Island History Super Expansion

Hidden Abilities Unlocked: Taiwan and the People of the East Asian Seas in the 17th Century

■This book is the first in the series "Chunshan Taiwan Lectures," a collaboration between Chunshan Publishing and the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.

***
The island's potential is unlocked, and history is about to unfold!
A History of East Asian Maritime Affairs in the Seventeenth Century, Centered on Taiwan
***

Anyone who's read the "One Piece" comics knows how the storylines, grounded in the historical facts of the Age of Exploration, are intricate, treacherous, and imaginative, captivating and captivating. But when you consider 17th-century Taiwanese history, which is closely tied to the Age of Exploration, and think of prominent Taiwanese figures of the same era like Lin Feng, Cheng Chih-lung, Cheng Chenggong, and He Bin, does that rich feeling vanish?

This is not because historical narratives are inherently less imaginative than fictional creations, but because the writing of this period of early Taiwanese history has long been trapped in the conventional historical perspective of traditional Chinese dynasties, or built on the framework of "(Western) impact - (Eastern) response", so that the characters' actions seem natural and the development of the story seems to have no suspense.

It shouldn't be like this. Author Zheng Weizhong argues that the 17th century was the birthplace of "Taiwan as a place in world history." The island's potential was unlocked at this time, and history unfolded in a dynamic process of growth and evolution, with repercussions that continue to this day. The more deeply and meticulously Taiwanese readers understand this, the better they will be able to discern the emergence of critical historical moments today and make informed decisions.

To achieve this goal, this book deliberately blends historical and sociological approaches, depicting both characters and eras while also analyzing structures. Emulating the dual-author format of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, the author charts the fates of two or three individuals or groups, revealing the structural forces at work behind them, such as geopolitics, geography, climate change, and even maritime trade patterns.

The book is divided into seven chapters, each discussing seven key issues in early Taiwanese history. With the exception of the first chapter, the remaining chapters focus on comparative studies of individuals or groups. The protagonists in each chapter are diverse, including Han Chinese pirates (such as Lin Feng), "second-generation Tangren" (second-generation Tangren born overseas, such as Zheng Chenggong and He Bin), island indigenous peoples (the people of Xiaoliuqiu and Huweijiao), and "first-generation Wansheng" (Xiao Peide).

This shows that this book is not only a history of Taiwan in the 17th century, but also, as the subtitle "People and Taiwan in the East Asian Seas in the 17th Century" suggests, a history of the East Asian seas in the 17th century with Taiwan as its center.

■Chunshan Taiwan Lecture Forum
Jointly discussed and planned by Chunshan Publishing and the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica, nearly twenty years after the formal establishment of the Institute of Taiwan History in 2004, the Institute hopes to transform the rich academic achievements accumulated by generations into a common cognitive asset for society, refining our vision for the future from a broader and even unexpected perspective of history.

2023-08-01

春山出版

368

9786267236420