Introduction

　　A business network will be defined as international or internal; formal or informal institutions that have established commercial ties.
　　This paper tries to describe the business networks of Taiwanese merchants in trade between Taiwan and Japan, and between both of them combined and South-East Asia, in the period of 1950-1961, by using publications from a Japanese private company (Sumitomo), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) as well as governmental archives of ROC (Republic of China) kept in Taiwan.1
　　During the period of 1950-1961, both Japan and Taiwan were short of foreign exchange. Japan did not have enough money to buy Taiwan’s rice, sugar, banana, lumber, and others. Though the ROC takes over in Taiwan a lot of factories from Japan, ROC did not have enough money to buy Japan’s machine parts to run these factories. Taiwan also needed fertilizer, chemical products, western medicine, camera appliance and others from Japan. Therefore, both governments negotiated year by year for what to exchange, how much for each products to be exchanged, so as to reach a balanced barter trade. On the Japanese side it was actually SCAP (Superior Commander of Allied Powers) that made decision before 1952. MITI was the office in charge of foreign trade from 1945 and decision maker from 1952 onward.2
　　On the Taiwan side, the Central Trust Bureau was directly in charge of foreign exchange. This bureau was supervised by the TAPEMC (Taiwan Area Productive Enterprises Management Committee) during the period between December 1950 and July 1953, by the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Section of Taiwan Province between July 1953 and March 1955, and by the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Council of the Executive Yuan for the period between March 1955 and September 1963.3
　　Such a system of control over Taiwan-Japan trade seems to substantiate the stereotype view that the early postwar ROC government in Taiwan was very much a dictator. The command economy controls everything. This situation raises the question: “Had the Taiwanese merchants with Japanese ties built in the Japanese colonial period been suppressed?”
　　The existent literature held that the ROC government during the early postwar period had suppressed the Taiwanese elite of the Japanese colonial period. It had even been said, “the local elite stratum had turned into a vacuum.”4  Careful study of the evidence for this argument indicated that it came mostly from the political elite. What happened to the economic elite? The evidence to-date suggests that there was a strong continuity between the prewar and the postwar periods for the economic elite, in respect to trade between Taiwan and Japan or between them and South-East Asia. This paper will point out this evidence and seek for the mechanism for such continuity. Part one and part two of this paper will deal respectively with Taiwanese merchants in Japan and in Taiwan and part three will trace the international political background for constituting the Taiwanese role for the Taiwan-Japan trade.
　

Taiwanese Merchants in Japan for the Taiwan-Japan Trade

　　Table 1 shows the ROC government office in Japan in 1951. They include the Commerce Section of the Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stationing in Japan (Tokyo and Osaka), the Tokyo branch office of the Central Bureau, the Tokyo branch office of the China Bank, and the office for overseas Chinese.
　　The Central Bureau was set up in mainland China in 1935. While in Taiwan, it stipulated trade policies and signed trade treaty with other countries.5 From September 1946 onward, there was division of labor between this bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Taiwan, it is the Central Bureau to take the full responsibility for the Taiwan-Japan trade issues; yet, in Japan, the Tokyo branch office of the Central Bureau was subordinated to Commerce Section of the Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stationing in Tokyo and Osaka of Japan. The latter was responsible for dealing with the SCAP and Japanese government for the barter trade between Taiwan and Japan as some trade was involved with military defense.6
　　The Tokyo branch of Bank of China has been designated by the SCAP to be the agent of the Bank of Taiwan to keep account and to do clearance for the barter trade between Taiwan and Japan. The account was in terms of US dollars and kept in both the Bank of Japan and the Bank of China. The asset and liabilities would charge no interest. If the account is outstanding more than one million dollars (at the beginning, it was four million dollars), then cash had to be used to balance the account.7
　　The merchants from Taiwan who have opened 113 stores in Japan (89 in Tokyo, 9 in Kobe, 9 in Osaka, 3 in Yokohama, and 1 respectively in Nagoya, Nagasaki and Kyoto) for carrying on the trade between Taiwan and Japan in 1951 are listed in Table 2.
　　We could trace back the Taiwan-Japan or even East Asian and Southeast Asian trade network in the prewar period for several of these postwar Taiwan merchants. Some started to constitute this network by themselves, some followed their elder brother or father or uncle, and some first served for the Japanese companies and then opened their own business. In addition to general trade affair, some were exporting rice, banana from Taiwan, some were selling hats material to Japan and then processed it in Japan and then resell it to all over East Asia, and some were importing western medicine, bicycle, fertilizer, flour, and others from Japan into Taiwan. These stories show that some stayed with the prewar business; some used the prewar Taiwan-Japan tie to extend to other business. The following are some examples:
　　Huang Muyi: A native of Tainan in southern Taiwan who opened an ice company in Swatow in 1927. In 1941, he set up Baixing Company with a main store in Shanghai, and branch stores in Xiamen, Swatow, Canton, Hong Kong, and Nanjing, doing trade between Japan and China.8 The store he operated in Tokyo in 1951 for the Taiwan-Japan trade is still called Baixing (see Table 2).
　　Zhang Qinggang: After graduating from Taipei’s Normal school, he worked at the Taipei branch of the Mitsui Company. In 1925, he set up Jierong merchant store to be the agent for the Mitsui company to sell its foodstuffs, grocery, and matches with sale value about ten times of capital. He turned into one of the leading merchants in Taipei’s downtown in the Japanese colonial period. In 1940, as the representative of Jierong merchant store and the congressmen of Taipei Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zhang went together with seven leading Japanese merchants in Taiwan and two other leading Taiwanese merchants to attend the Commodity Fair of Bankok.9 In postwar period, as shown on Table 2, his store in Japan is still named as Jierong.
　　Li Yizhao: Born in 1907 in Wuqi of central Taiwan, he went to Kobe after graduating from normal school to help his elder brother develop the hat export trade to Europe, America, and South-East Asia.10 In the postwar period, he opened a hotel and helped establishing a school for overseas Chinese in Kobe. He was also vice president of a company for the Japan-China trade before he died in 1981.11
　　Chen Fan: Born in Nantou of Central Taiwan in 1895, he formed a Fruit and Vegetable Ltd Co. in 1925 and extended its market to China. In 1929, he shifted to run a bus company in Taizhong of Central Taiwan.12 In early postwar period, he was an important merchant to export Taiwan’s banana to Japan as shown in Table 3.
　　Xie Jingzhi： Born in 1918，he was graduated from Hiroshima commercial school. In his early years, he carried on stationary, book, paper, and printing business. After 1945，he obtained the agent right for many brand name products for physical education. He established a company selling products for physical and musical education. As his native place was also an important place to have produced banana, he also sold banana or other fruits to Japan with the introduction of the Japanese merchants whom he knew in the business of physical or musical educational products.13
　　Chen Xingcun： Born in Taipei in 1910，she graduated from Taipei professional girl school. In 1932, she went to Tokyo and graduated from Tokyo fashion school in 1935. In the same year, he returned to Taiwan to open a modified Western clothes shop, employing 15 staff, and was pioneer of Taiwan’s fashion.14 In early postwar period, she was one of the important merchants to export banana from Taiwan to Japan (See Table 3).
　　Chen Xida: Born in Taoyuan in 1896, he entered after primary education his uncle’s store named as Chen Hefa. When this store was reorganized as a joint company in 1927, Chen Xida turned as manager. In 1931, he was elected as Taoyuan town’s congressman. In 1932, he visited several big merchants in Japan. He then turned into agents for the Kokura Petroleum Oil Company and Showa Sugar Company. He also has a big amount of business with Japan Flour Company, Japan-Qing Flour Company, and Osaka Flour Company. In 1933, he achieved the high position as the vice president of Taoyuan Chamber of Commerce, president of the Taoyuan rice association.15
　　He Yi: Born in Tainan City of southern Taiwan in 1903, he entered the transportation business for several years after graduating from primary school. Then, he worked for the Anbei merchant company for four years before he moved to work for some sugar company in Houli of Central Taiwan. In 1924, he and his elder brother, He Chuan, created the Yongfeng merchant store for the retail and wholesale of fertilizer, sugar, and flour. In 1934, he opened branch stores in various places of Taiwan such as Gaoxong, Dajia, Yuanlin, and Pindong.16 The He brothers not only appears in Table 2 for the early postwar Taiwan-Japan trade, but also count as one of the big conglomerates in present Taiwan.
　　Xie Chengyuan: He was prosperous with the trading company he set up in 1926 for canned goods, vegetables, tea, and the grocery trade between Taiwan and Japan. In the postwar period, he was still active in the trade in between. He stayed half a year each in Japan and in Taiwan annually, and he was leader of the overseas Chinese organization in Japan. It was not until 1955 when he served as the director of the Taiwan Pineapple Company that he spent most of his time in Taiwan.17
　　Huang Jishi: Born in 1902 at Shulin of Taipei County, he went to the Dutch East Indies in 1938 to investigate its economic situations for two months under the entrustion of the Japan-Dutch investigation commission. In 1927, he graduated from the University of Commerce in Tokyo and worked in the accounting section of the Mitsubishi Company. In 1939, he was sent to Tianjin to serve as the Director of Tianjin branch of Mitsubishi Company and the director of its accounting section.18 In 1951, he opened Guanglong merchant store in Tokyo (Table 2).
　　Wang Zhaode: Born in Dajia of central Taiwan in 1899, he went to Kobe in 1916 by himself and served in the Taiwan hats and mats merchants association. In 1921, he was appointed as the Director of the Dajia office of Maeda store for Taiwan’s hats. In 1922, he himself established Lichun merchant association to sell Taiwan’s hats. In 1924, he set up a hat raw material factory in Zhanghua of central Taiwan. In 1925, he established Deming merchant association, with main store established in Dajia and with the branch store set up in Kobe to be engaged in the manufacture and export of Taiwan’s hats. In 1920, he established the Xinzhu hat limited company and served as its head of the standing board of director. He also established Defeng merchant association. In 1930, he was the standing executive of the Kobe hat association. In 1934, he was appointed as the chairman of the Kobe Taiwan hat association. He often went to Southern China and Southeast Asia to investigate the commercial situation there.19 In 1951, he still opened a trading association in Kobe (Table 2).
　　Wang Chusheng： Born in 1899 at Neihu of Taipei, he started to have been employed for agricultural work for thirteen years. He then moved to Taipei downtown to work for a job, which requires riding bicycle, and got interested in it. With eighteen years’ effort, he and his partner turned into the only Taiwanese merchants to import American and Japanese bicycles and got a prize from the Governor-general.20 On Table 2, Wang’s store in Tokyo in 1951 carried the same name as his store in the prewar period, jinlunhang, which means the merchant store to import bicycles.
　　Huang Shushui： Born in Shimen of Damsui of northern Taiwan in 1899, he entered the Taiwan marine products company in 1912 and worked for its general affair up to 1915. He then worked for the gold mining company up to 1920, when he returned home to inherit the family business to serve as agent merchant for Japan’s army and navy, marine products, and grocery and earned several ten thousand Japanese yen a year. For public service, he was elected as the congressmen of Jilong city in 1930 and was involved with the Jilong city management. In 1934, he served as vice president of Jilong Chamber of Commerce, director of Jilong storage cooperatives, and the director of Marukose fountain water and ice joint stock Company.21 In 1951, he opened a merchant store for general trade in Tokyo (Table2).
　　Gu Weifu (the son of Gu Xianrong): Gu Xianrong was born in Lugang of Zhanghua in 1866. In 1899, he was the head of the whole Taiwan’s salt sale. In 1919, he set up the Daiwa Sugar Company and served as its director. In 1920, he set up Daiwa merchant store in Japanese bridge in Tokyo. He also served as the supervising committee member of Taiwan governor-general, the director of Bank of Zhanghua, President of Taipei Chamber of Commerce, the director of Taiwan Daily (Taiwan nijiniji shimpo), the director of Daiwa Ice making industry, the director of Longjiang Trust Bank and Meiji Sugar Company.22 Gu Weifu, whose name shows up in Table 2, was young in the Japanese colonial period. In 1948, he was the representative of the Yongyu tea company.23 And, the Gu family is still one of the ten conglomerates of Taiwan. The leader of this family even represented Taiwan to talk with the People’s Republic of China for cross-Strait relation in 1992 and 1998.
　　The presence of 113 Taiwanese merchant stores in Japan at a time that the ROC government controlled the Taiwan-Japan trade shows the coexistence of both ROC government and the Taiwanese merchants for such trade. The available Japanese network had been illustrated as Xie Jingzhi’s extending prewar commercial network on book and stationary to postwar banana export or Chen Xingcun and Xie Jingzhi’s extending educational background obtained in prewar Japan to postwar Taiwan-Japan trade, or He Yi, Zhang Qinggang, Huang Jishi, Wang Zhaode’s extending their experience for having worked with Japanese companies, Xie Chengyuan, Liu A-zhen, Wang Chusheng and Gu Weifu’s extending their family’s prewar Taiwan-Japan related enterprises to postwar period. Besides, many of these Taiwanese merchants had Japanese education, such as Zhang Qinggang, Li Yizhao had normal school education, Liu Azhen had industrial school education, He Yi and Chen Xida had primary school education. This background also provides as a basis for postwar link between Taiwan and Japan. And, all of the above-listed Taiwanese merchants had entered the Who’s who of Japanese colonial Taiwan. In addition to economic prosperity, they had social positions such as Gu Xianrong’s being the member of the supervising committee of the Taiwan Governor-General, head of Taiwan’s leading newspaper, president of Taipei’s Chamber of Commerce, Liu Azhen’s being the congressmen of Jilong City, Chen Xida’s being the congressmen of Taoyuan town, Zhang Qinggang’s being the director of Taipei downtown’s trust cooperatives, Wang Zhaode’s being the Chairman of Kobe’s hat merchant association. They were certainly Taiwanese economic elites in the colonial period. Their being active in the postwar Taiwan-Japan trade, two of them even maintained to be current Taiwan’s top-ten conglomerates, one even represents Taiwan to have talk with PRC (People’s Republic of China) government for cross-Taiwan Strait relation. All of these show the continuity of the prewar economic elite to the postwar Taiwan.
　　For Taiwanese merchants doing trade between Taiwan and Japan, to have liaison houses in both places for the purpose of doing import and export in both countries was very common. Mother-son, father-son, elder brother-younger brother, friend-friend were all possible partner combinations to establish these cross-country liaison houses. People on both sides, even of the same family, might carry different nationalities, i.e. the exporter on Taiwan side carried the nationality of the Republic of China, and the importer on Japan side might carried Japanese nationality (Table 3). Some of the traders on the Japanese side were executive members of Japan’s Banana Import Association.24
　　Among the Taiwanese merchants active in the Taiwan-Japan trade, many of them had acquired a strong Japanese identity during the Japanese colonial period. Some even had taken Japanese names, for example, Xie Chengyuan had been named as Uehara shogi, and Zhang Qinggang had been named as Fukushima Shinko.25 When Japan and China entered into war in 1937, in Kobe, the Taiwanese Zheng Wang and Li Yizhao were more for Taiwan, while the mainlander Wu Jingtang, Wang Mingyu were more for China.26 Huang Shushui had been agent for supplies to the Japanese Army or Navy. Zhuang Sichuan, a Taiwanese studying Chinese in Japanese occupied Shanghai had headed the propaganda newspapers in the Japanese occupied area in central China after his graduation from school. Zhung had even been described as cultural Han traitor.27 Nevertheless, he had worked as the representative of ROC in Taiwan for trade negotiations with Japan. He also urged the ROC government to further the trade with Japan, as all the machinery Taiwan had at that time were of Japanese design.28 He even participated twice in the standing committee of the TAPEMC, the main policy-making organ for economic affairs of ROC in the period of 1949-1953.29 In addition to Zhung Sichuan, four other Taiwanese banana merchants, Xie Chengyuan, Huang Muyi, Ke Shiyin had been appointed as ROC’s Ministry of Foreign Affair representatives to negotiate trade with Japan.30

 
Taiwanese Merchants on the Taiwan side of the Taiwan-Japan trade

　　On the Taiwan side, we find several Taiwanese merchants who were part merchant and part official in the early postwar period. The person in charge of the bartering for Taiwanese rice and Japanese fertilizer, the most important Taiwan-Japan trade in this period, had the same name as a person on the 1951 MITI list as shown on Table 2, although we could not ascertain whether they are the same individual as Li Lianchun. We are however sure that the official one had strong commercial ties with the Japanese, as he was a manager of one of the biggest Japanese rice export companies in Japanese colonial Taiwan in addition to having been section head for the rice bureau of the colonial Taiwan’s governor-general. And, in the postwar period, he maintained at crucial positions for eleven years as the bureau head of the bureau of food with his expertise about Taiwan’s land, soil, weather, seed, agricultural technologies.31 One of the Taiwanese banana merchants, Guo Yuxin, was also a provincial congressman.32
　　Among Taiwan’s exports to Japan, the banana export had the Taiwanese merchants play the most active role. Before the Peace Treaty between the Republic of China and Japan was signed in 1952, some Taiwanese merchants had already been pushing the barter trade between these two parties, and they also had started to export bananas to Japan.33 From 1953 to 1969 (except 1963), banana ranked within the ten most important export items of Taiwan. More than 90% of Taiwan’s bananas were exported to Japan.34 Between 1949 and 1959, 97.75% of all bananas imported by Japan were imported from Taiwan.35 Many of the Taiwanese merchants active in the Taiwan-Japan trade were involved with the banana trade. Chen Xincun, a woman involved in fashion design; Xie Jingzhi, a merchant in sports equipment and music instruments, Guo Yuxin, a provincial congressman, and Li Lian chun, someone who had the same name as the person in charge of the rice-fertilizer barter trade, were all involved in Taiwan’s banana export trade to Japan. As bananas decay easily, it was not included in the trade controlled by the government, since the gathering process by the government needed more time.36 Even though the Central Trust Bureau managed a lion share of Taiwan’s trade with Japan for this period, the banana export was beyond their control. From 1952 to 1955, the Taiwanese Merchants’ Export Company Association exported 92% to 98% of Taiwan’s bananas to Japan. Even when the government tried to allocate some export quota to the banana farmers, the Japanese side cooperated more with the merchants with long relation than with the farmers.37 The Taiwanese merchants even owned steamships to transport bananas abroad. The capacity of steamship owned by the government and by the Japanese companies could not compete with the steamship owned by the Taiwanese merchants for carrying Taiwan’s banana to Japan. If calculated from Table 3, the capacity share of the government was 22.71%; of the Japanese company was 48.29%; of Taiwanese companies was 5.97%, and of companies without knowing the ownership situation was 23.03%. Some of the Taiwanese steamship was built in prewar period (Table 3).
　　Contrary to bananas, sugar and rice, which had the lion’s share of Taiwan’s export to Japan, was more closely controlled by the government. Sugar was the product of government enterprise; its export was directly under the control of the government.38 The same as bananas, rice was the agricultural product of private farmers. However, rice was used as the chief commodity to exchange for Japan’s fertilizers, which was desperately needed by Taiwan to increase their agricultural productivity. On the other hand, rice in Taiwan was much less expensive than in Japan, and early postwar Japan was in short of rice. And, with the competition of Cuba sugar, Taiwan more and more moved from sugar production to rice production, which needs more use of fertilizer. As fertilizer had been bulky, it is more convenient to buy from Japan than from Europe.39
　　Such barter trade had been initiated in 1952. The fertilizer industry had turned into an important chemical industry for Japan since the 1930s, with Sumitomo as one of the crucial manufacturers.40 Taniguchi Yoshio, the head of Chemical section of the Sumitomo Company had joined a Japanese merchant delegation sponsored by the Osaka Commercial and Industrial Association and China-Japan economic exchange association in 1952 for a 28 days’ visit at Taiwan since August 22. His Taiwan Journey published right after this visit by Sumitomo recorded the initiation of the Taiwan rice-Japan fertilizer barter trade.
　　During this visit, the delegation had met Generalissimo Jiang Kai-shek, General Bai Chongxi, General Ho Yingqin responsible for the cultural and economic association for China-Japan relation, the Taipei Mayor, Wu Sanlian, Minister of the Economic Affairs, Zhang Zikai, Director of the Central Bureau, Yin Zhongrong and the Director of Bureau of Food, Li Lianchun. Taniguchi was very much impressed by the ROC economic bureaucrats whom he approached the most. Yin Zhongrong, for example, had understood the worldwide fertilizer market much better than Taniguchi so as to ask for a lower price for Japanese fertilizer. Li Lianchun had talked with Taniguchi even up to the midnight for further cooperation.
　　Taniguchi had tried to take opportunity to persuade for the barter of Taiwan’s rice particularly for a kind of fertilizer that Japanese soil did not need so much as Taiwan’s and also for the use of as much as U.S. aid to buy Japan’s fertilizer. He got wide newspaper report while the delegation was at Gaoxong. While visiting Taizhong’s Chamber of Commerce, while attending the cocktail party offered by the Minister of Economic Affairs and the Director of Central Bureau, while meeting General He and the person in charge of the U.S. aid, and of course, while meeting Yin and Lian, he continued to make his persuasion and kept close contact with Sumitomo company by telegram. Even on the day of departure, he still forwarded messages to Yin. Three months after this visit, the Sumitomo Company published this journey in elegant publication.
　　Although the Japanese delegates were delighted to be treated by ROC’s high officials, they felt uneasy about communicating in English with the bureaucrats from Chinese mainland. By contrast, they felt at home while treated by the various chambers of commerce in Taiwan. When the Japanese and the Taiwanese merchants sang Japanese songs (such as Aizen Kazura) together or recollected their Japanese university alumni ties, the Taiwan-Japan relations became reinforced.41
　　The development of chamber of commerce had started during the Japanese colonial period. Some of the members remained to the postwar period. For example, the organizers of Taiwan Provincial Chamber of Commerce in the early postwar period, Lin Xongzheng, JiangWeichuan, and Huang Zaishou had respectively been the vice president of Taipei Chamber of Commerce, Permanent director of Taipei General Chamber of Commerce, and president Yilan industrial association. Gu Weifu’s brother or Gu Xianrong’s son, Gu Zhenfu had been permanent congressmen of Taipei Chamber of Commerce since 1937 and he headed the Industrial and commercial association of postwar period for thirty years.42 The president of Taipei Trade Association, Huang Jishi to meet the Taniguchi’s delegation had also been Taiwan merchants opening Guanlong merchant store in Tokyo as listed in Table 2.
　　As a result of the rice-fertilizer barter trade, it is the Central Bureau to mainly take charge of such trade. The government-owned steamships carried 70% of its cargo while the civilly owned steamships transported only 30%.43
　　As to the export of rice, though the government, according to some archival information provided by TAPEMC, nominally controlled it the whole business got farmed out to a private company, Longshun Company. TAPEMC tried to set limits for Longshun company regarding the quantity of rice to be sold. However, on one occasion Longshun company sent a telegram in Japanese to the Japanese merchants, the Sales Company, who then forwarded to MITI to gain permission to be included in the Taiwan-Japan barter trade. It was successful and the TAPEMC was not able to control the company.44
　　The possibility of the Japanized Taiwanese merchants to still play a substantial role in the Taiwan-Japan trade in the early postwar period was essentially due to the fact that Japan became Taiwan’s most important export market from 1950 onward.

International Political-Economic Background

　　Japan was Taiwan’s main trading partner in the Japanese colonial period. Taking the average over the whole period of 1902-1937, Taiwan’s trade value with countries other than Japan and China was four times Taiwan’s trade value with China; Taiwan’s trade value with Japan was four times of Taiwan’s trade value with countries other than China and Japan.45 Yet, after the surrender of Japan in August 1945, Taiwan’s main trading partner became mainland China. The mainland China’s share for Taiwan’s trading partner in terms of value was: 1945: 26%, 1946:94%, 1947:91%, 1948:86%.46 Even though the ROC government moved to Taiwan in 1949, it was not until the Korean War, which broke out on June 25, 1950 that the Taiwan-Japan trade gradually resumed. From 1950 to 1966, Japan turned back into Taiwan’s first export market.47 The Korean War as well as the British support of PRC made the United States includes Taiwan in the defense line against the expansion of Communism.48 Taiwan’s being the entrepot between Japan and the Chinese in South-East Asia was the rationale the United States used to persuade Japan to sign a peace treaty and renounce her sovereignty over Taiwan to the ROC government in Taiwan, and to develop formal trade relations between them.49
　　In addition to the geographical central location, Taiwan could serve as a social meeting point between Japan and South-East Asia. Since the overseas Chinese in South-East Asia were very anti-Japanese after World War II, Taiwan could buffer it through an arrangement of having the joint product of Taiwan and Japan marked as being “Made in Taiwan,” which would somewhat ease the direct psychological tension between the overseas Chinese in South-East Asia and Japan.50 Taiwan could also help Japan open the South-East Asian market because of the subcultural affinity between the Taiwanese and the overseas Chinese in South-East Asia, who both came from Fujian and Guangdong. And, the overseas Chinese was mostly supportive of the ROC government, which retained the Chinese culture.51
　　In the 1950s, some merchants from Osaka and Kobe wanted to expand trade with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), while some others agreed with Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru and the United States to reinforce the trade between Japan, Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese in South-East Asia.52 The commercial delegation of Taniguchi Yoshio belonged to the latter group. After a Japanese Foreign Office officer from the same native place as Taniguchi had facilitated the peace treaty between ROC and Japan, his delegation came to visit Taiwan. The Peace Treaty turned effective on August 5,53 and the delegation came to Taiwan on August 22. Taniguchi clearly mentioned that having Japanese products marked as “Made in Taiwan” was more favorable for their sale to the over 13 million overseas Chinese and their offspring, which would double or triple that number.54
　　With the outbreak of the Korean War, the same as ROC in Taiwan, southern Korea was added to the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Aleutians Islands, and Alaska to be included in the United States Pacific defense line. But, the relation between Korea and Taiwan was not as close as their respective relation with Japan and the United States, because the degree of development of Korea and Taiwan was closer than between them and Japan and the United States which enabled more division of labor.55 For the division of labor between Taiwan and Japan, Taiwan provided as a geographic and social entrepot for Japan’s industrial product to enter the Southeast Asia is of crucial importance. And, around 1952-1954, Japan’s trading relation with South Asia had been greatly replaced by her relation with the Southeast Asia. Japan-India relation was close right after World War II because India was one Asian nation not directly occupied by Japan during the war which caused less hostility and Japan would also like to ride on postwar British development policy in India. Japan also moved its reliance on northeast China to India for iron mine resources after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. Because of the San Francisco Peace Treaty effectuated in 1952, Japan was asked to have compensation negotiation with several South-East Asian countries. Many asked Japan to aid their reconstruction. Meanwhile, India’s economy was retarded by its government’s heavy industry oriented policy and the border conflict with China.56 The entrepot role of Taiwan between Japan and the Southeast Asia became even more pertinent.

Implications

　　In early postwar Taiwan, government control of trade was quite heavy. When Taniguchi came to Taiwan in 1952, this proportion was around 80%.57 Government controlled trading was 30% of Taiwan’s total trade in 1965.58 On average, the Central Bureau controlled about 50% of trade in the 1950s to the early 1960s.59 In addition to the extensive control by the government, the relation between Taiwanese merchants and the government were not all smooth. For example, merchants from southern Taiwan complained about the government-controlled barter trade of fertilizer and rice because they had been selling their own rice for years, and fertilizer affected their agricultural districts more than those in Northern Taiwan. But the government need to control such barter trade, as the foreign exchange obtained was crucial for the government to secure the machines to operate the factories.60 Some merchants from southern Taiwan were also arrested in the February 28 Incident.61 But, the evidence remains, on both the Taiwan side as well as the Japan side, to show the active role played by Taiwanese merchants because of their Japanese ties built in the prewar period. The Taiwanese merchants include the banana merchants who mostly came from southern Taiwan. The Japanese ties include their Japanese language ability, their Japanese education and schoolmate’s relation, and their experience to have worked with Japanese companies or Japanese institutions in general. It serves as a contrast with the discontinuity of Taiwan’s political elite.
　　The contrast between the discontinuity of the political elite and the continuity of the economic elite from prewar to early postwar Taiwan could be further illustrated by the gap between the intellectual set-up and the political-economic alliance. In the Cold War period, when Taiwan was allied with Japan and South-East Asia for its political-economic development, Taiwan’s historical studies dropped the prewar emphasis on East Asia and South-East Asia and instead focused on the history of mainland China and Euro-American history.62 Also, Take-Over Day replaced Establishment Day as the anniversary day of the National Taiwan University, which was actually established during the Japanese colonial period. Books held by this university, which contained an abundance of information on East Asia and South-East Asia were mostly neglected, as they had been instrumental in the Great East-Asian War, which seriously hurt people from the Chinese mainland.63 Such an intellectual gap from the real world might be a reason for our lack of awareness to-date about the ROC government’s use of Taiwanese merchants and their Japanese ties in the early postwar period. With resources obtained from mainland China and Japan, with American aid obtained from 1951 onward, with an unquestionably anti-Communist mission, and with substantial international recognition, the ROC government was able to exercise an authoritarian rule.64 The successful economic performance of the authoritative ROC government in the early postwar period might be taken as an example for dictator development; i.e. the government should play a strong hand in developing countries.65 However, the ROC government still needed help from the local economic elites.
　　At the time that Taiwan was short of foreign exchange, the amount of U.S. aid was more than what Taiwan gained through foreign trade with all foreign countries. American aid amounted to a third of Taiwan’s capital assets from 1951 to 1963.66 In Taniguchi’s account, in 1952, the payment the ROC government used from the surplus in Taiwan-Japan trade to buy Japan’s one particular kind of fertilizer was only about 80% of the American aid used for that purpose.67 However, while the use of U.S. aid could not be entirely decided by the ROC government itself, the use of earnings from foreign trade could. Therefore, to gain foreign exchange through trade, especially from Taiwan’s most important export market, Japan, was crucial for building ROC’s national economy in Taiwan. Commodities Taiwan bartered with Japan in the early postwar period were mainly raw materials for textiles, metal products, machinery, cars and ships, electric appliance or materials, chemical materials, chemical fertilizers, cameras, and movie making appliance and materials (Table 4). And, even though Japan was destroyed by the U.S. Air Force by the end of World War II, with American help for recovery and the economic boom brought on by the Korean War, in the 1955-1960 period, Japan’s economic growth rate reached 10.5%.68 The close Taiwan-Japan relation certainly helped further the industrialization of Taiwan.
　　Also, with the ties built with Japan, Taiwan became further linked with other international market through the connection of the Japanese merchants. In addition to overseas Chinese who extended Taiwan’s external ties, the Japanese conglomerates opened Taiwan’s external market by importing Japanese products into Taiwan. It was not until the late 1960s when multi-national companies opened direct international trade networks with Taiwan that the role of Japanese conglomerates decreased.69 Nevertheless, until the 1970s, the four conglomerates of Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Itosei still managed to constitute one third of Taiwan’s trade with Japan, and 15% of Taiwan’s trade with other countries.70 The Japan-Taiwan trade created in the early postwar period was therefore a stepping stone for Taiwan’s total trade. In the postwar era, Taiwan's economy has been highly dependant on foreign trade. Its trade dependency ratio was over 100% in the 1960s-1970s and remained as high as 87.7% in 1990.71
　　Unlike the assertion of previous scholars that the early postwar ROC government did not need to rely upon the Taiwanese merchants,72 it is this paper’s view that their cooperation was essential for boosting the entire national economy. The development pattern of postwar Taiwan would therefore never have served as a good example for the development of a dictatorship in a developing country.

　　Table 1 ROC Office in Japan

The Commerce Section of the Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stationing in Japan (Tokyo)

Official Title/ Official’s name/ Responsibilities

Section Leader/ Shao Yizhou/ General affair
Vice section leader/ Wang Deli/ Assistance to general affair, contact with the Japanese government
Expert/ Jiang Liang/  ---
Technical expert/ Li Yinchen/ Contact with the SCAP
Expert/ Wu Dingmin/ Buyers’ entry and exit of Japan
Senior expert/ Zhang Youyi/ Application for the export permit
Expert/ Cheng Naichang/ Relation between Taiwan and Japan
Section staff/ Zheng Luda/ Treasurer
Assistant/ Ruan Shouwei/ Close Office affairs
Assistant/ Zhou Zhanghou/ Census and statistics relating with trade with Japan and the negotiation with Japanese government
Assistant/ Zhou Zhuochang/ Secretariat

Branch Section in Osaka

Central Trust Bureau, Tokyo Office

Manager/ Wang Shenmin
Vice Manager/ He Xiaochao
Vice Manager/ Chen Xi

China Bank, Tokyo branch

Manager/ Zhang Wu
Vice Manager/ Cao Lichi

Section for overseas Chinese

Tokyo Office
Osaka Office 　　

Source: Tsusansho tsushokyoku shijokakuka, Boeki jitsumu shirizu, Taiwanboeki no tebiki (Series on practical affairs on trade: an introduction to Taiwan’s trade) (Boekikankokai, 1951), pp. 125-127.
　　




　　Table 2 Taiwanese Trading Merchants in Japan (April 26, 1951)


Name
Company

Pan Zhenyu
Yaguang business company

Li Yizhao
Gaosha merchant store

Li Shikang
Xing zhonghua merchant store

Lin Qingmu
Datong Trading Company

Li Huaxiang
Huada busines company

Wu Yuchen
Zhonghua miscellaneous business Company

Zhou Chongqi
Zhonglian merchandize trading company

Xu Peiyan
Xinshang merchant store for foreign goods

Xu Hongyu
Shanxi trading company

Xie Chunan
Maoyi merchant store

Zhang Ziliang
Changfeng company

ZhaoKangbo
Hongxin business company

Zhang Jifei
Jianzhong company

Chen Bailin
Hongsen merchant store

Huang Muyi
Baixing merchant store

Xu Xiantang
Gongyi import and export trading company

Wu Jingyuan
Yonglihuahang company

Han Shangyong
Xinxing trading company

Shao Yuanpei
Minji business company

Huang Tangen
Santai merchant store

Yang Yunzhu
Huaxin silk business company

Chen Fan
Huili merchant store

Zhang Qinggang
Jierong merchant store

He Yi
Yongfeng company

Ye Songtao
Taiwan provincial fishery production cooperatives

Chu Mianqin
Jiangan business company

Liu Azhen
Jianlong trading company; Dajian trading company

Cai Moutian
Jinghua business company

Ma Ximing
Nanyang business company

Qiu Xianjin
Taiwan j import and export merchant store

Lin Youxiang
Zhongguang business company

Jiang Shitou
Yongyuxiang merchant store

Chen Zizong
Zhengchuan merchant store

Li Tuanju
Xindelong tea merchant store

Liu Tianlu
Yongchang trading company

Jian Wuchao
Wushun trading company

Zhu Hanyao
Rongchun merchant store

Chen Ajin
Kunqing merchant store

Huang Dun
Penglai sugar company

Wang Chusheng
Jinlun merchant store

Ji Zhanchun
Taiwan weaving product company

Lin Shuqi
Linweixing merchant store

Lin Keyi
Sitong business company

Li Lianchun
Liyiao merchant store

Huang Jishi
Guanglong merchant store

Guo Zhenhua
Dongya fishing company

Xie Chengyuan
Yiyu trading merchant store

Lin Rende
Xinyi trading company

Ke Shiyin
Jushui merchant store

Lin Jinlai
Sanjin limited company

Huang Shushui
Chongde merchant store

Xie Shuilong
Longji merchant store for foreign Products

Mou Younan
Chongde import and export trading company

Lai Jinwen
Wenguang merchant store

Wen Chaozhu
Dehehua international trading company

Fu Jinguan
Jinxing western medicine merchant store

Xue Bengui
Huaqiao commercial company

Huang Tianyin
Sanguang appliance merchant store

Zou Renzhi
Wuhe business company

Huang Yuanzhu
Zhongyang gear company

Shen Wenbuo
Dasheng international business supply company

Xie Jingzhi
Gongxue company

Huang Songchang
Xielian trading company

Lin Mugui
Sanxin merchant store

Zhu Wenyuan
Dafong commercial company

Fan Jinfa
Zhongrong big drugstore

Xia Qangpan
Daxinzhen dying and weaving factory company

Lin Yongsheng
Chengde merchant store

Yang Shuyan
Tongji limited company

Chen Xiushi
Taishi merchant store

Zheng Jiyin
Huian business company

Lin Yujia
Linjianjia ji merchant store

Luo Wenshi
Dadong company

Fang Junming
Daming trading company

Zai Kegong
Tianyuan business company

Lai Atong
Meiji merchant store

Zhaung Sichuan
Zhongxing business company

Zhang Ruixiang
Yufong merchant store

Zhao Shuxun
Yatong international business company

Wu Xindeng
Wanmao miscellaneous merchant store

Lin Yiwen
Huitong business company

Zhang Liyang
Huatai merchant store

Lin Binsong
Songyong merchant store for imported goods

Lin Canrong
Tongrong business company

Zhou Xiang
Yongshun trading company

Gu Weifu
Longchang business company

Guo Xuyong
Taicheng company

Chen Xida
Chen Hefa company

Cheng Yulin
Youxin merchant store

Yang Lianshu
Tongyi merchant store

Wang Zhongyi
Zhongan trading company

Chen Xingcun
Fugong trading company

Shi wanshui
Yongxing trading company

Li Amu
Yongrui merchant store

Sun Fengshan
Yuwu trading company

Chen Tiancheng
Jianyuan merchant store

Guo Qingquan
Overseas Chinese weaving products company

Guo Yannian
Qiazhong shanghang

Yu qiufen
Osaka Kawaguchi trading company

Li Jianxing
Taiwan coal adjustment committee

Zhou Musong
Xingguang company

Du Wanji
Taiwan coal adjustment committee

Wang Debei
Hualian trading company

You Zunde
Taiwan coal adjustment committee

Li Zhixiang
Kawaguchi trading company

Yang Jiannong
Nanhua trading company

Qu Minzhai
Asia trading company

Chen Qingqin
Dayue merchant store

Wang Zhaode
Overseas Chinese trading company

Wang Qingzong
Taian merchant store

Huang Wanju
Daxin business company

Lin Huorong
Lintong merchant store

Source: Tsusansho tsushokyoku shijokakuka, Boeki jitsumu shirizu, Taiwanboeki no tebiki, pp. 127-134.
　





　　　　Table 3 Taiwan banana merchants on both sides of Taiwan and Japan and their relation
　

Company on Taiwan side/ Representative (A): (Ethnic Background)/ Company on Japan side/ Representative (B): (Ethnic background)/ Relation between A and B


Dati merchant store/ Chen Xingcun (Taiwanese)/
Fugong maoyi, Ltd. Co./ Xie Zheyi (Taiwanese)/ Mother and Son

            "             /            "                       /
Wanda shangshi, Ltd. Co./ Chen Xingcun (Taiwanese)/ The same person

            "             /            "                       /
Sanxing shangshi, Ltd. Co./ Xie Zhexin (Taiwanese)/ Mother and Son

Dayongchanghang Yongchang shiye, Ltd. Co./ Zhou Chengzhi (Taiwanese) Li Tingyou (Taiwanese)/ Yongchang, trading Ltd. Co/ Liu Tianlu/ ---
 
Dadonghang/ Zhang Dinglan (Taiwanese)/
Wanguo, trading Ltd. Co./ Li Banchi/ ---

Gongxueshe, Ltd. Co./ Xie Jingzhong (Taiwanese), Xie Jingzhi (Taiwanese)/ Gongxueshe wuchan, trading Ltd. Co./ Xie Jingzhi (Taiwanese)/ Brother

Dayang hang/ Cai zhizhe (Taiwanese)/
Day Yang, trading Ltd. Co./ Cai Zhiyuan (Taiwanese？)/ kinship？

Wuda, trading merchant store/ Lin Shengxi (Taiwanese)/
Wuxing, trading Ltd. Co./ Li Lianchun (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Liyixing, Trading Ltd. Co/. Li Lianchun (Taiwanese)/
             "            /             "                  / The same person

Baixing hang/ Huang Muyi (Taiwanese)/
Baixing ,trading Ltd. Co./ Huang Muyi (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Yongfeng hang/ He Rongting (Taiwanese)/
Yongfeng wuchan, Ltd. Co./ He Rongting (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Linweixing shanghang/ Lin Shuqi (Taiwanese)/
Shui shangshi, Ltd. Co./ Ke Shiyin (Taiwanese), Ke Desheng (Taiwanese)/ ---

Shuixuan, trading merchant store/Ke Shiyin (Taiwanese)/
                 "           /             "               / The same person

Inching, trading Ltd. Co./ Lin Xigui (Taiwanese)/
                "             /            "               /  ---

Xinde, trading merching store/ Wang Zhuhui (Taiwanese), Lin Ajiu (Taiwanese)/Xinyi, trading Ltd. Co./ Li Qilin, Wang Zhuhui (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Xinyi, Trading Ltd. Co./ Wang Zhuhui (Taiwanese)/
          "                 /              "           / The same person

Lianqiao, business Ltd. Co./ Chen Shaohui (Taiwanese)/
          "                 /              "           / ---

Jianlong, trading merchant store/ Chen Chamou (Taiwanese)/Jianlong, trading Ltd. Co./ Chen Jianzhong (Taiwanese)/ Father and Son

Jianyuan hang/ Chen Tiancheng (Taiwanese)/
Jianyuan hang, Kobe branch/ Chen Tiancheng (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Huaxin hang/ Guo Yuxin (Taiwanese)/
Xinfeng miscellaneous goods/ Guo Yuxin (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Guoji, trading Ltd. Co./ Lin Xichi (Taiwanese)/
Guoji tongchan, Ltd. Co./ Lin Xilian (Taiwanese？)/ kinship？

Shunxing, trading Ltd. Co./ Xue Guoliang (Taiwanese), Xue Guozhi (Taiwanese)/Fuguo miscellaneous goods, Ltd. Co./ Xue Guoliang (Taiwanese)/ The same person

Wangong hang/ Wang Liyi (Taiwanese)/
Wangong industries, Ltd. Co./ Shen Shuimu/ kinship？

Yufeng hang Longhua, trading merchant store/ Li Tu (Taiwanese),  YXie Longcai (Taiwanese)/
Yufen, trading Ltd. Co./ Zhang Ruixiang/ ---

Ruihe, trading Ltd. Co./ Lan Songhui (Taiwanese)/
Ruixing, trading Ltd. Co./ Du Qing /  ---

Ruixing, trading Ltd. Co./ Xie Wanhe (Taiwanese)/
             "                 /          "       / ---
         
Yiyu, trading merchant store/ Xie Chengyuan (Taiwanese)/
Yiyu, trading Ltd. Co./ Xie Chengyuan (Taiwanese) The same person, Xie Chengye (Taiwanese？) kinship？

Tongxin maoyi / --- /
Tongxin, trading Ltd. Co./ Xie Chengye (Taiwanese？)/ ---

Dayuan, trading Ltd. Co./ Xie Yuansen (Taiwanese)/
Dayuan, trading Ltd. Co./ Xie Chengye (Taiwanese？)/ ---

                   "          /            "           /
Zhonglian, trading Ltd. Co./ Zhou Chongqi (Zhejiang)/ ---

Xinxing, trading/ Zeng Shaoji (Taiwanese)/
Xinxing, trading Ltd. Co./ Han Shangyong (Shandong)/ ---

Taiwan xincheng hang/ Chen Qingcheng (Taiwanese), Huang Wanyi /Xincheng, trading Ltd. Co./ Huang Wanyi/ The same person

Dechengfa, trading merchant store/ Chen Decheng (Taiwanese)/
Tonghe, trading Ltd. Co./ Chen Weiqian (Taiwanese)/ Father and Son

Qianshun, Ltd. Co./ Du Wanquan (Taiwanese)/
Qianshun, trading Ltd. Co./ Du Wanquan (Taiwanese)/ The same person 　　

Source: Liu Shujing, pp. 93-95.
　　


　

             Table 4 The chartered steamship with refrigeration facility sailing between Taiwan and Japan in the 1960s


Steamship company/ Name of the ship/ Total tonnage/ Velocity (maritime mile）/ Built Year/ Note

China’s Steamship and Merchant Company/ Hairen/ 3200.14/ 14.5/ 1948/ Government-Managed

China’s Steamship and Merchant Company/ Haili /3800.00/ 15.9/ 1968/ Government-Managed

China’s Steamship and Merchant Company/ Haiyi/ 2840.00/ 16.0/ 1955/ Government-Managed

Taiwan navigation company/ Taiqing/ 3140.66/ 15.0/ 1949/ Government-Managed

Taiwan navigation company/ Taijiao/ 4373.67/ 17.0/ 1965/ Government-Managed

Taiwan navigation company/ Taiyun/ 2840.00/ 16.0/ 1955/ Government-Managed

Xintai maritime transportation company/ Taian/ 4424.65/ 17.0/ 1965/ -

Dacheng maritime transportation company/ Furen/ 4279.00/ 16.5/ 1945/-

Dacheng maritime transportation company/ Fujiao/ 3368.00/ 18.0/ 1960/-

Yongda maritime transportation company/ Dongqing/ 4610.10/ 17.0/ 1965/-

Qiaoguo navigation company/ Qiaoguo/ 3353.46/ 15.0/ 1936/ Owned by Chen Chamo family; Wang Zhuhui also participated in investment

Da Yang navigation company/ Jianfu/ 3082.20/ 14.5/ 1941/ Owned by Chen Chamo family
 
Da Yang navigation company/ Jianguo/ 3203.29/ 15.0/ 1949/ Owned by Chen Chamo family

Da Yang navigation company/ Jiantai/ 2919.88/ 15.5/ 1940/ Owned by Chen Chamo family

Da Yang navigation company/ Jianxing/ 2902.00/ 17.0/ 1951/ Owned by Chen Chamo family

Da Yang navigation company/ Jianchang/ 2996.32/ 15.0/ 1939/ Owned by Chen Chamo family
 
Da Yang navigation company/ Jianfu/ 3076.00/ 15.0/ 1941/ Owned by Chen Chamo family

Da Yang navigation company/ Zhongtai/ 3352.00/ 14.0/ 1939/ Owned by Chen Chamo family

Xinyi navigation company/ Xinde/ 4121.44/ 16.0/ 1951/ Owned by Wang Zhuhui

Xinyi navigation company/ Xinyi/ 4281.54/ 16.0/ 1940/ Owned by Wang Zhuhui

Guoji maritime transportation company/ Guofeng/ 4661.00/ 17.0/ 1966/ Invested by Chen Decheng (father) and Chen Weiqian (son)

Guoji maritime transportation company/ Guofu/ 5000.00/ 16.5/ 1967/ Invested by Chen Decheng (father) and Chen Weiqian (son)

Fuxing Navigation Company/ Fuqing/ 3800.00/ 15.6/ 1960/ -

Nihon Yusen Steamship Company/ Yushan/ 2697.00/ 12.9/ 1960/Japanese capital

Osaka Commercial Steamship Company/ Gaosha/ 2615.00/ 12.9/ 1959/ Japanese capital 　　

Source: Liu Shujing, p. 105.





                    Table 5 Share of the export value of particular commodity from Taiwan to Japan in Taiwan’s total export value of that commodity


Unit: US dollar
Commodity/ Total export value (Ａ)/ Export value to Japan (Ｂ)/ Ｂ／Ａ (％)

 
Sugar/ 67,955/ 25,495/ 37
Rice/ 42,954/ 42,954/ 100
Tea/ 9,719/ 561/ 6
Salt/ 2,723/ 2,187/ 81
Banana/ 55,269/ 54,927/ 99
Coal/ 1,174/ 7/ 0
Camphor/ 907/ 131/ 14
Bamboo/ 3,503/ 2,252/ 64
Marine product/ 1,997/ 752/ 77

Total export/ 487,959/ 151,628/ 31

Source: Gaimusho keizai kyuku ajiaka, ed, Zhuka minkoku teki boeki kanli, p. 3.




                   
                    Table 6 Share of the import value of particular commodity from Japan in Taiwan’s total import value of that commodity

Unit: US dollar
Commodity/ Total Import Value (Ａ)/ Value of Import from Japan (Ｂ)/  Ｂ／Ａ (％)

Cotton/ 39,417/ 0/ 0
Lamb wool and its products/ 10,750/ 4,663/ 43
Artificial fibers and silk/ 19,861/ 18,047/ 90
Metal products/ 90,595/ 50,038/ 55
Machinery tools/ 84,420/ 44,045/ 52
Electrical appliance/ 26,741/ 16,896/ 63
Rice/ 0/ 0/ 0
Chemical fertilizer/ 16,169/ 10,196/ 62

Total import/ 555,360/ 206,054/ 37 　　


Source: Gaimusho keizai kyuku ajiaka, ed, Zhuka minkoku teki boeki kanli, p. 8.

NOTES:

1 Accompanied with the book project on: William C. Kirby, Man-houng Lin, James Shih, and David A. Pietz, State and Economy in Republican China: A Handbook for Scholars (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001), I have supervised several Taiwan’s degree theses to dig up related archives and to write on related topics. I myself focused on gathering materials from Japan side, Taiwan’s archives for the Taiwan Area Productive Enterprises Management Committee, and the merchants’ biographies. This paper sums up findings of this teacher-student joint work, which has lasted about nine years.
2 Liao Hongqi, “Maoyi yu zhengzhi: tairi jian de maoyi waijiao (1950-1961) (Trade and Politics: the Trade Diplomacy between Taiwan and Japan)” (Taipei: MA thesis, Department of History, National Taiwan Normal University, 2000), pp. 1-2, 51.
3 Gaimusho keizai kyoku ajiaka, ed, Zhuka minkoku teki boeki kanri (fu boeki tetsuzuki) (Trade management of the Republic of China, enclosed with the minutes for trade) (Tokyo: Gaimusho, 1966), p. 5.
4 Peng Huaien, Taiwan fazhan de zhengzhi jingji fenxi (A political-economic analysis of Taiwan’s development) (Taipei: fengyun luntan press, 1995), p104; Chen Lifu, Jinji, yuanzui, beiju -- xinshengdai kan ererba shijian (Taboo, original crime, and tradegy: the 228 incident of the new generation) (Taipei: Daoxiang press, 1990), p78; Chen Yongxing, “Taiwan yijie yu ererba (Taiwan medical circle and 228 incident).” Taiwan yiliao fazhanshi (A medical history of Taiwan) (Taipei: Yuedan Press, 1997), pp. 103-111.
5 Zhongyang xintuoju, Zhongyang xintuoju wushinian (The fifty years of Central Bureau)（Taipei, 1985），preface, p. 58.
6 Liao Hongqi, p. 51.
7 Liao Hongqi, pp. 16-17.
8 Konan Shinbunsha comp, Taiwan jinshika (Almanac of Taiwan’s notables) (Taipei: Konan Shinbunsha, 1943), p. 156.
9 Hanaka Hakkoo, Bankoku oyobi Manira ni okeru Taiwan bussan mihon’ichi hokoku (A city report of the samples of Taiwan’s products illustrated in Bangkok and Manila), Chosashiryo (historical material investigated) (Taiwanshokokaigisho , 1940), p. 12.
10 Taiwan Shinminpo sha comp, Taiwan jinmei jiten (Dictionary of Taiwan’s notables) (Taihoku: Taiwan Shinminpo sha, 1937; Nihon Tosho, 1989 reprint), p. 37; Sumida Yoshihiro, “Kobe no kakyo kigyo (business of Kobe’s overseas Chinese),” Kobe to kakyo (Kobe and overseas Chinese) (Konan daigaku sogo kenkyusho, 1994), p. 123.
11 Sumida Yoshihiro, p. 123.
12 Taiwan Shinminpo sha comp, Taiwan jinmei jiten, p. 37。
13 Zhonghua zhengxinsuo, Dui Taiwan jingji zuiyou gongxian de gongshang renminlu (The who’s who of people who had contributed most to Taiwan’s economy) (Taipei: Zhonghua zhengxinsuo, 1973), p. 504.
14 Taiwan Shinminpo sha comp, Taiwan jinmei jiten, p. 249.
15 Lin Shinhatsu, Taiwan kanshin niankan (Annual almanac of Taiwan’s officials and gentries) (Taipei： Minshuu Press, 1933), pp. 102-103.
16 Lin Shinhatsu, Taiwan kanshin niankan, p. 135.
17 Konan Shinbunsha comp, Taiwan jinshikan, p. 38; Shijie wenhua fuwushe bianzuan weiyuanhui comp., Zhonghuaminguo mingren zhuanzhi si (Biographies of ROC’s notables) (Taipei: Shijie wenhua fuwushe, 1957), p. 240; Bu Youfu, Taiwan fengyun renwu (Taiwan notables) (Hongkong: Xinwentiandi she, 1962), pp. 205-210.
18 Konan Shinbunsha comp, Taiwan jinshikan, p. 150.
19 Taiwan shinminpo sha comp, Taiwan jinmei jiten, p. 37.
20 Lin Shinhatsu, Taiwan kanshin niankan, p. 66.
21 Lin Shinhatsu, Taiwan kanshin niankan, p. 111.
22 Taiwan shinminpo sha comp, Taiwan jinmei jiten, p. 45.
23 Zhang Wojun, ed., Taiwan chaye jikan (Taiwan tea quarterly) (Taipei: Taiwan provincial tea commerce association, 1948), First issue, p. 47.
24 Liu Shujing, Tairi jiaomao wangluo yu Taiwan de jingji jingying (1945-1971) (The banana trade network between Taiwan and Japan and Taiwan’s economci elite) (Taipei: Daoxiang Press, 2001), p. 33.
25 Konan Shinbunsha comp, Taiwan jinshikan, p. 38; Yang Jian-cheng, Taiwan shishen huangminhua gean yanjiu (A case study of the Japanization of Taiwan’s gentries) (Taipei: Longwen press, 1995), Appendix 1, pp. 1-9.
26 Sumida Yoshihiro, p. 123.
27 When Wang Jingwei regime was set up in Nanjing, he established two nationwide cultural agency. One was established in Wuchang and Hankow of Hubei. The Japanese army entered Wuchang and Hankow on October 25, 1938, the Wang Jingwei regime ruled Wuchang and Hankow for seven years. The Taiwan-born Zhuang Sichuan had been the chief executive of the cultural agency at Wuchang and Hankow. [Qing Tezheng, “Wuhan lunxian shiqi hanjian zhengqvan de yanbian(The transformation of the Han traitor’s regime when Wuchang and Hankow was occupied by the Japanese army), Wuhan wenshi ziliao wenku, vol.2, political and military section (Wuhan: Wuhan chubanshe, 1999), p. 24, 36.] The Japanese government behind the Wang Jinwei regime paid high attention to propaganda and issued thirty newspapers in Wuchang and Hankow. The Dachubao(Great Wuhan Daily) had been controlled by the intelligence section of the Japanese Army and was the city newspaper for Wuchang and Hankow up to the Japanese surrender. Zhuang was the director of this newspaper. Meanwhile, Zhuang was director of an even greater newspaper called Wuhan bao (the newspaper of Wuchang and Hankow), which was controlled by the newspaper section of the Japanese army. [Tian Ziyu, Huang Huawen, Hubei tongshi (A general history of Hubei), Republican volume (Wuchang and Hankow: Huazhong shifan university press, 1999), p. 589.] I am particularly grateful for Prof. Luo Jiurong to provide this information. And, according to Diliu zhanqu canmouchu (The military adviser section of the sixth warring zone), Diliu Zhanqu shouxiang jishi (A narrative record of the surrender of the sixth warring zone), 1946, pp. 1-24 (cited from Tang Xiyong’s National Science Council project report of 1990, p. 46), Zhuang was listed as the cultural traitor.
28 Zhonghua zhengxinsuo comp., Dui Taiwan jingji zuiyou gongxian de gongshang renminlu, p. 302.
29 Meng Xianghan, “Taiwan qu shengchan shiye guanli weiyuanhui yu zhengfu qiantai chuqi jingji de fazhan (1949-1953) (Taiwan Area Productive Enterprises Management Committee and the economic development of Taiwan after ROC government moved to Taiwan)” (Taipei: Ph. D. thesis, Department of History, National Taiwan Normal University, 1999), p. 293.
30 Liu Shujing, p. 46.
31 Chen Jinman, “Taiwan feiliao de zhengfu guanli yu peixiao (1945-1953) - Guojia yu shehui guanxi zhi yi tantao (The governmental management and distribution of fertilizer in Taiwan (1945-1953): An investigation for the state-society’s relation)” (Taipei: MA thesis, Department of History, National Taiwan Normal University, 1995), p. 192; Shangye xinwenshe comp, Taiwan minren zhuan (Biographies of Taiwan notables) (Shangye xinwenshe, 1956), pp. 17-18.
32 Cf. Guo Yuxin, Yitan ershinian (Twenty years in Taiwan’s provincial congress, 1969).
33 Zhonghua zhengxinsuo, Dui Taiwan jingji zuiyou gongxian de gongshang renminlu, p. 9.
34 Liu Shujing, pp. 3-4.
35 Liu Shujing, p. 11.
36 Liu Shujing, p. 56.
37 Liu Shujing, pp. 203-215.
38 Chen Zhaowei, “Guomin zhengfu yu Taiwan tanye (1945-1953) (ROC government and Taiwan’s sugar industry)” (Taizhong : MA thesis, Department of History, Donghai University, 1993), pp. 42, 55, 217.
39 Liao Hongqi, pp. 41, 45, 48.
40 Hori Kazuo, “Shokuminchiteikoku Nippon no keizaikozo - senkyuhyakusanjunendai wo chushin ni (Economic structure of the Japanese imperial empire, with perspective of the 1930s)” Nihonshikenkyu (Japanese studies), no. 462 (Feb. 2001), pp. 26-54.
41 Taniguchi Yoshio, Taiwan kiko (Taiwan Journey) (Osaka: Sumitomo Chemistry Company, 1952), pp. 5, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 30, 31, 32, 47, 49, 50.
42 For the development of chamber of commerce in the Japanese colonial period, see: Zhao Youzhi, Riju shiqi Taiwan shanggon hui de fazhan (The development of Taiwan’s Chamber of Commerce when Taiwan was colonized by Japan) (Taipei: Daoxiang Press, 1998), particularly p. 493 for Gu’s role.
43 Chen Siyu, “Shengguanhui yu Taiwan gongying shiye tixi zhi fazhan (1949-1953) (The Taiwan Area Productive enterprise management committee and the development of Taiwan’s public enterprises).” (Taipei: MA thesis, Department of History, National Zhengzhi University, 1999), pp. 165-169; Liao Hongqi, pp. 45-46; Meng Xianghan, pp. 148, 155.
44 Archive of Taiwan Area Productive Enterprises Management Committee, 1951, Guanyizi, no. 2202.
45 Taiwansheng wenxian weiyenhui (Provincial Taiwan Historical Sources Commission), Taiwansheng tongzhi（Taiwan Provincial Gazetteer）, vol.4 ( economic gazetteer chapter), pp. 170b-171b.
46 Yang Chingfa, “Sengo taiwan keizai haten no kenkyu (A study of the economic development of postwar Taiwan) (Ph.D. thesis, Department of Economics, Tokushoku Universaity, 1993), p. 78; Taiwansheng zhujichu, Taiwan maoyi wushisan nianbiao (The fifty-three annual tables of Taiwan’s trade) (1949), pp. 1-2.
47 Tu Zhaoyan, “Zai guoji jingji yanbian zhong de taiwan jingmao guanxi (Taiwan’s trade relation in the international vicissitude),” in Zhang Yanxian ed. Zhongguo haiyang fazhanshi lunwenji (Chinese maritime history), no. 6（Taipei: Sun Yat-sen Institute of Social Science and Humanities, 1997）, pp. 556, 559; Liu Jingqing, Taiwan zhanhou jingji fenxi (An analysis of poswar Taiwan’s economy) (Taipei: renjian press, 1992）, p. 365.
48 Sun Zaiwei, “Chaoxian zhanzheng yu guogong gaunxi (the Korean War and the relation between the Communist party and the Guomindang party),” Nanjing Shehui Kexue (Nanjing social science), 1994.2. And, Prof. Richard C. Kagan’s remarks.
49 Zhang Shuya, “Dulesi yu duiri gouhe zhong de Taiwan wenti (1950-1952)(Dulles and the Taiwan issue in the Peace Treaty with Japan),” Guoshiguan ed., Kangzhan jianguo ji Taiwan guangfu: Di san jie zhonghua minguo shi taolunhui lunwenji (Taipei: Guoshiguan, 1996), pp. 1071-1092.
50 Zhongyang yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo (The Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica), Koushu lishi (Oral History), no. 5, 1994, p. 141.
51 Liao Hongqi, p. 40.
52 Furuta Kazuko,“Osakazaikai no Chugokuboekiron-gojunendaishoki,”Nakamura Takafusa, Miyezaki Masayasu. Katoki toshite no senkyuhyaku gojunendai (The 1950s as a transitional period) (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1997); Liao Hongqi, p. 61.
53 For the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan, see: waijiaobu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) comp., Zhongwai tiaoyue jibian (A conpendium of treaties between China nad other countries) (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1963 reprint), pp. 248-263.
54 Taniguchi Yoshio, preface, pp. 13-14.
55 Kurt.Glaset, translated into Chinese, “Meiguo zai dongya de diyuan zhengzhi liyi (the geopolitics interest of the United States in East Asia), Meiguo yazhou waijiao zhengce (the Diplomatic policy of the United States), zhengzhong shuju, 1991, pp. 114-116 and Xie Jiazhen’s term paper for Chinese Economic history, National Taiwan Normal University, 2002 on the relation between Taiwan and Southern Korea, 1950-1960.
56 Hideo Kobayashi, Japanese entrepreneurial overseas expansion, 1945-1995 (New Day Publisher, Philippines, forthcoming), Chapter 2, From South Asia to the Southeast Asia.
57 Taniguchi Yoshio, p. 61.
58 Gaimusho keizai kyuku ajiaka, ed, Zhuka minkoku teki boeki kanli, pp. 8, 9.
59 Zhongyang xintuoju, Zhongyang xintuoju wushinian, preface, p. 58.
60 Chen Siyu, pp. 165-169.
61 Tea merchant Wang Tiandeng could serve as one example, as informed by Dr. Naoto Kawarabayashi.
62 Han Fuzhi, Fu Sinian xiansheng nianpu (Geneology of Fu Sinian), Taida lishi xuebao (Bulletin of the History Department of National Taiwan University), No. 20, Taipei: History Department of National Taiwan University, 1996, pp. 258-259, 292.
63 Li Donghua, “Yijiusijiu nian yihou zhonghua minguo lishixue yanjiu de fazhan” (The development of hisorical studies in Republic of China since 1949), Zhongguo luntan (China Forum), 21:1, 1985, p. 39.
64 Zhu Yun-han, trans. by Chi ling-ling, “Taiwan zhengquan zhuanxing qi zhengshang guanxi de zai jiemeng (The reliance of politicians and merchants in a political transformation period)” Zhongsan shehui kexue jikan (Quarterly of social Sciences of the Zhongsan University), Dec. 1992, 7:4, p. 63.
65 Ishida Hiroshi, Kyodogenso to shiteno Chuka (Chinese world as a common illusion) (Tokyo: Tabata shoten, 1993), p. 111.
66 Zhao Jichang, Meiyuan de yunyong (The application of the American aid) (Taipei: Lianjing press, 1985), pp. 13-14.
67 Taniguchi, p. 21.
68 Kobayashi, p. 37.
69 Taniura Takao, Taiwan de gongyehua: guoji jiagong jidi de xingcheng (Taipei: Renjian chubanshe, 1992), p. 86.
70 Yu Qingzhen, “Taiwan zhi maoyishang (Taiwan’s traders),” Zhangyin ziliao (Materials of the Bank of Zhanghua) (Taichung: the Bank of Zhanghua), vol. 22, no. 6, January, 1971, p. 22.
71 Trade dependency ratio is the total of import value and export value over national income. The trade dependency ratio of 1990 is calculated from Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics, Executive Yuan, Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, Nov. 1992, Table 33.
72 Zhu Yunhan, trans. by Chi lingling, “Taiwan zhengquan zhuanxing qi zhengshang guanxi de zai jiemeng (The realliance of politicians and merchants in a political transformation period)” Zhongsan shehui kexue jikan (Quarterly of social Sciences of the Zhongsan University), Dec. 1992, 7:4, p. 63.