived, there is no identifiable accounts of Taiwan in historical documents. There are passages that sounds like Taiwan in Japanese and Chinese sources, however, those description would fit any Austronesian culture (Taiwan, Penghu and much of South East Asia, including coastal Vietnam and Thailand) and early Ryukyuans as well. There is no concrete evidence that those accounts pointed to Taiwan.
Judging by Zheng He’s method of traversing the seas around China by pretty much hugging the coast, there’s no sign of the Chinese’ ability of finding Taiwan during the Ming dynasty, never mind much earlier periods such as the Three Kingdoms era. Trade destinations, trade winds, ocean currents, and the location of major Chinese ports also mean it’s more likely for Chinese vessels to slip right into the South China sea, instead of accidentally running into Taiwan.
First European sighting of Taiwan was back in 1544, when someone on a Portuguese ship sailing from Malacca to Japan passed East coast Taiwan and wrote down Ilha Formosa in their log.
The first map of Taiwan was made by Portuguese Lopo Homem back in 1554.
On July 16th of 1582, a famous Spanish Jesuit Alonso Sanchez took a boat from Macau to Japan, when his ship unfortunately sank around Eastern Taiwan as well. The Captain Andre Feio and 300 other crewmen were stranded on the island for 10 weeks, where they were subjected to malaria and intermittent Aboriginal attacks and signs of friendship. In the end they managed to build themselves a junk back to Macau. All 10 padres wrote about their ordeal in Taiwan after getting back to Taiwan. You can find those in the book “Spaniards in Taiwan”.
Another Spanish captain Francisco Gualle passed by Taiwan in July of 1587.
It was not until 1585, when Captain Linschoten took his Portuguese ship Santa Cruz from Macau to Japan did Europeans first documented West coast Taiwan. After that the Europeans had no trouble identifying Formosa the island.
Back to the pre-European accounts, most of them involved raiding and pillaging the islanders, and grabbing a bunch of people as slaves and then never to return again. First such record came from the Book of Wu (吳書), of the Records of Three Kingdoms (三國志). Emperor Sun Quan (孫權) of Wu ordered general Wei Wen (衞溫) and general Zhuge Zhi (諸葛直) into the sea to find the mythical Yizhou (夷洲) and Danzhou (亶洲) in 230 C.E (黃龍二年).
Emperor Sun Quan believed Danzhou to be the same island where Qin Shihuangdi sent Xu Fu (徐福) with a thousand boys and girls to find the pill of youth, and upon failing to find the magical mountain Penglai (蓬萊), Xu never returned. The descendents of Xu’s expedition are rumoured to have grown into tens of thousands of families. Some of them even travels to the Wu city of Kuaiji (會稽) to trade for fabric. Occasionally people of Kuaiji when sailing in the ocean gets blown to Danzhou by storms as well. However, his two generals came back reporting that Danzhou was too far away, but their soldiers did get to Yizhou, and captured a 1,000 slaves.
That’s all there is to that passage. There so little info about Yizhou from the Book of Wu, there is no way to make any kind of claim about where Yizhou actually is.
However, a third hand source from Song dynasty’s Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era (a.k.a. Taiping Yulan 太平御覽) supposedly quoted from Linhai Shuituzhi (臨海水土志, Records of Coastal Geography) by Shen Ying (沈瑩, Danyang mayor of the Kingdom of Wu), that describes Yuzhou in more detail. However, Linhai Shuituzhi has long been lost, and there is no way to verify the validity of the quotation. Shen Ying wrote his book around 268 to 280. He died in 280 when he failed to stop the Jin (晉) invasion. That’s a good 40 to 50 years after Sun Quan sent his generals into the ocean. It means at the time of Sun Quan’s expedition, Shen was either in his adolescence or hadn’t yet been born. So his records about Yizhou in Linhai Shuituzhi is at best second hand. It is also worth noting this account used the words 夷州 instead of 夷洲 as seen in Book of Wu.
So in Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era’s Four Barbarian’s chapter (四夷部一), Eastern Barbarian Section One (東夷一), the quote goes:
[quote]
According to Linhai Shuituzhi, Yizhou is 2,000 Li (about 800KM) south east of Linhai county (臨海郡, near present day Taizhou City (台州市) of Zhejiang province). It is never covered by snow and frost, and its trees and grass are evergreen. It’s surrounded by mountains where the barbarians inhabit. A top of the mountain there’s a white rock that used to be archery training target for the king of Yue.
The barbarians are divided, each with their own king, living on separated territories, and each group of people are different as well. Men shave their heads and pierce their ears. The women do not pierce their ears. They live in houses, and plant thorny shrubs as barriers. Their land is fertile. It is capable of harvesting grain and is filled with fish and game.
Their families all live together. Regardless of gender, be it uncles, aunts, children, all sleep in the same bed. When a couple have sex, the rest don’t even bother to get out of their way. They can make fine fabric and textile, often ingraining patterns and writings in their weaving, and are found of such decorations. The land also bears copper, iron, however, they mostly use deer antlers spears as their primary weapon. They also make arrow heads, axes, and bead necklaces with polished green stones. Their food is unsanitary. They take raw fish or meat, mix them in big jar of storage and let it ferment, and then eat it for days and months. They think of it as their finest cuisine.
They refer to themselves as Milin (彌麟, bie-lin is probably closer to pronunciation at the time of writing). When they need to summon others, they take a huge empty log about 3 meters long, placing it in the courtyard and hit it with a giant pestle from the side. It sounds like a drum and can be heard 4~5 Li (2 to 2.5KM) away. When people hear the sound, they all hurry to the summoner.
When they eat, they sit on the ground face to face. They make containers out of wood, shaped like pig troughs, and places disgusting fish and meat inside, then 5 to 10 people all eat out of it. They make wine out of millet, stores it in wooden containers, and drinks using big bamboo cups. Their songs are like dogs howling, and they entertain each other with it.
After getting a human head, they would take out the brain, and strip off the meat on the face, keeping just the skull, and dyes the hair to dress the skull, keeping the teeth to show the shape of the mouth, then wears it as a battle mask. Only barbarian kings can wear it. During battle, all they want is the enemy’s head. After the battle, they would erect a pole 30 meters tall, and hang the heads they get from each battle as their trophy and never remove it.
When two families have boy and girl ready for marriage, the parents would build them a house and lock them inside until they become husband and wife. When a girl marries, they must remove a upper tooth.
Linhai Shuituzhi also mentions, those who live in deep in the mountains of Anjie (安家, unknown location) build their houses on frames, like a raised building. Their dwellings, food, clothes, ornaments all are similar to those who live in Yizhou. When a parent dies, they would kill a dog as sacrifice, and make a square coffin. After singing and dancing, they would place it atop a rock on a cliff, and not bury it in the dirty in the familial burial ground. Neither men nor women wear shoes. Those who live in Anyang (安陽, near Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and Loujiang (羅江, somewhere in Zhejiang) are said to be their descendents. They love monkey skull soup, and put vegetables in the soup to relieve the effects of alcohol. It’s mixed in with all kinds of meat and smells discussing. The saying goes “One would rather owe someone 31 thousand KG of millet, and not owe a single meal of money skull soup.”
《臨海水土志》曰：夷州在臨海東南，去郡二千里。土地無雪霜，草木不死。四面是山，眾山夷所居。山頂有越王射的，正白，乃是石也。此夷各號為王，分畫土地，人民各自別異。人皆髡頭穿耳，女人不穿耳。作室居，種荊為蕃鄣。土地饒沃，既生五谷，又多魚肉。舅姑子歸男女，臥息共一大床。交會之時，各不相避。能作細布，亦作班文布，刻畫其內，有文章，以為飾好也。其地亦出銅、鐵，惟用鹿矛以戰斗耳。磨礪青石，以作矢鏃、刃斧，環貫珠珰。飲食不潔。取生魚肉，雜貯大器中，以鹵之，歷日月乃啖食之，以為上肴。呼民人為「彌麟」，如有所召，取大空材，材十餘丈，以著中庭。又以大杵，旁舂之，聞四五里，如鼓，民人聞之，皆往馳赴會。飲食皆踞相對。鑿木作器，如狶槽狀，以魚肉腥臊安中，十十五五共食之。以粟為酒，木槽貯之，用大竹筒長七寸許飲之。歌似犬嗥，以相娛樂。得人頭，斫去腦，駁其面肉，留置骨，取大毛染之，以作鬢眉發編，具齒以作口，自臨戰斗時用之，如假面狀。此是夷王所服。戰得頭，著首。還，於中庭建一大材，高十餘丈，以所得頭差次掛之。歷年不下，彰示其功。又甲家有女，乙家有男，仍委父母往就之居，與作夫妻，同牢而食。女以嫁，皆缺去前上一齒。
又曰：安家之民，悉依深山，架立屋舍於棧格上，似樓狀。居處飲食，衣服被飾，與夷州民相似。父母死亡，殺犬祭之，作四方丞以盛尸。飲酒歌舞畢，仍懸著高山巖石之間，不埋土中作冢槨也。男女悉無履。今安陽羅江縣民，是其子孫也。皆好猴頭羹，以菜和中，以醒酒；雜五肉，臛不及之。其俗言：「寧自負人千石之粟，不愿負人猴頭羹臛」。[/quote]
From the second part of the quote, it’s obvious the customs described isn’t unique to Yizhou, and is also common to Yue people on the Mainland at the time. The head hunting ritual isn’t the same as what’s observed here in Taiwan. Ritualistic tooth extraction is common to Yue people at the time as well. Aside from Austronesian, early Jomon period Japanese also practise ritualistic tooth extraction. There is also no Yue presence in Taiwan.
What’s more, Taiwan isn’t to the South East of the kingdom of Wu like Yizhou.
It is in fact directly to the south of Wu if we go with the “2,000 Li (about 800KM) south east of Linhai county” description. Assuming that Shen didn’t really have the first hand information, and King of Wu’s expedition sailed from the mouth of Yangtze river, where their navy is actually based, then south east to that location would take them to Ryukyu (present say Okinawa).
What’s more likely is that the two generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi never sailed that far into the ocean and decided to turn back. To avoid coming back empty handed, the two generals simply raided a near by island and Yue people living there. During the Three Kingdom’s period, there are many pockets of Yue people living through out Southern China, and the Wu Kingdom spent a lot of efforts putting down Yue resistance.
In short, it is highly probably that it isn’t Taiwan.
By the way, the two poor generals were killed one year after they got back from Yizhou due to dereliction of duty. The history books never said what duty though.
Ryukyu Kingdom (流求國) in the Book of Sui (隋書) it’s pretty much the same deal. I won’t bother to translate the whole thing, just the part in bold text.
[quote]
In 605 C.E., during spring and autumn, when the weather was nice, navy officer He Man (何蠻) reported that there seemed to be smoke raising from a least a couple thousand Li away when they looked eastward into the sea. Emperor Yangdi ordered general Zhu Kuan (硃寬) to sail into the ocean to find out what’s out there in 608. Since He Man was the one reported it, he tagged along. They eventually reached Ryukyu, but since they didn’t speak the language, they abducted one man and returned.
In 609, Emperor Yangdi sent an envoy to demand submission and tribute. The Ryukyuans refused. Zhu Kuan only brought back their clothes and armour. At the time, Kingdom of Wuo (倭國, present day Japan) sent their ambassador to pay tribute, and saw the Ryukyuan clothes and armour, to which the Japanese ambassador said “this belongs to those living in the kingdom of Yiyejiu (夷邪久國, li-jia-kiu is probably closer to the pronunciation at the time of writing, which seems like another rendering of Ryukyu).”
The emperor then sent general Chen Leng (陳棱), and advisor Zhang Zhenzhou (張鎮州) to take an army and set sail from Yian (義安). They first arrived at Gaohua island (高華嶼), after another 2 days eastwards they got to Xi-bi island (郤鼊嶼, kiok-bi su should be closer to the pronunciation at the time of writing), and it took them one more day to Ryukyu. At first, since Chen Leng enlisted people from the southern kingdoms, there was some black people who could understand Ryukyuans. After the interpreters delivered the demands of submission and tribute, Ryukyuans still refused. They turned on Chen Leng and his men, and Chen Leng fought back, sacking their capital, decimated their army, burnt down their palaces, and captured a thousand man and woman. After they returned to Sui, there had been no more contacts between Sui and Ryukyu.
流求國，居海島之中，當建安郡東，水行五日而至。土多山洞。其王姓歡斯氏，名渴剌兜，不知其由來有國代數也。彼土人呼之為可老羊，妻曰多拔荼。所居曰波羅檀洞，塹柵三重，環以流水，樹棘為籓。王所居舍，其大一十六間，雕刻禽獸。
多鬥鏤樹，似橘而葉密，條纖如發然下垂。國有四五帥，統諸洞，洞有小王。往往有村，村有鳥了帥，並以善戰者為之，自相樹立，理一村之事。男女皆以白糸寧繩纏發，從項後般繞至額。其男子用鳥羽為冠，裝以珠貝，飾以赤毛，形制不同。婦人以羅紋白布為帽，其形正方。織鬥鏤皮並雜色糸寧及雜毛以為衣，制裁不一。綴毛垂螺為飾，雜色相間，下垂小貝，其聲如佩，綴璫施釧，懸珠於頸。織藤為笠，飾以毛羽。有刀、槊、弓、箭、劍、鈹之屬。其處少鐵，刃皆薄小，多以骨角輔助之。編糸寧為甲，或用熊豹皮。王乘木獸，令左右輿之而行，導從不過數十人。小王乘機，鏤為獸形。國人好相攻擊，人皆驍健善走，難死而耐創。諸洞各為部隊，不相救助。兩陣相當，勇者三五人出前跳噪，交言相罵，因相擊射。如其不勝，一軍皆走，遣人致謝，即共和解。收取鬥死者，共聚而食之，仍以髑髏將向王所。王則賜之以冠，使為隊帥。無賦斂，有事則均稅。用刑亦無常準，皆臨事科決。犯罪皆斷於鳥了帥；不伏，則上請於王，王令臣下共議定之。獄無枷鎖，唯用繩縛。決死刑以鐵錐，大如箸，長尺餘，鉆頂而殺之。輕罪用杖。俗無文字，望月虧盈以紀時節，候草藥枯以為年歲。
人深目長鼻，頗類於胡，亦有小慧。無君臣上下之節、拜伏之禮。父子同床而寢。男子拔去髭鬢，身上有毛之處皆亦除去。婦人以墨黥手，為蟲蛇之文。嫁娶以酒肴珠貝為娉，或男女相悅，便相匹偶。婦人產乳，必食子衣，產後以火自炙，令汗出，五日便平復。以木槽中暴海水為鹽，木汁為酢，釀米麥為酒，其味甚薄。食皆用手。偶得異味，先進尊者。凡有宴會，執酒者必待呼名而後飲。上王酒者，亦呼王名。銜杯共飲，頗同突厥。歌呼蹋蹄，一人唱，從皆和，音頗哀怨。扶女子上膊，搖手而舞。其死者氣將絕，舉至庭，親賓哭泣相吊。浴其尸，以布帛纏之，裹以葦草，親土而殯，上不起墳。子為父者，數月不食肉。南境風俗少異，人有死者，邑里共食之。
有熊羆豺狼，尤多豬雞，無牛羊驢馬。厥田良沃，先以火燒而引水灌之。持一插，以石為刃，長尺餘，闊數寸，而墾之。土宜稻、梁、沄、黍、麻、豆、赤豆、胡豆、黑豆等，木有楓、栝、樟、松、楩、楠、杉、梓、竹、藤、果、藥，同於江表，風土氣候與嶺南相類。
俗事山海之神，祭以酒肴，鬥戰殺人，便將所殺人祭其神。或依茂樹起小屋，或懸髑髏於樹上，以箭射之，或累石系幡以為神主。王之所居，壁下多聚髑髏以為佳。人間門戶上必安獸頭骨角。
大業元年，海師何蠻等，每春秋二時，天清風靜，東望依希，似有煙霧之氣，亦不知幾千里。三年，煬帝令羽騎尉硃寬入海求訪異俗，何蠻言之，遂與蠻俱往，因到流求國。言不相通，掠一人而返。明年，帝復令寬慰撫之，流求不從，寬取其布甲而還。時倭國使來朝，見之曰：「此夷邪久國人所用也。」帝遣武賁郎將陳棱、朝請大夫張鎮州率兵自義安浮海擊之。至高華嶼，又東行二日至郤鼊嶼，又一日便至流求。初，棱將南方諸國人從軍，有昆侖人頗解其語，遣人慰諭之，流求不從，拒逆官軍。棱擊走之，進至其都，頻戰皆敗，焚其宮室，虜其男女數千人，載軍實而還。自爾遂絕。[/quote]
It is unlikely that Ryukyu in the book of Sui refers to Taiwan, it’s much more likely that it actually refers to Ryukyu (Okinawa). However, if it does refer to Taiwan, judging by the response of the Japanese Ambassador, it would mean the Japanese were the first to discover Taiwan (aside from the Negritos and Austronesians).
As far as I know people where living in huts, wearing skirts made out of leaves doing the hunter gathering thing. There is also mention of a small group of chinese traders already on the island.
They were like that, but at the same time they were also skilled sailors and navigators starting as early late as 5,000 years ago. The sailors from Taiwan went to Penghu and brought back basalt rocks from Penghu for building materials. They also traded gold and jade ware made in Taiwan to the Philippines, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.
Besides trading, they’ve also migrated outwards, bring with them the areca nut culture, along with betel leaves. A recent study revealed that paper mulberry trees in Oceania originated from Taiwan.
Taiwanese aboriginals used the bark of paper mulberries to make clothing by beating its bark into paper-like fabric with a specific stone tool. The tool also surfaced around the pacific around 4,000 years ago. Many Austronesian societies still practise bark clothes making.
Making clothes out of paper mulberry trees in Tonga.
Paper mulberries are native to Taiwan, and they blossom and have seeds. In Oceania, only one gender of the trees survived, and people have to populate the trees manually by root cutting and planting the roots. When Taiwanese researches showed them pictures of paper mulberry blossoms and fruits, people there were shocked, as they have never seen it before.
More studies on the distribution of the gender of paper mulberry trees. The plant for some reason isn’t found in the Philippines and Borneo. A subsequent study of chloroplast haplotypes linked paper mulberry of Remote Oceania directly to a population in southern Taiwan, distinct from known populations in mainland Southeast-Asia.
These remote paper mulberry trees are coppiced and harvested for production of bark-cloth, so flowering is generally unknown.
The male paper mulberry trees found in Hawaii today are modern introductions from East Asia, probably by Japanese immigrants.
