From Japan to the Yangtze River Delta: The turn of Taiwan's sugar trade in the early Qing dynasty (1683–1730)

In 1684, Taiwan became part of the Qing Empire. Initially, its external trade followed the traditions of the preceding Dutch East India Company (1624–1662) and Zheng-dynasty (1662–1684) periods, transporting deerskins and sugar to Japan to be sold in Nagasaki. However, during the Kangxi (1661–1722) era, civil and military officials who came to Taiwan seized large amounts of land or established official manors, competing with the local population for profits and controlling Taiwan's major export commodity – sugar. Officials from Fujian (福建) Province, such as Shi Lang (施琅) and the Fujian supreme commander ( zongdu , 總督), used various pretexts to divide the benefits of Taiwan's trade with Japan among themselves; these included raising funds for the military or contributions towards the conquest of Taiwan. Shi Lang, who served as the commander-in-chief of the Fujian naval forces throughout his life, was based in Xiamen. He controlled Taiwan and the Penghu region, and he profited the most from the sugar-for-Japan trade. The Jinjiang maritime merchant group that was centred around Shi's clan rose to prominence by seizing the opportunity. Not until the 1690s, around the time of Shi's passing and under the influence of Qing-dynasty policies, did this trade gradually come into the hands of merchants from Jiangsu (江蘇) and Zhejiang (浙江). Japan's imposition of trade restrictions further prompted Taiwan's sugar market to turn towards the Yangtze River Delta. The ‘Taiwan ships’ that had been navigating the East Asian trade since the Zheng dynasty were transformed into ‘sugar ships’, focusing on trade between Taiwan and mainland China. Towards the end of the Kangxi era, the exchange of Taiwanese sugar for silk and cotton from the Yangtze River Delta marked the beginning of this new phase. Consequently, local maritime merchants based in Taiwan began to emerge.