Weather, Harvests, and Taxes: A Chinese Revolt in Colonial Taiwan

2015/05/01 by Hui‐Wen Koo · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Asian Studies and History #Japanese History and Culture #Philippine History and Culture

paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/jinh_a_00795

openalex publication_date 2015/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

New sources reveal that the catalyst for a once-mysterious revolt by Chinese farmers in Dutch colonial Taiwan was an unusually dry year, which caused a disappointing sugar harvest. The resulting lower income within the farming community, in conjunction with an obligatory poll tax, placed the Chinese sugar producers indebted to the Dutch in an unbearable situation. Forced to default on their loans, the farmers viewed revolt as their sole recourse.

Citations

• Crisis and Catastrophe: The Global Crisis of the Seventeenth Century Reconsidered

Cited by

• Taiwan [wikipedia]

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